www.jsser.org
Journal of Social Studies Education Research
Sosyal Bilgiler Eğitimi Araştırmaları Dergisi
2019:10 (2), 1-30
1
After the Content Course: An Expert-Novice Study of Disciplinary Literacy Practices
Michael A. Kopish1 & Sarah Lane2
Abstract
This manuscript presents findings and implications from a multiple case study of how teacher
candidates in secondary and middle childhood programs learn specialized knowledge, skills, and
expertise from disciplinary experts in content courses and enact practices of disciplinary literacy in
field placements. An expert-novice framework was employed to explore the pedagogical content
knowledge of experts (professors of economics and history) and novices (middle childhood and
secondary social studies teacher candidates) who taught history and economics during their clinical
internships. Data were analyzed from participants’ think-aloud and card sort activities, semi-
structured interviews, classroom artifacts, and classroom observations. The findings provide key
insights in the preparation of teacher candidates in social studies.
Key words: Teacher preparation, pedagogical content knowledge, social studies
instruction, disciplinary literacy
Introduction
At many universities, social studies teacher candidates take the majority of their content
courses outside Colleges of Education. To illustrate, at one medium sized public university of the
121 total credit hours social studies teacher candidates must successfully complete to graduate,
54 of those credit hours are taken in content-specific courses in other colleges. The breakdown of
the 54 credit hours for candidates are as follows: 27 credit hours in history, 9 in geography, 6 in
economics, and 12 in political science. The range and number of content-specific credit hours
prepare social studies teacher candidates to have depth and breadth of content knowledge in four
core disciplines of social studies (i.e. history, geography, economics, civics/government).
Moreover, the courses should equip candidates with the requisite content knowledge needed to
enact curriculum and instruction aligned with the state standards in social studies and pass any
content examinations required for certification or licensure (i.e., Praxis II, Ohio Assessment of
Educators).
1 Associate Professor, Ohio University, kopish@ohio.edu
2 Undergraduate Student, Ohio University, sn640612@ohio.edu
Journal of Social Studies Education Research 2019: 10 (2), 1-30
As it stands, a significant proportion of teacher candidates’ learning occurs in content
classes from disciplinary experts who not only provide foundational content knowledge, but
model practices of curriculum design, teaching, disciplinary thinking, and disciplinary literacy
practices. There is growing recognition that disciplinary literacy involves understanding
discourses, social and cognitive practices, ways of thinking and reasoning, and habits of mind
undertaken by disciplinary experts (Fang, 2014; Moje, 2008; Shanahan & Shanahan, 2008). Thus,
while content knowledge differs from discipline to discipline, so does the discourse and
rhetorical knowledge of each discipline. To be sure, the role disciplinary experts play in the
development of future teachers is profound.
As teacher educators, we must prepare our candidates to address questions that guide
social studies today: What does thinking in the different disciplines look like? What do the
experts do and how do school-aged students learn to accomplish it by comparison? What sorts of
changes in thinking practices do learners need to undertake in order to become more
knowledgeable about and proficient at understanding the world? The answers to these questions
involve disciplinary thinking and cognitive and literacy practices compatible with those
undertaken by disciplinary experts in history, geography, economics, and civics (Lee & Swan,
2013).
Social studies educators are currently experiencing a paradigm shift from incorporating
generic literacy instruction to teaching discipline-specific language and literacy practices (NCSS,
2013). The enactment of this new paradigm can be particularly difficult for current and future
social studies educators who teach multiple disciplines (e.g. history, civics, economics,
geography). During practicum experiences and internships, social studies teacher candidates are
implored to enact literacy practices across multiple disciplines and provide students with
opportunities engage in cognitive practices compatible with those undertaken by disciplinary
experts (Cuenca, Castro, Benton, Hostetler, Heafner, & Thacker, 2018). But, how are teacher
candidates learning the literacy and cognitive practices from disciplinary experts? How are social
studies teacher candidates developing deep understanding of disciplinary content, habits of mind,
and research-based practices from their content courses? To better prepare social studies teachers
to meet the advanced literacy demands in the field, some guidance is needed. Therefore, the aim
of this study is to better understand how social studies teacher candidates in secondary education
and middle childhood programs learn specialized knowledge, skills, and expertise from
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disciplinary experts in U.S. history and economics courses and enact practices of disciplinary
literacy in field placements.
Literature Review
Many researchers agree that teacher candidate learning is highly influenced by the
communities of practices within which learning takes place (Barton & Levstik, 2004; van Hover
& Yeager, 2007; Ball & Cohen 1999; Darling-Hammond & Bransford, 2005; Wilson &
Wineburg, 1988; Zeichner & Conklin, 2005). As a whole, this line of research emphasizes the
role of mentor teachers in the novice teacher preparation. However, it is important to
acknowledge that teacher candidates are often members of several communities of practice: 1) at
placement sites with mentor teachers; 2) in content specific courses with disciplinary experts;
and 3) in pedagogy courses with education experts. For this study, content courses are of
particular interest given the reliance on College of Arts and Sciences for the content-specific
training of teacher candidates.
