Purpose: Investigate first- to third-graders' understandings of the police. Design/methodology/approach: Phenomenography is used to analyze elementary students' understandings of the police as a social institution Findings: The results indicate three qualitatively different ways of understanding the police. The police as: attributes, activities…

This study aims to develop an instrument that measures democratic attitudes levels in primary school students in third and fourth grades. This study involved 591 students (302 for exploratory factor analysis, 289 for confirmatory factor analysis) enrolled in the 3rd and 4th grades. A literature review was conducted to prepare the scale items, and…

"Reconstructing Democratic Education" was an international conference held virtually on June 22, 2024. This article uses the words of the speakers and the participants to present some of the stories and reflections that stimulated us that day. Speakers touched on a wide variety of challenges that democracy in general and schools in…

In this article, the authors unveil the Trade Book Inquiry Design Model (IDM) blueprint. Anchored in a compelling question inspired by a trade book, the new blueprint is broken into two instructional blocks: "Reading and Comprehension" and "Living Social Studies." The inquiry template is designed to be instructionally efficient…

This paper draws on a longitudinal ethnography of nine children's use of texts in and out of school in a multilingual setting in Sweden. The aim of this contribution is to reflect on the ways in which four out of these nine children are able to represent their literacies in school and in that way also represent their experiences and identities.…

Lauren Hennig is a relatively new third grade teacher in Charleston, Illinois. She knows that patiently listening to others and respectfully sharing one's own opinion is a learned skill that's essential for promoting and sustaining our democracy. This is the story of how Lauren works to help her students develop this skill through student-led…