Ryan Knowles
School of Teacher Education and Leadership
Associate Professor, Social Studies Education
Contact Information
Office Location: EDUC 335Phone: 573-514-5134
Email: ryan.knowles@usu.edu
Additional Information:
Biography
Ryan is an associate professor of social studies education and cultural studies within the school of teacher education and leadership. Ryan’s research uses quantitative research methods to understand how teacher and student ideology develops and manifest within schools and classrooms. He received his Ph.D. in Social Studies Education and Quantitative Research from the University of Missouri. Prior to that Ryan received a Master’s of Arts in Political Science and a Bachelor’s of Science in Secondary Social Studies Education, both from the University of Missouri. He also has an Associate of Arts degree from Moberly Area Community college.
Ryan’s scholarship has been featured in a variety of peer reviewed academic publications, book chapters, podcasts, and a recent book. Ryan received the Researcher of the Year Award from the School of Teacher Education and Leadership in 2018 and the International Education Association’s Wolf Award for significant contribution in the field of education using IEA data in 2016.
Teaching Interests
Social Studies Education, Applied Statistical Analysis
Research Interests
Democracy and education, Political ideology within the public schools, Social justice research across epistemological and methodological divides, Democratic theory, Citizenship education in International Contexts, Quantitative Research Methods, Scale Development, Open Classroom Climates
Awards
2021 Critics Choice Book Award , 2021
American Educational Studies Association
Graduate Mentor of the Year , 2019
School of Teacher Education and Leadership
Researcher of the Year , 2018
School of Teacher Education and Leadership
Wolf Award, 2016
International Education Association
Undergraduate Instructor of the Year , 2015
University of Missouri
Publications | Books
- Knowles, R., Hawkman, A., Suarez, M.I, (2024). Making quant critical: Centralizing critical theories in quantitative social studies research: (Re)Envisioning Social Studies Education Research . Information Age Publishing
- Heafner, T., Fitchett, P., Knowles, R.T, (2016). Using “big data” secondary dataset analysis to inform social studies teaching and learning.: Rethinking Social Studies Teacher Education for Twenty-First Century Citizenship.
- Castro, A.J, Knowles, R.T, (2015). Social Studies Education: International Encyclopedia of Social and Behavioral Sciences, 2nd Edition.
- Knowles, R.T, Theobald, R., (2013). Moving Toward More Dynamic Instruction: A Comparison of How Social Studies is taught Among Disciplines and Advanced Placement Courses: Research on the status of social studies: Views from the field.
Publications | Book Chapters
An asterisk (*) at the end of a publication indicates that it has not been peer-reviewed.
Publications | Journal Articles
Academic Journal
- Knowles, R., (2019). Ideology in the schools: Developing the teacher’s civic education ideology scale within the United States. Education, Citizenship, and Social Justice
- Knowles, R., Castro, A.J, (2019). The implications of ideology on teachers' emphasized civic behavior in the classroom . Teaching and Teacher Education , 77, 226-239.
- Knowles, R., (2018). Re-envisioning education for civic engagement in the social media century. Democracy and Education , 26:1
- Knowles, R., (2018). Teaching who you are: Connecting teachers’ civic education ideology to instructional strategies. Theory and Research in Social Education, 46:1, 68-109. doi: DOI:10.1080/00933104.2017.1356776.
- Knowles, R., Clark, C., (2018). How common is the common good? Moving beyond idealistic notions of deliberative democracy in education. Teaching and Teacher Education
- Knowles, R., Torney-Purta, J., Barber, C., (2018). Enhancing citizenship learning with international comparative research: Analysis of IEA civic education databases. Citizenship Teaching and Learning, 13:2
- McCafferty-Wright, J., Knowles, R., (2016). Unblocking the civic potential of current events with an open classroom climate.. Social Studies Research and Practice, 11:1
- Knowles, R., Di Stefano, M., (2015). International Citizenship Education Research: An annotated bibliography of research using the IEA ICCS and IEA CIVED datasets. Journal of International Social Studies, 5:2
- Knowles, R., (2015). Asian Values and Democratic Citizenship: Exploring Attitudes among South Korean 8th Graders Using Data from the Asia Module of the International Civic and Citizenship Study. Asia Pacific Journal of Education, 35:2, 191-212.
- Knowles, R.T, McCaffert-Wright, J., (2015). Connecting an Open Classroom Climate to Social Movement Citizenship: A study using the International Civic and Citizenship Study among 8th Graders in Western Europe. Journal of Social Studies Research, 39:4, 255-269.
- Shear, S., Knowles, R.T, Soden, G., Castro, A.J, (2015). Manifesting destiny: Re/presentations of Indigenous peoples in K-12 U.S. history standards. Theory and Research in Social Education, 43:1, 68-101.
An asterisk (*) at the end of a publication indicates that it has not been peer-reviewed.
Publications | Other
An asterisk (*) at the end of a publication indicates that it has not been peer-reviewed.