The collaborative training of candidates between colleges of education and the colleges
of content courses is not without challenges (e.g., Cochran-Smith, 2005; King, 1987; Zeichner,
1993). Social studies educators have expressed concern that when teacher preparation in content
and pedagogy occurs separately, candidates often struggle to apply content knowledge in
classroom settings (Segall, 2004). At a minimum, teacher educators expect candidates to acquire
common content knowledge and have a strong desire for candidates to develop specialized
content knowledge (Ball et al, 2008). In history, for example, teacher educators want candidates
to have specialized historical content knowledge that involves deep understanding of the
processes of historical thinking (e.g., Wineburg, 2001). Likewise, in economics, teacher
educators have similar desires for teacher candidates to develop discipline-specific economic
reasoning and thinking skills consistent with research (CEE, 2000; Davies, 2006; Wentworth,
1987; Wentworth & Schug, 1993). For today’s social studies teachers, however, content
knowledge alone is insufficient and must be complimented with knowledge of pedagogy and
disciplinary literacy.
Disciplinary experts not only provide foundational content knowledge for teacher
candidates, they also demonstrate expert knowledge of literacy practices commensurate with
their respective fields of study. This study is informed by previous research that helps explain
how literacy is conceptualized in two disciplines of social studies: history (Bain, 2012; Reisman,
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2012; Vansledright, 2012; Wineburg, 2001) and economics (Schug & Walstad, 1991; Miller &
VanFossen, 1994; Walstad, 1992; Morton, 2005). While these studies provide much needed
direction for social studies educators, they are limited by their emphasis on cognitive and skill
demands of career-level experts. With the exception of history, these studies offer little to the
field with respect to pedagogy. Put differently, while these studies moved social studies
education toward disciplinary practices, they do not address the transformation of the
disciplinary content and practices learned from experts and how teacher candidates in field
placements enact it in practice. Compounding the problem, other studies reveal students and
teacher candidates are rarely taught to read, write, think, and reason in discipline-specific ways
(Fang, 2014; Moje, 2008; Shanahan & Shanahan, 2008). These gaps in the literature warrant an
investigation of teacher candidate preparation by content experts outside of teacher education on
their journey to become social studies teachers. Specifically, this study addresses three key
questions:
1. How do teacher candidates from middle childhood and secondary programs organize
curriculum in US history and a self-identified weak social studies content area?
2. How does candidates’ organizational schemes for curriculum compare with experts?
3. How do novices and experts teach disciplinary knowledge and literacy practices?
Perspective
In order to capture the alchemy of teaching content and skills through appropriate
pedagogical practices, this study acknowledges there is wide acceptance among teacher
educators that “content knowledge unique to teaching – a kind of subject-matter-specific
professional knowledge” exists (Ball, et al 2008, p. 389). First conceptualized by Lee Shulman
(1987), pedagogical content knowledge (PCK) is the “blending of content and pedagogy into an
understanding of how particular topics, problems or issues are organized, represented, and
adapted to the diverse interests and abilities of learners and presented for instruction” (p. 8).
PCK is based on an understanding of what it is about the content that the teacher knows (and has
come to understand) to purposefully shape the pedagogy and the associated approach to student
learning (Loughran et. al., 2004). PCK develops over time as a repertoire of teacher pedagogical
constructions “that the experienced teacher has developed as a result of repeated planning and
teaching of, and reflection on the teaching of, the most regularly taught topics” (Hashweh, 2006,
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p. 277). PCK provides a sound framework to examine how curriculum is conceptualized and
enacted to address content and disciplinary literacy requirements.
Methods
Research Design
For this research, a multiple-case design (Yin, 2003) using an expert-novice framework
was employed. Expert-novice studies have a long history in teacher education and have
contributed greatly to our understanding of history education (Wineburg, 1991; 1992; 1994;
Leinhardt & Young, 1996), and economics education (Miller & VanFossen, 1994).
Participants
Participants for this expert novice study were derived from three distinct groups: a) four
(4) undergraduate SE teacher candidates enrolled in a social studies methods course, b) four (4)
undergraduate MCE teacher candidates enrolled in a social studies methods course, and c) two
(2) disciplinary experts – a tenured history professor and a tenured economics professor. All of
the teacher candidates who participated were enrolled in social studies methods courses (one for
SE candidates and one for MCE candidates). Running concurrent to the methods course, all
teacher candidates completed a 150-hour clinical experience during the 2015 fall semester
followed by a full-time professional internship (student teaching) during the spring 2016
semester. The lead author taught both methods courses, but did not supervise teacher candidates
during their clinical experience or professional internship. The disciplinary experts had
experience teaching both survey and upper division courses in their respective fields. Due to
variation in individual teacher candidates’ programs of study and course selections, not all
candidates enrolled in the expert’s courses.
