Creating Systems of Professional Learning to Encourage Deep Thinking in Social Studies: A Qualitative Study

This paper describes a problem that developed due to a lack of systems in place to provide professional learning for teachers in social studies. This problem was ignited when revised standards were adopted which shifted from heavy content focus to skills and content. Standards requiring both skills and content encourage student inquiry and promote deep thinking by students through the use of historical evidence. Therefore, the purpose of the improvement science plan-do-study-act (PDSA) cycles was to develop a system of job-embedded professional learning to assist teachers with teaching strategies that use historical evidence to promote deep thinking in social studies guided by the improvement question: How do we develop a system of on-site professional learning to assist teachers with teaching strategies that use historical evidence to promote deep thinking in social studies? Through collaboration with two different middle schools in the same local education agency (LEA), a collaborative approach was utilized to engage in professional learning related to the skills-based state standards and indicators and the resources supplied by the SDE. The results of the study indicated positive outcomes when teachers were provided with the time, collaborators, and necessary materials to develop instructional opportunities to engage students in deep thinking.