Research
Presentations &
Publications
A summary of research and scholarly work by Christopher Martell:
 
Books
Martell, C. C., & Stevens, K. M. (2021). Teaching history for justice: Centering 
activism in students’ study of the past. Teachers College Press.
(purchase book)

Martell, C. C. (Ed.). (2018). Social studies teacher education: Critical issues 
and current perspectives. Information Age Publishing.
(purchase book)

Research Journal Articles (Refereed) 
Harris, L. M., Martell, C. C., Chalmers, J., & Lee, J. S. (in press). "I was in the 
room where it happens": Educator agency and community within state social 
studies standards committees. Theory & Research in Social Education.
(download pre-publication article)

Martell, C. C., Martinelle, R., & Chalmers, J. P. (in press). Barriers and pathways to
enacting justice-oriented social studies: A longitudinal study of novice teachers. 
Urban Education.
(download pre-publication article)

Shreiner, T. L. & Martell, C. C. (in press). Making race and racism invisible:
A critical race analysis of data visualizations in online curricular materials
for teaching history. Race, Ethnicity and Education. (download pre-publication article) Martinelle, R., Martell, C. C., & Chalmers-Curren, J. P. (2024). Teaching for
transformative citizenship: A study of preservice social studies teachers' developing
beliefs and practices. Education, Citizenship and Social Justice, 19(1), 77-94. (download article) Martinelle, R., Martell, C. C., & Chalmers-Curren, J. P. (2023). From rowing together
to rowing alone: Beginning teachers' beliefs and practices related to multicultural
democratic citizenship. Teacher Education Quarterly, 50(4), 54-73. (download article) Martell, C. C. (2023). White elementary teachers and learning to teach race in
the social studies classroom: A 6-year longitudinal study. Whiteness and Education,
8(2), 1-33. (download article) Martell, C. C. & Stevens, K. M. (2023). Teaching movements in history: Understanding
collective action, intersectionality, and justice in the past. The History Teacher,
56
(3), 343-366. (download article) Martell, C. C. (2022). A longitudinal study of beginning elementary teachers' beliefs
and inquiry-based practices in the history classroom. Teacher Development, 26(5),
627-643.
(download article) Martell, C. C., Martinelle, R. & Chalmers-Curren, J. P. (2022). "We need to
teach school differently": Learning to teach social studies for justice. The Journal
of Social Studies Research
, 46(4), 345-361. (download article) Martell, C. C., Carney, M. M., Marin, K. A., & Hashimoto-Martell, E. A. (2021). Whose research counts? Teacher research and the practitioner-academic divide. The Teacher Educator, 56(4), 399-426. (download article) Stevens, K. M. & Martell, C. C. (2021). Five years later: How the 2016 U.S. presidential election and the #MeToo Movement impacted feminist social studies teachers. Theory & Research in Social Education, 49(2), 201-226. (download article) Martell, C. C. (2020). Barriers to inquiry-based instruction: A longitudinal study of history teachers. Journal of Teacher Education, 71(3), 279-291. (download article) Martell, C. C., & Stevens, K. M. (2019). Culturally sustaining social studies teachers: Understanding models of practice. Teaching and Teacher Education, 86, 1-11. (download article) Stevens, K. M. & Martell, C. C. (2019). Feminist social studies teachers: The role of teachers’ backgrounds and beliefs in shaping gender-equitable practices. The Journal of Social Studies Research, 43(1), 1-16. (download article) Martell, C. C. & Stevens, K. M. (2018). Perceptions of teaching race and gender: Results of a survey of Massachusetts social studies teachers. The High School Journal, 101(4), 274-299. (download article) Martell, C. C. (2018). Teaching about race in U.S. history: Examining culturally relevant pedagogy in a multicultural urban high school. Journal of Education, 198(1), 63-77. (download article) Martell, C. C. & Stevens, K. M. (2017). Becoming a race-conscious social studies teacher: The influence of personal and professional experiences. The Social Studies, 108(6), 249-260. (download article) Martell, C. C. & Stevens, K. M. (2017). Equity- and tolerance-oriented teachers: Approaches to teaching race in the social studies classroom. Theory & Research in Social Education, 45(4), 489-516. (download article) Martell, C. C. (2017). Approaches to teaching race in elementary social studies: A case study of preservice teachers. The Journal of Social Studies Research, 41(1), 75-87. (download article) Martell, C. C. & Sequenzia, M. R. (2016). Working the dialectic: Teaching and learning teacher research in social studies. The Educational Forum, 80(4), 407-416. (download article) Martell, C. C. (2016). Divergent views of race: Examining whiteness in the U.S. history classroom. Social Studies Research and Practice, 11(1), 93-111. (download article) Stevens, K. M. & Martell, C. C. (2016). An avenue for challenging sexism: Examining the high school sociology classroom. Journal of Social Science Education, 15(1), 63-73. (download article) Martell, C. C. (2016). Teaching emerging teacher-researchers: Examining a district-based professional development course. Teaching Education, 27(1), 88-102. (download article) Martell, C. C. (2014). Building a constructivist practice: A longitudinal study of beginning history teachers. The Teacher Educator, 49(2), 97-115. (download article)  
