2024, Vol.9, No.2

Journal of Studies on Schools and Teaching 2023 KCI Impact Factor : 1.77

pISSN : 2508-156x / eISSN : 3022-8077
https://journal.kci.go.kr/JSST

This study’s aim was to deeply understand the manifestation and context of elementary school teachers' social studies curriculum literacy as they engaged in the process of writing social studies textbooks. A collaborative qualitative case study approach was employed, which involved cooperation between professors specializing in curriculum and instruction, and elementary school teachers who are field experts. The findings revealed that the elementary school teachers’ social studies curriculum literacy showed two main transformation patterns throughout the textbook writing stages. The first pattern was 'analytical reading of the social studies curriculum', which refers to the change in the teachers’ curriculum literacy in terms of their analytical reading of the contextual changes within the curriculum and the terms used. The second pattern was 'translating concepts into appropriate examples', which indicated the transformation of literacy as the teachers converted terms from the social studies curriculum into examples expressed in the form of text, illustrations, and activities. The manifestation of elementary school teachers' curriculum literacy was based on the context of content(social studies), form(authorized textbooks), and interaction(collaborative writing). Based on the data analysis results, the study examined the importance of the interactions within heterogeneous groups in fostering the teachers' curriculum literacy, the variations in curriculum literacy depending on the context of reconstructing the national curriculum and textbook writing, and the characteristics of subject-specific literacy in social studies.

In the early stages of literacy, teachers often rely on assessments such as dictation, and instruction focused on spelling based on empirical judgments is commonly implemented. This study explores methods that teachers can use to identify early literacy writing difficulties through the observation of handwriting style and form, and to address these issues effectively. Initially, first-grade elementary school students were categorized into groups of excellent, average, and poor writers based on pre-established observational evaluation criteria. The students then performed copy work with provided test vocabulary, which was analyzed to identify patterns in their performance. Handwritten samples were collected for further analysis.The observation criteria for each pre-evaluation group included pencil grip, writing posture, character form, letter size, stroke order, spelling, and writing speed. The study found that the most critical factors to address from the start of the semester to prevent writing difficulties were attention to pencil grip and stroke order. Students with poor writing skills exhibited deficiencies in letter formation, font size, spelling, and writing speed. Analysis of the handwriting samples revealed that students with writing difficulties often had issues with vowels encroaching on consonants and irregular repetitions of the consonant “ㅇ.” Effective methods for diagnosing early literacy writing problems were derived through interviews with students and teachers, and corresponding guidance was proposed.

The expectation of political neutrality in social studies classes with controversial issues makes it difficult for the teachers to conduct their classes and raises problems related to the teachers' autonomy due to self-censorship. This study attempts to identify the political neutrality contexts in which social studies teachers may encounter controversial issues and present the references that are related to them. In addition, based on that, we will try to summarize the educational implications of the debate on those problems in class. First of all, the references related to the political neutrality when encountering controversial issues in class are deemed “constitutional”, “Beutelsbacher agreement”, “reorganization of the curriculum”, and “social studies education academic research.” Accordingly, it was found that “balanced data composition,” “selection of controversial topics through reorganization of the curriculum,” “procedural efforts to filter out value-biased data,” “developing instructional materials through the teachers’ community discussions,” “free expression of the teachers’ positions as fellow citizens, not rulers,” and “conducting classes while considering community values” are important in relation to political neutrality. In addition, it is expected that what is presented here does not constitute an attempt to limit or reduce the controversial issues discussed in class, but rather as a criterion to conduct safe classes for both the students and the teachers.