Social studies educators who applaud discourse-based approaches may benefit by adding research on argumentation to their conceptual toolkit. We make the case here for its value, in particular emphasizing that argumentation skill needs to develop, suggesting an apprenticeship model of this development and highlighting evidence supporting it.

In this manuscript, the authors discuss a seven-day research project that occurred within the Birmingham metropolitan area where fourth graders researched the role that public issues played in the creation of two suburban school systems in their city. We coded student work samples to look for themes. Emergent themes from student work samples are…

Situating NYC's Asian American and Pacific Islander (AAPI) history curriculum initiative as part of the nationwide movement for K-12 ethnic studies, this article aims to explore perspectives and experiences of six Asian American and migrant elementary teachers regarding the new AAPI history curriculum initiative in NYC. Teachers' stories,…

The absence of social studies curriculum is a problem because it undermines the essential purposes of schooling: to prepare participatory, contributing members of a democratic society. In this article, we argue that integrating the literacy and social studies curricula is one meaningful way to support such civic-minded social studies instruction…

Given the cultural diversity and pluralistic nature of the United States, an important part of citizenship education is helping children learn how to engage respectfully and dialogically with people whose beliefs and ways of life may differ significantly from their own. Such engagement is necessary for peaceful co-existence, as well as in the…

Drawing on a three-year multimethod study of civic engagement within "Dewey Elementary," this article identifies the contextual supports of civic efficacy. In particular, it works to map the role of the teacher in supporting the civic action and efficacy of six fifth-grade girls who requested changes to the school's existing lunch plan.…

Teachers learned knowledge, skills, values, and dispositions through spending significant amounts of time working with heritage sites as they learned more about social studies. Elementary social studies teachers engaged in teacher in-service to increase their abilities to meet geography standards. Teacher professional development that caused…

The Wake County Public School System (WCPSS), in the state of North Carolina, has gone through considerable recent effort to revise, support, and assess their seventh-grade social studies curriculum in an effort to serve three goals: comply with the Common Core State Standards (Common Core), comply with the North Carolina Essential Standards…

The content of social studies curricula make studying abroad during the summer months a win-win for social studies teachers. During these experiences, teachers have the opportunity to develop their knowledge of global history and other cultures and to see a bit of the world. That said, the most dangerous assumption one can make is that simply…

Students used a compass trail to show how they could perform service to their school. When students performed service learning, they completed a real task that was needed for a grateful audience conjoined with academic content in the lesson. Students worked on the school grounds and used content from their regular curriculum while looking for…

This article examines the discourses of preservice and practicing elementary school teachers as they participated in focus group discussions about instructional materials and resources for planning and teaching historical content within their social studies curriculum. The study took place in a professional development school setting in which…

This article examines the experiences of a group of fifth-grade teachers who used lesson study, a teacher-driven form of professional development, to teach history in a project supported by a Teaching American History Grant. The project addressed the following questions: What does a lesson study cycle for history education look like? What…

This article illustrates the challenges of teaching curriculum within the guidelines of No Child Left Behind. Nine school teachers write and speak about their experiences, what influences their curriculum choices, and how they attempt to incorporate social studies in the elementary classroom. The teachers completed a background survey, wrote about…

This article describes the Native American History in a Box curriculum which is designed to introduce elementary and middle-level students to Native American cultures. The curriculum consists of a five day unit addressing the following concepts pertaining to Native American Nations: settlements, tools, sustenance, pottery, and contact with…

In this article, the authors investigate Mexican education reform and decentralization and how the state of Jalisco focused in the early twenty-first century on developing a sequential curriculum for teaching civics in grades 1-6. The authors use the term "educacion civica" because in Mexico the curriculum emphasizes the acquisition of…