• E-mail
• Print
• Comment
• Font Size
• Digg
• del.icio.us
• Discuss article

The State of Elementary Social Studies Teaching in One Urban District

Posted on: Sunday, 2 April 2006, 06:00 CDT

By Hutton, Lisa A; Curtis, Reagan; Burstein, Joyce H

Abstract

In this study, 172 elementary teachers were surveyed to determine the state of social studies teaching in their classrooms. Data was collected during the spring of 2004 in various geographic locations within an urban district in southern California. The survey measured teachers' time teaching core subjects, how teachers chose to spend their time teaching social studies and types of strategies used to teach social studies. Teachers revealed that many were dissatisfied with how much time they spent teaching social studies while negotiating mandates to teach language arts and mathematics. Although teachers reported they felt well prepared to teach social studies, many use lecture, readings, and worksheets to teach the California Content Standards. We recommend qualitative research be conducted to explore how teachers who spent more time teaching social studies despite mandates can share those strategies with those who did not teach social studies regularly.

Introduction

In the last three years, policy decisions at the district, state and federal levels have impacted how teachers are teaching the core subjects in elementary school. In the effort to increase student achievement and narrow the achievement gap, emphasis has been placed on teaching language arts and mathematics. The most recent mandate has been the implementation of the No Child Left Behind Act (NCLB) of 1991. This act has been interpreted to mean that increased testing and accountability should guide how and what teachers will teach (Torff, 2004). In addition, NCLB favors the use of a curriculum- centered approach that includes a leaning towards "scientifically-based research," which employs quantitative methods (Torff): In turn, the interpretation has led policy-makers at the state and district level to increase standardized testing in language arts, mathematics and, more recently, science (Haas, 1998). Because social studies is not included in the testing agenda in districts and state standardized tests, elementary teachers are choosing to spend time teaching other skills that will boost test scores.

With little room to choose curriculum materials and implement teaching strategies that are not pre-packaged and structured, teachers report they have no time to teach social studies. In the literature, teachers have reported that more than 60% of their day is spent teaching language arts and mathematics, leaving social studies, science, arts, and physical education to "left-over" time (Dobyns, 1992; Haas, 1998, Risinger, 1992; Stark et al., 1987). This is a reoccurring theme found in the research literature when social studies researchers have analyzed how instructional time was spent. In one study of the Delaware schools, Hauser (1994) found that social studies had been put on the "backburner". He believes that social studies is "undervalued and underrepresented in the classroom" (p. 14). Teachers in Hauser's study reported that pressure from administrators to focus on increasing test scores influenced the amount of tune spent on social studies teaching. When faced with this pressure, one teacher stated, "The first thing you cut out is social studies and science" (Hauser, p. 14).

Past studies have tried to determine how much time is needed to teach the social studies curriculum. In 1990, a task force sponsored by the Carnegie Foundation for the Advancement of Teaching surveyed teachers across the country to find out the state of social studies teaching. Teachers in K-3 classrooms reported teaching social studies for 1.9 hours per week. Teachers in grades 4-6 taught approximately 3 hours per week. In another study, Perie et al. (1997) found that public school teachers in grades 1-4 spent an average of 2.7 hours per week in the 1987-88 school year; 2.4 hours per week in 1990-91 and 2.9 hour per week in 1993-94 teaching social studies.

Since the 1990s, no current research has focused on how the current mandates have affected the social studies curriculum or the amount of time spent on teaching it. The present study will provide one perspective on the state of social studies teaching in an urban district.

Methodology

Purpose

We designed a survey to gather information about the teaching of social studies in elementary school classrooms. We sought to determine if the teaching of social studies was being neglected, as anecdotal evidence from teachers suggested, and if so, the reasons behind this neglect. We wanted to find out how well prepared teachers felt to teach social studies, what curriculum and materials were being utilized, what methods and activities teachers employed, and what aspects of social studies were considered important.

Design and Participants

The participants were 172 elementary school teachers of grades K- 5 in a large urban school district in Southern California. Schools were chosen randomly from different geographic regions in the district using the district website. We contacted the schools and when permission was granted, visited the schools to administer the anonymous survey to those teachers who consented to participate in the spring of 2004. Two hundred four teachers were given the survey though only 172 were included in the study. The surveys not used were from teachers of pre-K, 6th grade, special education, and specialists because it was our intention to gather information about the teaching of social studies in regular K-5 school classrooms. We then tabulated and analyzed the data using the SPSS 11 for Windows program.

