Reinvigorating social studies: A desire for powerful learning

According to a teacher education study in social studies curriculum (also known as society and environment), taken-for-granted discourses of schooling as well as community discourses appeared to hold sway over the choices pre-service teachers made for children’s learning through fieldwork (or excursions). As a part of several action research cycles, these findings have led to further initiatives; the most recent takes up opportunities offered in the contemporary teacher education context with an emphasis on online and blended learning. In this chapter, I outline this most recent iteration in course design, based on a desire for pre-service teachers to be knowing and powerful agents in their planning decisions. Namely, this chapter focuses on the use of a narrative pedagogy incorporating a richly connected form of critical reflection and analysis.