Myth,Romance, Philosophizing,and Irony,and the Social Studies Curriculum

Sixth-grade students are challenged in understanding social studies content relevant to particular contexts, then connecting the content and context to their contemporary lives while communicating new knowledge to peers and teachers. Using political cartoons published after September 11, 2001, one sixth-grade social studies teacher designed probing questions and developed meaningful learning experiences relating historical events to current concerns of the students supplementing their curriculum and textbook. Through verbal and written interactions, the students demonstrated in-depth understanding of September 11, 2001, and consequential global ramifications. Subsequently, this teacher used the same strategy to engage learners in additional historical events effectively integrating social studies and literacy to introduce conflict analysis, increase critical thinking, expand text connections, and enhance literacy skills.     

Exploring How an Elementary Teacher Plans and Implements Social Studies Inquiry

Social studies continues to be marginalized in elementary grades, yet the C3 Framework and its Inquiry Arc offer possibilities for high-quality elementary social studies instruction. However, the C3 Framework requires that teachers possess an adequate understanding of how to implement inquiry within the various social studies disciplines, which we argue is an aspect of the pedagogical content knowledge necessary for effective elementary social studies instruction. This single-case study follows an elementary teacher through her use of the C3 Framework, Inquiry Arc, and a related curriculum approach called the Inquiry Design Model as she conceptualized, planned, and implemented inquiries in her fifth-grade classroom. By incorporating this new knowledge into her existing understanding of social studies pedagogy, as well as her knowledge of her students and specific educational context, the teacher was able to successfully navigate some of the challenges associated with implementing social studies inquiry in elementary classrooms.     

Shhh … The Teacher Should Be Silent: Critical Review of Social Studies As New Literacies in a Global Society

The humanistic nature of social studies education ensures that its related curriculum exists in a consistently contested terrain among educators, governing bodies, and the community at large. As our ability to investigate and interact with societies widens in scope and complexity, so too does the curriculum debate. To add to the complexity, social studies classes must now navigate through an increasingly technological world where some origins of knowledge are becoming more and more accessible, while others are becoming more and more silenced. Mark Baildon and James S. Damico's recent book Social Studies As New Literacies in a Global Society (2011) discusses potential answers to the ongoing questions of how to teach social studies in a twenty-first-century classroom. Although the book identifies the need for students to question sources of knowledge and the construction of knowledge itself, it falls short in the actual naming and deconstructing of the hegemonic frameworks of power that are prevalent within the sources and curriculum approaches that the students come into contact with.     

Preservice Teachers and Religion: Serious Gaps in Religious Knowledge and the First Amendment

Recognizing the influence of religion on people's worldview and daily lives, we wondered if elementary and secondary social studies preservice teachers knew enough about religions not only to be culturally responsive in a classroom but also whether they knew enough to teach about these religions within the appropriate curriculum. We used questions from previously tested surveys to ascertain the students’ knowledge about world religions, the First Amendment's religion clauses, and the application of religion in schools. Our findings suggest that preservice teachers’ knowledge about all religions, including their own, and about the First Amendment's intent, is lacking.     

Reframing a Social Studies Methods Course: Preparing Elementary Teacher Candidates for the Common Core

The emphasis on disciplinary literacy skills embedded within the Common Core State Standards requires a shift in preparing teachers to explicitly address the craft of reading and writing within social studies instruction. As teacher educators, we think it is imperative to understand the ways in which our teacher candidates integrate literacy within their social studies instruction and strive to modify our own practices to support their needs. Using practitioner research, we share the instructional changes we made to better prepare teacher candidates to meet the standards, and we consider how our teacher candidates responded to those changes in their work. Our implications suggest research-based practices must be utilized in social studies methods courses while maintaining an emphasis on key historical thinking skills. Such practices include using essential questions to guide deeper thinking, integrating appropriately modified informational texts, developing skills in close reading, using graphic organizers, and emphasizing content integration.     

Extending Economic Democracy

Although vocabulary development is an important part of the social studies curriculum, vocabulary activities are often inadequate, leaving students with cursory knowledge of terms. Worse still is the fact that many of the most critical words demarcating the field are not included in those activities. Therefore, a transformation from viewing vocabulary instruction as a single activity that takes time away from social studies instruction to recognizing vocabulary development as a powerful learning strategy is needed. This article offers an educational model that threads vocabulary development throughout the social studies curriculum in a non-intrusive manner, enhancing and reinforcing students’ understanding of social studies. This model is based on educational theories that stress the importance of activating prior knowledge, considering the relationships between concepts, comparing and contrasting ideas, and encouraging students to generate their own meaning of terms. Explanations and examples of vocabulary activities that draw on each of these components are provided.     

