Michelle Bauml
Clotilda Winter Professor of Education Texas Christian University
- Fort Worth TX
Dr. Bauml studies early childhood/elementary teacher education, civic education, and social studies education.
Media
Social
Biography
Dr. Bauml’s research focuses on early childhood/elementary teacher education and social studies curriculum and teaching. Her publications have addressed topics such as scripted curricula, content integration, inquiry-based civic education, curriculum decision-making, and teacher self-efficacy.
As a core member of TCU’s Center for Public Education and Community Engagement, Dr. Bauml connects teaching, research, and community outreach. Since 2016, she has directed the iEngage Summer Civics Institute, a weeklong program that engages middle school students in civic learning through inquiry. Through this work, she studies civic education while mentoring TCU students who help empower youth for active citizenship.
Prior to joining the faculty at TCU, Dr. Bauml taught at a Title 1 elementary school in the Houston area and coached beginning teachers in Houston and Austin. She has extensive experience supporting prospective and early career teachers. Dr. Bauml enjoys teaching undergraduate courses for the Early Childhood Education (EC-6) program and graduate courses in Curriculum and Instruction. She has been recognized for excellence in teaching and research.
Areas of Expertise
Accomplishments
Texas Council for the Social Studies Outstanding Higher Education Faculty Award
2024-11-02
Texas Council for the Social Studies faculty award for contributions to the field of social studies education and research.
Tom Erb Award for Outstanding Article, Association of Middle Level Education
2023-10-14
Bauml, M., Smith, V. D., & Blevins, B. (2022). “Who Cares?”: Young Adolescents’
Perceived Barriers to Civic Action. Research in Middle Level Education, 45(3), 1-20.
TCU Dean’s Teaching Award
2021-05-03
University award for teaching, selected by college deans at TCU.
Honorary Leon Jaworski Award for Teaching Excellence in Law Focused Education,
2016-06-16
Awarded by Law Focused Education, Inc. of the State Bar of Texas and Texas Young Lawyers Association.
Education
The University of Texas at Austin
Ph.D.
Curriculum & Instruction
2010
University of St. Thomas-Houston
M.Ed.
Educational Administration
2004
Texas A&M University-College Station
B.S.
Interdisciplinary Studies
1992
Affiliations
- American Educational Research Association (AERA)
- National Association of Early Childhood Teacher Educators
- National Association for the Education of Young Children
- National Council for the Social Studies
- Phi Delta Kappa
- Texas Council for the Social Studies
Media Appearances
Inside Middle Schoolers' Take on AI
Education Week print
2025-06-30
The students “demonstrate[ed] this critical thinking” about AI, Bauml said. “And isn’t that what we want? For our citizens not just to accept any source that comes in front of [them]or any tool, but to really weigh benefits and drawbacks?”
Recess Kits: The Solution for Active Indoor Play When the Weather Won’t Let us Go Outside
LiiNK Project online
2023-02-27
Dr. Debbie Rhea of the Let's Inspire Innovation N' Kids (LiiNK Project) invited Dr. Michelle Bauml to discuss the importance of unstructured play for children. In this podcast episode, they discuss taking recess indoors during inclement weather.
Starpoint School Honors Veterans
TCU College of Education online
2018-11-09
Starpoint School students honored veterans with a ceremony held for the first time this year at the school on Friday, November 9. What started with a collaboration between Michelle Bauml, A.J. and Edna Pickett Endowment for the Clotilda Winter Professor of Education, and Lisa May, first year instructor at Starpoint, grew into a school-wide celebration that coincided with the 100 year anniversary of Armistice Day.
Educating Our Youth to Become Good Citizens
The McCuistion Program tv
2018-09-23
Dr. Bauml joined a panel as a guest on the McCuistion Program to discuss the importance of educating future generations on civic responsibility.
TCU observes National Child Abuse Prevention Month
TCU 360
2017-04-18
“Because one aspect of Alliance For Children’s focus is education, partnering with TCU’s College of Education, Department of Social Work and Karyn Purvis Institute of Child Development is a win-win for all involved,” said Michelle Bauml, an associate professor in the College of Education and co-chair of the TCU Pinwheel Project committee...
