David Warren Saxe

Framing a Theory for Social Studies Foundations

In a field plagued by a lack of identity, I argue that practitioners and theorists are prevented from articulating viable perceptions of social studies’ purpose, theory, and practice because they lack basic understandings of the original historical underpinnings of social studies. As found in recent literature, three origin myths of social studies have emerged that hinder needed curricular research as well as mitigate against further development of social studies as a field of study. This review identifies and provides examples of these myths. In addition, while discounting each myth, I present a review of the field’s origins, as first developed in the 19th century social welfare movement and later refined by like-minded members of the National Education Association’s 1916 Committee on Social Studies (Dunn, 1916).

Establishing a Voice for History in Schools: The First Methods Textbooks for History Instruction 1896–1902

This article is an examination of five early history methods textbooks. The textbooks reviewed here represent an overview of pre-1910 history curricula on a theoretical and developmental level, and offer a different view of history instruction. Historians Barnes and Fling and Caldwell created texts for the general or field market, Channing and Hart for students and teachers in public schools, and Mace and Bourne expressly for normal school and college preservice history teachers. Although Channing and Hart probably best represented and perhaps best captured the flavor of the recommendations made by the Committee of Seven, each of the five texts contributed to the traditional history curriculum by offering their descriptions and explanations of various facets of the overall program.

An Introduction to the Seminal Social Welfare and Efficiency Prototype: The Founders of 1916 Social Studies.

Abstract Social studies has a rich and varied past, but few historical accounts have appeared to date. Very few social studies practitioners, in fact, have even heard of the 1916 Committee on Social Studies, or the report it prepared. This article provides some information in this regard by describing the formulation of the 1916 report, the individuals who prepared the report, and the ideas the report contained.