The study of history as part of the social studies curriculum is an important component of K-12 education. Yet, past research suggests that students perceive history as less important than other subjects (Brophy et al., 1992; Schug et al., 1984), find it boring and without purpose (Zhao & Hoge, 2005), and are unable to articulate why they…

This study examines the effectiveness of using augmented reality (AR) in gaining historical empathy skills. AR cards were used in different periods of the history lesson. A mixed design method including pre-test and post-test is used to A mixed methods research design with pre-test and post-test is used to determine the developments in empathy…

In this article, the authors examine one approach to teaching hard history using an Inquiry Design Model (IDM) curricular loop. A curricular loop allows students to build a deeper understanding of a complex idea and develop a greater facility with the tools of inquiry over a course of study by regularly engaging in an inquiry. The curricular loop…

This article describes the author's experience teaching oral history to seventh, eighth, and ninth graders in Honduras for two weeks in 2017. Students planned and implemented an oral history project to document the local history of the valley and their communities. The author hoped that students would grow in their understanding of history as an…

Race shapes the policies and history of the United States. Current research shows that state-approved social studies content standards are written in a non-racial and colour-evasive whiteness language that reinforces racist policies and practices in education. This qualitative framework analysis study examines the language of social studies…

With the implementation of the Common Core State Standards for English Language Arts and Literacy, as well as the onset of the C3 framework from the National Council of Social Studies, social studies teachers are tasked with integrating content and writing instruction in thoughtful and relevant ways. A middle school social studies teacher…

The purpose of this study was to examine how students used the elements of a historical argument to interpret how equality and opportunity affected marginalized groups in a given historical era. To do this, 150 eighth grade students wrote thirteen historical arguments, and submitted a written portfolio of their work at the end of the school year.…

This paper provides the National Center for Education Statistics (NCES), National Assessment Governing Board (NAGB), and the National Assessment of Educational Progress (NAEP) community with information that may help maintain the validity and utility of the NAEP assessments for civics and U.S. history as revisions are planned to the NAEP…

This study examined how U.S. entry into World War I and related pedagogical reforms of the early twentieth century impacted elementary social education at a local level. Analysis of state curriculum guides, records from the collection of a rural school educator, report cards, and daily attendance registers for four counties indicated that…

The purpose of this qualitative, single case study is to investigate how teacher-created curricula addresses key Native American events in early U.S. history and to determine if such curricula provided students with accurate representations of Native American content. To do this, we used discourse analysis to consider the meanings of words and…

Students often ask, "Why do we have to study history?" and teachers struggle with how to answer. If a history teacher's purpose is to simply teach students about historical events, then Dimension Four of the "College, Career and Civic Life (C3) Framework," "Communicating conclusions and taking informed action," seems…

This qualitative case study explored the implementation of critical citizenship education in an eighth grade social studies classroom. This research was guided by Johnson and Morris' (2010) framework for studying critical citizenship education and took place in a public charter school located in a capital city in the southeastern United States.…

Our social studies classrooms are filled with students from many different backgrounds. This article aims to help middle grades (grades 6-8) social studies teachers consider how trade books that feature the global South can be paired with primary historical texts in order to help students develop perspective consciousness. Social studies educators…

Material encountered in social studies has been shown to be challenging for students with reading difficulties, including those with disabilities. This study first examined the amount of time eighth-grade U.S. History teachers implemented empirically supported instructional practices. Second, this research investigated the association between…

Activities such as the Shays' Rebellion investigation outlined in this article enable students to develop inquiry and literacy practices as they integrate critical reading, historical thinking, and argument writing.