Assessment is usually considered as an afterthought in the instructional design process. Given the many challenges of assessment design--and the lack of ready solutions--teachers may fall back on familiar forms of assessments and hope for the best. As a result, the problem is not a lack of will on the part of teachers. Instead, it is the lack of…

Middle school social studies teachers are increasingly working on argument writing in their classrooms so that students can successfully write counterarguments that acknowledge competing perspectives about historical and social issues by the end of eighth grade. The authors' prior research indicates that eighth-grade students "can" grow…

In a world marked by virtual learning amidst COVID-19, we are inundated with videos, images, memes, and new technology platforms, yet students and parents are hungry for authentic learning experiences. Even with all that is now available, there is a struggle to find opportunities for students to engage in problem-based, real world exploration. In…

In this Research and Practice article, the author explores the scholarship on women and the social studies published in the last decade and what can be learned from it in order to move forward with teaching students about women in history, government, and the other social sciences. In an effort to compile research recommendations most relevant for…

The landscape of education is dynamically evolving with the infusion of technology into classrooms, but it is not just math or science disciplines that are getting a digital makeover. Social studies education has entered a transformative phase as well. The "Computer Science for Social Studies" project, funded by the National Science…

This article discusses a partnership with two different civic education organizations to study three different student-centered discussion designs. In one study, the authors worked with the Close Up Foundation. Close Up is a non-profit that annually brings 20,000 high school and middle school students from all 50 states and U.S. territories to…

The digitization of library and archive collections over the last two decades has enabled efforts to reform history education through the integration of primary sources. Currently the Library of Congress provides one of the largest digital collections of its kind. The authors' project, with support from the Library, provides social studies…

Much has been written about the importance of developing students' civic online reasoning--their ability to effectively search for and evaluate social and political information on the internet. Studies show that students are easily duped by a website's top-level domain name, professional appearance, or About page content, and that they neglect to…

In this article, the authors examine one approach to teaching hard history using an Inquiry Design Model (IDM) curricular loop. A curricular loop allows students to build a deeper understanding of a complex idea and develop a greater facility with the tools of inquiry over a course of study by regularly engaging in an inquiry. The curricular loop…

Shifting to an inquiry-based practice can be challenging. How should teachers get started? How many times should teachers plan for inquiry? What do teachers do when students struggle with inquiry? How long does it take for students to buy in to the inquiry process? These kinds of questions, and the concerns that underlie them, can create an…

The National Assessment of Educational Progress (NAEP), also known as the Nation's Report Card, is the most comprehensive measure of student learning, and is widely considered the gold standard for empirically measuring trends in student achievement outcomes in the United States. The NAEP data for 2018, which were released on April 23, 2020, offer…

According to the authors, we live in a society that is deeply influenced by technology, and social studies classrooms are ideal places for students to conduct inquiries into timely and relevant technological issues. In this article, the authors describe an approach that can be used across many situations to teach students to think critically about…

Julia Kearney and Lori Bingham (pseudonyms), two middle school social studies teachers in a large urban school, have a problem. They want to have their students asking and exploring important questions about American history, and they want them to have the vocabulary knowledge needed to do so. While Julia and Lori recognize the rich linguistic…

Presidential elections have been described as "the quintessential example of teaching social studies" due to the authentic connections teachers can make between the formal curriculum and the political world in which students live. Yet current events often do not fit neatly into state curriculum standards and, as a result, some teachers…

When the author encountered the C3 Framework, she saw an opportunity to develop a different approach that she hoped would encourage all her students to reach their highest potential. The approach she created--The Deliberative Classroom--has pushed her as much as it has pushed her students. The benefits have been powerful: better academic…