In an effort to assist with the preparation of "citizens who are globally aware, civically engaged, and capable of managing their lives and careers, and young people who are economically and financially literate and fluent in information, media and technology skills," a host of businesses, educational organizations, and civic groups…

A real-life experience is a "moving force" that can be part of the elementary social studies curriculum. This article discusses an experiential learning about India and describes how the author integrates the arts and service learning in his third grade classroom. It also describes class activities that enhance social studies curriculum…

The National Council for Social studies defines Social sciences as the "integrated study of the social sciences and humanities to promote civic competence". At the elementary school level, social studies generally focuses on the local community and family. By middle and high school level, the social studies curriculum becomes more…

This article describes early childhood educators' responses to a professional development series aimed at helping them to understand and incorporate early learning standards for social studies. While the primary aim of the professional development was to focus on the social studies content standards, the secondary aim was to introduce early…

This multiple case study examined the efforts of six elementary school teachers in their implementation of new instructional strategies in their fifth grade social studies classrooms following their participation in a weeklong Summer Institute focusing on American history. The study was guided by one grand tour question and one sub-tour question.…

English 302: Writing about the Arts is a practicum course offered at the University of Windsor for upper-level English undergraduate students. The course asks students to write about a variety of art forms and requires engagement with multiple genres of writing as a way for students to effectively order their experiences, reconstruct meaning in…

This article presents the authors' critique of lessons proposed by the Partnership for 21st Century Skills (P21). The authors initiate a discussion about content that they hope will play out in schoolhouses and statehouses across the country. They take on a different task: they present a handful of lesson ideas from P21 that could enhance studies…

This article presents the findings of a secondary analysis of the National Longitudinal Transition Study 2 that explored the predictive association between training in access technology and performance on the Woodcock-Johnson Tests of Academic Achievement: III. The results indicated that the use of access technology had a limited predictive…

One way that people learn, remember and communicate is visually. We combine past experiences with new visual information to construct meaning. In this study, elementary teachers introduced their students to the peoples and places of the ancient silk routes using illustrations from two children's picture books, "Marco Polo," written by…

This unit of 20 classroom learning episodes is structured to improve students' ability to read and interpret maps and globes. Performance objectives, outlined in part 1, include developing map and globe skills to locate, acquire, organize, interpret, evaluate, and express knowledge and information. Each of the learning episodes in part 2 contains…

In this kindergarten unit, students read "My Blue Suitcase" by Sharon Katz as an introduction to traveling. After reading, students gather resources, including books, magazines, maps, CD-ROMs, videos, and information from the Internet. After collecting resources, students make a collage of the items they will need for the trip they are taking.…

This curriculum packet about maps, with seven accompanying lessons, is appropriate for students in grades K-3. Students learn basic concepts for visualizing objects from different perspectives and how to understand and use maps. Lessons in the packet center on a story about a little girl, Nikki, who rides in a hot-air balloon that gives her, and…

Describes a classroom game that challenges students to identify characteristics of a place, learn the location of a nation, use reference books, solve a problem through critical thinking, and classify data by degree of usefulness. (LS)

Provides educational resources from ERIC (Educational Resources Information Center) to help teachers find the material to teach the five themes of geography. An annotated bibliography of seven ERIC documents on geographic location is provided. (LS)

This series of 41 pamphlets on selected Pennsylvania history topics includes: (1) "The Pennsylvania Canals"; (2) "Anthony Wayne: Man of Action"; (3) "Stephen Foster: Maker of American Songs"; (4) "The Pennsylvania Rifle"; (5) "The Conestoga Wagon"; (6) "The Fight for Free Schools in…