The Social Studies Curriculum at West Point

This article illustrates the challenges of teaching curriculum within the guidelines of No Child Left Behind. Nine school teachers write and speak about their experiences, what influences their curriculum choices, and how they attempt to incorporate social studies in the elementary classroom. The teachers completed a background survey, wrote about their experiences, and talked about what they went through during a focus group discussion. Teachers believed that accountability measures taken at their schools had affected the amount of instructional time dedicated to social studies and that students’ access to civic knowledge and participatory education have been diminished along with the resources and professional development necessary to teach the subject competently.     

Twenty Years of Social Studies Textbook Content Analysis: Still “Decidedly Disappointing”?

In an article published in 1993, Rahima Wade reviewed the quality of social studies textbook content analyses published in three major social studies journals between 1982 and 1992. She concluded that the quality of this research was disappointing. Borrowing and refining Wade's methods, this article presents the findings of a review of all 29 textbook content analyses published in the same journals between 1994 and 2016 to see whether textbook content analysis research has improved during the past two decades. The results indicate that the quality of this research has improved little: many studies were unclear in their sampling strategies, validity and reliability of coding variables, and data collection and analysis procedures. The methodological limitations rendered their substantive findings questionable. This article concludes with recommendations for textbook researchers to explicate their data collection and analysis processes and make their results more useful to social studies teaching and learning. It also has implications for social studies teachers on how to use textbooks critically to provide students a more meaningful and powerful learning experience.     

Editorial

Abstract

This comprehensive research study examined how schools of social work in Canada have responded to disability issues. The study focused upon specific policies and practices ofthe Canadian schools of social work which have been developed to create a more inclusive environment for students, staff, and faculty members with disabilities and to prepare students for practice in dealing with individuals who are disabled. A ten page survey consisting of closed and opened-ended questions was sent to the deans and directors of the thirty-five schools of social work in Canada. This study found that although there have been significant changes in these schools over the last ten years, there are many barriers to disability inclusion from recruitment and admissions; accommodations; retention, graduation, and employment; curriculum; hiring faculty and staff with disabilities; and university relations/resources. It concludes with recommendations for schools of social work.     

Student Self-Evaluation in a Core Program

In this historical study, the author reexamines the relationship and role of social efficiency and scientific curriculum making in the early years of the social studies (1916–1929). The author argues that historians have applied the term social efficiency too bluntly to label and ultimately dismiss a variety of educational reformers in the social studies, many of whom offered promising reform agendas. A closer look at scientific curriculum making in the social studies reveals that the movement was not inherently anti-academic, or anti-intellectual—critiques historians commonly associate with the social efficiency and scientific curriculum making—but rather an attempt to update the curriculum to be consistent with its own stated goals.     

Developing a Vision for the Common Core Classroom: What Does Elementary Social Studies Look Like?

In each edition of their book Doing History: Investigating with Children in Elementary and Middle Schools, Levstik and Barton (2011) encourage us to take a mental journey to imagine classrooms where students regularly “do history” (xi). The social studies experiences that many educators envision for elementary classrooms include teaching students to frame questions, read for information, and organize primary and secondary sources to share their knowledge with classmates. NCSS provides an infrastructure for social studies goals in which knowledge, skills and attitudes are developed in meaningful social studies lessons. When viewed through the lens of the Common Core State Standards for English Language Arts & Literacy in History/Social Studies, Science, and Technical Subjects (CCSS ELA), we recognize the fundamental nature of aligning social studies standards with literacy strategies for elementary teaching and learning. The purpose of this article is to examine the usefulness of CCSS ELA for teaching elementary social studies. The authors share a vision for the “common core classroom” that includes a range of literacy strategies for teaching standards-based social studies.     

Culturally Responsive Teaching in an Oglala Lakota Classroom

In response to the widening academic achievement gap between Native American students and other students in the United States, a culturally responsive approach was used in a Native American social studies class with positive results. Eighth-grade Oglala Lakota students in an American History classroom experienced a unit infused with lessons that highlighted Native American culture, history, and values. Students' knowledge, skills, and culture were used as frames of reference for the teacher, enabling students to personally engage with the content and making learning more meaningful. By incorporating culturally responsive teaching practices into the social studies curriculum, teachers not only give students the opportunity to come face to face with multiple perspectives but students are able to come face to face with their own ancestors, bringing history home, and bringing it to life.     

Teaching the Constitution from Sources

Understanding the pressing need for humans to limit their consumption to more supportable levels, this study investigated how one social studies teacher taught the social issues associated with a sustainable food supply. This article discusses what the teacher's curricular, pedagogical, and assessment strategies were in engaging students with dialogical questions about more sustainable consumption. In addition, it offers insights for how such instructional techniques might inform a more personally- responsive approach to teaching about sustainability education.     

