How might social educators encourage civic reasoning and genuine dialogue across different perspectives? Disagreements about policy and appropriate action are part and parcel of democratic societies, and yet identifying and working through the roots of those disagreements are tricky skills for students (or anyone, for that matter). In this piece,…

What do people think of when they hear the word "census"? For some, the word prompts them to think of representation in Congress; others think of genealogy and family history. For still others, the census is viewed as something strange or foreboding. Yet for teachers and students, census records can help create a meaningful and relevant…

Part of media education is showing students other ways of being, knowing, and making change away from social media. Such experiences can allow youth to reflect not only on the benefits and drawbacks of social media, but how they change the flow of our lives. They are then better positioned to choose when to use, or not use social media. Educators…

On a hot July day in 1854, 24-year-old schoolteacher Elizabeth Jennings, accompanied by a friend, attempted to board a horse-drawn trolley to attend Sunday church services in Lower Manhattan. The Irish conductor refused, telling Jennings, who was African American, to await a horsecar for "her people." When Jennings resisted, the…

The nationwide commemoration in 2020 of the 100th anniversary of the 19th Amendment is an opportunity to explore not only women's long struggle to achieve this landmark moment, but also to engage in an exploration of women's civic engagement during the woman suffrage movement. The terms "woman suffrage" and "suffragist" often…

The amplification of women's voices and enfranchisement of their rights is a global issue that has gained momentum in the last century alongside the expansion of democracy. Women have seen their political presence increase in recent history, whether it be through suffrage and voting rights, parity of representation in governmental bodies, or…

In early February 2020 the World Health Organization (WHO) named a new kind of media consumption ailment, saying, "The 2019-nCoV outbreak and response has been accompanied by a massive 'infodemic'--an over-abundance of information--some accurate and some not that makes it hard for people to find trustworthy sources and reliable guidance when…

Between 1870 and 1920, the United States government produced a series of Statistical Atlases, representing the country's first attempts to provide a fully national perspective on its rapidly evolving physical and human geographies. Compiled once every 10 years using data from the U.S. Census and other sources, the Statistical Atlases offer views…

In this article, the authors begin by describing a classroom activity from part of the Diplomacy Challenge unit in their Problem-Based Learning (PBL) Advanced Placement (AP) World History Curriculum when students discover and analyze the history of the Early Modern Era (1450-1750). In this article, they explain how they have adopted PBL, its…

An arts-based approach to secondary social studies can promote active learning, develop critical thinking skills, and advance the study of social institutions.

A close look at artifacts from September 11, 2001, can spark a powerful classroom lesson on the historic attacks. Some artifacts are massive, some fit in the palm of a hand, all serve to tell the story of what happened on 9/11 and in its aftermath. Throughout the year, students use these artifacts, and the stories behind them, to examine the…

Sports can be used to facilitate analytical thinking when students are asked to critically conceptualize culture, societal institutions, and ways social capital is constructed within communities. In this article, the authors explore how one aspect of sports culture, pick-up sports, models democratic values. In analyzing the pickup game, as…

Young people must systematically learn to become voters, and this is especially the case for those who grow up with little to no access to structured civic opportunities like extracurricular activities and community organizing. With those principles in mind, and based on 2018 research and experience with practitioners and partners, the authors…

How can educators immerse high school students in a real murder case investigation that will require them to draw upon and practice the critical thinking, literacy, and reasoning skill sets so highly valued under the Common Core, the C3 Framework and the 21st Century skills rubric? As an attorney and former high school teacher, the author knew…

The 2016 presidential election was the first since the passage of the 1965 Voting Rights Act in which full voting protections were not in place for historically marginalized voters. This shift was largely due to a 5-4 decision in "Shelby v. Holder" (2013) in which the Supreme Court ruled that states with a history of voter discrimination…