Learning through Doing: Preservice Teacher Training in Historical Inquiry through Oral History Projects

Abstract

Due to the marginalization of social studies in the elementary school, many students are being slighted in social studies instruction resulting in deficits in content knowledge. Although rarely addressed, another unintended consequence of the marginalization of elementary social studies is the lack of preservice teachers’ exposure to exemplary instructional strategies. As a teacher educator concerned with adequately preparing preservice teachers, it was necessary to provide opportunities for them to experience exemplary social studies teaching, particularly historical inquiry, that was missing from the field settings. Collecting oral histories provides an active and personal learning experience that integrates other disciplines, an important component in today's high stakes testing environment focusing mainly on reading and math. This paper describes the rationale for choosing oral history as an instructional methodology for preservice teachers as well as the many variations of oral history projects implemented in an undergraduate social studies methods course. In addition, there are many examples of the projects that were created and a step-by-step guide describing the implementation of an oral history project.

• educational methodology
• elementary
• oral history
• preservice teacher education

Notes

1 Center for Civic Education, National Standards for Civics Government (Calabasas, CA: Center for Civic Education, 1994).

2 J. K. Colville and R. H. Clarken, “Developing Social Responsibility through Law-Related Education” (paper presented at the Annual Meeting of the American Educational Research Association, San Francisco, CA, April 1992, ED 344 870).

3 John D. Hoge, “Civic Education in Schools,” ERIC Clearinghouse for Social Studies/Social Science Education, http://www.ericdigests.org/pre-9210/civic.htm (accessed February 5, 2003).

4 Anthony D. Lutkus, Andrew R. Weiss, Jay R. Campbell, John Mazzeo, and Stephen Lazer, The NAEP 1998 Civics Report Card for the Nation, NCES 2000-457 (Washington, DC: U.S. Department of Education Office of Educational Research and Improvement, 1999).

5 Michael A. Zaccaria, “The Development of Historical Thinking: Implications for the Teaching of History,” The History Teacher 11 (1978): 323–40.

6 Jere Brophy and Bruce Van Sledright, Teaching and Learning History in Elementary Schools (New York: Teachers College Press, 1997).

7 Sam Wineburg, Historical Thinking and Other Unnatural Acts: Charting the Future of Teaching the Past (Philadelphia: Temple, 2001).

8 Donald A. Ritchie, Doing Oral History: A Practical Guide (New York: Oxford University Press, 2003).

9 Jim Parsons, “Using Oral History in Social Studies,” Canadian Social Studies 34 (2000): 85–86.

10 Glenn Whitman, Dialogue with the Past (New York: Altamira Press, 2004).

11 Kathleen Cotton, “Educating for Citizenship,” School Improvement Research Series, http://educationnorthwest.org/webfm_send/512 (accessed April 7, 2005).

12 John I. Goodlad, “The Learner at the World's Center,” Social Education 50 (1986): 424–36.

13 Kenneth W. Kickbusch, “Civic Education and Preservice Educators: Extending the Boundaries of Discourse,” Theory and Research in Social Education 25 (1987): 83.

14 Ibid.

15 Claire Hirshfield, “New Worlds from Old: An Experience in Oral History at the Elementary School Level,” Social Studies 82 (1991): 100–14.

16 Kieran Egan, “Teaching History to Young Children,” Phi Delta Kappan 63 (1982): 439–41.

17 Ibid.

18 Linda Wood, Oral History Projects in Your Classroom (Carlisle, PA: Oral History Association, 2001).

19 Ruth S. Busby and Janie D. Hubbard, “Using Local Oral History in the Elementary Classroom,” Social Studies Research and Practice 2 (2007): 367–89.

20 Ibid.

21 John V. Richardson, Jr., “Learning Pyramid,” November 20, 2002, http://polaris.gseis.ucla.edu/jrichardson/dis220/training.ppt#226 (accessed October 25, 2005).

Additional information

Notes on contributors

Ruth Stewart Busby

Ruth Busby is an assistant professor of elementary education in the Department of Education at Troy University, Troy, AL. Along with Janie Hubbard she is the author of Using Local Oral History in the Elementary Classroom (2007)