An ethnographic study of youth creating media was conducted to examine new literacies at an urban high school in northern California. The school primarily served students from low-income, non-dominant racial and ethnic backgrounds. This article reports on a 9th-grade social studies multimedia project about migration and immigration--called…

In this article, the author discusses how a school district in Modesto, California deals with religious diversity. Modesto requires that every 9th-grader in the district enroll in a semester-long world religions course. Ninth grade made sense--students were old enough to handle the subject material, and the emphasis on religious diversity happened…

This California state curriculum model for grade 9 about Cesar Chavez explains that grade 9 is an elective year for social studies courses and that one of the electives is a course about contemporary California. It suggests that students in schools offering this course could study the role of Chavez in 20th century California and his legacy. A…

Examines the effectiveness of conflict resolution and peer mediation training among California high school students. Explains that two of four classes received five weeks of conflict resolution and peer mediation training integrated into the social studies curriculum. Found greater academic achievement, long term retention, and transfer of…