Articles
“I can do this!” How early childhood teacher education influences preservice teachers.
Journal of Early Childhood Teacher EducationMichelle Bauml, Kathleen Kyzar
2025-01-06
Given the many challenges and expectations early childhood teachers face as they enter the profession, there is a need to understand how teacher education programs can contribute to their self-efficacy for teaching. Existing teacher self-efficacy research typically relies on surveys and quantitative data analysis; however, focus groups and interviews have potential to reveal nuances about what contributes to emergent teacher self-efficacy. Through a framework of self-efficacy theory, this paper reports findings from a qualitative study that explored how a university-based early childhood educator preparation program influenced preservice teachers’ confidence in the work of teaching. Findings reveal four distinct but interconnected programmatic elements that influence teacher self-efficacy: coursework, fieldwork, feedback, and support. Implications for early childhood teacher educators and researchers are addressed.
“Fitting it In”: How Elementary Teachers Talk about Social Studies Instruction in Public School Classrooms.
Journal of Social Studies ResearchMichelle Bauml
2023-07-01
The tenuous state of elementary social studies has been explained by scholars who cite lack of time and curriculum resources devoted to social studies; teachers’ emphasis on tested subjects; and instruction that distorts, trivializes, or omits social studies content. Integrating social studies with other core subjects has been positioned as a viable approach to address some of these challenges, but not all teachers have a healthy understanding of integration as an avenue for robust social studies instruction. This qualitative study explores 14 elementary teachers’ stances to social studies as a core content area—with particular emphasis on content integration—in public schools. By investigating ways in which practicing teachers talk about social studies in their classrooms, this paper adds to the growing body of scholarship documenting the peripheral status of social studies in early grades. Findings offer theoretical implications for interpreting how and why social studies continues to be marginalized in early grades by focusing on participants’ healthy and unhealthy understandings of content integration.
“Who Cares?”: Young Adolescents’ Perceived Barriers to Civic Action
Research in Middle Level EducationMichelle Bauml, Victoria Davis Smith, Brooke Blevins
2022
Tom Erb Award for Outstanding Article, Association of Middle Level Education
While civic participation is a crucial component of healthy and sustainable democracies, young adolescents may perceive or experience barriers that limit their civic action. This study draws from focus groups and surveys during a week-long summer civics camp to explore ways in which 47 young adolescents entering Grades 6–9 described barriers they perceive to civic action in their schools and communities. Findings reveal that participants entered camp believing they were capable of making a difference in their communities. Their ideas for youth civic action in schools and broader communities typically represented personally responsible and participatory notions of citizenship. Key obstacles to civic activities included partnerships with peers/adults, peers’ reluctance to exercise civic duty, social-emotional factors, and lack of resources.
“I Really Want to Do Something”: How Civic Education Activities Promote Thinking Toward Civic Purpose Among Early Adolescents
Journal of Adolescent ResearchMichelle Bauml , Brandy P. Quinn, Brooke Blevins, Kevin R. Magill, Karon LeCompte
2021
Research has shown that youth and their communities benefit from civics education, with its aim to prepare citizens for democracy. However, civics education for adolescents in the United States is not equitable, and determining how to best measure aspects of civic development in younger adolescents is a challenge. In this qualitative study, we explored how the constructs of action civics and civic purpose might inform teachers, other practitioners, and researchers who are interested in understanding the kinds of educational opportunities that promote civic development in young adolescents. Specifically, we examined how activities characteristic of an action civics approach to civic education in the context of a week-long summer civics camp would influence young adolescents’ thinking across the dimensions of civic purpose. We conducted focus groups with 49 young adolescents (entering 5th-9th grades) as they participated in the civics camp, and we analyzed transcripts using qualitative content analysis. Our findings reveal four key considerations for promoting civic purpose development in young adolescents: the importance of adult guides, the significance of developmentally matched activities, opportunities for growth in educating diverse and marginalized youth in the civics camp setting, and action civics as a curricular mechanism for promoting civic purpose.
