| The social studies field has labored under the influence of the early national committees of the turn of the century. Those committees tended to endorse history as the essence of social studies. That orientation came to prevail generally in the elementary and secondary schools. Ironically, the major organization of the field, the National Council for the Social Studies, was formed in 1921, in part, to advocate a broader conception of social studies--one which would encompass all the social science disciplines.;In view of these differing orientations, and yet the persistence of history in the social studies curriculum, the major purpose of this study was to conduct an analysis of Social Education, the official journal of NCSS, in respect to its representation and treatment of the discipline of history.;Major findings of the study were as follows: (1) of the social science discipline articles the greatest number and percent were history (29.86%); (2) of the history articles the classification area of U.S. history received the greatest percent (40.11%); (3) some 39.03 percent of the history articles were of an academic content nature as opposed to dealing with instructional or curricular type issues; (4) in respect to instructional processes the articles in the journal advocated the teaching of history through a non-chronological approach, through community based learning via local history and history clubs, and through art, drama, literature, music, and poetry; and (5) in respect to ideological and curricular concerns the journal articles on history tended to endorse the new history of Robinson and others, a non-positivist philosophic stance, a process approach to history teaching, a broader framework of history and history teaching than the typical ethnocentric, Western outlook, a commitment which accepted history as a blend of the humanities and the sciences, and a belief that history should constitute the spine of the social studies curriculum.;The findings revealed that the journal by its numerical representation of history articles reinforced the thrust of the earlier national committees and the prevailing patterns in elementary and secondary social studies. Yet, when it came to methodological and ideological concerns, it reflected a generally liberal, progressive education stance rather than the more traditional patterns prevalent in the schools and within the historical profession. |