Presented in the findings are data from two students, Ben (an SE candidate) and Jennifer
(an MCE candidate) are representative of the two groups and their experiences are included in
this manuscript. Ben completed his professional internship teaching 9th grade history and 11th
grade economics at a small rural high school and Jennifer completed her professional internship
teaching an 7th grade class at a rural middle school. To be licensed in Ohio, teacher candidates
must pass an Ohio Assessment of Educators (OAE) content test in social studies – one test is
aligned with high school social studies content and one test is aligned with middle school social
studies content. On the OAE, both passed the full examination; Ben earned passing scores of 3
our of 4 on the U.S. History and Economic sections and Jennifer earned passing scores of 3 out
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of 4 for U.S. History and 2 out of 4 for Economics. Both students were highly accomplished in
their studies and exemplar teacher candidates.
Study Methodology
Expert novice studies initially emerged to better understand expert thinking in physics
(Larkin, McDermott, Simon & Simon, 1980; Chi, Feltovich, & Glaser, 1981) and chess (Chase
& Simon, 1973). In education research, card sort methodology is employed to examine expert
thinking (Barton & Levstik, 1998; Harris, 2008). The card sort methodology involves
participants sorting through a stack of cards and constructing some sort of concept map by
arranging the cards in a pattern that reflects their understandings, labeling groupings of cards,
and indicating connections between cards. Such studies allow researchers to examine thinking of
disciplinary experts (and novices) with content experience and pedagogy as they organize
content for instructional purposes.
Data Collection and Tools
For this study, all participants first completed a think-aloud and card sort activity adapted
from a protocol used with world history experts and novice (Harris, 2008; Harris & Bain, 2011).
The think-aloud and card sort activity reflected state standards for U.S. History and Economics
in Ohio (see Appendix A). All SE and MCE teacher candidates who participated completed two
card sort activities: one for U.S. History, a self-identified area of strong content understanding
and one in Economics, a self-identified weak content area. The rationale for having candidates
identify strong and weak content areas is informed by research that demonstrates educators who
teach outside of disciplinary expertise often struggle (Gudmundsdottir & Shulman, 1987; Wilson
& Wineburg, 1988), which offered the researchers a unique opportunity to analyze disciplinary
knowledge and practices of teacher candidates in two content areas. Presented in this manuscript
are findings from candidates who taught both U.S. history AND economics during their fall
clinical and spring professional internships. Disciplinary experts, on the other hand, only
completed one card sort activity for their respective discipline. Second, all participants
completed semi-structured interviews to explore how they employ and enact disciplinary
practices (Fang & Coatoam, 2013) with students in their respective classrooms (see Appendix
B). Third, the researchers collected and analyzed examples of classroom artifacts and other
teaching materials from all participants; the researcher also collected teacher candidates’
reflective journals from their internships. Finally, the lead researcher observed classroom
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instruction by all participants. Each teacher candidate was observed two times teaching a U.S.
History course and two times teaching Economics while the experts were observed one time
each.
Table 1
Alignment of research questions with procedures and products
Research Question Procedure Product
1. How do teacher candidates
from middle childhood and
secondary programs organize
curriculum in US history and a
self-selected weak social
studies content area?
2. How does candidates’
organizational schemes for
curriculum compare with
experts?
Card Sort
Semi-structured interview
Concept map
Interview transcripts
3. How do novices and experts
teach disciplinary knowledge
and literacy practices?
Artifact review (syllabi, relevant course
materials)
Classroom observation
Text data – artifact descriptions
Field notes
Data Analysis
The two authors worked to transcribe all interviews and think-aloud, organize all field
notes from classroom observations and artifacts from classroom instruction. We enacted
processes of triangulation (Patton, 2001), which involved corroboration of findings across data
sources (i.e., interviews, think-aloud, field notes, and classroom artifacts) and member checks
with participants to ensure validity of our findings. Together, the authors began with an inductive
open coding process to identify themes followed by an axial coding process to note relationships
(Miles & Huberman, 1994) followed by a deductive process to assign categories. The authors
began coding a subset of the transcripts and coding schemes were compared, discussed, and
amended. Consensus was reached on the main themes related to the primary research questions.
Data from the subset were re-coded using the new coding scheme, which was then applied to all
transcripts and other data sources (see Appendix C). To ensure reliability, any coding
discrepancies were addressed until final consensus was reached.
