University of Alabama · Web viewCritical cosmopolitan theory (CCT) has roots in Immanuel...

THEMATIC SOCIAL STUDIES 1

The Experience of Thematic Social Studies from

A Secondary Teacher’s Perspective

Julie Muhlenfeld-Johnson

Department of Curriculum & Instruction, The University of Alabama

Author Note

The American Psychological Association 7th edition guidelines indicate that because racial and ethnic groups are proper nouns, they are to be capitalized. However, many critical scholars capitalize Black, Indigenous, and People of Color (BIPOC) but not white in order to acknowledge the intentional community groupings and the culture shared within these peoples whereas white people do not share a common collective culture (Allen, 2012a, 2012b; Appiah, 2020; Crenshaw, 1988; DuBois, 1971; Gibson, 2020; Hawkman, 2019, 2020; Price, 2019; Tanner, 2016). Additionally, these scholars also look to challenge the supremacy of whiteness in American society and in the field of social studies by not capitalizing white. I stand with these scholars and journalistic publishers (AP News, Chicago Tribune, Columbia Journalism Review, Los Angeles Times, NBC News, The New York Times, USA Today, and The Wall Street Journal) and maintain that until Black, Indigenous, and People of Color are treated as equals to whites politically, socially, economically and educationally, I will elevate them above whites grammatically in my writing to call attention to their value. I will not be capitalizing white unless it begins a sentence or is within a direct quotation that writes it as such.


The Experience of Thematic Social Studies from

A Secondary Teacher’s Perspective

Teaching social studies means being tasked with a limitless amount of content. Teachers

are expected by standards, departments, students, and administrators to fit it all in (Girard,

Harris, Mayger, Kessner, & Reid, 2020) despite the ongoing accumulation of content literally

added with each passing day. While American history and world history have traditionally been

taught chronologically, world history courses have also taken on a geographic approach,

allowing students to be submerged in various cultures from around the world.

While in textbooks and curricula, American history typically begins at Columbus’

expedition and spans through today, this history is evanescent in comparison to the histories of

Asia, Europe and Africa. Still American history teachers commonly are not able to fit in all of it

(Girard et al., 2020), which is one reason for the century of history wars (Barton & Levstik,

2004) over method and content. Students often miss out on learning the last 30 years of

American history, much of which is directly connected to the events they are living through

today. Some teachers will gloss over other important events like Desert Storm or The New Deal

in order to ensure they can sufficiently cover 9/11 or World War II, yet even these topics, with

enormous amounts of background and implications, are difficult for many teachers to cover aptly

and in a way that will resonate with students.

One practice that has been offered as a remedy to this problem is thematic teaching.

Thematic curriculum was popularized in the 1990s by the NCSS’ move toward themes essential

in social studies education. Additionally, Grant Wiggins and Jay McTigue’s (2005)

Understanding by Design created a method by which teachers could effectively and


systematically design their curriculum to cater to their students’ needs and skill level, assess them

holistically, and integrate themes. Many teachers transitioned their curriculum to approach social

studies from a scope of understanding topics and themes rather than facts and dates. This was

especially true for elementary and middle school social studies (Cangemi & Aucoin, 1996;

Fitchett & Heafner, 2014; Lockett, 1996), and slowly trickled into secondary (Metro, 2017a;

Richburg, 2000). Themes such a war, culture, rights, and democracy became unit titles and the

larger concepts of these themes are studied as teachers identified a driving essential question like

what’s worth fighting for? or which rights are/should be universal? How these questions and

concepts are approached vary from teacher to teacher, as there is no one set handbook of how to

teach thematically (though some exist: see Fredericks, Meinbach, & Rothlein, 1993; Metro,

2017b). Regardless, teachers select case studies and examples across history that would allow

them to demonstrate the theme and help students refine their skills in the process. Because 21st

century social studies education shifted its focused from memorization to skills like

collaboration, adaptability, initiative, and leadership (Partnership for 21st Century Skills, 2007),

teachers were expected to build curriculum that conveyed these themes and used project-based

learning and inquiry to explore them.

