Best practices in civic education emphasize deliberative pedagogies as one of the most powerful ways to educate enlightened democratic citizens. Yet deliberative pedagogies are rooted in a white normative ideal of discursive democracy that, in the service of "civility" and "reasoned discourse," fails to account for the social…

This article presents a critical analysis of moral judgment in history education using the case of Cecil Rhodes as an example. For this purpose, I first examine the arguments for and against passing judgment on past actions given by historians, historical philosophers, and history education researchers. Second, I take a close look at the ways…

Friction in the classroom may create useful tension for teachers when they attempt to discuss sensitive topics as part of democratic learning. Due to the openness and indeterminacy of these topics, students can experience what it is like to be (political) subjects in a diverse society and become aware of other people's subjectness in a charged…

This study examines teachers' justifications for addressing unplanned controversial issues in the classroom. It builds on the premise that controversial issues arise unexpectedly in the classroom context and that some teachers actively choose to address such issues rather than avoid them. Through a series of semi-structured interviews with…

This study reports five Dutch expert history teachers' approaches to multiperspectivity in lessons on three topics varying in moral sensitivity (i.e., the Dutch Revolt, Slavery, and the Holocaust) and their underlying considerations for addressing subjects' perspectives in different temporal layers. The lessons were observed and videorecorded, and…

As American politics becomes more polarized, it is increasingly necessary for teachers to understand the relationship between education and partisan behavior. Using data from a 2012 CIRCLE survey of 18-24-year-olds, I examine the relationship between students' educational experiences (focusing on exposure to high-quality civics instruction and…

The digital revolution has enabled important changes in political life. Opportunities to engage in "participatory politics" have expanded significantly. Participatory politics differ from institutional politics in that they are peer-based, interactive, and not guided by deference to traditional elites and institutions. These changes…

Using an analytical framework based on the concept of historical distance, this article explores how Dutch history teachers and educators navigate between the past and the present when making curriculum decisions on the sensitive topic of the Transatlantic Slave Trade and Slavery. Four history teachers and 2 museum educators were selected on the…

This comparative case study examines the manner in which 2 middle-level social studies teachers established connections between the past and the present within their curriculums. The teachers who participated in this project worked in different school districts: one teaching a 7th-grade U.S. History curriculum and the other teaching a 6th-grade…

Because a pluralistic democracy is inherently conflictual, public deliberation of issues holds the potential to expand the thinking of participants by revealing new insights, perspectives, information, or logics into the participants' consideration. These are ethical questions that ask citizens to decide whether policies, actions, and decisions…

This article examines how 15 secondary social studies teachers made meaning of media and popular culture, and how those perspectives informed their relationships with their students. Using data from a 3-year qualitative study in which multiple in-depth interviews were conducted, this article also analyzes the discourses that circulated in the…

"In this paper we will discuss a number of selected theoretical models with reference to their basic philosophical tenets in the hope that teachers may acheive a better closeness of fit between their own concerns for teaching about values and the recommendations of the current literature on the subject." (Author)

In response to the Pekarsky article in the Spring 1980 issue of "Theory and Research in Social Education," the author argues that moral dilemma stories are an appropriate teaching approach for a moral education program. Moral dilemma discussions benefit both teachers and students. (RM)

Because moral, value, and character education often seem marginalized in pre-service secondary social studies education courses, I sought to determine if and how moral education is addressed at the elementary level. In this article, I examine both elementary social studies methods instruction and literature through a moral education lens and argue…

Administered questionnaires to 1,459 secondary social studies students in the United States, United Kingdom, Germany, Denmark, and the Netherlands to examine age, gender, and country differences in adolescents' perceptions of classroom climate. Studied relationships between political attitudes and perceived classroom climate and between the use of…