Educators seek to foster civic engagement among the next generation through social studies. In pursuit of this goal, technology and social media strategies can be effective enticements. This article describes the community engagement demonstrated by students collaborating to present a weekly school news broadcast, making the transition from…

The progressivist education reforms that swept across Canada's Ontario province during the interwar periods of the late 1930s included a focus on character education, social justice, and social reconstruction. This article offers a glimpse at the evolution of school curriculum and values associated with school education, with increasing emphasis…

At a recent professional development program, the authors asked teachers to recall the ways in which they learned about history in the course of their own schooling. The teachers at this professional development gathering not only identified some of the key challenges facing elementary teachers charged with teaching social studies curricula, they…

This article presents four Idea-Sparkers that were submitted by Jason McKinney, a graduate student at Southern Mississippi University and a 1st-grade teacher at Pisgah Elementary in Hattiesburg, Mississippi. First is entitled, "Raceway in the Classroom." This activity can help increase children's fluency and ability to identify numerous…

Social studies is essential in elementary curriculum. It is the integrated study of the social sciences and humanities to promote civic competence. Within the school program, social studies provides coordinated, systematic study drawing upon such disciplines as anthropology, archaeology, economics, geography, history, law, psychology, religion,…

Field trips provide active learning as children have firsthand experience with information they had previously encountered only in textbooks. In this article, the author describes how she used an interesting textbook to plan a field trip for her elementary social studies methods class to Oakwood Cemetery in Montgomery (Alabama). The textbook,…

Traditionally, early childhood educators address the gaping hole in their planning books under the "social studies" header by teaching a smattering of thematic units. Most early childhood educators now know the importance of planning experiences for social studies, or any other content area, that are integrated, meaningful, and of high interest.…

Teachers at the Dag Hammarskjold School No. 6 in Rochester, New York, developed an interdisciplinary curriculum for fifth and sixth graders that they call the Interesting Questions Approach. Teachers and students choose questions about a topic and plan activities that will enable students to find the answers. (LB)

Notes how traditional classroom activities on Native Americans support stereotypes about Native Americans. To provide children with more meaningful learning experiences, recommends extending the curriculum beyond traditional themes by teaching children to think critically, identify stereotypes, make comparisons of past and present lifestyles, and…