Chara Haeussler Bohan

Social Studies Preservice Teachers' Citizenship Knowledge and Perceptions of the U.S. Naturalization Test

Teacher educators from six states invited their social studies methodology students to complete an abbreviated version of the U.S. Citizenship and Immigration Services (USCIS) Naturalization Test. The preservice teachers were also asked to share their conceptions of citizenship and evaluate the naturalization test. The findings from this study indicate that although this sample of preservice teachers had limited conceptions of citizenship, most were able to get a satisfactory score on the test. The authors discuss the implications of these results and suggest ways to broaden citizenship education in teacher preparation programs.

Digging Trenches: Nationalism and the First National Report on the Elementary History Curriculum.

Abstract The objective of this historical analysis is to determine the origins of the American elementary history/social studies curriculum and to determine how nationalism affected the curriculum as it progressed in the early twentieth century. The Committee of Eight (Co8), established by the American Historical Association in 1905, created the first national report on the teaching of elementary history and civics. Factors influencing the resultant curriculum, such as the pressure for diverse membership, the curriculum established in European countries, the growth and development of American identity and pride, the massive expansion of public schooling, and regulations on teacher certification are examined. A combination of demands resulted in an elementary history curriculum that was nationalistic in perspective, as the report recommended American history to be the sole focus of study in grades one through eight. Comparisons and implications for the present day elementary history curriculum are discussed.

Atlanta’s Desegregation Era Social Studies Curriculum: An Examination of Georgia History Textbooks

In the context of the desegregation of Atlanta Public Schools (APS), we sought to explore issues of race and the social studies curriculum during the 1970s and 1980s in Atlanta, Georgia. In the Southeast region of the United States, Atlanta is one of the largest cities. In 1973, the tenure of Dr. Alonzo Crim, the first African American APS superintendent of schools, began and a 15-year court battle over school desegregation in the city schools came to a conclusion. Issues of race were of central concern during this time period. We wondered how the social studies curriculum and textbooks reflected the context of the times with respect to race. Were there changes in the way social studies was taught and learned within the context of the desegregation of schools? As an extension of prior research,’ in which we searched through archival materials, conducted interviews with students, teachers, and administrators, and examined court records, we extended the investigation into the social studies curriculum by initiating a new examination of the Georgia history textbooks that were used in the state’s classrooms. The textbooks reveal a story of resistance and limited progressive change in the social studies curriculum.

The Social Studies Curriculum in Atlanta Public Schools during the Desegregation Era

This historical investigation explores how teachers, students, and education officials viewed the social studies curriculum in the local context of Atlanta, and the broader state of Georgia, during the post-Civil Rights era, when integration was a court-ordered reality in the public schools. During the desegregation era, Atlanta schools were led by Atlanta Public Schools (APS) Superintendent, Dr. Alonzo Crim. Brought to Atlanta as part of a desegregation compromise, Dr. Crim became APSs first African American superintendent. In particular, the authors investigate how national social studies movements, such as Man: A Course of Study (MACOS), inquiry-based learning, co-curriculum activities, and standards movements, adapted to fit this Southeastern locale, at a time when schools were struggling to desegregate. Local curriculum documents written in the 1970s reveal a traditional social studies curriculum. By the 1980s, APSs social studies curriculum guides broadened to include a stronger focus on an enacted community—inside the classroom and around the world. In oral history interviews, however, former teachers, students, and school officials presented contrasting perspectives of how the social studies curriculum played out in the reality of Atlantas public schools during the desegregation era.