While seemingly a modern, progressive solution that allows students to draw connections

across history, understand bigger picture implications, and get to the heart of the topic as

opposed to dull, rote memorization, thematic social studies is not normative, and it is often

difficult to find teachers that a) have heard of it or b) have been taught how to implement it

effectively. If such an approach is effective enough that it can be used for high school electives

like African American Studies, and college courses like Women’s History, why is it not more

often implemented in secondary classrooms? The answers to these questions lie directly with the


teachers that are familiar with thematic social studies and its (dis)advantages. To explore

thematic social studies further and better understand teachers’ experiences with it, I have

identified this research question to guide my study: How does a high school thematic social

studies teacher experience planning and teaching thematic curriculum?

Literature Review

To gain an understanding of what approach is best for teachers to plan and teach their

content with, it is prudent to first examine the learners: who they are, what they are already

equipped with, and what goals they need to reach by the end of the course they are taking. The

National Council of the Social Studies (National Council of the Social Studies [NCSS], n.d.) has

revised and adapted its learning goals with the turn of the 21st century to include ten thematic

goals as well as three conceptual goals (C3). Additionally, the NCSS has collaborated with the

Partnership for 21st Century Skills (2007) to outline a map of skills teachers should be instilling

in students, complete with 4th, 8th, and 12th grade benchmarks. The map includes skills such as

inquiry, problem-solving, collaboration, and media literacy. Curriculum guidelines from the

NCSS include ensuring social studies curricula is meaningful, integrated, value-based,

challenging, and active (NCSS, 2008). The C3 framework consists of an inquiry arc with four

dimensions that are meant to develop and prepare students for the challenges of college and/or

career along with civic participation. The dimensions range from developing questions and

planning inquiries to applying disciplinary tools and concepts to evaluating sources to

communicating and taking informed action (NCSS, 2013). While these skills and learning goals

can certainly be achieved with chronological teaching, it is important for the purpose of this


study and for understanding the most effective approaches to teaching in general if one can

examine what the 21st century student should look like.

Theoretical Framework: Critical Cosmopolitan Theory

Before discussing the literature regarding students today and social studies curricular

approaches, it is first necessary to ground this study in a theoretical framework of critical

cosmopolitan theory. Critical cosmopolitan theory (CCT) has roots in Immanuel Kant’s

cosmopolitanism. His belief that one should be familiar with and sensitive to all peoples and to

have worldly awareness or knowledge will allow one to relate to others more effectively as well

as perceive themselves in a greater reality of global positionality. CCT applies these concepts to

the 21st century, and articulates ideals such a tolerance, diversity, and community with

multicultural populations in order to expose and open one’s mind to other narratives (Bromley,

2009). CCT says that all humans have (or should have) basic human rights and that it is

fundamental to respect the differences that make each culture unique and beautiful.

Gerard Delanty (2006) discusses three strands of CCT, each with its own strengths and

weaknesses. The three strands are moral, political, and cultural cosmopolitanism (Delanty, 2006,

p. 28). These strands each emphasize the importance for people to protect other people and

partake in universal humanity, the balance of nationalism and globalization, and the concept that

nations and societies work as networks rather than territories. These values, coupled with

foundational ideals like social justice, create people that are prepared to interact and work

peoples that are like and unlike themselves, creating a greater chance for personal and

professional success. Given all of these tenets, social studies is clearly the most appropriate

content area to include this type of learning.


That said, why are American schools still producing young adults that have not heard of

the Holocaust (Dorfman, 2020), are unaware of basic geography (Trivedi, 2002) or don’t know

how to interact with people with whom they disagree on a given topic (Weeks, 2012)? Students

are familiar with polarizing controversies such as the border wall, white supremacy, and the

Trump presidency, to name a few. It is public education’s onus to teach and prepare students to

navigate citizenship and active participation with the ability to interact civilly and with justice for

all. This is precisely the draw of thematic teaching.

Applying CCT to 21st Century Students

Over the course of the last two decades, scholars have studied and reported on the

changing needs and realities of 21st century students (Barton & Levstik, 2004; Choo, 2018;

Harshman, 2016; Krutka & Carano, 2016). Entering a new century with the first generation to be

connected to such extensive and immediate technological advancements as the internet and

social media requires a shift in how educators approach their students – both in how they

understand and interpret the world around them as well as how they interact with it. To better

prepare students to survive and thrive in a 21st century world, educators, teacher educators, and

policymakers must be able to acknowledge how students today are different from their own 20th

century learning experiences.

