Here the author shares his attempt to add, without financial cost, substantive and dynamic international experiences to the secondary social studies teacher education program he facilitates. He provides thick descriptions of (1) the overarching goals of a collaborative, online, international learning project, (2) the curriculum materials he helped…

Africa is the cradle of civilization, yet its rich history and culture is undertaught--especially in elementary P-5 classrooms. In this article, we share Adinkra symbols from West Africa which can be used for interdisciplinary instruction and classroom management. We offer Adinkra symbols as an organizing theme for teaching in the spirit of not…

The article examines a mainstream curricular unit on the Haitian Revolution, centered on a culminating role-play activity. Cultural studies, subaltern studies, and hermeneutics are applied as theoretical frameworks to read the curriculum unit and its activities. These theoretical lenses sharpen an understanding of what it means to experience…

The purpose of the study was to examine if and how elementary preservice teachers' perceptions about history were changed upon their completion of a class project that engaged them in a discipline-specific inquiry as a method of teaching history. Surveys were administered to assess any changes in their perception of the history before and after…

This article describes the evolution of the author's approach to teaching a secondary social studies methods course over an eighteen-year period. Earlier in his career, the author imposed a reflective, issues-centered approach to teaching social studies as the preferred model of teaching. As a result of a combination of his own professional growth…

Teaching about diversity and respect for others is a challenging task for today's educators--especially at the middle school level. This article describes successful attempts to do so at the sixth-grade level. These real-life experiences enhanced classroom learning and reached out to the community. The author hopes that other educators will…

Discussion-based teaching has long been recognized as a way to promote civic engagement. However, increasing the amount and quality of student talk in social studies classrooms has proven very difficult in practice. This article's purpose is to show how teachers can design a discussion to increase student involvement. A well-designed discussion…

Learning about local government seems boring and irrelevant to most young people, particularly to students from high-poverty backgrounds. The authors explore a promising approach for solving this problem, Storypath, which engages students in authentic learning and active citizenship. The Storypath approach is based on a narrative in which students…

Argues that with a little creativity and some scrounged materials, social studies teachers can construct interesting games and activities. Provides examples of games and a lesson plan teaching responsibility through a group construction. Profiles an instructional materials center that collects and distributes donated materials. (MJP)

Everybody accepts that Americans celebrate the independence of the United States on the Fourth of July, in remembrance of that famous date in 1776. In this article, the author features a simple lesson designed for students to check the accuracy of this most basic of American historical facts. During the lesson, the students examine nine pieces of…

Describes how the history of flight can be used to encourage elementary school children to read, discuss, and do research on an aviation topic. Outlines several activities that can be used to encourage student interest. (GEA)

The author presents a social studies lesson that uses a commemorative coin to encourage understanding of the Monroe Doctrine. The international factors surrounding the formation of the Monroe Doctrine are discussed along with the implications and limitations of the document. The lesson provides quotations from the Monroe Doctrine, discusses how…

In this article, the author offers social studies educators a means to deepen students' understanding of and skills for constructive disagreement by bringing together four areas of study that inform one's awareness of the role of the body in democratic life. The author includes specific curricular suggestions and classroom activities that…

Examines two viewpoints that secondary students can adopt when studying world people and issues. First is the insider perspective of the individual who lives and experiences a situation as a participant, and whose interpretations are subjective and practical. Second is the outsider perspective of the observer whose outlook is objective and…

Elementary students can learn how to take an interpretive approach to learning history so that they can construct knowledge about collective past experience in ways that provide a meaningful context for understanding present experience. Like historians, children communicate their interpretations to others by telling or writing stories in which…