Civically minded: the types of knowledge teachers use to adapt a civics curriculum

ABSTRACT

This study examines teacher knowledge used to teach civic-perspective-taking in elementary settings. To do so, the researcher analyzes teacher knowledge-in-use through the ways three teachers adapted a curriculum focused on civic perspective-taking through observation of teachers’ enactments of each lesson. Findings indicate that teachers used specific types of knowledge, namely knowledge of locally-relevant issues, knowledge of students’ home lives and cultures, and knowledge of the community and its features, to adapt the lessons they co-designed. Implications for future research based on these findings are discussed.

KEYWORDS:

• Teacher knowledge
• civics education
• civic perspective-taking
• curricular adaption

Disclosure statement

No potential conflict of interest was reported by the author.

Notes

1. The name of the school has been changed to ensure anonymity.

2. Title I schools in the United States have large populations of low-socioeconomic students. These schools receive federal funding to promote opportunities for high-quality education for all students.

3. All teachers and students have been assigned pseudonyms.

4. In the United States, elementary teacher preparation programs typically offer a content specialty endorsement in a specific subject area, such as Language Arts, or in an area of expertise, such as Teaching English as a Second Language (TESL).

5. Dimension 1 was also a focus of early design meetings. Teachers took the lead on developing the question and planning the inquiry because this was students’ first experience engaging in inquiry in this manner. In the future, teachers hope to involve students more in the process of developing a compelling question and planning the inquiry.

Additional information

Notes on contributors

William Toledo

William Toledo is an Assistant Professor of Elementary Social Studies Education in the College of Education at the University of Nevada, Reno. Prior to his doctoral studies at the University of Michigan, Dr. Toledo taught elementary school for several years in the southwestern United States.

Dr. Toledo researches social studies education in K-8 classrooms, with a focus on developing mutually-beneficial researcher-practitioner partnerships to design and implement curricular interventions with teachers. He is interested in conducting research in schools with large numbers of students from historically disenfranchised populations, particularly Latinx-identifying students.