A diverse democracy brings together people whose differences include partisan leanings, life experiences, histories, religious beliefs, racial identities, and sexual orientations to address common problems and build a shared future. Social studies educators can help prepare youth to pursue this goal by advancing core commitments to respectful and…

Built as a national effort to promote excellence in history and civics for all learners, Educating for American Democracy (EAD) brought together content experts, civic education organizations, and school district leaders to identify and outline disciplinary concepts that are essential for robust civic education. The EAD steering committee sought…

Exposure to propaganda can lead to biased attitudes that change the way people speak and act, sometimes without their conscious awareness. Propaganda has historically contributed to systemic discrimination, bias-motivated violence, and even genocide. By comparing historic and contemporary propaganda, students come to understand how people's values…

In this article, the authors share a unique and unfolding story about a program in Virginia that allows districts to opt into a series of Inquiry Design Model (IDM) performance assessments in place of the state-developed multiple-choice test. In the Rockingham County School District, this initiative was piloted in ninth-grade World Geography…

For many high school students, the benefits of civic education seem irrelevant and take place in their future lives. Student performance on the National Assessment of Educational Progress (NAEP) in Civics is stagnant. In 2018, the average civics score for eighth-grade students was not significantly different from 2014 and had only increased by 3…

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…

Teachers introduced to the Inquiry Design Model (IDM) are often relieved to learn that inquiry isn't a fuzzy ideal, but rather is a curricular approach with a defined vernacular--questions, tasks, and sources. The inquiry blueprint is a one-page visual representation of the questions, tasks, and sources that define an inquiry. In the blueprint,…

Critical inquiries--those seeking to disrupt and alleviate injustice--amplify the stakes and challenges of designing effective compelling questions. Teachers must navigate decisions about what constitutes an injustice, which perspectives are legitimate, and how to maintain a focus on justice and equity while neither indoctrinating students nor…

"Black history is American history," is a popular phrase used by a multitude of people seeking to legitimate Black history to the general population. The motto is usually a two-fold response to concerns about the disregard of Black history. First, "Black history is American history" is used to criticize (and in some cases…

Social studies teachers in language immersion settings are tasked with simultaneously teaching students social studies content while also scaffolding target language acquisition. An abundance of resources exists for teaching social studies, yet language immersion teachers often rely on collaboration with colleagues to create lessons and translate…

While empirical studies on the use of hip-hop music in social studies spaces is limited, the work that has been done offers encouraging perspectives. Some research suggests that incorporating hip-hop lyrics into the classroom leads to increased student engagement and greater curricular relevance. Other scholars have centered hip-hop as a way to…

Part of media education is showing students other ways of being, knowing, and making change away from social media. Such experiences can allow youth to reflect not only on the benefits and drawbacks of social media, but how they change the flow of our lives. They are then better positioned to choose when to use, or not use social media. Educators…

Teachers already know that students need the skills necessary to think critically, work with others and express ideas, but often wonder how they can ensure a painless, successful professional development experience that puts the learner at the center and models best practices? They also ask how the outcomes of these fruitful professional learning…

After a quarter-century with historical thinking skills at the forefront of the history-teaching agenda, the news from history education is not good. In 2012, for example, the American Historical Association (AHA) observed, "the systematic teaching of history had all but ended in elementary schools across the country." In late 2018, the…

Social studies teachers often have a love-hate relationship with inquiry. The possibilities of a dynamic and engaging approach to learning labor against time constraints imposed by a content-heavy curriculum. In that scenario, how can professional development (PD) on inquiry inform educators and encourage skeptical teachers to implement this…