Martell, C. C. (2013). Race and histories: Examining culturally relevant teaching in the U.S. history classroom. Theory & Research in Social Education, 41(1), 65-88. (download article) Martell, C. C. (2013). Learning to teach history as interpretation: A longitudinal study of beginning teachers. The Journal of Social Studies Research, 37(1), 17-31. (download article)
Practitioner Journal Articles (Refereed) Martell, C. C. & Stevens, K. M. (2022). Thinking like an activist in the history classroom.
Social Education, 85(5), 333-339. (download article) Erickson, S., Dunne, K. A., & Martell, C. C. (2021). Supporting quality social studies instruction: The social studies practices continuum. Social Studies Research and Practice,
16(2), 172-178. (download article) Kissling, M. T. & Martell, C. C. (2014). Analyzing the messages of the State of the Union Address. Social Education, 78(6), 269-272. (download article) Dunne, K. A. & Martell, C. C. (2013). Teaching America's past to our newest Americans: Immigrant students and United States history. Social Education, 77(4), 192-195. (download article)
Book Chapters Martell, C. C., & Stevens, K. M. (2022). Learning to teach history for justice: Racial literacies and teacher education. In L. J. King (Ed.), Racial literacies and social studies: Curriculum, instruction, and learning (pp. 181-194). Teachers College Press. (purchase book) Collins, T., & Martell, C. C. (2022). From praying towns to the National Day of Mourning: Centering Indigenous peoples' survivance and resistance within American history. In L. M. Harris, M. Sheppard, & S. A. Levy (Eds.), Teaching difficult histories in difficult times: Stories of practice (pp. 105-116). Teachers College Press. (purchase book) Martell, C. C., Bryson, J. R., & Chapman-Hale, W. C. (2017). Teaching racial inequity through the California Gold Rush. In P. Chandler & T. S. Hawley (Eds.), Race lessons: Using inquiry to teach about race in social studies (pp. 61-74). Information Age Publishing. (purchase book) Martell, C. C. (2015). Learning to teach culturally relevant social studies: A white teacher’s retrospective self-study. In P. Chandler (Ed.), Doing race in social studies: Critical perspectives (pp. 41-60). Information Age Publishing. (purchase book) Martell, C. C., & Hashimoto-Martell, E. A. (2012). Throwing out the textbook: A teacher research study of changing texts in the history classroom. In H. Hickman & B. J. Porfilio (Eds.), The new politics of the textbook: Critical analysis in the core content areas (pp. 305-320). Sense Publishers. (purchase book) Conference Papers Burner, T. & Martell, C. C. (2024). A self-study of an international faculty exchange between Norway and the U.S.: Deepening understanding of critical multicultural and multilingual teacher education pedagogy. Presentation at the Annual Meeting of the American Educational Research Association, Philadelphia, PA. Martell, C. C. & Shreiner, T. L. (2023). Learning to teach about race and racism through data visualizations in a social studies methods course. Presentation at the Annual Meeting of the American Educational Research Association, Philadelphia, PA. Martell, C. C., Harris, L. M., Carmichael, J., Lee, J., & Chalmers, J. P. (2023). Opening the black box: A policy analysis of state social studies standards committee processes. Presentation at the Annual Meeting of the College and University Faculty Assembly of the National Council for the Social Studies, Nashville, TN. Hashimoto Martell, A., Hashimoto Martell, E., Kissling, O., Kissling M. & Martell, C. C. (2023). Social studies stories of CUFA children and their fathers. Presentation at the Annual Meeting of the College and University Faculty Assembly of the National Council for the Social Studies, Nashville, TN. Martell, C. C., Harris, L. M., Lee, J., Chalmers, J. P., & Carmichael, J. (2023). The role of state standards committees in challenging or maintaining color-evasive social studies. Presentation at the Annual Meeting of the American Educational Research Association, Chicago, IL. Martell, C. C. & Colquitt-Anderson, D. (2023). Learning to center different stories: Examining teacher learning in an ethnic studies methods course. Presentation at the Annual Meeting of the American Educational Research Association, Chicago, IL. Martell, C. C. & Martinelle, R. (2023). "(More than) A background idea": A self-study of justice-oriented practices in social studies teacher education. Presentation at the Annual Meeting of the American Educational Research Association, Chicago, IL. Sheppard, S., Harris, L. M., Levy, S., Hauver, J., Collins, T. ... Martell, C. C. (2022). Teaching difficult histories in difficult times. Presentation at the Annual Conference of the National Council for the Social Studies, Philadelphia, PA. Harris, L. M., Martell, C. C., Chalmers, J. P., & Lee, J. (2022). "I was in the room where it happens": Social studies state standards committees and educator agency. Presentation at the Annual Meeting of the College and University Faculty Assembly of the National Council for the Social