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Findings
Novice Organization of US History
Similar to previous research that employed a card sort methodology with social studies
content (Harris 2008; Harris & Bain, 2011), both SE and MCE candidates in this study made few
attempts to connect events, offered little detail to explain connections, and appeared unsure how
to represent particular content between historical events. The absence of making connections
resulted in both SE and MCE candidates relying on chronology as the main organizational
scheme for units of instruction (see figures 1 and 2) and explained connections though cause and
effect. For example, Ben stated, “I’d start with Imperialism, and within that I would usher in
World War I because Imperialism was a cause to World War I, international agreements would
not go next because World War I led to international agreements.”
Candidates also drew few lines to demonstrate connections between themes and events
and often appeared unsure how to represent connections for their students. Cards were placed in
order based on candidates’ belief that events and themes should be imparted on students based
on magnitude of impact. Using the World War I as a reference, Jennifer placed the theme
“international agreements” in this unit of instruction because “there’s always something going on
that ties the world together, I think World War I is in my opinion the one place in time where
international agreements were most important.” Candidates found ways to sort and group cards
to construct historical meaning of U.S. history through a chronological exploration of tension
and conflict. They constructed pedagogical meaning for themselves by demonstrating moderate
factual knowledge and basic understanding of when events occurred. Taken together, the
historical and pedagogical meaning framed how they sought to impart U.S. history on their
students during classroom instruction as well.
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Figure 1. U.S. history MCE candidate card sort
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Figure 2. U.S. history SE candidate card sort
Disciplinary Practices of Candidates
When candidates were observed in their classrooms they constructed historical meaning
by ordering historical events and themes chronologically and explained connections between
events and themes by cause and effect. This general structure, however, did not include
persistent themes in U.S. history, essential questions, or deep exploration into the complex
connections among historical themes and events. In short, there was no larger historical narrative
through which the course focused. Units were taught as separate time periods that influenced
subsequent periods (i.e. “Imperialism was a cause to World War I, international agreements
would not go next because World War I led to more cooperation.”). However, across units of
instruction in U.S. history, candidates wanted to establish a skills-based framework to teach
disciplinary practices and promote historical thinking.
Opportunities and barriers of disciplinary literacy. Candidates sought to engage
students’ curiosity and to “not just accept history as some that just happened.” They expressed a
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strong desire to employ a range of disciplinary practices by: incorporating multiple sources
beyond the textbook, promoting inquiry with overarching historical questions for each unit that
are open ended and debatable (i.e. During times of war, should there be checks on the
Commander in Chief?), and teaching students historical argumentation using evidence. There
was a distinct difference between SE and MCE candidate’s opportunities to enact their desired
practices; it was contingent on the candidates’ placement and the pedagogical perspectives and
practices of their mentor teacher. Ben, for example, was able to enact his vision of teaching
history. He promoted inquiry through “critical analysis of readings, of pictures, of video clips, of
maps, primary sources, secondary sources, and novels” and taught his students “different
perspectives from people who have different positions so they can see that history is not one
single story.” In the classroom, Ben designed several opportunities for his students to practice
perspective taking by analyzing multiple primary sources of content familiar to students. One
lesson engaged students in a critical analysis of Columbus with perspectives of the Tainos,
Bartolome de las Casas, King Ferdinand and Queen Isabella, Columbus’s crew, and Columbus’s
journals. A second lesson involved comparing personal accounts of the slave trade from Olaudah
Equiano, Ottobah Cugano and several slave-ship captains.
Jennifer, on the other hand, was placed in a classroom where,
Students didn’t analyze documents, they didn’t question sources and certainly weren’t
given a chance to question claims and evidence. They were given tasks to complete that
guided them to correct answers. It was challenging to change the type of learning I want
to promote in the classroom from names, dates, people, places to teaching historical
controversies, bringing in multiple perspectives and teaching historical argumentation.
In Jennifer’s middle school classroom there was a reliance worksheets and general skills and
strategies by reading the textbook using strategies such as, “stop and jot, text mark, and sketch
your way through the text, semantic maps, KWL, and anticipation guides.” Even when she was
afforded greater autonomy, she struggled to enact disciplinary practices to promote historical
thinking during her internship.
Expert Organization of US History
During the card sort activity, the expert was considerably more deliberate and purposeful
than novices in his approach to review all cards before constructing an organizational scheme
than the novices. For example, the history expert initially moved cards in a “loose chronological
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order” and re-sorted by foreign and domestic connections followed by social and cultural ideas.
