Personalized Learning in Social Studies Teacher Education

Abstract

Social studies teachers are asked to do the seemingly impossible: cover a broad array of content during the school year while also instilling critical reading and writing skills and developing a broadly defined civic identity. How can they effectively prepare to meet these ambitious goals? In this guide, I argue for the place of personalized learning in social studies teacher education. Making inquiry the centerpiece of social studies teacher education will facilitate the move towards personalized learning in lesson planning, curriculum design, and assessment. Through inquiry-related activities and projects, supported by digital and communicative technologies and a sociocultural approach to content planning, social studies teachers have the ability to enhance students’ personal competencies, facilitating mastery in a broad array of social studies knowledge and skills.