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Editor's Remarks
The Giant is Waking! (PDF,
25 KB, 19 sec, PDF Instructions)
Cheryl Mason Bolick
Seven years ago, Peter Martorella (1997) sent a call out to the social
studies community. His call was loud and clear. Much like a giant, the
convergence of technology and the social studies held great power to transform
social studies teaching and learning. Social studies educators and technology
specialists must engage in development, research and implementation to
investigate the potential of technology and social studies. But according
to Martorella, the giant was still sleeping. The field had few published
accounts dedicated to social studies and technology and there was not
a collection of scholars dedicated to this area of investigation.
A survey of the social studies and technology literature reveals an exponential
increase in published accounts of integration efforts. So, we pause and
ask ourselves, Is the giant still sleeping? The field has responded to Martorella’s
call and made great strides in filling the void of technology and social
studies research and publications. This special themed issue of JCTE is
case in point of this evidence that the giant may be stirring.
President's Message
SIGTE: A Gathering Force in New Orleans (PDF,
574 KB, 7 sec, PDF Instructions)
Ann Cunningham
It’s hard to believe that it’s almost time to gather in New Orleans for
another NECC, but you can bet that SIGTE is ready for the Jammin’ & Jazzin’.
Thanks to the commitment of our dedicated membership, SIGTE will once
again lead several activities at NECC 2004. From professional development
to research and advocacy, SIGTE has experienced a year of incredible growth.
And NECC 2004 is the time to join our gathering force.
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A Virtual Hall of Mirrors? Confronting the Digital Divide in Urban Social
Studies Teacher Education (PDF,
45 KB, 5 sec, PDF Instructions)
Margaret Smith Crocco and Judith Cramer
Reporting on a PT3 grant-funded technology initiative involving
social studies preservice students at Teachers College, Columbia University,
this article seeks to illumine the many-faceted “digital divide.” Data
collected between 2000 and 2003 from preservice students and first-year
alumni teaching in metropolitan New York City schools suggest how the
digital divide is mirrored, even in a relatively resource-rich urban university.
Learning to understand this complex reality led Program faculty to modify
their initial plan for technology infusion; the result is a flexible,
student-centered approach, which can be adapted by other urban teacher
educators. Reflecting on this experience, the authors call for models,
not just of “best” but also of “good enough” (i.e. replicable) practice
in settings with significant resource constraints.
Technological Thinking and Practice in the Social Studies: Transcending
the Tumultuous Adolescence of Reform (PDF,
47 KB, 4 sec, PDF Instructions)
Michael J. Berson and Peter Balyta
The authors reflect on the evolving role of technology in the field of
social studies and compare the tumultuous adolescence of technology integration
with future trends in teaching and learning. The discourse contrasts the
past developments with ongoing innovation and efforts to promote the diffusion
of emerging applications in the social studies. Suggestions to transcend
the pubescent state of technological thinking in the social studies and
nurture its dynamic potential are explored.
Using Digital History for Positive Change in Social Studies Education
(PDF,
47 KB, 4 sec, PDF Instructions)
John Lee and Philip Molebash
This paper reports on the Digital Historical Inquiry Project, an initiative
for developing activities and programs that enable preservice and inservice
social studies teachers to learn the methods of digital historical inquiry
and implement those methods in their teaching experiences. At one of the
project sites, San Diego State University social studies teacher education
students are creating pedagogical historical resources called Web Inquiry
Projects for using digital primary historical source materials. At another
site, Georgia State University preservice and inservice teachers are developing
original local digital historical resources for teachers and students
to use in their classrooms. Both of these projects are presented as examples
of how technology can be leveraged to enhance social studies instruction.
Teaching by Example: Integrating Technology into Social Studies Education
Courses (PDF,
47 KB, 4 sec, PDF Instructions)
Alicia R. Crowe
This article primarily focuses on how one social studies teacher education
faculty member incorporated technology into a series of social studies
education courses. The integration involved both a technology-related
project for students to complete and the modeling of technology use to
facilitate learning. The article describes the project and the three forms
of modeling that occurred. It then reports on the impact of this integration.
Most students reported that the instructor’s modeling of methods and resources
encouraged them to use technology in their teaching. Evidence in students’
microteaching, discussions, coursework, and classroom teaching support
their statements.
The Collaborative Design and Development of a Database Management System
as a Tool for Historical Inquiry (PDF,
44 KB, 4 sec, PDF Instructions)
David Hicks, Ken Potter, Richard C. Snider, and Glen A. Holmes
The field of social studies, with its reliance on textual information,
archiving, interpretation, and revision, appears well suited to take full
advantage of the potential of computer technology to support and foster
authentic inquiry in the classroom. However, the literature reveals that
social studies teacher educators appear to struggle to use technology
as a partner in the networked 21st century social studies classroom in
any sophisticated and systematic manner (Bolick et al., 2003). Simply
hoping that social studies teacher educators will eventually have the
time, energy, and knowledge base required to become more comfortable with
using technology is wishful thinking. This paper details a case where
a database management system was designed, through ongoing collaborative
efforts of social studies and instructional technology teacher education
faculty and preservice and inservice teachers, to serve as a partner in
the classroom to facilitate the teaching of historical inquiry.
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