Author

Susan Shadle

Date of Award

11-1-2001

Document Type

Thesis

Degree Name

Master of Arts in Liberal Studies (MALS)

Department

Liberal Studies

First Advisor

Philip Boshoff

Second Advisor

Paul Michalec

Abstract

As the textbook remains the driving force of instructional methodology in the secondary history curriculum, student enthusiasm and achievement in the discipline continue to decline. Textbooks, which fail to tell the complete story of the American experience, are not just shortchanging history, they are ill-suited to the developmental requirements of the adolescent learner. Through personal classroom experience, literature review, and a one-year site-based study, the evidence compiled in this study endorses the integration of social studies trade books, in particular historical and realistic fiction novels, as a prescription for diminishing, if not turning around, the discouraging trend in middle school social studies.

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