Critical inquiries--those seeking to disrupt and alleviate injustice--amplify the stakes and challenges of designing effective compelling questions. Teachers must navigate decisions about what constitutes an injustice, which perspectives are legitimate, and how to maintain a focus on justice and equity while neither indoctrinating students nor…

Conventional pundits, pollsters, and forecasters are focused on whether the economy will improve sufficiently in 2012 for President Barack Obama to gain reelection. The Keys to the White House, a prediction system that the author developed in collaboration with Vladimir Keilis-Borok, founder of the International Institute of Earthquake Prediction…

A detailed explanation of a strategy for teaching any critical thinking skill is presented. The skill of distinguishing between statements of fact and opinion is used to illustrate the steps necessary to plan for teaching critical thinking. (RM)

An extensive, three-year inservice training model is described as implemented MACOS in a elementary social studies program. (KM)

The data-gathering model for the National Assessment offers many uses and implications at state and local levels for accountability and curriculum development purposes. (Author/KM)

A model is provided which shows how the community can become a laboratory in which the learner studies data and makes decisions. In the community laboratory, learners are both participants and observers, helping them understand why they live as they do and how citizens work together to improve community life. (Author/JR)

This article presents an alternative structure for social studies. The structure is based on studying people as grouped by culture rather than by political boundaries. Provides an example of how the cultural grouping might change a standard United States history course. (JDH)

This article deals with the basic techniques of teaching entire classes to cooperatively develop simulation games. The first section presents a model which serves as a nucleus for developing the instructional strategies in the second section. (Author/KM)

This article examines social studies in the primary grades and shows how community resources can facilitate social learning. A three-stage model is examined which addresses the issues of citizenship and community involvement in the primary grades. It provides for teacher/school, parent/community, and learner involvement in all stages of…

The women's biographies cited can provide models for personal and career development and can acquaint secondary students with the roles and accomplishments of women representing various cultural and racial-ethnic groups throughout history. Criteria for selecting cited items, which address issues of sexism and discrimination, are listed. (RM)

Research on teacher effectiveness has provided substantial evidence that certain teaching behaviors are more likely than others to promote student achievement. Described is an instructional design model that can help teachers plan for more effective teaching. Two sample social studies lessons based on the model are presented. (RM)