Political history lends itself to traditional patterns of teaching and learning in social studies such as students memorizing facts presented in lectures or textbooks. This article presents a recurring activity structure for teaching U.S. political history--Consensus Circle Presidential Rating (CCPR)--which requires students to read across…

This article situates spoken word poetry as a discussion-based practice for the social studies classroom. Similar to traditional forms of discussion like debate and deliberation, spoken word poetry engages students in multiple perspectives, allows students to make critical arguments about the world, and creates a space for student voices to have…

While all citizens are increasingly concerned with climate change and its associated effects, youth show particular interest and activism around the topic. Legislators and activists have recently championed a Green New Deal as offering goals for how the issue might be addressed in the United States and other countries. In this article, we offer an…

Even though slavery is illegal in all countries, it is still practiced in the form of human trafficking. In fact, there are about twenty-five million men, women, and children who are victims of human trafficking, a 150-billion-dollar industry that affects every country across the globe. Modern communications, such as the Internet and cell phones,…

The accelerated ownership and usage of smartphones and social media presents multiple issues for educators. There is a relationship between smartphones and (a) academic achievement, (b) engagement, and (c) mental health. The purpose of this literature review is to investigate the impact of smartphones and social media on students and how…

As de Tocqueville recognized, the U.S. democratic system relies on the advocacy of civic-minded individuals. Although U.S. history is replete with persons using different means to advance one or more democratic principles, VanSledright and Hess argued that secondary history education reinforces a persistent national narrative, one characterized by…

Taken from a larger qualitative study, this article argues that rather than an encompassing uniform definition, rigor, as understood and enacted by social studies teachers, exists on a complicated spectrum. Teacher placement on this spectrum was influenced by teacher life experience, teacher interpretation of student need, pedagogy employed, how…

This content analysis explored how Civics and Government textbooks and the Virginia Standards of Learning for Civics and Government courses reflect citizenship outcomes, specifically deconstructing the unique needs of marginalized students. The coding frame was constructed by using themes and categories from previous literature, specifically…

Framing history/social studies textbooks as a social construction designed to create a public memory of a national history and history of the Other, we investigated how U.S. history is represented in South Korea's social studies textbooks and what images and ideas of the United States are encouraged for South Korean students to take. To answer…

Cooperative learning has long been at the disposal of school teachers. However, it is often misunderstood by some teachers as just another form of collaborative group work. This article revisits cooperative learning, including a sampling of its popular variations, with practical approaches toward effectively integrating it into classroom…

Numerous studies have highlighted a clear civic achievement gap between students from different ethnic and economic backgrounds in countries such as Singapore and the United States. Concurrently, researchers from both countries have noted that access to government and civics classes and curricula differs considerably across and within schools and…

The authors advocate for systematic teaching of 9/11 within the social studies curriculum (K-16). The examination of the issues and impact of 9/11 illustrate the power of civic education in a democracy. Illustrated are the key concepts and associated issues and values of 9/11 with the National Council for the Social Studies curriculum standards.…

In light of the common mission of social studies education to prepare future democratic citizens, the field continues to be rooted in didactic and monologic practices. Finding an alibi in the current accountability movement that favors teaching about democracy instead of teaching through democracy, many social studies teachers have reneged on…

Although much energy has been spent designing children's books and curriculum to bring issues of diversity and acceptance into classrooms, perhaps the most meaningful and relevant curricular materials only require a digital camera and a space for students to talk about photos of their own classroom community, creating an organic and everyday…

The National Council of Teachers of English (2008) defines "literacy" as a collection of cultural and communicative practices shared among members of particular groups. Classrooms are cultures in which the development of these practices not only reflects the social studies, but also expands knowledge of the social studies while fostering civic…