Rooted in the Real World: Harnessing Place-Based Learning for Social Studies Education

Ariel Cornett, Ph.D., is an Assistant Professor of Elementary Social Studies Education in the Department of Elementary and Special Education at Georgia Southern University (GSU). She is also the Co-Program Director of the Master of Arts in Teaching (MAT) in Elementary Education (P-5). Dr. Cornett teaches undergraduate and graduate elementary social studies methods courses. She is a member of the social studies team that was awarded the Georgia Council for the Social Studies (GCSS) 2023 Social Studies Program of Excellence Award. Her research interests focus on the place-based teaching and learning of social studies in elementary classrooms and communities. She has been awarded a number of internal and external grants to support her scholarship. She has presented her work at several peer-reviewed conferences such as the College and University Faculty Assembly (CUFA), National Council for the Social Studies (NCSS), Georgia Council for the Social Studies (GCSS), Georgia Association of Teacher Educators (GATE), and American Educational Research Association (AERA). She has (co-)authored peer-reviewed publications in the following journals: Theory & Research in Social Education (TRSE), Journal of Social Studies Research (JSSR), Social Studies Research and Practice (SSRP), Social Studies and the Young Learner (SSYL), Teaching Social Studies in the Peach State (TSSPS), American Journal of Education (AJE), The Teacher Educators’ Journal (TTEJ), and School Community Journal (SCJ). She serves on the editorial board of Teaching Social Studies in the Peach State (TSSPS) and the Board of Directors for the Georgia Council of History Education (GCHE). Dr. Cornett is the 2024 Jack Miller Award for Service recipient for the GSU College of Education.