Summary
The “Die Hard as a Christmas movie” debate offers an entry point for engaging students in learning about culture and its interpretation. [JE1.1]As classroom practice shifts toward an emphasis on human geography and the use of geo-literacy skills, understanding how to engage students with complexity of geography is increasingly important. Because social studies teachers do not receive adequate geography education in their preservice education programs (Bednarz et al., 2013), we developed and taught a series of mini-lessons focused on cultural change to preservice teachers in a social studies methods course. Using Die Hard as a throughline, we developed lessons on (1) elements of culture, (2) folk and pop culture, (3) the impact of technology (e.g. film, home video, internet, etc.) and diffusion on culture, and (4) how virtual spaces are a cultural landscape. Though developed for preservice teachers, this session will address how the lessons can be easily adapted for middle and secondary classrooms. While the Die Hard debate is fun to have, we concluded with discussions about how cultural change is a normal, yet invisible, process.
Session Focus
Secondary/High School | Human and Cultural Geography | Inquiry
Conference Room
Robins Family Forum Theater
Meet the Presenter
Jeff Eargle is a clinical associate professor at the University of South Carolina where he serves as the Secondary Social Studies Program Coordinator in the College of Education. He is the coeditor of the forthcoming two-volume book Teaching Holocaust Geographies in Middle and High School from Palgrave Macmillan.
Vernon Turner is a Clinical Assistant Professor at the University of South Carolina, where he teaches social studies methods in the Department of Teacher Education. His work focuses on social studies education and teacher preparation, with particular attention to inquiry-based instruction and classroom practice. Prior to joining USC, he taught high school geography, including Advanced Placement Human Geography.
Bethany M. Sanders is a doctoral student in the College of Education at the University of South Carolina and a high school social studies teacher in the South Carolina public school system. She received NCGE’s K–12 Distinguished Teaching Award in 2024, and her doctoral studies focus on teaching geo-literacy in the secondary classroom.
