Social studies education - M.A.

The program in social studies education focuses on issues related to curriculum, instruction and assessment in K-12 social studies. Full-time graduate students generally have opportunities to supervise student teachers, teach introductory social studies classes, and conduct and publish research with one or more faculty members. Graduate students are strongly encouraged to present research papers at professional conferences, specifically the National Council for the Social Studies and the American Educational Research Association.

Faculty maintain active research agendas with several research centers at the University including the Center for Applied Research and Educational Improvement, housed within the College of Education and Human Development, and two research centers housed outside the College—the Center for Environmental Learning and Leadership and the Center for the Study of Political Psychology. Social studies faculty research interests include the areas of political socialization, political tolerance, authentic assessment, citizenship and civics education, and democratic thought. In addition, faculty members engage in research centered on the history of curricula, multicultural and gender studies, and social justice. All are actively engaged in their scholarship and work in both national and international contexts.

Recent M.A. graduates have conducted research in the areas of intercultural relations, moral development, multicultural gender-fair curriculum, social studies instructional issues, and the standards movement as it relates to social studies education. Graduates of the program have assumed positions as instructional leaders in the public schools, curriculum development specialists, and social studies assessment specialists.

Faculty

• Patricia Avery

  I currently coordinate the evaluation of the Deliberating in a Democracy Project, a study in which models for discussing controversial public issues are implemented in secondary classrooms in three U.S. cities (Chicago, Los Angeles, and Washington, D.C.), and three countries (Azerbaijan, Czech Republic, and Lithuania). This five-year  project began in 2004-2005 and each year the project will be expanded to additional sites within and outside the United States.

• Benjamin M. Jacobs
  My research interests include social studies education, history of education, curriculum studies, teacher education, and Jewish education, and I plan to investigate such questions as how social education takes form in ethnic schools.
• Terry Johnson
  I am particularly interested in exploring the most appropriate ways to use children's literature to teach elementary social studies concepts.
• J. B. Mayo
  As a former middle school teacher of six years in two Virginia localities, my research interests include multicultural education, global education, and the teaching of history, especially modern U.S. history from the 1960s to the present.

Course requirements

• Summary of M.A. Plan A and Plan B requirements by track

May 2006