This study examines how elementary preservice teachers (PSTs) develop the capacity to design inquiry-based lessons in social studies and how this capacity changes over time. Using convergent parallel mixed methods, the findings indicate that PSTs had inherent and varied content design approaches fitting their perception of lesson design as they…

In this article, Abby Reisman offers four instructional practices that educators can use to help students grapple with history's contradictions and engage in meaningful text-based discussions. Reisman details two suggestions that can be used in history classrooms and across the disciplines: orient students to one another and orient students to the…

Multicultural education aims for social justice and a democratic society in that education should eradicate structural inequality and unequal power among majority and minority groups. These critical aims of multicultural education have been toned down when it comes to practice. In many parts of the world, multicultural education is often…

With the proliferation of standards and accountability systems in education, questions about how they function and intersect with broader patterns of institutional relations await investigation. The existing literature in social studies education is replete with studies that frame teachers' expertise for managing how instruction unfolds in the…

Social studies teachers have the principal responsibility for developing competent citizens who can reason together about the challenges of democratic life. Always complicated, informed reflective citizenship is even more difficult in an age of exploding information, often from sources whose credibility has not been subject to editorial review.…

This article presents detailed instructional plans for a two-day, high school-level lesson on wealth distribution in society. The terms "income" and "wealth" are defined and compared, and the significance of studying wealth is discussed. Resources for the lesson are identified, and a pedagogical mode is outlined in relation to…

Teaching about China can often be difficult because Chinese culture is very different from the culture of most American students. Students in social studies classes can find it hard to relate to such a distant and unfamiliar country. As China becomes a more and more integral part of the social studies curriculum, teachers must find effective…

This article synthesizes findings from an on-going line of inquiry investigating the potential of educatively scaffolded digital resources to help teachers understand and implement a complex model of history instruction, problem-based historical inquiry. The digital resources developed for this inquiry provided teachers with wise-practice…

Today's schools and teachers are challenged with meeting the demands of specific content standards, high stakes assessment, and developing students from diverse backgrounds to be capable of competing in a global market. These twenty-first century students must not only possess critical thinking skills and the ability to process information, but…

The idea of using "little stories" to illuminate the "big pictures" of the past was creatively explored in "Teaching History 107," which offered teachers a wealth of detailed vignettes with which to kindle young people's interest and illuminate major historical events. Paul Barrett builds on the ideas explored in that…

Reviews the six-step model for lesson development popularized by Madeline Hunter. The six steps are: (1) set to learn, (2) statement of objectives, (3) instruction or providing information, (4) guided practice, (5) independent practice, and (6) closure. (JDH)

The Flow of Planning Process Model was used to investigate one science and two social studies middle school teachers' preplanning, interactive planning, and postplanning for six students with learning disabilities who were mainstreamed into their general education classes. Results suggest that content coverage, classroom/student management, and…

This paper describes a computer integration project implemented with two sixth-grade social studies classes. First it outlines and discusses the following goals: (1) integrate technology meaningfully into the classroom setting; (2) supplement the existing social studies curriculum; (3) enable students to learn to use computers responsibly; and (4)…

Describes steps in creating a high school social studies lesson about the Holocaust using the World Wide Web: (1) designing the lesson; (2) conducting research; (3) writing learning objectives and lesson content; (4) designing student workbooks; (5) delivering the lesson; (6) evaluating student learning; and (7) conducting follow-up. Includes…

Universal Design for Learning (UDL) stands at the forefront of contemporary efforts to create universal access to educational curricula for all students, including those with disabilities. The "universal" in UDL does not mean there is a single optimal solution for everyone. Instead, it underscores the need for flexible approaches to…