Studies, Philadelphia, PA. Harris, L. M., Sheppard, S., Levy, S., Adu-Gyamfi, M., Collins, T. ... Martell, C. C. (2022). Book talk: Teaching difficult histories in difficult times: Stories of practice. Presentation at the Annual Meeting of the College and University Faculty Assembly of the National Council for the Social Studies, Philadelphia, PA. Martell, C. C. & Stevens, K. M. (2022). Book talk: Teaching history for justice. Paper presented at the Annual Meeting of the College and University Faculty Assembly of the National Council for the Social Studies, Philadelphia, PA. Martell, C. C., Martinelle, R., & Chalmers-Curren, J. P. (2022). Barriers and pathways to becoming a justice-oriented social studies teacher. Paper presented at the Annual Meeting of the American Educational Research Association, San Diego, CA. Shreiner, T. L. & Martell, C. C. (2022). A critical race analysis of data visualizations in online social studies curricular materials. Paper presented at the Annual Meeting of the American Educational Research Association, San Diego, CA. Martell, C. C., Chalmers-Curren, J. P., & Martinelle, R. (2021). A longitudinal study of beginning social studies teachers and critical historical inquiry. Paper presented at the Annual Meeting of the American Educational Research Association, Orlando, FL. Martell, C. C., Martinelle, R., & Chalmers-Curren, J. P. (2020). Teaching social studies for justice: A study of the beliefs and practices of preservice teachers. Paper presented at the Annual Meeting of the College and University Faculty Assembly of the National Council for the Social Studies, Washington, DC. Martinelle, R., Martell, C. C., & Chalmers-Curren, J. P. (2020). Learning to teach for transformative citizenship: The beliefs and practices of preservice social studies teachers. Paper presented at the Annual Meeting of the American Educational Research Association, San Francisco, CA. Stevens, K. M. & Martell, C. C. (2020). Feminist teachers' evolution towards gender equity in uncertain times. Paper presented at the Annual Meeting of the American Educational Research Association, San Francisco, CA. Martell, C. C. (2020). How do teachers un-learn what they know? Paper presented at the Annual Meeting of the American Educational Research Association, San Francisco, CA. Erickson, S., Dunne, K. A., & Martell, C. C. (2019). Social studies practices continuum: A tool for improving inquiry-based instruction. Presentation at the Annual Conference of the National Council for the Social Studies, Austin, TX. Martinelle, R., Martell, C. C., & Chalmers, J. P. (2019). Teaching for democracy in multicultural settings: A study of beginning teachers and citizenship education. Paper presented at the Annual Meeting of the American Educational Research Association, Toronto, ON. Martell, C. C., Carney, M. M., Marin, K. A., & Hashimoto-Martell, E. A. (2019). The practitioner-academic research divide endures: A review of teacher research in the content areas. Paper presented at the Annual Meeting of the American Educational Research Association, Toronto, ON. Martell, C. C. (2018). Learning to teach (or not teach) race: A longitudinal study of beginning elementary teachers. Paper presented at the Annual Meeting of the College and University Faculty Assembly of the National Council for the Social Studies, Chicago, IL. Manfra, M. M., Martell, C. C., Dinkleman, T., Hostetler, A., Mayo, J.B., Sequenzia, M. … Hawley, T. (2018). The emancipatory potential of practitioner research in the social studies. Presentation at the Annual Meeting of the College and University Faculty Assembly of the National Council for the Social Studies, Chicago, IL. Martell, C. C. (2018). Longitudinal study of beginning elementary teachers’ beliefs and inquiry-based practices in history. Paper presented at the Annual Meeting of the American Educational Research Association, New York, NY. Martell, C. C. (2017). Teaching race in U.S. history: Missing civil rights voices. Presentation at the Annual Conference of the National Council for the Social Studies, San Francisco, CA. Martell, C. C., Alviar-Martin, T., Au, W., Baildon, M., Díaz Beltrán, A. C., Ducan, K. E., … Cuenca, A. (2017). Current perspectives in social studies teacher education. Presentation at the Annual Meeting of the College and University Faculty Assembly of the National Council for the Social Studies, San Francisco, CA. Manfra, M. M., Martell, C. C., Dinkleman, T., Crowe, A., Cuenca, A., Hostetler, A. L., … Schmidt, S. (2017). Practitioner research: Democratizing social studies research in troubling times. Presentation at the Annual Meeting of the College and University Faculty Assembly of the National Council for the Social Studies, San Francisco, CA. Martell, C. C. & Sequenzia, M. R. (2017). Working the dialectics in teacher research and social studies education. Paper presented at the Annual Meeting of the American Educational Research Association, San Antonio, TX.
Amtzis, A., Martell, Martell, C. C., Lawton-Sticklor, N., Bodamer, S., & Sequenzia, M. R. (2017). 
The Mobius strip: Exploring the recursive loop of teaching, doing and learning from 
teacher research. Paper presented at the Annual Conference of the New England Educational 
Research Organization, Portsmouth, NH.

