In most places in the world, teachers might be concerned that skateboarding will take students out of school rather than keep them in. Outside Afghanistan, skateboarding has long had an aura of rebellion. Rose and Strike labeled skateboarding as "dangerous" and "rebellious." Atencio, Beal, and Wilson call attention to its…

This article argues that in divided societies, civic education fails to fulfill one of its most important social role: creating a more inclusive society that allows a democratic dialogue to flow across different ideological, religious, and cultural communities. This failure is grounded in two main reasons. First, civics teachers are socially and…

Between the turn of the twentieth century and the "Brown v. Board of Education" decision in 1954, the way that American schools taught about "race" changed dramatically. This transformation was engineered by the nation's most prominent anthropologists, including Franz Boas, Ruth Benedict, and Margaret Mead, during World War II.…

There is more to Black History Month than honoring Martin Luther King Jr. Black History Month is a time to honor the significant contributions of African-Americans throughout history. This article presents 20 super-achievers new generation of African-Americans heroes students should meet: (1) Kimberly Oliver; (2) John Lewis; (3) Rita Dove; (4)…

From their first recitation of the Pledge of Allegiance, students are taught that the most important unit of social analysis is the nation-state and that people on this side of the border constitute "us," whereas those on the other side of the line are "them." By the time students enter a global studies class as high school…

As Professor Michael Bamidele Adeyemi of the University of Botswana suggests, "Americans believe that Africa is a country, that Africa is "still uncivilized," that the average African is polygamous, and that Africa is not urbanized." In fact, the African continent encompasses a diverse set of more than 50 nations, each made up…

In this article, the author discusses the contradictory goals of several groups and individuals that are waging war against social studies and the historians' attitudes in response to this war. He stresses that he is not claiming that these "strange bedfellows," as he comes to call them, that are attacking social studies are working in…

The curriculum guide presents a working draft of the fifth grade component of a K-6 social studies program using the expanding environments approach which was developed by the Allegany County Board of Education in Maryland. The overall objective is to help teachers assist their students in gaining the understanding needed to deal with the problems…

This study, conducted during the 1966-67 school year, examined the effect of variables derived from the cultural-institutional milieu and the teacher's attitudinal, professional, and academic background upon the existing practices in teaching social studies. 143 teachers in Michigan, Texas, Mexico, and Guatemala participated. Teachers were…