The teachers sampled reflect the diversity of the district in terms of grade level, number of English Learners, experience and type of credential. Ninety-three teachers taught a primary grade (grades K-2), sixty-five taught upper elementary (grades 3-5), while fourteen of the respondents taught some type of combination or did not state their grade level on the survey. A majority of the teachers taught classes specifically designed for students who speak English as a second language (English Learners). Sixty percent of the teachers reported that between 25-100% of their students were designated as English Learners and 56% had a class designated as English Language Development. Twenty-nine percent of the teachers had an English-only class, 5% taught a bilingual class, and 11% did not state any particular class designation. Seventy-seven point nine percent of the surveyed teachers were female, 15% male, and 8% did not state their gender. The ethnicity of the teachers was diverse: 5% African-American, 12% Asian-American, 30% Hispanic, 30% white, 5% multiethnic and 18% declined to state their ethnicity or categorized themselves as other. The teaching experience of the surveyed teachers varied with 30% having taught just 1-3 years, 37% reported 4-11 years of teaching experience, and 26% reported 12 or more years of teaching experience. Thirty-three percent of the teachers surveyed had an intern credential, allowing them to work as the teacher of record while completing the state requirements for a teaching credential, while 60% of the surveyed teachers held a preliminary or professional clear multiple subject credential.

Findings

The data, as reported in Table 1, show that teachers are spending the majority of the school day teaching subjects that are tested by standardized measures, particularly reading/language arts and mathematics. Eighty-one percent of the teachers teach reading/ language arts for at least 4-6 hours per week, with 41% spending more than ten hours each week. Sixty-nine percent of the teachers reported spending a minimum of 4-6 hours teaching mathematics. In contrast to reading/language arts and math, less than 5% of the teachers spend 4-6 hours or more per week teaching history-social science. In fact, almost half of the teachers (50%) report spending less than an hour teaching social studies each week. When asked about the scheduling of social studies into the school day, only 2% of the teachers taught social studies every day with 23% teaching it 3-4 days per week. The most common response from 48% of the teachers was that they taught social studies 1-2 times per week with 16% of the teachers stating that they taught social studies every other week. Over 50% of the surveyed teachers stated that they alternated between teaching social studies and science. (see Table One at the end of this text)

Table 2 examines the time spent on social studies in the primary versus the upper elementary grades. Though teaching more history- social science than in the primary grades, over 61% of the surveyed teachers in grades 3-5 reported teaching history-social science for less than two hours per week with 39% spending less than an hour each week. Twenty-eight percent of the teachers in grades 3-5 taught between two and four hours with only 11% teaching four or more hours per week.

Table 2. Time on History-Social Science in Primary and Upper Elementary Grades

The data was also analyzed to see if the amount of teaching experience or type of credential held by the surveyed teachers was related to the amount of time spent teaching social studies. There was no Spearman correlation between the number of years teaching and how much time was spent on social studies. Interestingly enough\, there were 19 teachers who had more than 20 years of teaching experience who spent less than 60 minutes per week on the social studies curriculum. A Chi-square contingency analysis revealed that there was also no significant relation between the type of credential held by the teacher and the amount of time spent on social studies.

When asked about their satisfaction with their teaching of social studies, a majority of teachers (69%) reported they were dissatisfied. If teachers marked dissatisfied, they were asked to indicate their reasons for their feelings of dissatisfaction. Many teachers (59%) stated they had no time to teach social studies while others (42%) said that the mandated curriculum must be taught first before turning to other subject areas. In addition to lack of time and choice, 29% of teachers felt that teaching social studies was not a school priority, 15% stated that they had no materials, 16% said that they had outdated materials while 9% indicated that social studies was not tested on the state standardized test (CAT-6). A smaller number of teachers indicated that their feelings of dissatisfaction were based on their training or personal priorities: 15% felt that they did not have enough training, 5% of the teachers stated that their dissatisfaction was based on feeling uncomfortable with the teaching of social studies while only 1% said that the teaching of social studies was not a priority for them.

On a related item, 67% of teachers reported feeling well prepared to teach social studies. Thirty-six percent gave credit to university methods courses, 37% stated that colleagues and mentors helped train them, and 48% said they learned about social studies teaching on their own.