The professor quipped, he could “reorient this thing about five different times depending on the
way I would approach a course” before arriving at a “course architecture,” an organizational
scheme that focused the study of history through relationships and themes. He stated,
When I teach US history there are broad themes and subjects, almost methodologies of
history that I will embed within the overall architecture of the course. So, something like
immigration, slavery, or racism I mean if they are connected in the period I am looking at
in important ways and they are things that will be covered at multiple times. I don’t
quarantine them into one unit. The course proceeds in a more event or biographically
driven way that is more chronological in focus with a thematic understructure.
For example, in figure 3, one can see two-way arrows between the transcontinental railroad and
industrialization and immigration. To him, the transcontinental railroad has a moment in time
when it is significant, and can be viewed through several themes or lenses (i.e. industrialization
and immigration). He mentioned the transcontinental railroad is something that would be
discussed “in the context of how people were talking about the role of government and how they
were debating imperialism, industrialization, and federalism.” In other words, he draws on
multiple themes to analyze an episode of history in order for students to see history as having
layers of complexity.
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Figure 3. U.S. history expert card sort
Disciplinary Practices of the U.S. History Expert
Intellectual architecture of U.S. History. For the history professor, there is an
overarching “intellectual architecture” that is explicit and guides students. First, his classes are
constructed on the concept of liberty and freedom; two democratic values that are not static
terms but have different meanings at different times and in different contexts. Liberty, for
example, “changes meaning from when the Puritans use it in the 17th century to Thomas
Jefferson’s natural liberty in the 18th century to abolitionists like Harriet Jacobs use it in the
1840s and 50s.” As a recurring theme, liberty becomes a “signpost” for students to reexamine the
concept to determine different meanings depending on the context. A second theme in his
“intellectual architecture” is not viewing US history in isolation but through a sense of place
globally in order for students to “think about their own world in a broader global context.” He
incorporates two troupes to encourage historical thinking: one is context – “to situate the people
we are looking at within the world in which they lived” and a second, agency – “whether history
is determined by overarching structures that sweep aside individuals or if history is made by
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decisions of individuals and groups.” In his view, history is the story of tension between context
and agency and one cannot rely solely on one or the other to analyze history.
Making the tacit explicit. In the history expert’s course, students are provided a
framework with three focus questions or three themes that are explicitly stated in a weekly
handout and highlight how the readings integrate into the questions or themes. This pedagogical
tool helped the history professor enact his “intellectual architecture.” For example, he assigns
readings from Eric Foner’s Give Me Liberty to provide students with an overarching narrative
and then incorporates primary sources from classic political texts (i.e. Thomas Payne’s Common
Sense, the Declaration of Independence, Andrew Jackson’s Bank Veto, Federalist Papers). He
then moves to biographical accounts from “voices that are not as easily conveyed in the
dominant stories of history” (i.e. slave narratives from Equiano, Harriet Jacobs’ Incidents in the
Life of a Slave Girl) to account for the lived experience of people during particular time periods.
Taken together, the intellectual framework situates the events, people, and multiple readings
encourage students to relate to an individual or focus on a controversy. Put succinctly, the
professor believes “studying history allows you to understand the complicated mechanisms
around which you can apply the richer understanding of historical processes and individual
agency to different circumstances.”
Candidates’ Organization of Economics
Each study participant was also asked to identify their weakest content area among
geography, civics/government, economics, and world history. The majority of SE and MCE
candidates selected economics as their weakest content area and completed card sort activities
based on state standards for economics. When the candidates completed the card sort for U.S.
History, they were able to use chronology as a basic organizational scheme. Without chronology,
candidates elected to group familiar economics concepts into self-created categories (i.e. basic
terms, the impact of systems, economics and the individual, and economic decisions) or used one
of the cards as the title for grouping (i.e. economic systems, economic decisions, financial
responsibility: planning and money management, and economic indicators). There was
considerable variation across the candidates’ iterations of an economics curriculum through the
card sort activity (see figure 4 and 5) as candidates loosely grouped cards “with no particular
order.” However, there was similarity in that candidates made no connection between groupings
or offered an overarching question or approach as a guide to economics.
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Figure 4. Economics MCE candidate card sort
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Figure 5. Economics SE candidate card sort
Challenges from lack of economic content knowledge. During the card sort activity,
the candidates struggled mightily to get the economics cards sorted into some kind of order that
offered conceptual coherency for themselves or for learners. As candidates articulated how they
arrived at their decisions for card placement, it was clear that background knowledge and a depth
of understanding of concepts and ideas that are important in the study of economics was absent.
For example, Jennifer explains her thinking behind the creation of the economic systems
category:
For economic systems, I think we can also kind of move into you know, kind of what
makes, you know, what makes it up. So, we’ve got the consumers, producers, goods and
services, and supply and demand. I think those tie in very well with each other.
