Incorporating global perspectives into a social studies methods class: a case study

Kim, Jeesuk

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https://hdl.handle.net/2142/42345 Copy

Description

Title

Incorporating global perspectives into a social studies methods class: a case study

Author(s)

Kim, Jeesuk

Issue Date

2013-02-03T19:35:57Z

Director of Research (if dissertation) or Advisor (if thesis)

Noffke, Susan E.

Doctoral Committee Chair(s)

Noffke, Susan E.

Committee Member(s)

• Parsons, Marilyn A.
• Rizvi, Fazal
• Burbules, Nicholas C.

Department of Study

Curriculum and Instruction

Discipline

Secondary & Continuing Education

Degree Granting Institution

University of Illinois at Urbana-Champaign

Degree Name

Ph.D.

Degree Level

Dissertation

Keyword(s)

• Preservice teacher education
• teacher capacity
• globally-well-prepared teacher
• case study

Abstract

This dissertation is a case study examining the ways global perspectives are incorporated in a preservice teacher education program consisting of a social studies methods course and a practicum class. The goal is to reveal external and internal tensions student teachers and teacher educators experience when they try to implement global perspectives in their class and then to ultimately contribute to finding new kinds of teacher capacity in order to prepare preservice teachers as globally-well-prepared teachers. This study is based on three research questions: First, what images or narratives about the globalized world do preservice teachers and teacher educators bring into a preservice social studies methods class? Second, what kinds of global perspectives and tensions about global perspectives do preservice teachers and teacher educators experience in the social studies methods class? And, third, in what ways, do preservice teachers represent their interpretations about the globalized world in their students’ teaching practices? The first finding shows that student teachers have seen the world through limited and narrow perspectives on the globalized world based on their U.S.-centered schooling and personal experiences. The second and third findings reveal that behind the difficulties student teachers and teacher educators feel for incorporating global perspectives are many tensions (1) between existing topics as ‘explicit content’ and global topics as ‘inexplicit perspectives and examples’ in set curriculum, (2) between ‘manageable knowledge’ and ‘expanded knowledge,’ and (3) between the social studies methods class and student teaching in a school. These tensions reveal the conflict between the neoliberal standpoint and the radical standpoint, and between a traditional paradigm and a transformative paradigm.

Graduation Semester

2012-12

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http://hdl.handle.net/2142/42345

Copyright and License Information

Copyright 2012 Jeesuk Kim

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