2022 Volume 96 Pages 25-36
This study seeks to investigate the reality of actual classroom research on the New Social Studies (NSS) and the evaluations by researchers of the period. It also seeks to demonstrate the possible emergence of qualitative classroom research in the NSS era. This in turn necessitates a re-examination of social studies education research in the United States during this period, focusing on classroom research and its methodology. The gap between theory and practice has been identified as a problem in the NSS. However, previous studies in Japan have not focused on the practice of the time or classroom research by researchers. This paper presents a case study of Elliott Seif’s research, conducted as part of the Washington University Elementary Social Science Project.
This study reveals the following points. In the NSS era, theories of social studies based on academic and social demands were created from “outside the classroom” as has been focused on in the past. Conversely, the theory of practice and its research methodology was constructed from “inside the classroom” through qualitative research based on classroom practice. For his part, Seif engaged in qualitative research on teaching of thinking about clarifying social and ethical controversies. Thus, concepts and hypotheses were generated that reflected the complexity of the classroom situation, including the practical judgments of teachers and the values that children bring to the classroom. This gave rise to a theory that reflected the complexity of the classroom situation and took into account teachers’ practical decisions. In addition, Seif’s research was recognized by American researchers at the time as a pioneering study that introduced qualitative research methodology to research on teaching social studies. The NSS can thus be said to have incorporated inherent theories of practice and methodologies of qualitative classroom research that could overcome the “gap between theory and practice.” This possibility deserves reevaluation. This study demonstrates that qualitative research in the social studies classroom may have emerged in the NSS era of the 1960s and 1970s. This in turn necessitates a re-examination of social studies education research in the United States during this period, focusing on actual classroom research and its methodology.
