Amy E. Allen

Amy Allen is an Assistant Professor of Social Studies in the Elementary Education Program. Throughout her time teaching at the elementary level, Amy focused on engaging young students in complex and thoughtful dialogue and integrating social studies concepts throughout all subject areas. These experiences served as a catalyst for many of her teaching and research interests which broadly include elementary social studies, place based learning, and inservice teacher professional development. In writing about elementary social studies, her research focuses primarily on the ability of young students to participate in classroom discussions. She is also interested in researching various ways teachers integrate children’s books about social studies topics into the time and space devoted to language arts, using them as an avenue to enter into discussion and dialogue about issues of diversity, equity, inclusion, and social justice that are often neglected in the elementary classroom.