Document Type
Article
Publication Date
6-6-2017
Department 1
Education
Abstract
Although research on pedagogical content knowledge (PCK) has accelerated in recent years, social studies educators have not generally been part of the conversation. This article explores why a theory of PCK for social studies has been so difficult to elaborate, focusing on the field’s inability to come to consensus on its aims and purposes and on a pervasive distrust of traditional academic disciplines and scholarship they produce. These factors have helped make the effective preparation of social studies teachers, something researchers studying PCK hope to improve, exceptionally difficult. This article proposes that if the field can resolve its relationship to the disciplines, a more coherent conceptualization of teacher education in social studies could come into focus. Such a reconceptualization could help position social studies teacher educators to contribute to the knowledge base on PCK, particularly with regard to the transformation of disciplinary content into school curriculum.
Copyright Note
This is the author's version of the work. This publication appears in Gettysburg College's institutional repository by permission of the copyright owner for personal use, not for redistribution.
DOI
10.1177/0022487117708553
Recommended Citation
Powell, Dave. "Brother, Can You Paradigm? Toward a Theory of Pedagogical Content Knowledge in Social Studies." Journal of Teacher Education (June 6, 2017).
Required Publisher's Statement
Original version available online from: http://journals.sagepub.com/doi/10.1177/0022487117708553
Included in
Curriculum and Instruction Commons, Elementary Education Commons, Secondary Education Commons