There is no shortage of research that describes both the characteristics of 21st century

secondary students (Governors Association Center for Best Practice, Council of Chief State

School Officers, n.d.) and the necessities of 21st century schools in America if said students are to

be set up for success (Blair, 2012; Ondrashek, 2017). At the heart of this study is specifically 21st

century secondary social studies, which of course is its own subset of excellent and intriguing


research (Barton & Levstik, 2004; Chandler, 2009; Hess & Posselt, 2002; Saye & Social Studies

Inquiry Research Collaborative [SSIRC], 2013). In order to explore thematic social studies and

how teachers experience it, one must look first to understanding current standards, research, and

trends in secondary social studies content and skill objectives.

Applying CCT to 21st Century Social Studies Content

While every state has its own standards and objectives for each content area, it is the

NCSS that most often informs those standards and guides the field in how social studies will,

can, and should be taught to America’s students. The NCSS has identified ten themes that

“describe purposes, knowledge, and intellectual processes that students should exhibit in student

products….as the result of the social studies curriculum” (NCSS, n.d.). The themes are intended

to inform state standards, policymakers, administrators and educators on the overarching strands

that should be covered in pre-K through 12. Themes such as culture, power, and global

connectedness are to be implemented at each grade level in an age-appropriate way. While these

themes are meant to guide curriculum choices and not content (NCSS, n.d.), the thematic

approach of them is flexible yet focused enough to allow states, districts and teachers to

determine to specific content knowledge within them as they see fit, given the multiple factors

that contribute to students’ knowledge and learning needs.

Applying CCT to 21st Century Social Studies Skills

Similar to the structure of curriculum and content standards, the NCSS has outlined a

framework by which states and practitioners can work within to set their skill standards for their

students. The framework includes building skills necessary for college, career, and civic life (C3)

and has the main objectives of enhancing the rigor of social studies, building critical thinking,


problem solving and participatory skills, and to align social studies with the Common Core State

Standards (NCSS, n.d.).

Another document, not as widely used as the C3 Framework is the Social Studies Skills

21st Century Map, created by the Partnership for 21st Century Skills in cooperation with the

NCSS. This map outlines benchmark skills social studies students should acquire by the 4th, 8th,

and 12th grades. There are 19 skills in total, each focused on specific skill sets for life and career

that is believed to be needed by students to be successful. Such skills include initiative,

collaboration, leadership, media literacy, innovation and cross-cultural skills (Partnership for

21st Century Skills, 2007). While these are broad concepts, they offer practitioners maximum

flexibility and creativity to work autonomous and create a student-centered learning experience

while having common goals with teachers across the country.

Method

Research Design

This study follows a qualitative research design and utilizes instrumental case study

methodology (Stake, 1995). Case study is the most appropriate method for this study because

thematic social studies in secondary education is not widely used, and therefore it is unusual to

find teachers who have both enough autonomy over their curriculum to choose it and/or are even

aware of thematic social studies or how to implement it effectively. Teachers are often bound to a

pre-determined curriculum mandated by their district and/or department, and the curriculum

driven by state standards – and still often utilize outdated textbooks or resources because of the

limited funding schools receive. This said, finding and recruiting participants that would satisfy

the boundaries of this study was not an easy task.


In order to find potential participants that would fit the inclusion criteria for this study,

and after obtaining approval from the Internal Review Board (IRB) (Appendix D), I advertised

the study on social media forums like Facebook and Reddit, as well as sent twenty-five emails to

professionals in the field whom I personally knew as well as emails to two departments that I

was told by professionals utilize thematic social studies. I corresponded with nine teachers, and

after sending them the Selection Process Survey (Appendix A), which I designed in order to

gather basic information to see if the person would satisfy the inclusion criteria, I selected one

participant with whom to conduct a single-case study. The case is bounded by the inclusion

criteria: currently teaching secondary social studies, utilizing thematic curriculum, and has some

autonomy over planning and teaching.

