Research in Social Sciences and Technology 
 

EDITORIAL 

Welcome to the Research in Social Sciences and Technology. The second issue is the 

final issue of our first year. RESSAT is delighted to share three studies about civic and social 

studies education in this issue.  

The study entitled “A Multiple Regression of Civic Education Scores” by Bittman and 

Russell provides a clear picture of whether classroom pedagogies, demographics, and home 

environments influence American students’ civic knowledge on the National Assessment of 

Educational Progress. The authors employed the 2010 National Assessment of Educational 

Progress (NAEP) 12th grade civics assessment. The results of the study revealed that Civics 

scale scores for 12th graders in 2010 were influenced by demographics, classroom 

instructional strategies, and home environment.  

In the study “Early American Political Scientists: Traditionalist Paradigm and 

Citizenship Education”, Ahmad provided a history of American political science as an 

academic discipline. This study explores the historical context of the first phase of American 

political science: Traditionalism. In this study, Ahmad discussed the enduring legacy of 

Traditionalism, its inadequacies, and its implications for American democracy and civic life. 

Tarman and Mauch examined historical documents about the development of the 

social studies laboratory in their study entitled “A Historical Approach to Social Studies 

Laboratory Method”. The researchers examined certain periodicals published in the US such 

as Education, The Historical Outlook and The History Teacher’s Magazine along with the 

non-experimental historical research methodology. The results of the study asserted that 

Social Studies Laboratories are meaningless unless accompanied by a commitment to move 

toward student-centered activities and learning.  



Editorial                                            Research in Social Sciences and Technology, 1(2), I-II  

II 
 

I would like to thank all authors and reviewers for their contribution to RESSAT. I 

hope you will both enjoy and be challenged by the articles in the second issue of RESSAT. 

Please join us to contribute to the development of RESSAT in the future. 

Bülent TARMAN, Ph.D 

Editor in Chief