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.
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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
THEMATIC SOCIAL STUDIES 3
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
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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
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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.
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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
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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,
THEMATIC SOCIAL STUDIES 8
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.
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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.
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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
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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
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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:
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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…
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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
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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:
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…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
THEMATIC SOCIAL STUDIES 17
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,
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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
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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).
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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.
THEMATIC SOCIAL STUDIES 21
References
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THEMATIC SOCIAL STUDIES 27
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.
THEMATIC SOCIAL STUDIES 28
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
THEMATIC SOCIAL STUDIES 29
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
THEMATIC SOCIAL STUDIES 30
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
THEMATIC SOCIAL STUDIES 31
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.
THEMATIC SOCIAL STUDIES 32
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
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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
THEMATIC SOCIAL STUDIES 34
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?
THEMATIC SOCIAL STUDIES 35
Appendix D
IRB Approval
THEMATIC SOCIAL STUDIES 36