A Lack of Discipline? Toward a Theory of Pedagogical Content Knowledge in Social Studies

• In Event: Roundtable Session 21
  In Roundtable Session: What Gets Talked About? Examining Curricular Inclusion and Exclusion

Abstract

This paper explores why a theory of pedagogical content knowledge for social studies has been so difficult to elaborate, focusing on the field’s failure to come to consensus on its aims and purposes—a failure that finds its roots in, and has been exacerbated by, a distrust of disciplinary knowledge and the scholars that produce it. I suggest that a more robust framework for the conceptualization of content, grounded in Schwab’s notion of disciplinary “structures,” would give new meaning and purpose to the social studies curriculum, enhancing teacher preparation and improving the quality of teaching that occurs in schools.

Author

• Dave Powell, Gettysburg College