Honors College Theses

Publication Date

4-4-2026

Major

Secondary Education (B.S.Ed.)

Release Option

Open Access

Faculty Mentor

Dr. Elizabeth Barrow

Abstract

Secondary educators in social studies classes face the challenge of maintaining the attention of dozens of students during instruction, often on content that seems irrelevant or unimportant. Educators must find ways to emphasize that the content their students are disinterested in is useful and crucial for their development into adults. Research suggests that bridging the gap between the classroom and the real world improves classroom engagement (Cooper, 2014; Tagliaferro, 2012). Students who are engaged and exert more effort in class derive academic benefits, such as placement in advanced pathways and increased test scores (Carbonaro, 2005). Civics education and the inclusion of real-world content in classrooms increase the chances that students will participate in civic activities after finishing high school (Institute for Citizens and Scholars, 2019; Pew, 2023; Siegel-Stechler, 2019). While research indicates that connecting the classroom to the real world effectively keeps students engaged, the specific methods and practices used vary from school to school and teacher to teacher. This research seeks to expand beyond the literature by approaching educators across the state of Georgia to collect information on their practices for building real-world relevance into lessons to determine which differences exist from teacher to teacher and why. Interaction with the case study group found that educators have varying preferred methods of improving engagement with their students by using real-world content, and that none of the three valued the merits of doing so due to identifiable differences in experience, location, or course sections taught.

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