Built as a national effort to promote excellence in history and civics for all learners, Educating for American Democracy (EAD) brought together content experts, civic education organizations, and school district leaders to identify and outline disciplinary concepts that are essential for robust civic education. The EAD steering committee sought…

Teachers introduced to the Inquiry Design Model (IDM) are often relieved to learn that inquiry isn't a fuzzy ideal, but rather is a curricular approach with a defined vernacular--questions, tasks, and sources. The inquiry blueprint is a one-page visual representation of the questions, tasks, and sources that define an inquiry. In the blueprint,…

While empirical studies on the use of hip-hop music in social studies spaces is limited, the work that has been done offers encouraging perspectives. Some research suggests that incorporating hip-hop lyrics into the classroom leads to increased student engagement and greater curricular relevance. Other scholars have centered hip-hop as a way to…

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…

How something begins can matter a lot, especially for young adults. "The circumstances under which a person enters a profession is predictive of how that person will view the profession for the rest of his or her life." The goal is for that view to be positive and long lasting for social studies educators. Can more be done to support…

The implementation of the C3 Framework has unfolded unlike any previous standards project. A grassroots movement rather than a top-down mandate, the C3 effort calls on teachers to be at the forefront of social studies reform. In New York State, the C3 Framework provided context and inspiration for the New York Social Studies Toolkit Project.…

Susan Griffin, executive director of NCSS, was chair of the Task Force of Professional Organizations that initiated and guided the development of "The College, Career, and Civic Life (C3) Framework for Social Studies State Standards", which will soon be released. In this interview with "Social Education", Susan explains how the…

As the C3 Framework for the social studies rolls out, it is hoped that its influence will grow, offering a vision and guidance for the development of a new generation of state social studies standards that promote deeper student learning and the acquisition of essentials skills for college, career, and civic life. In the interim, it can be an…

There is much that can be learned from a curriculum developed in The Netherlands, a country famous for having been "claimed from the sea." Nothing can be truer than that, but there is more to the story than just the physical aspect of claiming land from the water. The identity of the Dutch, the history of their maritime and seafaring…

When the College, Career, and Civic Life (C3) Framework for Social Studies State Standards project began, there really was nowhere else to go but up. The project was up against great odds--a dearth of funding, a history of incivility amongst the disciplines within social studies, a knack for ending up in media battles over what should be taught in…

In an effort to promote cultural literacy in children and young adults, the Racism and Social Justice Committee of the National Council for the Social Studies created the Carter G. Woodson Book Award. The purpose of the Woodson Award, given annually since 1974, is to promote the writing, publishing, and dissemination of sensitive and accurate…

One of the challenges that social studies educators face daily is how to make student learning relevant. Digital technologies can play an important role by connecting what happens in the classroom to the world beyond. One way to do this is by turning students into producers of information and having them create content rather than simply consume.…

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…

In Texas, the members of the State Board of Education (SBOE) are elected in a partisan election. One of the duties of the State Board of Education is overseeing the writing of curriculum standards for the various content areas. A call went out to educators across the state, asking for volunteers to write the standards. Committees were formed for…

Because ethnicity is a salient part of the American social system, the author discusses the need for students to be tolerant of cultural differences. In addition, definitions of ethnicity are given, developments of recent trends are briefly traced, and criteria for selection of ethnic minority content and the value of this content are discussed.…