The purpose of this lesson is to engage young students in thinking about the complexity of socio-historical symbols in the present day. After careful preparation, the authors decided to teach about the decision by the state legislature in July 2015 to remove the Confederate flag from the South Carolina statehouse grounds. Presenting the…

Purpose: The purpose of this conceptual paper is to make the case for the value of fostering collaborative sensemaking in responding to literature. Drawing on examples of classroom interactions in 6th-, 8th-, 11th- and 12th-grade classrooms, it proposes methods for teachers to foster collaborative sensemaking. Design/methodology/approach: Drawing…

This study investigates the Jewish history engagement for middle school students "playing" in the Jewish Court of All Time (JCAT), an online simulation of a current events court case with historical roots (http://jcat.icsmich.org). Through an online platform across several schools, students research and play historical and current…

As of 2015, millennials (born in the 1990's) became the largest population in the workplace -- and are still growing. Studies indicate millennials are tech savvy but are lagging in the exercise of digital responsibility. In addition, they are passive towards environmental sustainability and fail to grasp the importance of social responsibility.…

Several years ago, the author had the opportunity to instruct the early U.S. survey course for the first time. While preparing the author spent a good amount of time thinking on the relationship between academic and popular history, and subsequently testing insights within a variety of classroom lessons and activities. Since then, the author has…

In 2003, the International Baccalaureate Diploma Programme (IBDP)--a program implemented in thousands of schools globally--introduced a human rights course (Makivirta, 2003). This curriculum is the first of its kind to hold potential widespread influence on human rights education in the formal education sector. In this study, I analyze the…

In this article Sarita Cargas suggests that getting honors students used to analyzing controversies will contribute to their developing a disposition toward critical thinking. She goes on to say that the value of teaching critical-thinking skills complements the movement of many honors programs toward teaching more than just disciplinary content.…

Using current events to help preservice teachers understand the world they live in encourages preservice teachers to learn about global issues. It also encourages them to develop skills in analytical thinking and reflective judgment by reading and discussing complex real-life scenarios. A semester-long pen-pal project was crafted to help…

Through a yearlong, qualitative ethnographic study that incorporated a youth participatory action research project, this research identifies and documents the learning outcomes achieved when core principles of critical pedagogy are brought into practice with urban Latinx youths to develop critical awareness. Analysis reveals three themes around…

This new publication sets forward the PISA framework for global competence developed by the Organisation for Economic Cooperation and Development (OECD), which aligns closely with the definition developed by the Center for Global Education at Asia Society. Based on the Center's extensive experience supporting educators in integrating global…

This qualitative study examines the perceptions that Latino students have of middle school social studies. Twelve Latino/a middle school students provided written narratives recounting their experiences in social studies and participated in two semi-structured phenomenological interviews. Findings indicate that social studies teachers rely heavily…

America's history books abound with stories of immigrants who contributed to the development of this country. In terms of social studies curriculum, all states require schools to teach about immigration. However, the question is how to teach this topic in a manner that will give students--elementary through high school--a better understanding of…

Through "Evangelii Gaudium" (2013) and "Laudato si'" (2015) Pope Francis has approached contemporary culture head-on with a call for Catholics to engage, and not retreat from, the changes and challenges of the 21st century. Traditional expectations and norms of society such as education, occupations, communication, and…

This article describes a research study on the appropriateness for social studies classrooms of "CNN Student News," a free online news program specifically aimed at middle and high school students. The author conducted a content analysis of "CNN Student News" during October 2012 and evaluated the program's content for…

In this article, I document a series of pedagogical responses in my high school instrumental music classroom following the events of Eric Garner's murder in New York City. Foregrounding traditions of black radical politics and aesthetics originating with the Black Power Movement in the 1960s, I explore their implications for classroom practice in…