Aim
Research shows that student learning is domain specific and dependent upon the teaching quality teachers possess and perform within the different domains of their subject matter. Social science teaching involves descriptive as well as normative domains aiming at active democratic citizenship in all Nordic countries. Comparing the teaching quality of these domains within Nordic classrooms will give new knowledge to the field of subject matter teaching. Therefore, the overarching aim of the study is to compare the teaching quality in domains of social science in Nordic classrooms. The study makes use of (i) classroom videos and (ii) student-survey collected in an ongoing research study “Linking Instruction & Student Achievement” (LISA Nordic Study), and teacher interviews on their teaching.
The research questions are:
- How can we describe teaching quality within domains of social science subject matter in Nordic classrooms?
- What are the similarities and differences between teaching quality in Nordic social science classrooms?
Design
The project is designed as a comparative study, aiming to compare the teaching quality in social science classrooms focusing on different domains within the subject matter. Data sources include (i) video data from social science classrooms, (ii) student surveys, and (iii) teacher interviews. The study will combine chosen domains of the PLATO observation protocol with a social science didactic framework based on formation theory to analyse the quality of teaching and its content in social science classroom from a comparative perspective.
This project is part of the theme one “Studying teaching quality” within QUINT.