From “Social Justice Vacant” to “Social Justice Explicit”: An Analysis of How Elementary Pre-service Teachers Imagine Teaching about COVID-19

ABSTRACT

As the COVID-19 pandemic invaded our lives in March of 2020, schools were forced to close their doors and urgently transition to remote learning. This action research study is about pre-service elementary teachers (PSTs) in a social justice-focused social studies methods course who used this unprecedented time as valid curricular material. While adjusting to life in lockdown, PSTs created inquiries about COVID-19 for elementary students. Analysis of these inquiries revealed curricula that could be envisioned along a social justice spectrum. Some were “social justice vacant,” others offered a “social justice nod,” a handful waded in a bit further demonstrating a “social justice curious” stance, and two of the inquiries were “social justice explicit.” This spectrum is discussed and offers implications for teacher education related to the action research implementation and reflection.

KEYWORDS:

• Elementary
• teacher education
• social studies
• social justice
• inquiry

Disclosure statement

No potential conflict of interest was reported by the author(s).

Additional information

Notes on contributors

Laura H. Darolia

Laura H. Darolia is an Assistant Professor in the Department of Curriculum and Instruction at the University of Kentucky where she teaches elementary social studies methods.  Her research interests include critical literacy and critical inquiry in elementary spaces.  Her work has been published in Social Studies and the Young Learner, the Journal of Curriculum Studies Research, and Talking Points.  She earned her doctorate from the University of Missouri in 2017.  Before joining the faculty at the University of Kentucky, she was an elementary school teacher for 10 years.

Meghan A. Kessler

Meghan A. Kessler is currently an Assistant Professor of teacher education at the University of Illinois Springfield where she teaches courses for preservice teachers on social justice oriented social studies and classroom assessment. Her research investigates teacher education policy and practice and social studies education. She is also interested in teacher identity and whole-child pedagogies. Her work has been published in Teachers College Record, Policy Futures in Education, and The Educational Forum. She received her doctorate from the University of Illinois at Urbana-Champaign in 2018. Prior to receiving her doctorate, she was a middle and high school social studies teacher in Illinois.