Cultivating a mindset of civic engagement among young adolescents
The Journal of Social Studies ResearchBrandy P. Quinn, Michelle Bauml
2018
This study explored early stages of civic engagement among 48 young adolescents by examining what they think about as a result of participating in various civic learning activities during a summer civics camp, and whether or not this thinking varied based on participants’ entering civic profiles. Participant thinking was assessed through concept maps. Based on survey data, participants were classified into entering profiles of civic development: justice-oriented or participatory youth; civically purposeful or not, and civically involved or not. Findings show that, of the eight camp activities studied, interactions with guest speakers from various community agencies were most likely to generate thinking about knowledge and civic action. Participant thinking did not differentiate in any consistent ways based on whether or not they were justice-oriented. However, there were differences in thinking when participants were classified by presence or absence of civic purpose and civic involvement.
A Qualitative Study of Teachers’ Perceptions of Increased Recess Time on Teaching, Learning, and Behavior
Journal of Research in Childhood EducationMichelle Bauml, Mary Martin Patton, Deborah Rhea
2018
Recess in the United States is decidedly limited in elementary schools, despite numerous research findings that support unstructured play as a vehicle for development across multiple domains. It is widely understood that recess breaks promote prosocial behaviors, physical activity, and attentiveness in class. However, few researchers in the United States have explored effects of multiple daily recess periods on teaching, learning, and behavior. In this investigation, we report findings from interviews with 17 teachers who provide four recess periods daily. We describe the LiiNK Project, inspired by European approaches that provide recess breaks throughout each school day. Findings from this study extend existing knowledge about benefits of recess by providing teacher accounts about how multiple recess periods affect students cognitively, socially, and emotionally. Furthermore, this research makes a new contribution to the literature by reporting how teachers maximize instructional time while increasing daily recess from 15 to 60 min. Implications for school leaders and teachers are shared.
Is it cute or does it count? Learning to teach for meaningful social studies in elementary grades.
Journal of Social Studies ResearchMichelle Bauml
2016
In this study of 75 elementary preservice teachers, the author examined ways in which a social studies methods course affected beliefs and pedagogical approaches for meaningful social studies instruction. The study adds to the field's understanding of "what sticks" in teacher education.
Learning From Preservice Teachers’ Thoughts About Teaching in Urban Schools: Implications for Teacher Educators
Education and Urban SocietyMichelle Bauml, Antonio J. Castro, Sherry L. Field, Deborah L. Morowski
2013
Preparing new teachers to work in urban schools has become a priority for many teacher education programs. This study explored 20 preservice teachers’ responses to a scenario about working in an urban school as a beginning teacher. Specific attention was placed on what participants believed were key challenges and concerns...
“We Learned All About That in College”: The Role of Teacher Preparation in Novice Kindergarten/Primary Teachers' Practice
Journal of Early Childhood Teacher EducationMichelle Bauml
2011
This qualitative case study reports how five first-year kindergarten/primary teachers utilized knowledge and skills from their teacher preparation program as a means of approaching curricular decision-making for instructional practice. In many ways, participants drew from university courses, field experiences, or both to help them make sense of their work and to guide their decisions. This was achieved as participants adopted, modified, imitated, or avoided what they learned during their teacher preparation program...
Examining the Unexpected Sophistication of Preservice Teachers’ Beliefs About the Relational Dimensions of Teaching
Teaching and Teacher EducationMichelle Bauml
2009
Research on preservice teachers’ beliefs about professional teaching capabilities indicates strong attention to the relational dimension; these studies have contributed to a portrayal of preservice teachers as simplistic and overly optimistic about the teaching profession. In this article, I position preservice teachers’ attention to teacher–student relationships as a form of professional knowledge. Drawing from findings of a qualitative study of U.S. elementary (prekindergarten-Grade 4) preservice teachers who were asked to describe professional characteristics of effective teachers, I suggest their beliefs reveal surprisingly nuanced understandings about the complex nature of teaching.