Participant

Jake (a pseudonym) is an Asian-American male in his early 30s. He has been teaching for

six years in a western American state where he also attended high school and college. The school

in which he teaches is in a middle class suburban school with a student population between

1000-1500. The school is diverse, with most of its population being Asian, Latinx, or white. Jake

has a bachelor’s degree in psychology and master’s degree in education and teaches 11th grade

United States History. He employs thematic curriculum for this course, assigned to him by the

department. The thematic curriculum is divided into units with themed titles such as Culture,

Democracy, and War. Although Jake has been instructed by his department to teach thematically,

he articulates that he is autonomous to create his own curriculum, which he does. He believes in

thematic teaching, but is still troubleshooting how to make it the most effective approach for his

students.


Data Collection

The process for data collection was to gather information via two methods: questionnaire

and interview. Upon receiving consent from the participant, he completed the questionnaire

(Appendix B) that allowed me to access background information for himself, his school, his

classes, and his curriculum. The semi-structured interview took place over Zoom and lasted

approximately one-hour. There was one interview which followed a generic interview protocol

(Appendix C) that was written prior and was adjusted based on the participant’s questionnaire

responses. Prior to the interview, I created codes that I anticipated needing based on the

interview protocol (Miles, Huberman & Saldana, 1994).

Data Analysis Procedure

Throughout the interview, I spent majority of the time listening and clarifying (Stake,

1995) because I knew that it was essential to capture Jake’s experience in the single interview.

Upon completing the interview, I uploaded the Zoom recording into Otter.ai software to

transcribe. I reviewed the transcription synchronously with the recording to check for errors, and

formatted it into Microsoft Word. I engaged in deductive coding prior to the data analysis

process so I could identify codes that would most apply to my research question. Because

deductive codes create a provisional “start list” of codes prior to the fieldwork (Miles et al.,

1994), I was able to develop several codes based on the interview protocol and my guiding

research question. During this first cycle of coding (Miles et al., 1994) identified seven main data

chunks by which to further decipher the data. I additionally used pattern coding during the

second cycle of coding (Miles et al., 1994), using a more inductive approach to determine what

the data revealed about the teacher’s experiences. To do this, I uploaded the transcript into NVivo


and allowed the software to code it, identifying frequently used words. Once I evaluated these

words and their context, I was able to identify other themes that occurred throughout the

interview. I was able to take the data, weight the information, and draw some conclusions about

thematic social studies, making this an evaluative case study (Merriam, 1998).

Results

Deductive Coding Themes

Experiences in planning thematic social studies

Jake discussed the benefits in planning thematic social studies from his perspective. He

described that in planning out his unit on War, he found that much of the content and context of

the subsequent unit on Culture, can and should be included because the two are intertwined. With

thematic planning, he was able to marry the two units into one longer unit in order to

demonstrate the connection between the two and their context:

Our theme for this semester has really been built around war and culture….I found that

when I thought about war, like, it felt silly to me to plan out, hey, we're gonna be six

weeks on different wars….But then we're gonna come back and do six weeks on culture

when all those things are really definitely tied together, like the idea of like, Vietnam and

the anti-war protests, like it does not make sense…this free love movement that's

happening in the 60s and 70s, it doesn't make sense to just like…wait six weeks before

we come back to that. Let's talk about those two things together…

Another positive experience Jake has in planning thematic social studies is the ability for

him to jump over periods of time that he feels are not consequential for students to learn – citing


the beginning of the 20th century. This is not to say he does not teach about reconstruction or

World War I, but rather, is able to teach those units in context of the theme rather than the time

period in which they occurred. By eliminating periods he feels are minutia, he is able to redirect

that time to focus more on the themes and events he knows will be impactful for his students.

Throughout the interview Jake referred to the complexities and complications of thematic

social studies. One such example was that in planning, his colleagues can often get lost in the

benefit of flexibility and lose their focus of intentionality. He describes the excitement his

colleagues had when discovering a benefit of being able to plan thematically:

…they say, hey, now we can do the Civil Rights Movement in February when it's Black

History Month, and I’m like sure, those are all benefits. But I'm kind of like, is that

really what we like the main intention of this? …my students are thinking that, you know,

the 14th amendment happened in the 1960s, because that's what I'm talking about…

To combat this confusion for students, Jake mentioned that his colleagues who teach

thematically often post large timelines in their room for students to refer to or build as they move

through the year, however, Jake did not believe this was enough to give students context of the

events that were being studied.

