Currently, the perceived use of critical theoretical frameworks to shape instruction in public K-12 education is undergoing intense scrutiny in popular and political debate. Chief among such frameworks has been Critical Race Theory (CRT), which, at the time of this writing, has been legally banned or restricted in eighteen states -- with similar…

Decades of curriculum research have uncovered a persistent trend: white people are depicted as dominating the history of the United States, whereas communities of color and their experiences are omitted or misrepresented in social studies textbooks and curriculum standards. The message the resulting curriculum sends to children is that the United…

This article addresses the teaching of disability history, specifically concerning the historical figure of Franklin Delano Roosevelt (FDR). Drawing upon literature from multicultural education, disability history and disability studies in education (DSE), the authors discuss historical content and teaching ideas for instruction about FDR. The…

This study investigates how 19 third-grade students developed their understandings of enslavement during a six-week social studies inquiry. Using Teaching Tolerance's key concepts as my analytic framework, I analyzed the students' pre- and post-concept maps and classwork to understand their learning. The findings show that students conceptualized…

Vermont Senator Bernie Sanders, a democratic socialist who for three decades has won office as an Independent, has put "socialism" back in American political discourse. Sanders's campaign in the 2016 Democratic Party primaries reminds educators that there is a socialist tradition in American politics and society. This article discusses…

Numerous research and scholarly articles have been written on the Korean War. Yet in many K-12 history classrooms, the war and its legacy are still "forgotten" and are only addressed with a paragraph or two in a textbook. The Korean War Legacy and World History Digital Education foundations are changing this situation by honoring…

John Dewey said that "democracy needs to be reborn in each generation and education is its midwife." While there has been criticism of the Bush administration's post-9/11 agenda, there is little recognition of the role that his education policy played to rebirth democracy for a nation in crisis. This paper analyzes the ways that 9/11 has…

Like many history teachers, Brent Ruswick struggles for ways to lessen his dependence on textbooks while also teaching students to read their textbook with the critical eye of a historian. It is a struggle he has come to appreciate more keenly as, in addition to teaching the standard college-level introductory history courses, he also teaches the…

This dissertation will compare how the politics of the early American republic (1790-1800) are portrayed in educational resources and scholarly works. The purpose of this project is to demonstrate that educational materials are both incomplete and positively biased, and therefore teachers of secondary social studies should limit their use when…

Over the past 2 decades, textbook publishers have made large improvements by including multicultural education within their texts. U.S. history textbooks have specifically included diverse perspectives. The increased inclusion of diverse perspectives creates a more historically accurate depiction of how various cultures have contributed to the…

University instructors preparing prospective sixth- to twelfth-grade history teachers often realize it can be difficult to condense the extensive information these individuals need for their future profession into one or two courses. Teacher preparation programs are forced to juggle requirements for program accreditation with their ethical…

In this article, I focus on making settler colonialism explicit in education. I turn to social studies curriculum as a clear example of how settler colonialism is deeply embedded in educational knowledge production in the United States that is rooted in a dialectic of Indigenous presence and absence. I argue that the United States, and the…

This article reports on an investigation to explore the possibility that ideology might be expressed in the treatment of corporate influence on federal government by social studies textbooks. Two textbooks were examined in the study--United States history and American government. Corporate influence involves activities that affect election and…

In this qualitative research project, I investigated curricular decision making and the relationship among teacher philosophies, textbook materials, and classroom practice. Participants included 5 experienced 5th-grade teachers who used a comprehensive social studies textbook package, "History Alive! America's Past". Information was…

The authors conducted a content analysis of North Carolina history textbooks to explore how the definition of immigration has changed over the last century. They also examined how immigrant groups and involuntary Americans have been portrayed throughout the state's history. Findings suggest that as a burgeoning gateway state for immigrants, North…