In episode 225, Dan and Michael chat with Amy Allen and David Hicks about his new TRSE article titled, “Representation matters, but so does data: A 15-year assessment of the assumed ‘demographic imperative’ in the social studies teaching force.”

Transcript

Books, Articles and Other Amazing Resources

1. Allen, A., Williams, T. O., & Hicks, D. (2026). Representation matters, but so does data: A 15-year assessment of the assumed “demographic imperative” in the social studies teaching force. Theory & Research in Social Education, 54(1), 94-127.
2. Schools Council Project History
3. This article was inspired by previous work we did about our local/rural context: Allen, A., Hicks, D., & Williams, T. O.  (2025). Who teaches rural social studies? A national portrait of demographics, belonging, and the racialized terrain of social studies education. Journal of Social Studies Research, 50(1), 30-46. https://doi.org/10.1177/0885985X251372176; Allen, A., Hicks, D., and Williams, T. O. (2024). A portrait of rural social studies teachers (and their students): Demographics and implications for professional development. Annals of Social Studies Education Research for Teachers, 5(1), 1-16. https://doi.org/10.29173/assert63
4. James Banks “demographic imperative” → this is the citation we have in the paper: Banks, J., Cochran-Smith, M., Moll, L., Richert, A., Zeichner, K., LePage, P., Darling-Hammond, L., Duffy, H., & McDonald, M. (2005). Teaching diverse learners. In L. Darling-Hammond & J. Bransford (Eds.), Preparing teachers for a changing world: What teachers should learn and be able to do (pp. 232–274). Jossey-Bass.
5. Chandler, P. T. (Ed.). (2015). Doing race in social studies: Critical perspectives. Information Age.
6. Hawkman, A. M. (2020). Swimming in and through whiteness: Antiracism in social studies teacher education. Theory & Research in Social Education, 48(3), 403–430. https://doi.org/10.1080/00933104.2020.1724578
7. Call Me Mister, Boston Teacher Residency
8. The Titanic
9. Dan gave a shout to Dr. Kristen Duncan’s work, particularly around the experiences of Black teachers dealing with white teacher’s racism 

**Prior to the recording Amy, Dan, and David discussed Greg Davies ‘story of being a teacher in Slough England. Deeply moving :–– https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=2dImqqDzm8o  Michael came late to the session only hearing the classic  words  “Fecal Jackson Pollock”. Then the recording began…

Biographies

Amy Allen, Ph.D., is an Assistant Professor of History and Social Science in the Elementary Education program in the School of Education at Virginia Tech. Amy has a BSE in Elementary Education and an MS in Educational Technology from the University of Central Missouri, and a Ph.D. in Curriculum and Instruction from the University of Oklahoma. Before earning her Ph.D., Amy taught elementary school in Missouri and Oklahoma. She considers herself a social studies scholar who focuses on addressing gaps in current research on the intersection of religion and education, signature pedagogies in social studies (including the use of GenAI), and the demographics of the social studies teaching force. In addition to more than 30 publications, she also has an online, OER text, Teaching History with Chatty Geeps: A Technocurious Approach to Generative AI in the Classroom, and a co-edited book titled Beyond Single Stories: Changing Narratives for a Changing World. She serves as the Executive Director of the Social Science Education Consortium and a founding board member of the Virginia Council for History Education. She also works with doctoral students in the Curriculum and Instruction program at VT and prepares undergraduate and master’s level students for teacher licensure.

Every year, Amy spends the average GDP of a small country on Dr. Pepper. Current projects include: (1) investigating religious picture books endorsed by the National Council for the Social Studies; and, (2) place-based learning, primarily as an excuse to travel cool places around the world. She is known for thinking any distance is walking distance, and she likes nice things. In addition to speed reading for work and for fun, in her free time, Dr. Allen listens to Taylor Swift and travels (mostly to Disney… you might say she’s a Disney adult:—*shudder*). Secretly, she likes to pretend she is the leading actress in every popular Broadway musical and sometimes does karaoke for fun alone in her living room. While Amy could have been the inspiration for Margot Robbie’s portrayal of Barbie, she was more likely the inspiration for Polly Pocket in the 2006 breakout hit, Pollyworld. However, she is best known for her role as Twi’lek Jedi Aayla Secura in Attack of the Clones and Revenge of the Sith (aka the blue girl) or for being the first woman to win a songwriting Grammy. Her least favorite Chappell Roan song is Casual, and while she is pretty sure Dr. Hicks’s bio is supposed to be funny, hers is 100% real.

David Hicks, Ph.D., is a professor of history and social science education in the School of Education at Virginia Tech.  He holds a BA (Honors) in Social History from Lancaster University (UK), a Postgraduate Certificate in Education with distinctions in theory and practice from Leeds University (UK), an MA in History from the SUNY Cortland, and a PhD in Curriculum and Instruction from Virginia Tech. David taught middle and high school social studies in New York state and served as a museum curator/educator at the History Museum of Western Virginia on the “29 Let’s Go” D-day exhibit before completing his Ph.D. His research and teaching interests include examining the integration of digital technologies and media to support the learning of history and social science as an inquiry-based discipline, and specifically how to scaffold historical source analysis. To date, he has authored or coauthored more than 90 journal articles, book chapters and conference proceedings.

Each year David is gutted that he never wins an Oscar, Noble Prize, Emmy, Tony or Grammy – he has not even found the baby in the king cake on Mardi Gras. Current projects include: (1) trying to become self-appointed affiliate faculty to the vet school – expertise is a little-known field: small animal puppetry (since shoulder surgery large animal puppetry is out); and, (2) changing the name of the School of Education to the School of Cognitive Engineering. He has stopped using X because he has been confused