The popularity of project-based learning has been driven in part by a growing number of STEM schools and programs. But STEM subjects are not the only fertile ground for project-based learning (PBL). Social studies and literacy content, too, can be adapted into PBL units to benefit teaching and learning, the authors argue. They review key studies…

The 2016 presidential campaign and its aftermath have underscored the extreme polarization of the electorate, the dismissal of people with opposing views, and the widespread acceptance and circulation of one-sided and factually erroneous information. In addition, only a small proportion of those who are eligible actually vote, and a declining…

In this response to Kevin St. Jarre's article "Reinventing Social Studies", the author agrees with St. Jarre that the social studies curriculum needs to change. However, he stresses that the improvement process will not be easy. Creating university social science and social studies courses that would prepare secondary teachers with the knowledge…

There is so much more to preparing a citizen than merely running students like lemmings through a three-year succession of history survey courses. Everyone is neglecting most of the social sciences in American high schools today, favoring the sequential and systematic delivery of history. What should be primary in the teaching of social studies,…

Argues that it is both possible and desirable to teach history to children in the elementary grades and that it would be educationally beneficial to substitute a history curriculum for the present elementary social studies curriculum. Contends that those who infer curricula from psychologists' findings are confusing concept and content. (Author/WD)

Discusses the initiation and development of the Citizenship Education Project in Texas, based on the concept of infusing citizenship objectives into the social studies curriculum. (Author/WD)

Presents seven questions that lie at the heart of social studies education's major concerns. The areas include the dichotomy between school practice and democratic values, the messages that books as a medium convey, and what a curriculum based on Piaget's developmental concepts would be like. (Author/IRT)

Calls for reconstructive planning in education, by which social trends are adjusted to people rather than people to social trends. (LR)

Argues for the importance of emphasizing the study of history in the social studies curriculum and discusses principles, founded on respect for academic subjects for revitalizing the social studies program. (Author/WD)

For nearly 2 years, opponents of California's curriculum reform movement have been protesting a series of K-8 social studies textbooks officially adopted by the state board of education and widely endorsed by teachers, administrators, school boards, and community groups. This article explains that the Houghton Mifflin series is neither racist nor…

Suggests that student behavior could be the subject matter in social studies classes. (DW)

Discusses four alternative programs that will soon be available to students wishing to be certified to teach secondary social studies. (Author/DN)

Provides a curriculum design to take advantage of the high levels of motivation generated by contemporary events in Iran and the Middle East. (Author/IRT)

From the demise of numerous "New Social Studies" programs initiated 25 years ago have sprung some guidelines for revising curricula and promoting educational change. Some lessons: Avoid too many course offerings, involve teachers in early stages of projects, and design programs to meet major goals. Above all, such programs need to be relevant to…

Concern about curriculum has produced its own subgenre of national reform reports covering the core subjects (science, mathematics, social studies, and language arts). Common themes include curriculum integration, emphasis on thinking skills, more rigorous content for all students, influence from outside groups, and acknowledgement of standardized…