Voices from the exteriority: Pre-service teachers’ nomadic perceptions towards social studies instruction in the elementary classroom

Abstract

This qualitative narrative research was performed with 38 female, predominantly Mexican-American elementary pre-service teachers (PSTs) enrolled in the College of Education at a border university in South Texas. The PSTs were selected using a convenience sampling approach, as they were enrolled in the social studies methods course taught by the researcher in the fall of 2024. The purpose of the research was to determine if the course design of a social studies methods course for PSTs was successful in changing students’ perceptions towards social studies instruction. The course infused instructional practices consisting of dialogue, active learning, reflection, and historical inquiry, which reflected Doll’s (1993) curricular ideas (richness, rigor, recursion, and relations) for a post-modern curriculum. Participants examined their past and present experiences with social studies instruction through history experience journals throughout the course. Journal responses were qualitatively analyzed using Pinar’s currere process as a retrospective analytical tool to identify and understand the transformation of PSTs’ perspectives towards social studies instruction. The results demonstrated that through the use of collaborative techniques, student engagement, and authentic learning experiences, PSTs’ perceptions became nomadic, reflecting a renewed outlook towards learning and teaching social studies as a means to empower students to become active citizens.