Journal of International Social Studies, v. 8, n. 2, 2018, pp. 1-2 
 

 

Corresponding author: rapoport@purdue.edu  

©2012/2018 National Council for Social Studies International Assembly 

http://www.iajiss.org ISSN: 2327-3585 

Page 1  

 
 

From the Editor: 

In the first article in this issue Exploring the Relationship Between Constructivist Learning 

Environments, Attitudes, Academic Delay of Gratification, and Teaching Efficacy Beliefs in a Social 

Studies Teaching Course, Şahin Dündar from Trakya University, Turkey demonstrated that 

perceived constructivist learning environments in a social studies teaching course positively and 

significantly predicted the preservice elementary school teachers’ attitudes toward the course, 

their academic delay of gratification in the course, and their social studies teaching efficacy 

beliefs. Thus, the author concluded if teacher trainers want future elementary school teachers to 

develop positive attitudes toward social studies teaching courses, to give priority to academic 

work, and to promote social studies teaching efficacy, they should design their teaching courses 

in line with the constructivist approach. 

In Philosophy for Children: A Deliberative Pedagogy for Teaching Social Studies in Japan and the 

USA, Amber Strong Makaiau from University of Hawaii at Manoa and Noboru Tanaka from Gifu 

University examined the impact of philosophy for children Hawai'i (p4cHI) on social studies 

teaching and learning in two countries. The authors framed their study by explaining the 

connection between deliberative pedagogy, p4cHI, and contemporary social studies movements 

in Japan and the United States. They also explored the potential role that the p4cHI approach to 

deliberative pedagogy can play in promoting democratic global citizens in diverse national 

contexts. 

High School Study Abroad: What Do World History Students Really Learn? by Carmen Newstreet 

from University of Dallas and Jacqueline Rackar from Broward County Public Schools details how 

a large, urban, public high school implemented a study abroad program to enrich its Advanced 

Placement World History course. The study demonstrates that study abroad, as a global 

education enrichment, extended comprehension and enriched classroom learning and could be 

integrated into many disciplines. 

Matthew S. Hollstein from Kent State University presented two case studies from Korea, one of 

a classroom teacher and the other of a teacher educator. In the article Social Studies in South 

Korea: Examining Teacher and Teacher Educator’s Views, Hollstein provided a thorough 

evaluation of the history, purpose, and trajectory of social studies and geography education.  The 

detailed examination of the two case studies from Korea raises the question of whether or not 

the United States should undergo a cultural shift with respect to the value of education. 

mailto:rapoport@purdue.edu
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Journal of International Social Studies, v. 8, n. 2, 2018, pp. 1-2 
 

 

Corresponding author: rapoport@purdue.edu  

©2012/2018 National Council for Social Studies International Assembly 

http://www.iajiss.org ISSN: 2327-3585 

Page 2  

 
 

Who is responsible for educating good citizens? The purpose of the study conducted by Mulugeta 

Yayeh Worku from Bahir Dar University in Ethiopia was to understand the perceptions of 

Ethiopian students and school practitioners as to whose responsibility it is to foster good 

citizenship.  The results demonstrated that there has been much reliance on schools and teachers 

for the preparation of good citizenship. Overall, however, the perception of Ethiopian students 

and educators as to who is responsible for educating good citizens was found to be narrow, 

incomplete, and unsatisfactory.  

Michelle Dawn Cude from James Madison University and Florence Kisirkoi from Maasai Mara 

University in Kenya investigated whether one class on transformative teacher education could 

make a difference in training future teachers. In the article Transformation Through Teacher 

Education: A Case Study of One Social Studies/History Methods Course in Kenya, Cude and Kisirkoi 

described the experience of  one teacher educator from the US seeking to bring change and 

support new pedagogical ideologies in Kenya. The study concludes that change can occur through 

one single course but the revolutionary nature of this change of teaching style would benefit 

from multiple exposures in multiple contexts in order to increase the sustainability of the change. 

In their essay Slaying the Dragon: Junior Model United Nations Curriculum Designing for Middle 

School Teacher Candidates, Juan Manuel Walker, Stacie K Pettit, Craig Douglas Albert, and Laura 

Rychly from Augusta University demonstrated that there is a need to re-imagine teacher 

candidates as curriculum makers in order to inspire future teachers to become agents of change. 

To have positive effects, teachers need to think of curriculum not as fixed but as dynamic in a 

way that is fundamental to student learning. The second essay Banal and Fetishized Evil: 

Implicating Ordinary Folk in Genocide Education by Cathryn van Kessel from University of Alberta 

addresses the problems of Holocaust and genocide education that would benefit from a renewed 

focus on how ordinary people perpetuate atrocities more so than villains. Van Kessel asserted 

that fetishization of evil has repercussions for how we might teach about atrocities and offered 

three interrelated strategies: teaching Arendt’s “banality of evil” theory and Ernest Becker’s idea 

of the fetishization of evil in tandem, teaching disobedience, and expanding fetishized 

perceptions. Readers will also enjoy Jing Williams’ (University of South Dakota) review of the 

newly published book by Tony Fuss Kirkwood-Tucker The Global Education Movement: 

Narratives of Distinguished Global Educators.   

Anatoli Rapoport 

Editor 

 

mailto:rapoport@purdue.edu
http://www.iajiss.org/