Experiences in Teaching Thematic Social Studies

Though Jake didn’t learn history thematically himself, he did see it modeled to him

during his student teaching experience by his mentor teacher. When he began his job at his

current school and was told he would be teaching thematically, he greeted it with excitement, but

quickly found there were complications:


When I started delving into the content, one of the things that I noticed that my students

struggle was, because they didn't have the foundational sense of time, often times they

were losing, like….where events were happening, and then their historical statements

became false. And so like, you know, when we're looking at the 1950s, and how women's

roles greatly transformed because of the move to the suburbs, and gender roles and

everything my students are like, and then they won the right to vote. And I'm like, wait,

we're losing this sense of time.

He also finds complications with students that are new to his class or not performing well. “…I

also have students who join my class late….they move from other schools, they come in and

everything and…..they've been learning it chronologically, and they're like, I have no idea

what's going on.”

However, Jake does note many of the benefits of teaching thematically. One such

example is allowing his students to make connections over time and see the big picture of how

the world works as well as the deeper critical thinking that students engage in:

…I think that's some of the advantages would definitely be in just like, the depth that you

can go. I think that, you know, if you're looking at social movements, for example, it's

really easy then to make connections about like, why these things are very much linked

together. And how you can see the time, like, over time, like how we are still kind of

maybe fighting for the same things over and over again, I would say that like, similarly,

moving into culture, you could definitely make the argument, hey, we've, we see a lot of

the same cycles happening over and over again…


Teacher’s Takeaways of Thematic Social Studies

Jake describes the benefits and complications of thematic social studies throughout his

interview. Having experienced both as a learner, and having taught both thematically and

chronologically, his perspective is unique and potentially generalizable. as his comments swing

from one side of the pendulum to the other on how he has experienced thematic social studies:

Thematic gives you the opportunity to really delve deeply and depending on your student

population, you might be able to really then kind of unearth a lot of these…not-talked-

about narratives in a way that we maybe wouldn't be able to do in a chronological …And

I do think that by doing it thematically, you could, again, really examine these ideas in a

lot more depth…

…I think that's why I have personally really struggled with thematic….It's like, all of

these things are connected, nothing is kind of just in a bubble or in a box of like, they're

all not happening individually. Like you have to consider all the other things that are

taking place, because if not, you're really short selling the idea.

While Jake’s perspectives can be representative of general population, it is important that I

clarify this study is not statistically generalizable – as there is clearly not enough data to allow

this study to be generalized for a large national population (Small, 2009). Rather, it is my belief

that because of the duality of opinion Jake holds on thematic social studies, his responses and

this study may resonate with teachers who favor chronological as well as thematic approaches.

Pattern Code Themes

Time and Order


While Jake has admittedly embraced the concepts and benefits of thematic teaching, and

he stated hopes in the future to be able to customize his curriculum to include more of a

personalized thematic approach for his Students of Color, he reiterated again and again that his

students lost their concept of a chronological order in history and that events take place in a

specific context that built up in order to culminate into a specific occurrence. Ultimately, it seems

that Jake’s complication or critique is that this thematic approach works well for people like

himself who have a baseline understanding of history and context, when students are first

learning it, it is confusing:

...people are able to really learn the thematic approach and get a really strong discipline

of history by doing it. However, that's with the caveat that they understand the timeline of

everything, so they're not getting lost in the dates….So then they can go deeper….

Because I'm only seeing these kids, once, it's like, well, should we be going

chronologically because it's their first pass at US history. And then if they did a second

time, then going thematically through that, which I just never will have an opportunity to

do. And that was something that always kind of resonated with me.

Mentorship

While Jake has been teaching for six years and can be classified as experienced, as

opposed to a novice or veteran teacher, he chooses to collaborate with colleagues who have had

more extensive experience and success with thematic social studies. He expresses that it is by

working with them, allowing them to help him, he has been able to learn more about thematic

approach:


…there were definitely times where as her mentee, she would be like ‘look I need you to

come in an hour early before school so I can basically tell you like what the connection

is.’…..so I give her a ton of credit and I and I thank her profusely every single time I see

her because of how much work she did also taking on a mentee. it also put me in a

position I think to be very malleable….

