K–6 Preservice Teachers' Emerging Professional Identities as Social Studies Educators

• In Event: Roundtable Session 26
  In Roundtable Session: Preparation of Preservice Teachers in Social Studies

Abstract

It is vital that social studies be an integral part of K-6 curriculum to prepare ‘all children’ to participate in increasingly diverse democracies. This study’s purpose was to investigate the extent to which nine planned and implemented social studies professional development activities, outside classrooms, could impact five volunteer K-6 pre-service teachers’ emergent professional identities as social studies educators. This case study explored research questions through mixed methods. Research implications contribute to possible solutions for: (1) US novice teacher attrition rates, (2) helping pre-service teachers’ gain understanding of how professional educators, outside their local areas, create and learn public scholarship to educate diverse democracies, and (3) helping pre-service teachers understand the relationship between high quality professional development, networking/membership, and life-long learning.

Author

• Janie Daniel Hubbard, The University of Alabama