While teaching social studies, the teachers reported that they depend mainly on resources that can be found readily at their schools. There was a high Pearson correlation (r=.269, p<.05) between having more social studies materials available and spending more time teaching social studies. Textbooks and teacher-created materials based on the texts accounted for more than one-third of the materials used. Only 53% of the teachers reported having textbooks to use in the classroom on a regular basis. Teachers (36%) reported using social studies lessons based on their reading series. In addition, the teachers (32%) used literature books with socials studies themes. While the availability of resources determined curriculum, 55% of teachers used the California Content Standards to help them decide on specific content taught. Forty-eight percent of teachers used the textbook for content while 22% of the surveyed teachers used the reading series as a guide to teaching the social studies content.

In delivering the content, teachers used a variety of teaching strategies. In the primary grades (see Appendix A), teachers taught social studies one to two times per week through lecture and texts. About 34% used lecture-based activities as compared to teachers of grades 3-5 who taught with this technique 1-2 times per week. In the primary grades, teachers rarely used primary sources, inquiry or vocabulary development. In fact, 40% of K-2 teachers reported never using inquiry compared to 22% of grades 3-5 teachers. More than half the teachers (67%) surveyed used worksheets either 1-2 times per week or 1-2 times per month. With half the time spent on reading and worksheets in the upper grades, very little time was spent on teaching with multi-media lessons, primary sources, and/or project- based learning. Other strategies related to teaching social studies like showing films, simulations, and projects accounted for less than 20% of time spent each school year.

While teachers did not use the above strategies consistently, 65% of teachers thought teaching historical thinking through a more hands-on approach were important to a well-rounded social studies curriculum. Seventy-four percent marked that teaching analysis skills and decision-making was important to critically important. In fact, a majority of teachers (79%) reported that teaching critical thinking skills was important even though the teaching strategies used were mainly reading and worksheets.

With teachers mostly lecturing and reading, it is no surprise that students are involved in learning activities closely aligned with these teaching strategies (see Appendix B). K-2 teachers (32%) used worksheets and had children explain their reasoning about 1-2 times per month. In contrast, the data shows that 42% of K-2 students never participate in research and only answer questions in the text a few times per year. Upper grade teachers reported that students spend their time doing a variety of activities. Forty-one percent of teachers reported that students spent tune completing worksheets about 1-2 tunes per month and spent 37% of their tune doing research.

Discussion and Conclusion

The results of this study revealed some enlightening information on the state of social studies in some classrooms in one urban district. Though measured in a different way than the studies in the 1990s, it appears that teachers are spending considerably less time teaching social studies as they did in the 1990s. Through a national snowball sampling, Carnegie (1990) found that surveyed teachers of grades K-3 were spending 1.9 hours per week on social studies while this study found that only 13% of the K-2 teachers were teaching more than 2 hours per week on social studies with 62% spending less than 60 minutes. Perie et al. (1997) found that teachers in grades 1- 4 taught social studies an average of 2.4 hours per week in 1990- 1991 and 2.9 hours per week in 1993-1994. Seventy percent of the K- 5 teachers in this study spent less than two hours per week on social studies with 49% spending less than an hour.

Teachers are dissatisfied with their own teaching of social studies. They are satisfied with their training and the type of materials available to them but are unhappy with how little time they had to spend on teaching social studies. Teachers often alternated between the core subjects of science and social studies, more evidence that spending large amounts of time on reading and math allowed little time for other subjects. Teachers reported doing textbook work, lecture and vocabulary development, which were less time consuming, instead of spending time developing concepts and higher level thinking through more time intensive projects, research, inquiry and simulations.

It seems difficult if not impossible to meet the California History-Social Science content standards, particularly in the upper elementary grades, with so little time being spent on social studies. Standards such as civic engagement, participation in democracy, socio-historical background of events and skills related to critical thinking and using multiple perspectives to determine how history is made are directly related to living in a democracy. Teachers have reported that the structured and mandated curriculum advocated by the district took up most of their teaching day. Because it is a subject not yet tested by district or state standardized assessments, it is not seen as a priority. But the testing agenda should not dictate whether or not teachers use effective teaching methods to teach social studies concepts and skills. This emphasis on high stakes testing is impacting how the core subjects are being taught, with the social studies curriculum being relegated to the background and only taught when there is time.

Another issue brought out in this study was that teacher experience, training and type of credential held did not influence the amount of time spent teaching social studies. It was somewhat of a surprise that there was no relation between the amount of time spent teaching social studies and the years of teaching experience or the type of credential held. In fact, the only thing correlated with time spent on social studies was having social studies materials available at teachers' school sites.

Experienced teachers reported the same dissatisfaction in their teaching of social studies as the teachers with little or no experience, with no time being the most common reason for dissatisfaction. We erroneously assumed that more experienced teachers who had completed their teacher training would be more adept at finding the time to teach social studies, even with the time constraints and mandated curriculum.