….he kind of took me under his wing and my first year teaching…we coached together;

we just have a pretty easy relationship. And when I approached him about working

together, he was open to doing it.

I have found it easier for me to work with a colleague of mine, who I've been working

with for a number of years, we worked together on (AP Government), and now we're

back working on US, it's been pretty beneficial just because he has a well, he's been

teaching for a lot longer than I have. So, he has experience. And we kind of plan together

and we'll sit down.

From these quotes, and from the interview as a whole, it is clear that veteran teacher mentorship

is fruitful and helpful to teachers when they are either novice or learning a new approach. This

concept has been substantiated by research for decades (Callahan, Saye, & Brush, 2014; Darling-

Hammond, 2010; Feiman-Nemser, 2001).

Teacher Autonomy

While his themes were pre-determined by the team prior to his employment at the school,

Jake was empowered by his department to design his own curriculum as well as collaborate with

colleagues, both of which he chose to do. With the support and of his administration to allow him

teacher autonomy, Jake is empowered to develop portions of curriculum that allows him to teach


about areas in which he is passionate. Jake reports, as has research (Renga, Peck, Wu & Erikson,

2020/2021; Serin, 2017; Wangberg, 1996), that when a teacher is allowed to teach content they

love, their students become more engaged:

So, I've played around with things that I find interesting. I think that's what I've gotten the

most by into, when my students are like, Oh, it's really clear that he cares about this, or

he's passionate about this, I'm going to be more interested. And I think my kids can

really tell also, like, he's just doing this because he's like doing it.

The same is true for when teachers are allowed to alter their curriculum to meet the students

where they’re at, and develop curriculum based on student interest:

But many students started connecting to their own personal history, I had some wonderful

projects….where students of Hispanic descent were focusing on…The Bracero Program,

and they're like, holy crap, I didn't realize that my grandfather was a part of this, or my

parents are directly impacted by this. You know, I have my Vietnamese students

recognize, like, Oh, my gosh…I know the story of how my family are refugees from

coming over during the Vietnam War…. And so, my move to US history was partially by

choice, because I was like, I really want to try to bring this idea of where do I see myself

in US history because it is oftentimes is very Eurocentric perspective…

Discussion

While Jake is one case of many teachers who have taught thematic social studies, his

position, exposure and experiences speaks to a more generalized audience in answering the

question how does a secondary US history teacher experience planning and teaching thematic

social studies? While case study is not normally utilized to generalize findings (Rule & John,


2015; Stake, 1995), it because of his experience and professional observations with thematic

teaching, Jake’s comments can be representative of what many other who teach thematically may

experience. Based on the interview data collected, and the lack of current relevant research, it is

clear that the answer regarding if thematic social studies is more or less effective than

chronologic is still yet to be determined. A large gap in the literature exists in terms of further

explorations of thematic teachers’ positive and negative experiences, student learning outcomes,

and how to approach policymakers about updating their standards and requirements to better

serve 21st century learners.

The themes that were analyzed offer insight into how thematic social studies can be

improved upon from this teacher’s perspective. From conducting the interview to analyzing it, I

was able to learn that thematic social studies is a 21st century approach in that it does allow

students to learn valuable skills such as inquiry, cross-cultural skills, critical thinking, and

initiative as well as content objectives like understanding connections between large concepts

like power, culture, and economy. At the same time, thematic social studies empowers teachers

and trusts them as scholars and professionals to make content decisions for their students. This

allows them to take a deep dive into critically understanding themes rather than a survey

approach where they gloss over a lot of content; essentially thematic curriculum is quality over

quantity.

Ultimately, to be successful in teaching thematically, I argue, that teachers need three

components: guidance, mentorship, and autonomy. While Jake struggled to teach his students

context and order of events, he discussed other colleagues who worked against this and were

seemingly successful. If a school or department expects teachers to teach with a thematic


approach, they must allow their teachers the training and guidance on how to do that

successfully. Spending professional learning, methods courses or summer training in learning the

nuances of teaching thematically (and being compensated for it) may garner more success and

ease for teachers that are new to the approach, as it would for any other new approach teachers

are asked to utilize.

