The author conducted research in Jordan, where he interviewed secondary school social studies teachers about their perspectives on teaching critical-thinking skills in their classrooms. All interviews were audiotaped or videotaped in Arabic and later translated into English. The author qualitatively analyzed data, including the translations of the…

Coke (2005) argues that vertical cooperative learning is needed between elementary and secondary school teachers. While this would help with the transition between grades and subjects, it is dependent upon school principals to implement these cooperative learning meetings. Drawing upon prior experience, the author advocates that pre-service social…

We report on an action research study undertaken to explore how integrating the Arts in social studies education can increase student participation and motivation, and impact student achievement through that increased motivation and participation. Initial lesson plans addressed multiple intelligences while integrating Arts activities and were…

Assessment of students' learning in school is deeply implicated in teaching for social justice. Yet classroom assessment is neglected relative to other aspects of curriculum and pedagogy in the literature on teaching for social justice. Some books have a relatively clear theory of anti-oppression education at their core but do not provide details…

Middle school education is failing to meet the intellectual needs of young adolescents, yet there is little research that examines how teachers are prepared to work at the middle level. In this article, I discuss findings from a semester-long, qualitative case study that examined how the elementary and secondary teacher education pathways at one…

This project stands at the juncture of modern Chinese literature, post-socialist studies, cultural history of divorce, and critical studies about global middle-class cultures. Employing analytical tools mainly from literary studies, cultural studies and feminist theories, I examine stories, novels, films and TV dramas about divorce produced…

This is the fourth report in a series of five reports resulting from the Texas College and Career Readiness Initiative (TCCRI) established by the Texas Higher Education Coordinating Board (THECB) under contract with the Educational Policy Improvement Center (EPIC). The purpose of the TCCRI is the Facilitation of the Development and Implementation…

The author, writing on behalf of Hoover's Koret task Force on K-12 Education, presents a convincing case that, despite the controversy it has ignited, the No Child Left Behind (NCLB) law is making a positive difference and should be renewed. He outlines ten specific lessons and recommendations that identify the strengths and weaknesses of NCLB and…

This article describes how two instructors used assessment data to improve an undergraduate course, Teaching Social Studies in the Elementary Classroom. This entailed revising the core assignment for the course--the creation of a thematic unit of instruction--and developing a scoring guide to assess teacher candidates' performance. Data collected…

This study focused on how democratic values and citizenship education are promoted through environmental education in Costa Rica. Data were collected through the examination of textbook and curriculum guides and interviews with classroom teachers. The qualitative study utilized Bowers' (2001) and Gruenewald's (2003) theories of eco-justice and…

The purpose of this article is to evaluate a social studies teacher education vision statement as it relates to Parker's (2003) "advanced" conception of citizenship education for democratic society. The vision statement, titled "Powerful Vision of Social Studies," was created by a group of practicing teachers and teacher educators as part of a…

This document contains reproducible maps, charts and graphs of Latin America for use by teachers and students. The maps are divided into five categories (1) the land; (2) peoples, countries, cities, and governments; (3) the national economies, product, trade, agriculture, and resources; (4) energy, education, employment, illicit drugs, consumer…

Efforts to develop geographic literacy, specifically "place-name" knowledge, need to be based in an understanding of cognitive psychological principles. This paper argues that developing knowledge of place-names, including memorization of such names, is important if students are to achieve geographic literacy. A cognitive psychology model of how…

A simple "menu-driven" microcomputer program on map studies, designed to teach the geography of South America and certain economic facts about its countries, is presented. The program is written for an Apple II+ or Apple IIe computer; use on any other microcomputer will require substantial changes due to high resolution drawings and…

The paper is designed to help instructors in college-level geography courses design urban field trips. The objective is to illustrate how a few core materials and concepts derived from urban geography texts, census tract maps, and social space models can help provide order and pattern to students' understanding of a city. Census tract maps are…