In Jennifer’s previous card sort for U.S. History she was able to organize the cards
chronologically and at a minimum explain the connection between events and themes using
cause and effect. As she worked through her explanation of economics systems, she did not offer
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additional information; her rationale for including concepts in the category was simply, “I think
those tie in very well with each other.” This pattern followed for each of the categories she
developed. Ben also offered few insights behind his selection of concepts for categories. For
example, Ben stated,
I would put markets in economic systems. What is the role that markets play? I would put
credit and debit in basic terms. What’s going through my mind right now in economic
systems is capitalism and communism. And I would put incentives in there because I
know in capitalism we’re all about risk and going and taking a risk and making some
money for it.
Similar to Jennifer, Ben provided this level of detail as a rationale for all the categories he
developed. Overall, candidates were not able to offer conceptual coherency for their card sort
activity nor were they able to articulate a reasoned rationale for inclusion of concepts in the
categories. For the overarching structure, candidates created discrete categories and did not make
any connections between categories.
Disciplinary Practices of Candidates
As one might imagine, for SE and MCE candidates in the field, economics was taught
differently at the two levels. For Ben, at the high school level, four broad units were established
for his course (i.e. background, microeconomics, macroeconomics, and comparative economics)
while at the middle school level economics was infused throughout the social studies curriculum
by topic (i.e. economic decision-making and skills, production and consumption, markets,
financial literacy). At Jennifer’s eighth grade placement, economics was taught as a stand-alone
unit. For both candidates, the lack of conceptual coherency and absence of overarching structure
or connections between categories that was demonstrated in card sort activity also plagued
candidates teaching of economics in the field.
Traditional instruction. Without strong economic content knowledge, candidates’
instructional practices in economics were limited to traditional forms of instruction (i.e. direct
instruction through power point, textbook reading and worksheets). These practices were
modeled by their mentor teachers and shared with the candidates for enactment. In U.S. History,
candidates at least expressed a desire to enact disciplinary literacy practices to promote historical
thinking; this was not the case in economics – there was no acknowledgement of a desire to
teach economic thinking. Perhaps one of the greatest inhibitors for the SE and MCE candidates
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in economics is that they learned content ahead of the students and relied heavily on the textbook
and prepared curriculum from mentor teachers.
Evading economic thinking. For the most part, the candidates offered few authentic
opportunities to explore economics through classroom activities to promote economic thinking.
When they did offer an opportunity to explore economics beyond the textbook and lecture, they
led students through simulations: middle school students participated in a personal budget
simulation and high school students participated in a stock market simulation. In both
simulations, however, the candidates de-emphasized economic thinking, the analysis and
application of economic concepts and principles. Instead, the activities were structured to
promote competition between student groups. For example, in the personal budget simulation,
students were “awarded bonus points for keeping their household budget in the black.” The stock
market simulation had a similar de-emphasis on economic thinking promoted student learning
through an award structure that offered “extra credit points for those students who earned the
most money from their stock selection.” Throughout the economics course and unit, there were
limited opportunities for students to apply economic concepts and principles to the real world.
Expert Organization of Economics
Prior to engaging in the card sort activity, the economics expert discussed how part of her
job as a professor is to clear up a misperception her students have that economics is about
money. She offered the following statement as an example of what economics is to her:
“Economics is a behavioral science about decision-making and it’s really decisions about
scarcity and what are the influences and factors that go into making decisions.” With a focus on
decisions, the economics expert was as deliberate and purposeful as the U.S. History expert
during the card sort activity. She sorted the cards multiple times throughout the activity and
eventually settled on a diagram that explained economics as a process of decision-making and
the factors that contribute to economic decisions (see figure 6).
To explain the logic and flow of the diagram, the economics expert started with the center
of the diagram; incentives and cost/benefit analysis influence all economic decisions, which are
made by consumers and producers. These considerations result in types of economic decisions
(i.e. credit and debt, savings and investing) for both consumers and producer and result in the
aggregate supply and demand, which is “ultimately what a society produces at the end is the
result of decisions.” She also pointed out that economic decisions are “not made in a vacuum;
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they are made within an economic context that includes government policies, a macroeconomic
context, and other inputs to consider.” When she teaches, she tries to convey to her students that
rather than expecting an economist to say something is right or wrong, “the real way economists
think is in terms of tradeoffs.”
