Young Adult Historical Fiction in the Middle Grades Social Studies Classroom: Can Literature Increase Student Interest and Test Scores?

2015 ◽  
Vol 8 (2) ◽  
pp. 39-61
Author(s):  
Stewart Waters ◽  
Leah Jenkins
Keyword(s):  
Young Adult ◽  
Social Studies ◽  
Test Scores ◽  
Historical Fiction ◽  
Middle Grades ◽  
Student Interest

Selected Demographic Variables, School Music Participation, and Achievement Test Scores of Urban Middle School Students

2008 ◽  
Vol 56 (2) ◽  
pp. 145-161 ◽  
Author(s):  
Daryl W. Kinney
Keyword(s):  
Middle School Students ◽  
Social Studies ◽  
Test Scores ◽  
Achievement Test ◽  
School Students ◽  
Urban Middle School ◽  
Band Students ◽  
8Th Grade ◽  
Grade Achievement ◽  
Urban Middle School Students

Nontransient 6th- and 8th-grade urban middle school students' achievement test scores were examined before (4th grade) and during (6th or 8th grade) enrollment in a performing ensemble. Ensemble participation (band, choir, none) and subject variables of socioeconomic status (SES) and home environment were considered. Fourth- and 6th-grade achievement tests consisted of Reading, Math, Citizenship and Science; 8th grade included Reading, Math, Social Studies, Science, and Language Arts. Analyses indicated significant differences yet small effect sizes for main effects of SES and ensemble participation. Higher SES students scored significantly higher on all subtests except 4th-, 6th-, and 8th-grade reading. Sixth-grade band students scored significantly higher than choir students and nonparticipants on every subtest of 6th- and 4th-grade achievement tests. Eighth-grade band students scored significantly higher than nonparticipants on 4th-grade Reading and Math and every subtest of the 8th-grade achievement test except Social Studies. Similar results for both cohorts suggest that band may attract higher achieving students from the outset and that test score differences remain stable over time.

An analysis of the presentation of Sikhism in social studies textbooks

2018 ◽  
Vol 13 (2) ◽  
pp. 238-253
Author(s):  
Sean Colbert-Lewis ◽  
Drinda E. Benge
Keyword(s):  
High School ◽  
Content Analysis ◽  
Social Studies ◽  
Critical Pedagogy ◽  
Middle Grades ◽  
National Council ◽  
Content Type ◽  
Religious Literacy ◽  
The Social ◽  
Social Studies Textbooks

Purpose The increase of Islamophobia-inspired hate crimes toward Sikh Americans led the Sikh Coalition of America and the National Council for the Social Studies to request social studies educators to conduct a content analysis on the presentation of Sikhism in social studies textbooks. The Sikh Coalition hopes to use the findings of such research to encourage more appropriate inclusion about the religion in textbooks by the leading publishing companies and as a legitimate social studies subject of instruction in the state standards for all 50 states. The paper aims to discuss this issue. Design/methodology/approach The incorporation of critical pedagogy, as a tool of critical multiculturalism, serves as the theoretical design of this study. Content analysis serves as the method of research for this study. The authors also employed an online survey to determine the scope of religious literacy of the pre-service teachers with regard to Sikhism before the conducting of content analysis of social studies textbooks for the presentation of Sikhism. Findings The current presentation of Sikhism in social studies textbooks has the potential to help fuel the Islamophobia that Sikh Americans now face. The authors found that the pre-service teachers possess little religious literacy regarding Sikhism. Furthermore, from the content analyses, the authors found that a total of 21 out of the sample of 32 textbooks (5 elementary, 11 middle grades and 16 high school) mention Sikhism. Eight textbooks include a mention of the origins of Sikhism. Nine textbooks misidentify the religion as a blending of Hinduism and Islam. Nine textbooks mention the religion in relation to the assassination of Indira Gandhi. Research limitations/implications The originality of this research led the authors to find that the very limited and inaccurate information we found present in the most-used textbooks for elementary, middle grades and high school social studies made the employing of inferential statistics like correlation difficult. Also, the authors found from the literature that research addressing Islamophobia in the classroom has centered on the role of licensed teachers only. The research gives a model to how pre-service teachers may address Islamophobia in the classroom and also gain religious literacy regarding Sikhism. Practical implications The rise of Islamophobia-inspired violence toward students of South Asian descent has led to the call to address this matter. The research introduces a method to how social studies education professors may help engage their pre-service teachers in proactively addressing Islamophobia. Social studies professors have a responsibility to help promote social justice through critical pedagogy that explores the religious literacy of their pre-service teachers beyond Buddhism, Christianity, Hinduism, Islam and Judaism. Social implications The Sikh Coalition, by telephone, has formally acknowledged to the authors that the textbook research has been the most extensive they have received since making their joint request with the National Council for the Social Studies. They have used the research to successfully convince the state education boards of Texas and recently Tennessee to adopt the inclusion of Sikhism in social studies content. More Americans, at a young age, need to learn about Sikh culture, so they are less likely to develop prejudicial ideas about Sikh Americans and commit violent acts of religious-based discrimination. Originality/value The research is extremely rare. To date, no one else in the country has conducted research on the presentation of Sikhism in textbooks to the extent that the authors have. The authors hope that the research will encourage more dialogue and further research. The authors hope that the research will help prevent further acts of religious-based violence toward followers of the world’s sixth largest religion.

