Study finds giving pre-service social studies teachers practice in teaching difficult topics boosts confidence

LAWRENCE — If practice makes perfect, teachers should not be expected to teach difficult topics to students without a chance to rehearse in a low-stakes setting. Yet that commonly happens, and a new study from the University of Kansas found that when pre-service teachers designed and taught a lesson on a seminal text about surviving the Holocaust, they inconsistently used historical source analysis, relied on lessons they received years ago and said they were afraid of what might happen teaching the subject matter.

Social studies teachers routinely guide lessons on difficult topics like the Holocaust. But most research on how they teach focuses on veteran teachers who have received professional development to provide them new skills or supports. Anna Yonas, assistant professor of curriculum & teaching in KU’s School of Education & Human Sciences, led a study examining how four pre-service social studies teachers designed and led a lesson about “Night” by Elie Wiesel, an influential narrative about surviving the Holocaust, in a simulated practice environment. 

The research was published in the journal The Social Studies.

Without instruction on traumatic history instruction, the pre-service teachers tended to rely on what they remembered about the Holocaust from their own education, Yonas found.

“There is a representative body of research that suggests novice teachers are still developing subject matter expertise, but not much has looked at how they teach in practice,” Yonas said. “I want to know more about how we can allow pre-service teachers to learn in practice before they are teaching difficult topics to real students in real classrooms.”

Yonas chose “Night” because research has shown it is the most commonly read book by American high school sophomores. The pre-service teachers gave the book lesson in a mixed-reality simulated classroom, a technology designed by the Flexible Learning through Innovations in Technology & Education Center at KU. The study examined how they delivered the lesson and how they described the supports they believe would help them teach the subject matter, then measured their confidence in covering the curriculum before and after.

The subjects took varying approaches to the lesson. Two reported they ran out of time to complete what they hoped to cover, one taught about the history of antisemitism, and one did not mention Jewish people at all.

Following the lesson, all said they were not sure how to address the Holocaust and had not had training in traumatic history instruction — teaching subject matter that was not only traumatic at the time but has the potential to be traumatic for students and teachers in the present. All four attempted to manage students’ expectations, noting that the subject matter would be difficult and that some might find it upsetting.

“They said across the board they didn’t know how to address this subject matter, and surprisingly, two were even afraid of doing so because they didn’t know what to do if a student made antisemitic comments while discussing the material,” Yonas said.

However, all four pre-service educators indicated that their confidence level in teaching difficult subject matter increased after practicing in a simulated setting. Taken together, the results showing inconsistency in historical source analysis, teaching a lesson from the perspective of the oppressors, improved confidence following the simulation and other factors indicate training in traumatic history instruction and opportunity for practice should be a part of teacher preparation programs, Yonas said. 

She has also published research that found an increasing number of states have mandates requiring teachers to cover genocide but lack guidelines in how they should do so.

Yonas, who is continuing research into how novice social studies teachers conduct lessons on similar subject matter before and after practice sessions, said the current findings can help teacher education programs better prepare future educators by giving them instruction in how to address difficult subject matter and by providing opportunities to practice before leading their own classrooms.

“We need to better prepare our teachers for when they feel afraid of addressing certain topics. We’ve found that when that happens, they rely more heavily on teacher narrative and don’t leave time for student discussion,” Yonas said. “I would argue for preparation that involves practice, it doesn’t have to be a simulation, but something in a low-stakes setting where they can learn with support about the basics of teaching traumatic history.”