Methods and the Middle: Elementary and Secondary Preservice Teachers’ Views on Their Preparation for Teaching Middle School Social Studies

The majority of middle school teachers are prepared in either generalist elementary programs or subject- specific secondary programs, yet researchers and teacher educators have little understanding of the ways in which these divergent pathways prepare teachers for working at the middle school level. In this study, preservice teachers from an elementary and a secondary preparation program were interviewed about their conceptions of teaching social studies at the middle school level. The results indicated that the social studies methods course in each pathway strongly influenced the preservice teachers’ ideas about pedagogical strategies for teaching social studies, but did little to facilitate the preservice teachers’ understanding of teaching young adolescents. These findings draw attention to the need for more research and teacher education focused on teaching at the middle school level.