Abstract
There has been substantial research conducted in the field of social studies education relating to effective instructional pedagogy. However, many research studies fail to take into account one very important variable: How do the students enjoy learning social studies? This paper is a survey research study designed to see what a group of middle school students liked and disliked about social studies instruction. The purpose of this research is to gain a better understanding of what instructional methods the students enjoy in the social studies classroom. By analyzing the students’ perspective of effective instruction, teachers can begin to design lessons incorporating methods that have been proven to maximize student interest in the social studies classroom. Introduction Students often consider social studies to be dull and boring (Chiodo & Byford, 2006). Not only do students perceive social studies to be dull, but they also fail to see the relevance of social studies to their everyday lives (Schug, Todd & Beery, 1982; Shaughnessy & Haladyna, 1985). Why is this? Is it because the content is truly dull and boring; or is it because the instructional methods utilized by the teacher do not engage and inspire students to learn social studies. Shaughnessy & Haladyna (1985) concluded that “It is the teacher who is key to what social studies will be for the student. Instruction tends to be dominated Spring 2010