Bryson, J. R., Bien, A. C., Martell, C. C., & Gibbons, E. (2017). Immersive field-based
methods courses for preservice teachers. Presentation at the Massachusetts Department 
of Elementary and Secondary Education Annual Instructional Support Convening, 
Marlborough, MA.

Martell, C. C. & Stevens, K. M. (2016). Models of culturally relevant teaching in social 
studies. Paper presented at the Annual Meeting of the College and University Faculty 
Assembly of the National Council for the Social Studies, Washington, DC.

Chandler, P. T., Hawley, T., Bolgatz, J., Broome, J., Busey, C., Crowley, R., … Martell, C. C. 
(2016). Book talk: Using inquiry to teach about race in social studies. Presentation at the 
Annual Conference of the National Council for the Social Studies, Washington, DC.

Martell, C. C. & Stevens, K. M. (2016). The beliefs and practices of race-conscious 
social studies teachers. Paper presented at the Annual Meeting of the American Educational 
Research Association, Washington, DC.

Martell, C. C. & Stevens, K. M. (2016). A survey of teachers’ perceptions of race and gender 
in social studies. Paper presented at the Annual Meeting of the American Educational 
Research Association, Washington, DC.

Stevens, K. M. & Martell, C. C. (2016). Gender equity in social studies: An analysis of 
teachers’ beliefs and practices. Paper presented at the Annual Meeting of the American 
Educational Research Association, Washington, DC.
Martell, C. C. and Stevens, K. M. (2015). The personal and professional experiences of 
race-conscious teachers. Paper presented at the Annual Meeting of the College and 
University Faculty Assembly of the National Council for the Social Studies, New Orleans, LA.

Martell, C. C. (2015). Uncovering the omitted past: Teaching race-related events in U.S. 
history. Presentation at the Annual Conference of the National Council for the Social Studies, 
New Orleans, LA.

Martell, C. C. (2015). Developing inquiry-based teaching practices: A 6-year longitudinal 
study of history teachers. Paper presented at the Annual Meeting of the American 
Educational Research Association, Chicago, IL.

Martell, C. C. (2015). Learning to teach about race in elementary social studies. Paper 
presented at the Annual Meeting of the American Educational Research Association, 
Chicago, IL.

Martell, C. C. (2014). Examining social studies teachers’ beliefs about teaching race. Paper 
presented at the Annual Meeting of the College and University Faculty Assembly of the 
National Council for the Social Studies, Boston, MA.

Stevens, K. M. & Martell, C. C. (2014). Teacher beliefs on gender in the sociology classroom. 
Paper presented at the Annual Meeting of the College and University Faculty Assembly 
of the National Council for the Social Studies, Boston, MA.

Martell, C. C. (2014). Beyond slavery and civil rights: Teaching race in U.S. history. 
Presentation at the Annual Conference of the National Council for the Social Studies, 
Boston, MA.