Figure 6. Economics expert card sort
Disciplinary Practices of the Economics Expert
Authentic experience for learning. To the economics professor, “economics is a
process” and “the core of economics is decision-making.” This simple but profound message is
what she tries to convey to all of her students and accomplishes this by engaging students in
authentic situations to learn economic thinking. Pedagogically, she incorporates economic
simulations, inquiry projects, and teaches controversial issues to her students. For example, one
simulation she teaches is a computer simulation where students are buyers or sellers of
textbooks. The purpose of the textbook simulation is to place students in a position to experience
making economic decisions and to directly apply economic concepts represented in the
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simulation (i.e. supply and demand curve, market-clearing price, and the law of one price). To
promote critical thinking and economic analysis, the professor assigns an inquiry project that
requires students’ research an anti-trust lawsuit to explore monopolies. For an iteration of the
project, she collaborated with a college coach and asked the students: Should we pay college
athletes? This controversy was germane and of interest to the students; it required students to
conduct research, applies economic concepts from class, and prepare questions to ask the college
coach during an open discussion. Through these activities, students were again able to engage in
economic thinking in an authentic learning experience.
Modeling to develop economic skills for the real world. Economics can be abstract to
learners and the professor wants all students to walk away from her classes with the ability to
make informed economic decisions. She acknowledged this is no easy task and teaches economic
thinking and reasoning by modeling. For example, different case studies in economics were
analyzed in class to “flush out every cost and benefit, even opportunity costs.” Her pedagogical
approach demonstrates critical thinking and economic reasoning like she explained in her card
sort (see figure 7). In addition, she required her students to apply economic thinking skills
through authentic writing assignments. The writing assignment required students to take on the
role and perspectives of a consultant with real-world data sets. Students learned how to calculate
data, analyze components or drivers of poverty in developing countries, write to tell a story using
data, and prepare a written product for various non-governmental organizations. In another
authentic writing example, students performed a rise analysis using data available from non-
profits and wrote reports for the non-profit. From a pedagogical perspective, this professor taught
students the disciplinary practices of economists through authentic experiences and modeling.
Discussion, Conclusion and Implications
Teacher preparation is an irreducibly complex process that involves candidate mentorship
in multiple communities of practice (Barton & Levstik, 2004; van Hover & Yeager, 2007; Ball &
Cohen 1999; Darling-Hammond & Bransford, 2005; Wilson & Wineburg, 1988; Zeichner &
Conklin, 2005). A challenge for social studies teacher educators is to try and capture the unique
and often disparate contributions to teacher candidates from various stakeholders. This study
focused on how social studies teacher candidates in secondary and middle childhood programs
learn specialized knowledge, skills and expertise from disciplinary experts in U.S. history and
economics and how candidates enact disciplinary literacy practices during student internships.
Kopish & Lane
The findings yielded several important contributions to the literature on teacher candidate
preparation in social studies.
First, there is a stark contrast between novice teacher candidates and content experts in
how they conceptualize and organize curriculum in the disciplines and enact disciplinary
practices. This comes as no surprise given the difference in experience between the two groups.
Novices made fewer attempts to connect or link concepts, offered little detail to explain
connections, and appeared unsure how to represent particular content during the card sort.
Experts were able to coherently construct frameworks or approaches during the card sort that
demonstrated flexibility in disciplinary thinking and facilitated student learning around core
disciplinary concepts thinking and big ideas. Novices explained their process of organization as
discrete and factual while experts were able to focus learning through disciplinary thinking and
perspectives to connect students to a human element that is critical for learning.
Second, while novices’ content knowledge should be considered emerging, experts
demonstrated specialized historical content knowledge in history (Wineburg, 2001) and
economics (CEE, 2000; Davies, 2006; Wentworth, 1987; Wentworth & Schug, 1993). This level
of content knowledge enabled experts to purposefully shape the pedagogy and the associated
approaches to student learning (Hashweh, 2006; Loughran et. al., 2004; Shulman, 1987) is
consistent with extant research of disciplinary practices in history (Bain, 2012; Reisman, 2012;
Vansledright, 2012; Wineburg, 2001), and economics (Miller & VanFossen, 1994; Morton,
2005; Schug & Walstad, 1991; Walstad, 1992).
Third, researchers have highlighted the perennial problem of disconnect between teacher
education coursework and field experience (Pryor, 2006; Misco & Hamot, 2012; Zeichner, 2010)
For teacher candidates in this study an additional gap emerged among what candidates learn in
content courses, teacher education courses, and their field experiences. Put simply, candidates’
professional readiness and pedagogical content knowledge is a work in progress and requires
teacher educators to experiment and collaborate more purposefully to bolster the quality of
candidates’ experiences in different communities of practice (e.g., Bain, 2012; Journell &
Tolbert, 2016, Marri, et. al, 2011).
