Developing disciplinary literacy is an emerging priority for secondary teachers as they prepare students for college, career, and civic life. One way to develop and assess disciplinary literacy in history is through source-based argument writing (SBAW) with multiple sources. SBAW requires students to synthesize information across texts and use…

This qualitative case study explored an eighth-grade social studies classroom where the teacher uses StudyCasts as an instructional strategy with his students. Teacher-led StudyCasts were utilized as a way for his students to remember content for upcoming tests. Additionally, his students created their own StudyCasts in the classroom to review…

This article draws on current research in the areas of storytelling and social studies to present a practical, culturally responsive storytelling model for Grades 7-9 social studies teachers to use to better engage English Language Learners (ELLs). Integrating the proven effectiveness of storytelling from a scientific and social perspective, with…

Dominant approaches to teaching social studies often marginalize bilingual and bicultural students. This is particularly troubling because the explicit goal of the social studies is to cultivate civic participation. Educational inequalities are thus tied to political inequalities. In light of this, this article shares a narrative case study of the…

The purpose of this qualitative, single case study is to investigate how teacher-created curricula addresses key Native American events in early U.S. history and to determine if such curricula provided students with accurate representations of Native American content. To do this, we used discourse analysis to consider the meanings of words and…

The purpose of this article is to empower those interested in teaching students powerful and engaging social studies. Through the lens of Supreme Court simulations, this article provides educators with a viable, classroom-tested lesson plan to bring Problem-Based Learning into their classrooms. The specific aim of the lesson is to provide students…