A United States History Card Game

Learning social studies curriculum can present challenges for English-language learners (ELLs). The language used to present concepts is often decontextualized and abstract, making it difficult for these students to understand the content and have successful learning experiences. In this article, the authors describe strategies elementary teachers can use to make social studies content more comprehensible to ELLs and engage them to become active participants in their learning. They discuss three strategies in-depth and explain particular teaching techniques, such as the use of graphic organizers. Teaching vignettes illustrate ways these strategies can be implemented in the classroom to help ELLs be successful in acquiring social studies knowledge and inquiry skills while developing critical English language arts proficiencies.     

Correspondence

This article encourages elementary teachers to offer opportunities for their students to critically analyze maps as part of powerful geography instruction in order to help them become well-informed and civic-minded citizens. The article reviews challenges to powerful geography instruction, including traditional geography textbooks and pedagogy and the additional efforts needed to encourage students to examine maps critically and identify distortions and biases. Teachers may introduce critical map reading by having students create and analyze their own maps of familiar places and create a safe classroom environment for questioning maps. The article suggests teachers encourage critical thinking with maps by using a variety of projections, such as conformal, equal area, and “upside down” maps which portray different perspectives, distortions, and biases, ask students to compare land areas on different maps, and determine the value of different maps. Finally, the article describes the effectiveness of several strategies the author uses with preservice elementary teachers in a social studies methods course to help them consider the cartographer's influence on maps, the distortions and biases in maps, and the strengths and weaknesses of various maps they might use in elementary classrooms.     

Our journey at Aldergrove Public School – social justice Praxis in one Canadian Elementary School

Our article describes the journey of one school community over a two-year period as it attempted to implement a social justice across the curriculum from kindergarten to Grade 8 in the Greater Toronto Area in Canada. Teachers, staff, students and families worked collaboratively and adopted an inquiry stance in exploring how to make social justice come alive across the school. Our main motivation was the belief that children can make a positive difference in the world.     

It’s not just about where someone lives: educating student social workers about housing-related matters to promote an understanding of social justice

The links between housing and wellbeing are well established, and yet failings of current UK policy and practice can result in severely limited and inappropriate accommodation options for those in greatest need. Access to appropriate and affordable housing should therefore be a key area of concern for social work professionals: such access is closely linked to social justice and the promotion of human rights. Nevertheless, there is a paucity of detailed research on the links between housing and social work practice, and practitioners have reported feeling ill-equipped to support service-users with housing related needs. This paper draws on the illustrative example of a teaching session developed by the authors to argue that educating social work students about housing-related matters not only reduces this reported practice knowledge gap, but may also develop their understanding of social justice. In addition to supporting calls for further research, the authors therefore encourage those involved in social work education to ensure that practice in the context of housing related needs is covered clearly within the curriculum.     

Rural-Urban Differences and Their Amelioration

South Korean society is in transition toward a multicultural society. Integrating multicultural education into current citizenship education is challenging for the society. Historically, many national tragedies have created the unique characteristics of what being Korean means. South Korean social studies curriculum emphasized that Korea is a monolithic society with one language, one history, and one ethnicity. In recent years, however, the number of foreigners living in South Korea dramatically increases because of work, study, and marriage. As they become be members of Korean society, it is necessary that South Koreans acknowledge diverse groups in the society and revise a long-held belief about who we, as Koreans, are. To this end, the Korean social studies curriculum should include more information about as well as respect and promote ethnic, cultural, and social diversity. Social studies teachers should attempt various activities to promote students’ understanding of current social changes in South Korea.     

Book Reviews and Book Notes

In this article we identify opportunities for students to use timelines and textbooks to meet standards. Through the use of timelines, textbooks, and selected activities, upper elementary and middle school students are able to (1) be engaged in content area reading and writings; (2) understand large themes in social studies including time, continuity, and changes; and (3) participate in the inquiry process.     

Combating Racial Inequity Through Local Historical Analysis: A Community-Informed Social Studies Unit

One way for teachers to use engaging and relevant social studies curriculum is by delving into local history to help students understand the influence that community activists have had on national policies and events. In this article, we provide teachers an approach to incorporate topics of racial inequity in their classrooms by showcasing a dynamic social studies unit that reveals the role of local history and community activists during the national Civil Rights Movement. As an example within the unit, we present a local, historical narrative that describes the activism of three local Black teachers in Palm Beach County, Florida, whose efforts in the 1940s significantly impacted the foundations of what was to become the Civil Rights Movement. We then present a multicultural social studies unit developed from this local history and guidelines for teachers to enact their own locally informed social studies unit. This content will help teachers expose students to the rich history of their community’s past by sharing ways that teachers can incorporate culturally relevant instruction of racially charged topics into the classroom.