The findings also raise the issue of best practices in the teaching of social studies. What should the teaching of social studies in the classroom look like if we want all of our students to meet demanding state standards? It is difficult to reconcile the high number of teachers who felt well prepared to teach social studies with the types of learning strategies and learning activities they reported using in the classroom. Organizations and individuals dedicated to Social Studies Education including the National Council for the Social Studies, teacher preparation faculty, those involved in professional development and exemplary teachers of social studies who emphasize strategies that help children understand concepts and universal themes and to use history as a means to understand the world.

Is lack of knowledge or training to blame for the high number of worksheets and over reliance on lecture instead of learning strategies that emphasize critical thinking or are teachers throwing aside strategies that take too much time such as using primary documents and inquiry in favor of a more direct method of getting the social studies content due to lack of tune and district mandates? In this study, though lack of knowledge and training can not be disregarded as one reason that teachers are not using learning strategies that emphasize active learning and critical thinking skills, the data also suggests that teachers turn to lecture and worksheet due to the pressure of covering the mandated curr\iculum. Teachers say that they value critical thinking and inquiry lessons but then the same teachers report not using these strategies often or at all. In other words, the teachers have the knowledge of best practices in teaching social studies but this knowledge is not resulting in changes in the teachers' practice. While this study was a sampling from one urban district, not necessarily representative of districts across the nation, about half the teachers surveyed are ignoring best practices to comply with tested curriculum in language arts, mathematics, and science.

Another important question raised by the data was why were some teachers better able to handle the mandates than others? Some teachers reported finding ways to work around the time constraint and teach social studies consistently for more than two hours per week. It would be interesting to explore why some teachers spent a significant amount of time teaching social studies including the types of strategies they used for time management and coverage of various standards. What are the critical issues involved in supporting teachers' ability to teach social studies while negotiating district mandates? Future research could study the successful teachers and then find ways to connect with those who are having a more difficult time accommodating their time schedule to include social studies. A qualitative study to further this work would best explore how to answer how mandates directly affect the teaching of social studies. Because surveys limit the detail of responses, research of these issues brought out in this study could be best conducted through indepth interviews and observations.

While this study has explored a sample of teachers from a single urban district, it is important to note the trend that has been set by district mandates to spend more time on language arts and mathematics. Teachers have shown they are willing to change how and what they teach to meet the district instructional goals at the cost of best practice in covering all the state standards, which include the teaching of social studies. The teaching of social studies cannot be neglected if we expect our students to become integral members of a democratic society living in a pluralistic world.

Table 1. Percentage of Teachers Spending Various Amounts of Time on Core Academic Subjects

References

Dobyns, S.M. (1992). Getting from there and now to there and then. Gifted Child Today, 52-55.

Haas, M.E. & Laughlin, M.A. (1998). A contemporary profile of elementary social studies educators: Their beliefs, perceptions and classroom practices in the 1990's. Paper presented at the Annual Meeting of the American Educational Research Association. San Diego, CA.

Houser, N. O. (1994). Social studies on the "backburner" : Views from the field. Eric document ED 381 461.

Perie, M. et al. (1997).Time spent on teaching core academic subjects in elementary schools: Comparisons across community, school, teacher and student characteristics. Statistical Analysis Report. National Center for Education Statistics. Washington, D.C. ERIC Document Reproduction Service No. ED 406 456.

Risinger, F. C. (1992). Trends in K-12 social studies. Bloomington, IN: ERIC Clearinghouse for Social Studies/Social Science Education. ERIC Document Reproduction Service No. ED 351 278.

Slekar, T.D. (1995). Preservice teachers' attitudes concerning elementary social studies instruction. Bloomington, IN: ERIC Clearinghouse for Social Studies/Social Science Education. (ERIC Document Reproduction Service No. ED 398 097.

Stark, J.S. et al. (1987). Professional education. Washington, D.C.: Association for the Study of Higher Education; ERIC Clearinghouse on Higher Education.

Torff, B. (2004). No research left behind. Educational Researcher, 33(7), 27.

Voices of teachers: Report of a survey on social studies. (1991). National Commission on Social Studies in the Schools. Kendall-Hart Publishing, Dubuque, IA.

Joyce H. Burstein, California State University, Northridge Lisa A. Hutton, California State University, Dominguez Hills Reagan Curtis, California State University, Northridge

Copyright University of Northern Iowa Spring 2006

Source: Journal of Social Studies Research

More News in this Category