scholarly journals READING NOVELS IN THE RENEWED MIDDLE GRADES ENGLISH CLASSROOM:

2020 ◽  
Vol 8 (1) ◽  
pp. 91-98
Author(s):  
Jessica Allen Hanssen
Keyword(s):  
Young Adult ◽  
Middle Grades ◽  
Teacher Autonomy ◽  
Young Adult Fiction ◽  
Critical Reading ◽  
English Classroom ◽  
Reading Teacher

Young adult fiction; interpretative community; critical reading; teacher autonomy; ENG01-04

scholarly journals What Is Efficient Social Studies Instruction?

2021 ◽  
Vol 9 (3) ◽  
pp. 110
Author(s):  
Çiğdem Kan
Keyword(s):  
Social Studies ◽  
Descriptive Analysis ◽  
Real Life ◽  
Student Interest ◽  
Transfer Of Knowledge ◽  
Structured Interviews ◽  
Qualitative Research Design ◽  
Social Studies Instruction ◽  
Academic Year

Effective social studies instruction should intend to train young individuals who are interested, are capable of participating in the learning process, are capable of utilizing technology, have a good memory, look forward to the future with confidence, and transfer the knowledge they acquire at school to daily life. The aim of the present research is to determine the problems experienced in the instruction of social studies course based on teacher views and the means for an efficient social studies instruction. Thus, the case study method, a qualitative research design, was employed in the present study. Semi-structured interviews were conducted with 20 teachers, employed in five middle schools in Elazığ province urban center, during the 2016-2017 academic year, and the data were analyzed with descriptive analysis. Thus, it was determined that the inadequacy of course hours and the redundancy and complexity of the topics were the main problems experienced in social studies courses and these were identified as the factors that led to the lack of student interest. According to the views of the teachers, efficient social studies instruction requires a focus on current issues, requires employment of available technologies, and should allow the individuals to transfer content knowledge to life. It is concluded that an efficient social studies instruction would be possible through the transfer of knowledge to real-life situations, the employment of technological tools, active student participation, the simplification and the elimination the discontinuities between textbook content.

scholarly journals Ragged Fortunes and Swashbuckling Thrillers; Or, Recreating the Victorian in Young Adult Fiction 1985-2011

2021 ◽  
Author(s):  
◽  
Maria Lujan Herrera
Keyword(s):  
Nineteenth Century ◽  
Young Adult ◽  
Historical Fiction ◽  
Victorian Literature ◽  
World View ◽  
Victorian Novel ◽  
Young Adult Fiction ◽  
Victorian Era ◽  
The Subject ◽  
Social Upheaval

<p>The Victorian era has become a fashionable setting for contemporary young adult fiction. Studies of the contemporary pseudo-Victorian novel have focussed almost entirely upon fiction for adults. Scarcely any attention has been paid to their young adult equivalents — the subject of this thesis. Despite being marketed as “historical” fiction, these works do not adopt actual Victorian history as its basis but are influenced by the literature of the time instead. The chief inspirations are authors such as Dickens and Conan Doyle rather than Victorian children’s classics. After demonstrating the appropriation of Victorian literature in the young adult novels of Pullman, Bajoria, Updale, and Lee, I discuss the function of this Victorian dimension. The nineteenth-century “essential” categories under study here — London, prostitutes, opium dens, orphans, detectives — once embodied Victorian anxieties regarding class, social upheaval, gender politics, colonial guilt, and nationalism. But when contemporary writers evoke Victorian ghosts, they are putting forth their own world view. Consequently, these texts are doubly haunted. Heavy with Victorian ideologies, they simultaneously propagate new fears (for instance, terrorism) and appeal to contemporary sensitivities (particularly feminism). Where Victorian values do not align with the authors’ own, they are challenged and “updated”. Whenever they are made to agree, the reader is confronted with assumptions and prejudices that echo disturbingly through the centuries.</p>

scholarly journals From Manteo to Murphy: Young Adult Historic Fiction Set in North Carolina

2009 ◽  
Vol 60 (3) ◽  
pp. 53
Author(s):  
Pat McGee
Keyword(s):  
North Carolina ◽  
Civil War ◽  
Young Adult ◽  
Social Studies ◽  
The State

North Carolina with its status as one of the original thirteen colonies,not to mention its role in secession and the Civil War, possesses afascinating history. With its three distinctive geographic and climacticregions, the state has even been marketed as the “Variety VacationLand.” Why then do social studies students complain so bitterlyabout the dullness of its history?

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