The use of digital devices in K-12 classrooms has become increasingly contested with their ubiquity. This study examines policies governing cell phone use in elementary and secondary school civics, social studies, American government, and history classes in the United States. Cell phone policies implemented by teachers differ vastly across and…

In this essay, place-based education is discussed within a social theoretical context. In particular, place-based education in social studies is advanced as a panacea for the depoliticization of the U.S. populace at "the end of history." The argument is twofold. First, it suggests politicizing potential in place-based social studies…

This six-day research project examined the potential for how trade books and primary sources can be used in concert with each other to develop middle school students' disciplinary thinking skills in the manners advocated for in the C3 Framework. The project was focused on the trade book "Thurgood," a picture book biography about Supreme…

Many civic education initiatives have developed across the United States in order to help prepare students for civic engagement in school-based settings. At the same time, research shows that quality of school-based civic learning opportunities remains insufficient, inconsistent, and inequitable. In this article, we propose a framework of civic…

This project investigates the relationship between joy, critical consciousness, and critical civic learning that exist in critical hip hop pedagogy. In order to discover what is revealed about young people's collective definitions of joy, critical consciousness, and civic identity/literacy, I designed a methodology called Blackout Rap…

Social studies educators often find that creating relevant lessons that will engage students both intellectually and personally is challenging (National Council for the Social Studies [NCSS], 2013; Yilmaz, 2007). By exploring the lived experiences, educators might better understand the nuances of the period being investigated that can benefit…

One of the most urgent contemporary challenges is to ensure a sustainable planet for future generations. The analysis of environmental problems and the best strategies for dealing with them should be an integral component of social studies education. This e-book offers essential information and recommends exemplary methods for teaching about…

In this study the author explores how an African American woman and elementary teacher utilized her family's history and cultural memories during the Great Migration to reconsider how we (re)member the past and understand what it means to be a citizen. The researcher found that the participant viewed migration as a central theme in understanding…

Purpose: After a short historical presentation, this country report highlights current developments of social science education in France and clarifies its general status in the French school system, giving not only information about the curricula baselines, but also on current reforms, shifts and conflict lines among practitioners and…

Strategies for promoting social justice include both individualistic approaches, rooted in the universalistic philosophy of human rights, and collectivist approaches, such as group- or issue-specific rights advocated by various social movements. The expansion of human rights education is well documented, but less attention has been given to…

When teachers discuss the 2020 presidential election with students, now and in future years, they will, appropriately, place front and center the ramifications of the baseless challenges by Donald Trump and his supporters to Joe Biden's victory. Even as state and federal courts across the nation tossed out lawsuits challenging vote counts, the…

This conceptual article uses new materialism, and its particular focus on material things, as a lens of analysis in social studies education in order to demonstrate alternative ways in which social studies education researchers and teachers might engage in inquiry. Historically, social studies curriculum and teaching have centered human agency and…

This paper provides the National Center for Education Statistics (NCES), National Assessment Governing Board (NAGB), and the National Assessment of Educational Progress (NAEP) community with information that may help maintain the validity and utility of the NAEP assessments for civics and U.S. history as revisions are planned to the NAEP…

The social studies curriculum travels through time and space and is bigger on the inside than it is on the outside. To an outsider, the social studies curriculum is a single line on a program of studies, 45 minutes of a student's school day. Those on the inside, however, know that the field covers history, geography, civics, economics, and much…

This study examined how U.S. entry into World War I and related pedagogical reforms of the early twentieth century impacted elementary social education at a local level. Analysis of state curriculum guides, records from the collection of a rural school educator, report cards, and daily attendance registers for four counties indicated that…