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Social Studies Education - Program Description

Social Science Education Program Description

The University of Georgia Social Studies Education program is housed in the Department of Elementary and Social Studies Education in the College of Education.  The University of Georgia is overseen by the Board of Regents of the University System of Georgia.  The Social Studies Education programoffers programs approved by the Georgia Professional Standards Commission leading to recommendation for initial certification in broad field social studies, history, geography, economics and political science, all at the 7-12 grade level.

The Social Studies Education programadheres to the state and institutional policies of these different entities.  These policies have varying degrees of influence on the application of NCSS standards.  Among the latter are policies related to the admission of students to the University of Georgia, how many candidates Social Studies Education can serve, and course and field experience requirements (e.g. credit hour limits, types of courses required for particular degrees, student teaching etc.).  Social Studies Education is a high-demand major at UGA.  According to the UGA Academic Affairs Policy Statement No. 10, “The high-demand major is one which receives or expects to receive more applications for major status from fully qualified rising juniors than the program can accommodate without endangering the quality of instruction offered.”  As a high-demand major, Social Studies Education is limited to 50 undergraduate candidates per year.  The program also offers a M.Ed. degree program for those seeking initial certification at the graduate level (henceforth the M.ED.I.C. program).  This program has the capacity to serve 25 graduate candidates per year.

The program requires candidates to have a strong foundation in a cross-disciplinary core of study in various social sciences.  Candidates complete a 36 credit hour major in social studies education that requires a 24 credit hour concentration in one of four disciplines—history, geography, economics, or political science.  In addition to this 24 credit hour concentration, candidates majoring in Social Studies Education must also take a combined 12 credit hours of coursework from a wider selection of social science disciplines (e.g. psychology, sociology, anthropology, etc.).

Upon successful completion of ESOC 2450L, potential undergraduate candidates apply to the Social Studies Education program.  Graduate applicants to the M.Ed.I.C. program apply the program and the Graduate School according to Graduate School policies.  After acceptance, candidates take a professional sequence of courses for social studies education majors designed to balance university-based learning with school-based learning, including four program courses/seminars, one practicum experiences, and student teaching. 

To accommodate these candidates, the program currently offers several sections of each required course, as indicated in the following table.

Current ESOC Course Offerings

Course	Sections Taught	Terms Offered
ESOC 2450L - Intro to Social Studies Ed [3 cr]	4 sections, undergrad only (20-25 candidates)	2 fall; 2 spring
ESOC 4350/6350 - Curriculum in Social Studies [3cr]	3 sections (20-25 candidates)	2 fall;  1spring
ESOC 4360/6360 - Methods in Social Studies [3 cr]	3 sections (20-25 candidates)	2 fall; 1 spring
ESOC 4450L - Practicum in Social Studies [3 cr]	3 sections (20-25 candidates) linked to Curriculum/Methods	2 fall; 1 spring
ESOC 5460/7460 - Student Teaching [15 cr]	field experience, not taught in sections	fall; spring
ESOC 5560/7560 - Student Teaching Seminar [3 cr]	3 sections (20-25 candidates)	1 fall; 2 spring

In addition to courses within the Social Studies Education program, certification candidates take several other courses in the College of Education.  Undergraduates complete a course in Special Education (SPED 2000), Educational Psychology (EPSY 2020), and Educational Foundations (EFND 2030).  M.ED.I.C. candidates take a course in Special Education (SPED 2000), and a graduate-level elective course in Educational Foundations.  In most cases this course is selected from an approved list of courses offered by the Educational Foundations program, though, in some cases, this course may be a graduate level course in the Educational Psychology program.

The Social Studies Program faculty direct both their inquiry about the program and their program reform efforts toward two general aims established by the National Council for the Social Studies:  Beginning social studies teachers 1) possess the knowledge, capabilities, and dispositions associated with the central concepts, tools of inquiry, and structures of the disciplines that make up the social studies, and 2) are able to create learning experiences that make these aspects of subject matter meaningful for learners.  These general aims led to the program’s adoption of the National Council for the Social Studies National Standards for Social Studies Teachers and the Georgia Systemic Teacher Education Program’s Framework for Accomplished Teaching as the intellectual scaffold of the program.

Using these standards as a guide, the Social Studies Education programhas begun a comprehensive revision of its curriculum, structure, and assessments.  The reforms within the past three years include: higher undergraduate program admission standards; streamlined and systematized admissions procedures; a statement of preservice teacher dispositions and related assessments; increased field hours during the first and second semesters after candidacy; a redesigned field-based introductory course; a program-wide emphasis on rationale-based practice; standards-aligned and rationale-focused electronic portfolios; a new student teaching seminar; end-of-program portfolio defenses; more rigorous field observation procedures; revised standards-aligned student teaching evaluation instruments; student teaching peer observation assignments; regular meetings and mentoring of field and course instructors; the adoption of LiveText, a standards-based electronic portfolio and assessment program; development of the only program in Georgia that prepares teachers to become Teacher Support Specialists in social studies; mentor teacher involvement in electronic portfolio assessment; student, cooperating teacher, field instructor, and school databases; revised field instructor and cooperating teacher evaluations; and a comprehensive student teaching information Web site (see http://www.coe.uga.edu/esse/sse/s3ite/index.html). All these reforms contribute to a more rigorous, coherent teacher education program and reflect the programs commitment to a challenging and collaborative vision of social studies teacher education.