Additionally, Jake emphasized the multiple veteran teachers who came alongside him in

the process of learning thematic teaching in lieu of not having been trained in it formally. Studies

have reflected again and again the benefit of having a veteran teacher mentor (Callahan et al.,

2014; Darling-Hammond, 2010; Feiman-Nemser, 2001), and most countries with the highest

ranked educational systems employ this strategy as apart of the novice teacher experience

(Darling-Hammond, 2010; 2017). Because teaching is very much learned on-the-spot,

establishing educators within a Community of Practice (Lave, 1991) and in a legitimate

peripheral participation setting (Lave & Wenger, 1991) wherein they learn by doing under the

guidance of master teachers would allow them to benefit from the wisdom of others’ experiences.

Finally, a key factor that Jake highlighted was the autonomy he experiences from his department

and administration. While Jake works independently, his department collaborates and he is

empowered by his administration to teach his students what and how he knows is needed by

them. This type of teacher autonomy is far too rare (Walker, 2016), but highly beneficial as the

teacher is allowed to form authentic curriculum and assessments customized to their students

experiences, skill-level and content knowledge, so they are set up to succeed (Saye & SSIRC,

201).


Limitations

The limitation of this case study was the inability to observe the classroom. Because of

the COVID-19 pandemic, Jake’s class is being taught in a hybrid format. Additionally, because

of the physical location of Jake’s school in relation to the researcher, observations were not

possible. However, I acknowledge that to gain deeper insight into the full experience of Jake’s

thematic planning and teaching, observation would have benefitted the study.

Implications

While this study is a single-case of a thematic social studies teacher at the secondary

level, much research has yet to be conducted on the benefits/drawbacks and strength/weaknesses

for teachers in planning and teaching thematic social studies. Arguably, the most pertinent

research yet to be conducted is with secondary social studies students and the learning outcomes

they achieved or missed as a result of thematic teaching. While this approach may have lost its

momentum in the way of recent research, it is clear from this case that thematic social studies is

still being utilized and therefore needs to be fully evaluated to determine its worth and

effectiveness.


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Appendix A

Selection Process

Selection Process for Research Study on6-12 Thematic Social Studies

Principal Investigator: Julie Muhlenfeld-JohnsonThe University of Alabama

Thank you for your interest in participating in this research study.

As a part of the selection process for participants, please complete the following form. You will be contacted by the principal investigator shortly regarding if you were selected as a participant or not.

Name: School:

To ensure your anonymity and confidentiality, and in compliance with IRB requirements and protocol, I will be using a pseudonym for you. I will also not be naming your school or city and will create generic identifiers.

To allow you maximum comfort and freedom, please choose a first name pseudonym for yourself.

You may leave it blank if you do not have a preference. _____________________________

Course Grade

# of Students

Thematic Curriculum?

How did you acquire this thematic curriculum?

I created it myself

I created it with my department/colleagues

It was given to me by my department/colleagues

It was given to me by my district

Other:

Please list the name of the units in your thematic curriculum and what content you teach.


Course Unit Name Themes Content Examples

For this study, you will be asked to participate in 1-2 60-minute interviews. The 2nd interview will take place based if data collection was completed or not during the first.

Please indicate your preferences and availability for these interviews to occur

Day AM/PM - please give a specific or general idea of your availability; indicate if you are unavailable

Zoom or In-person*

SundayMondayTuesdayWednesdayThursdayFridaySaturday

*in-person interviews will be conducted in Huntsville, Alabama


Appendix B

Questionnaire

Questionnaire – Basic Background Information

Participant (please list your pseudonym if known): _______________________

Preferred pronouns: _______________________

Race: _______________________

Age: _______________________

# of Years Teaching Social Studies _______________________

# of Years at Current School _______________________

Please circle all that apply to describe your current school:

Rural Suburban Urban Private Public Charter/Magnet

Socio-Economic Status: generally upper-class generally middle class Title 1Total Student Population: 0-500 501-1000 1001-1500

1500+

Total Faculty Population: 1-10 11-20 21-30 31+

Total Department Population 1-5 6-10 11-15 16+

Ethnic Make-Up (approximate): ____% Asian ____% Black

____% Hispanic/Latinx ____% Indigenous

____% other ____% white

Where/when did you receive your teaching certificate?

