A diverse democracy brings together people whose differences include partisan leanings, life experiences, histories, religious beliefs, racial identities, and sexual orientations to address common problems and build a shared future. Social studies educators can help prepare youth to pursue this goal by advancing core commitments to respectful and…

Although many adults perceive young "digital natives" as savvy about our new media landscape, youth are regularly fooled by inaccurate stories and online scams. Furthermore, beyond the threat of outright false information, young people encounter confusing half-truths, misleading arguments, and disguised efforts to collect their personal…

Planning a world history course presents a nearly impossible task. One cannot complete a world history course, or even a European history course, without casting a huge amount of historical information onto the curriculum planning scrapheap. An emphasis on the twentieth century means leaving out significant information from earlier times. "But how…

A notable feature of the Common Core State Standards for English Language Arts is the attention given to the teaching of reading and writing in history/social studies, science and technical subjects. The Standards for Reading Informational Text that are included in the Common Core State Standards require students to read texts in depth, understand…

National Council for the Social Studies (NCSS) first published national curriculum standards in 1994. Since then, the social studies standards have been widely and successfully used as a framework for teachers, schools, districts, states, and other nations as a tool for curriculum alignment and development. However, much has changed in the world…

The reaction paper discusses how the traditional view of social studies for younger children as a content subject has contributed to ineffective programs. A new approach which views social studies as a skills subject is recommended. (Author/RM)

Some educators applaud this effort to provide guidance to school systems; others, however, are not pleased with the guidelines. Reasons for negative reactions include: lack of rationale, narrow scope, conservative tone, lack of attention to research concerning developmental learning stages, and the reactionary nature of the report. (RM)

The work of developmental psychologists, Kohlberg and Piaget, is used to summarize characteristics of moral thinking at the elementary levels in order to help teachers encourage their students to the next higher level. (JH)

Practical suggestions to help K-12 teachers implement studies about local government are provided. Included are a list of goals, program activities, tips for involving the community, a sampling of questions concerning the government that students can research, steps for developing a local government simulation, and a bibliography of resource…

Recounts a group of western educators' three-week tour of Korea, sponsored by the Korean Studies Workshop. The educators interviewed administrators, attended lectures, and visited elementary and secondary schools. Provides an excellent overview of the state of Korean K-12 education, including proposed curricular reforms. (MJP)

The author comments on reactions made by Vincent Rogers, Elisabeth Hirsch, and John E. McGill to his original paper. (Author/RM)

Offers suggestions to help content-centered social studies teachers on the secondary level achieve their objectives in the area of values. The approach is based on development of values-related situations and problems from within the subject-matter content. A study is described in which this approach was tested in 18 11th-grade American history…

Asserts that the parameters and objectives of citizenship education should be expanded to incorporate multicultural perspectives. Criticizes traditional citizenship education for promoting limited objectives reflecting the status quo. Maintains that changing demographics and an emphasis on critical thinking necessitate a broader curriculum. (MJP)

Addressing the 54th annual meeting of the National Council for the Social Studies, 1974, Wronski comments on the integrity of social studies, accountability, ethnic studies, career education, values, academic freedom, social pollution, and political and social institutions. (JR)

Recommends that junior high school social studies classroom teachers incorporate information about the imminent and continuing shortages of energy into the curriculum. One way of organizing this information is as an inverted isosceles triangle in which energy, environment, and social studies education serve as sides of the triangle. Sample lessons…