Social studies instruction in signing programs for deaf and hard of hearing students: an ecobehavioral assessment.

Social studies is a devalued subject in public schools. Worse, apparently no research exists on social studies instruction for students in deaf education. The researchers investigated the allocation of time for social studies in 7 residential schools and 1 day school. Using an ecobehavioral assessment tool, they observed 30 deaf students (grades 3-5) and 17 teachers for 60 school days. Three questions guided the study: (a) How much time was used for social studies? (b) What activities were more prevalent during social studies instruction? (c) Were there differences in the target of teacher attention between high- and low-performing students? Results showed that yoking social studies and language arts resulted in a doubling of the amount of time devoted to social studies content. Hands-on activities were most prevalent across grades. Practices that meets the recommendations of the National Council for the Social Studies are suggested.