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College of Education and Human Development Curriculum and Instruction

College of Education 
    and Human Development Curriculum and Instruction
125 Peik Hall - 159 Pillsbury Dr. SE - Minneapolis, MN 55455 USA
Tel: 612-625-4006 - Fax: 612-624-8277
Benjamin Jacobs

Benjamin M. Jacobs

Assistant professor
Ph.D., Columbia University, Teachers College

Social studies education

148 Peik Hall
612-625-7818
bjacobs@umn.edu

Office hours:
Fall 2008: by appointment
Preferred method of contact: e-mail

As a historian of the social studies curriculum, I am interested in the various ways that social education and citizenship education have been conceptualized in school programs over time. One of my main areas of focus is social education among American ethnic groups. My previous work has investigated how American Jewish educators adapted social studies education in Jewish schools as a means of maintaining ethnic distinctiveness. I hope my future work with “hyphenated” American groups expands our understanding of what social education and citizenship education means in different sectors of American society.

Another area of my research focuses on teacher education. Over the past two years, I have been collaborating with a group of co-investigators from the University of Minnesota-Twin Cities, Minnesota State University-Mankato, and the College of St. Catherine on a grant-funded project studying the relationship between teacher preparation programs and teacher performance in ethnically and culturally diverse school and classroom contexts in Minnesota. I am particularly interested in how teachers’ backgrounds, experiences, and personal characteristics impinge on their teaching.

Prior to coming to the University of Minnesota, I served as an instructor and supervisor at Teachers College, Columbia University and an adjunct instructor and program coordinator at The Steinhardt School of Education at New York University. Before entering academia, I taught history for four years to grades 8 through 12 at a private school outside Washington, D.C.

I presently teach courses in social studies education, curriculum theory, and curriculum history. I am also affiliated with the Center for Jewish Studies faculty as a scholar of Jewish education.

Selected publications

Sato, M., Jacobs, B. M., & Avery, P. G. (2008). Preparing Minnesota teachers for diverse contexts.  CURA Reporter, 38(1), 23-29.

Jacobs, B. M. (2005). What’s wrong with the history of American Jewish education? Journal of Jewish Education, 71(1), 33-51.

Jacobs, B. M. (2004). Jewish education for intelligent citizenship in the American Jewish community, 1910-1940. In C. Woyshner, J. Watras, & M. S. Crocco (Eds.), Social education in the twentieth century: Curriculum and context for citizenship (pp. 76-92). New York: Peter Lang.

August 2008

 
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Last modified on August 12, 2008