Teaching Social Studies with Technology: New Research on Collaborative Approaches

Abstract

MEETING THE DEMANDS OF TEACHING in the digital age requires the identification of effective types of educational technology and ways of encouraging its use, and that was the aim of a "Preparing Tomorrow's Teachers to use Technology (PT3)" grant to the University of Michigan-Dearborn, from the United States Department of Education. This grant funded a four-year program involving not only public school teachers in the Detroit area, but also the faculty in the education and social sciences departments of the university. Dubbed "The MITTEN Program," it explored how the planned integration of new forms of technology affects instruction in social studies in elementary, middle, and high schools. What follows is a report on the outcomes of that project. Between September 1,2001 and April 30, 2005, a total of 257 educators in all of the core academic subject areas participated in seven cohort groups. In social studies, twenty-five full-time public school teachers, twenty-five pre-service teachers, five faculty members, and three field supervisors of student teachers were involved. The data presented in this study were gathered from surveys administered before and after people participated in the program, journal entries, reflections articulated in electronic portfolios and at meetings, and technology projects. The first half of the survey asked nine questions designed to measure the partici-