_______________________________________________________ Year: _________

Please complete the following:

Degree/Major Institution Year


Are you a National Board Certified Teacher?

If yes, please give year of certification and area:

Please complete the following chart for current courses you are teaching

Course Name When is this class taught?(specify day/time)

Approach

(thematic, chronologic, blended, geographic, etc.)

Grade Level

Number of students

Elective?

Please circle all that apply

Classroom autonomy

I have complete autonomy and work independently

I collaborate with a co-teacher/colleagues

I collaborate with a department

I am accountable to my department head

I am heavily monitored

Curricular decision making

I make every content choice for my class and design my curriculum

I collaborate with colleagues to design curriculum and choose resources

I am told by my district/department what to teach in my classroom

Assessments


I design my own assessments

I work with colleagues to develop common assessments

I use departmental/district assessments

In your teacher education program, were you taught about thematic social studies?

If not: Where did you first hear about it?

If so: How was it presented/taught to you?

Have you read any articles, books, or literature on thematic social studies? If so, please specify.

How many years’ experience do you have teaching social studies from the following approaches?

Chronologically Thematically

Geographically Other

Have you ever been given professional development on thematic teaching? If so, please explain.

How many teachers in your department use thematic social studies?

To your knowledge, Are the any other content areas within your school that use thematic approach? If so, please describe.

For the courses you teach thematically, please list the unit name, it’s central theme, and the content topics covered.


Appendix C

Interview Protocol

Personal Experience Learning Social Studies

1) When you learned social studies in grades 6-12, were you taught with a chronological approach, a thematic approach, or something other?

2) Please describe that approach to learning social studies in your own experience.

3) When and how were you first introduced to the concept of thematic social studies?

4) In your experience of learning, how did you feel thematic social studies differed from chronological (or other approaches) in your understanding of social studies.?

5) Do you have a preference in learning approaches?

Personal Experience Teaching Social Studies

1) Which approaches have you used in teaching social studies? (thematic, chronologic, geographic, other)

2) Which approaches were taught/modeled to you in your teacher education program? Did you learn to teach chronologically? Thematically? Geographically?Please explain your experiences.

3) What were your experiences in teaching the non-thematic approaches?

4) When you first learned you would be teaching social studies thematically, what were your initial thoughts/impressions?

5) What training/support did you receive in understanding how to teach social studies thematically?

6) Do you feel this training/support helped you effectively understand how thematic social studies differs from other approaches?

Themes


1) Please describe which course you teach. What are the standards and criteria that outline this courses’ objectives?

2) What themes are included in the course?Social movements, economic movements, war, culture, democracy

3) How do you decide themes? Planning

1) When approaching planning for a themed unit or course, do you plan independently or with others? Are there standards or approaches you collectively follow?

2) What steps do you take in preparing to plan a theme unit/course?

3) Please describe your step-by-step approach to planning a unit.

4) How do you (or your department) decide which topics/events are covered for each theme?

5) What themes do you want to teach in the future?Resources

1) How are the resources used in your course decided on?

Assessment

1) What forms of assessment do you offer when teaching thematically?

2) Do you see your students performing more successfully on assessment when learning thematically, or less? Why do you think that is?

Advantages

1) What advantages are there for teachers in using thematic curriculum?

2) What advantages are there for students in using thematic curriculum?

3) Do you note any other areas that benefit when thematic curriculum is used?Disadvantages

1) What disadvantages are there for teachers in using thematic curriculum?

2) What disadvantages are there for students in using thematic curriculum?

3) Do you note any other areas that would be a drawback when thematic curriculum is used?

Opinions


1) What are your takeaways on thematic teaching? Do you feel more or less empowered and effective as an educator?

2) Do you see students thriving or struggling with learning thematically?

3) How do you see thematic curriculum as preparing students for their next steps after high school? (college, work, volunteerism, etc)

4) In your opinion, do you believe thematic curriculum is underused, used appropriately, or overused?

5) In your opinion, do you believe thematic curriculum results in better or worse learning for students?

6) In your opinion, do you believe thematic curriculum is a more efficient or less efficient way to teach?

7) What reasons do you believe thematic curriculum is not more widely employed in schools?

8) Do you have any final thoughts?


Appendix D

IRB Approval

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