Fourth, candidates’ experiences in content courses are often from the perspective of a
student, not of an educator. Students look for the right answer without understanding the
complexity of disciplinary knowledge or how values, beliefs, and practices that shape evidence
Journal of Social Studies Education Research 2019: 10 (2), 1-30
in different time periods and locales. To be fair, professors assume their craft is explicitly taught;
but this research shows social studies teacher candidates often miss the nuance. We need to find
ways to make tacit and elusive practices and pedagogy more explicit to teacher candidates. More
importantly, when critical components of disciplinary knowledge and literacy are missed in
content course, they are not learned in field placements or in teacher education courses. This
problem can be exacerbated when content courses are taken online. Teacher educators need to
consider different interventions with teacher candidates when they take content courses. It could
be pairing teacher education courses with content courses or greater outreach and collaboration
on the part of social studies educators to work with content experts to help make their pedagogy
more explicit (Harris & Bain, 2011).
Lastly, research of PCK in non-history disciplines is sparse (Joshi & Marri, 2006;
Journell, 2013) and although the number of participants in small, it is a necessary step to begin
investigating PCK of teacher candidates in multiple disciplines. Research shows teaching outside
of ones’ disciplinary expertise is struggle for teachers (Gudmundsdottir & Shulman, 1987;
Wilson & Wineburg, 1988); the same is true for candidates in this study. Most teacher candidates
are placed in schools based on availability rather than matched by content area expertise or
disciplinary interest. The likelihood a candidate will teach a course outside of their content area
is high. This research sheds light on areas candidates’ development of PCK in a commonly
taught content area (e.g. U.S. history) and in areas of struggle where candidates are assigned (e.g.
economics). Further, this research helps practitioners to see how candidates conceptualize
curriculum and disciplinary literacy, how literacy tools are used (or not used) in classes and
placements, and how candidates blend PCK and disciplinary literacy practices to enact in
classrooms.
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Appendices
Appendix A – Examples of Concepts from State Standards in Card Sort Activity
US History
Revolutionary
War
Civil War World War I World War II Manifest
Destiny
The Louisiana
Purchase
Slavery Federalism Triangle Trades Voyages of
Discovery
Industrialization Transcontinental
Railroad
Assembly Line Segregation Consumerism
Great
Depression
Immigration Social
Movements
Cold War Vietnam War
Space Race Culture Wars Conservatism
vs. Liberalism
War on Terror Imperialism
Nuclear Age Communism International
Agreements
Civil Rights Role of
Government
Economics
Economic
Systems
Markets Consumers Producers Supply and
Demand
Competition Incentives Economic
Decisions
Goods and
Services
Economic
Indicators
Globalization Trade, Quotas,
Tariffs,
Subsides
Comparative
Advantage
Income, Wages,
Benefits
Taxation
Cost/Benefit Financial
Responsibility:
Planning and
Money
Management
Saving and
Investing
Credit and Debt Risk
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Appendix B – Semi-Structured Interview Protocol
General Literacy
1. What are the most common reading and writing strategies that you use in your
classroom? Why do you use them? What are their objectives?
2. What literacy skills do students need in your class?
Disciplinary Literacy
1. What are the texts of your discipline? How do you select texts for your classes?
2. What are the major understandings of the discipline (e.g., patterns/themes, types of
questions asked, burning questions/controversies)?
3. What is the critical language and discourse of the discipline?
4. How do you teach students to read and write like members of your discipline?
Practices
1. Describe your pedagogical style.
2. What are the essential characteristics of an ideal curriculum in your discipline?
3. How do you assess students in your classes?
4. Describe ways of thinking in your discipline. (History example: chronological thinking,
comprehension, analysis and interpretation, historical research, issues-analysis and
decision-making)
5. Describe how experts reason in your discipline. (History example: asking historical
questions, using sources, contextualization, argumentation, using substantive concepts,
using meta-concepts)
6. Describe habits of mind that are necessary for success in your discipline and in your
class.
7. What literacy tools do you teach for your students?
8. What technologies are used in practice in your discipline?
Appendix C – Selected Coding Examples
Codes Theme Definition Quote
Establish order
Sequence of
events
Temporally
bound
Chronology Teacher candidates
opted to organize
the card sort
chronologically and
described an order
of events for the
rationale.
“I’d start with
Imperialism, and
within that I would
usher in World War
I because
Imperialism was a
cause to World War
I, international
agreements would
not go next because
Journal of Social Studies Education Research 2019: 10 (2), 1-30
World War I led to
international
agreements.”
Persistent
themes
Guiding
questions
Framing of units
Intellectual
architecture
The expert provides
specific examples of
themes, questions,
and frames that are
explicitly shared
with students to
guide learning.
“I think about the
actual intellectual
framework in which
I am trying to
situate this event,
this person, this
reading. Then,
students will be able
to know where I’m
going with the
lecture and not just
sitting there
grasping at straws. I
guess the short
answer is they get to
a place early in the
course where
they’ve understood
here’s the
intellectual
architecture for this
class.