This article discusses the Pleasant Valley School, located in Stillwater, Oklahoma, which is now a living history project where contemporary 4th grade students throughout Oklahoma have the opportunity to spend a day as students did in a turn of the century one-room schoolhouse, complete with coal heating, ink wells, and "McGuffey…

Decision making is one of the essential skills advocated by the National Council for the Social Studies for effective citizenship in a democratic society. Leaders in any society make decisions that influence many lives. In a democratic society, we expect that deductive and inductive reasoning guide decisions made for the common good. However, what…

When elementary students collaborate in active learning projects that integrate the social studies they greatly advance their literacy skills and civic awareness. They can improve their analysis and ability to solve social problems by using reading and writing to construct knowledge about historical events. In the lessons described in this…