Date of Award:

5-2014

Document Type:

Dissertation

Degree Name:

Doctor of Philosophy (PhD)

Department:

Instructional Technology and Learning Sciences

Committee Chair(s)

Brett Shelton

Committee

Brett Shelton

Committee

Andrew Walker

Committee

Steven Camicia

Committee

Spencer J. Clark

Committee

Sheri Haderlie

Abstract

The purpose of the dissertation is to research a practitioner-informed orientation model for social studies, utilizing the lived experiences of teachers including their connections to and with technology. The number of participants was bound to three secondary social studies teachers from an urban, suburban, and rural district respectively. Data collection was completed through a series of detailed interviews: three modified narrative identity protocols, one elicited response interview, and one observation interview. Phenomenology formed the epistemological lens and the method from a transcendental or psychological approach to phenomenology with a grounded theory approach to analyzing the data. There existed overlaps with the utilized Evans’ model in comparison, yet current models failed to encompass all elements of teacher-held orientations and an emergent model formed to include social efficiency, a social sciences core, a transformative role, and personal improvement. The findings also included four themes: the role of storytelling as a central concept in practice, the role of film and television representations of history in sustaining engagement, the value of the classroom environment and students in creating a sense of equity, and a close level of uniformity in orientation reporting out of step with current frameworks. Implications for learning environments are discussed in addition to necessary future research suggestions.

Checksum

f05d8bc6e4159d8fb901d00537ff5287

Download

Included in

Education Commons

Share

COinS

Copyright for this work is retained by the student. If you have any questions regarding the inclusion of this work in the Digital Commons, please email us at .