Chandler, P. T., Crowley, R., Finley, S., King, L., Shear, S. B., Vickery, A. … Martell, C. C. 
(2014). Book talk: Doing race in social studies: Critical perspectives. Presentation at the 
Annual Conference of the National Council for the Social Studies, Boston, MA.

Kissling, M. T. & Martell, C. C. (2014). The state of the source: Scrutinizing speeches for 
democratic citizenship. Presentation at the Annual Conference of the National Council 
for the Social Studies, Boston, MA.

Young, C. R., Stevens, K. M., Sequenzia, M. R., & Martell, C. C. (2014). Using teacher 
research in the social studies classroom. Presentation at the Annual Conference of the 
National Council for the Social Studies, Boston, MA.

Martell, C. C. (2014). Teaching about race in a multicultural setting: Culturally relevant 
pedagogy and the U.S. history classroom. Paper presented at the Annual Meeting of the 
American Educational Research Association, Philadelphia, PA.

Martell, C. C. (2014). Action research as empowering professional development: 
Examining a district-based teacher research course. Paper presented at the Annual 
Meeting of the American Educational Research Association, Philadelphia, PA. 

Martell, C. C. (2013). Whiteness in the social studies classroom: Students’ conceptions of 
race and ethnicity in U.S. history. Paper presented at the Annual Meeting of the American 
Educational Research Association, San Francisco, CA.
 
Martell, C. C. (2012). Investigating the intersection of race and histories in the classroom. 
Paper presented at the Annual Meeting of the American Educational Research Association, 
Vancouver, BC. 

Martell, C. C. (2012). Making meaning of constructivism: A longitudinal study of beginning 
history teachers' beliefs and practices. Paper presented at the Annual Meeting of the 
American Educational Research Association, Vancouver, BC.
 
Martell, C. C. & Hashimoto-Martell, E. A. (2011). Throwing out the history textbook: 
Changing social studies texts and the impact on students. Paper presented at the Annual 
Meeting of the American Educational Research Association, New Orleans, LA. 
 
Martell, C. C. (2011). A longitudinal study of learning to teach history as interpretation. 
Paper presented at the Annual Meeting of the American Educational Research Association, 
New Orleans, LA. 
 
Martell, C. C. (2011). Taking on the history textbook: A critical examination of texts used in a 
social studies classroom. Paper presented at the University of Pennsylvania Ethnography in 
Education Research Forum, Philadelphia, PA. 
 
Martell, C. C. (2010). Barriers to historical inquiry: The disconnection between the beliefs and 
classroom practices of preservice social studies teachers. Paper presented at the Annual 
Meeting of the College and University Faculty Assembly of the National Council for the Social 
Studies, Denver, CO. 
 
Martell, C. C. (2010). Continuously uncertain reform effort: State-mandated history and 
social science curriculum and the perceptions of teachers. Paper presented at the Annual 
Meeting of the American Educational Research Association, Denver, CO. 
 
Heald, S. C., Zavagnin, A. J., & Martell, C. C. (2009). Moving forward into the past: How 
teachers teach and learn history. Paper presented at the Annual Conference of the National 
Council for the Social Studies, Atlanta, GA.
 
Martell, C. C. (2009). State-mandated history and social science curriculum framework and 
the perception of teachers: A qualitative study. Paper presented at the Annual Conference 
of the New England Educational Research Organization, Portsmouth, NH. 
 
Martell, C. C., Heald, S. C., & Zavagnin, A. J. (2009). Moving forward into the past: Beginning 
teachers' perceptions of learning and teaching history. Paper presented at the Annual 
Conference of the New England Educational Research Organization, Portsmouth, NH. 
 
Martell, C. C., Heald, S. C., & Zavagnin, A. J. (2009). Moving forward into the past: How do 
teachers teach and learn history differently? Paper presented at the Harvard Graduate School 
of Education Student Research Conference, Cambridge, MA. 
 
White Papers
Manfra, M. M. Martell, C. C., Dinkelman, T., Hostetler, A. Mayo, J. B., Sequenzia, M., Crowe, A.
& Hawley, T. (2018). Moving our field formward: Practitioner research in social studies. Raleigh, 
NC: North Carolina State University.
(download document)

Dissertation 
Martell, C. C. (2011). Longitudinal analysis of teacher education: The case of history teachers. 
Unpublished doctoral dissertation, Boston University, Boston, MA. 
(download document) 
 
Research Projects 
National Study on the State of Social Studies Teachers (2010). Leader, Massachusetts 
Evidence Team