The College, Career, and Civic Life (C3) Framework for Social Studies State Standards calls upon social studies teachers to enhance the rigor of civics, economics, geography, history and the other social studies disciplines while building the critical thinking, problem solving, and participatory skills of students to help them become actively…

Using literature in the social studies classroom is a useful pedagogy that is particularly well-suited in human rights education. Literature can give voice to people who cannot speak for themselves and gives students an opportunity to consider perspectives that are often foreign to them. When used with delicacy and care, these literary…

An innovative program for schools that promotes respect and understanding between major religions enables students to engage with peers around the world via videoconferencing. Using videoconferencing and online community, "Face to Faith" enabled students from across the globe to learn from, with, and about one another. In the 2013-2014…

Schools in the late sixties and early seventies had many options and were engaged in implementing a variety of programs rooted in the social science disciplines with effective pedagogy drawn from social studies educators. With the implementation of the "No Child Left Behind" Act, one can observe the drastic changes made in the way social…

Most teachers will endorse "standards" of authentic instruction, including deep knowledge, higher order thinking, substantive conversation, and connections to the world beyond the classroom. When it comes to putting such endorsements into practice, however, they too often accept a standardized view of content that is dull and doctrinaire and…

Illustrates a method to introduce students to foreign countries and cultures by having students choose a country in which they would like to live and give a class presentation about it. As a result, students become resource persons, research skills are refined, cross-cultural information reservoir is created, and history and geography become real.…

Presents the National Council for the Social Studies (NCSS) presidential address to the annual meeting in Dallas on November 15, 1987. Examines the future direction of NCSS and discusses global interdependence as a challenge that must be given more emphasis in the social studies curriculum of the United States. (GEA)

Philography, or autograph collecting, is a good way to liven up social studies classes. For example, after watching the TV miniseries "Winds of War," students wrote to famous real life participants in the war asking them a variety of questions. The response rate was nearly 100 percent. (RM)

Illustrates an innovative approach to teaching the 1932 Veterans' Bonus March on Washington DC. The teacher used instructional packets with 1930 nostalgia, the Pete Seeger album, "American Industrial Ballads," and film clips. An instructional guide is included. (GG)

Teachers today are being held accountable and being judged inadequate as a result of factors--curriculum requirements and school organization--over which they have little control. In spite of this, many teachers are making extraordinary contributions to education. Examples of educational innovations being used by secondary history teachers are…

The theory of using popular music to reveal issues of social change for classroom discussion is briefly explored. The major portion of the article, providing a series of specific instructional ideas, offers ten general topics on social change, each followed by a specific teacher-asked question, a strategy, and a list of recordings and themes. (SM)

Replicates a 1989 study on the instructional effectiveness of social studies teachers who also are athletic coaches. Results indicate that coaching teachers are more innovative in teaching methods than noncoaching teachers. Calls for additional replication studies on this issue. (CFR)

Reviews a study of coaching and noncoaching social studies teachers that replicates one conducted by Fouts in 1989. Contends that the different results are primarily the result of different samples used in the studies. Questions whether people who want to be social studies teachers first and foremost are entering the social studies teaching field.…

Four strategies are implemented to further sharing of innovative teaching skills and ideas among teachers: (1) feedback of data, (2) understanding importance of sharing, (3) reduction of fear, (4) survey of innovative practices, and (5) standardardizing format for sharing creative lesson designs. (JB)

Picture postcards from the early 20th century provide useful primary sources for an interesting and accurate portrayal of American culture. (Author/DE)