Immigration is currently one of the most contentious issues in both the United States and in much of the world. In order to confront powerful xenophobic narratives, there have been theoretical arguments for a more open and inclusive immigration system. Most of the arguments for this more inclusive system are based in the ideas of compassion and…

Historical narratives of Black women often focus solely on racial discrimination without acknowledging the structural and systemic gender-based discrimination they faced. Crenshaw's concept of intersectionality draws upon decades of Black feminist scholarship delineating how Black women experience systemic oppression on account of both their race…

Social gender is a concept built with life experiences. It distinguishes men and women through their biological differences. Social gender attributes behaviors and roles in accordance with the gender identity of the society to individuals. Social studies regard each student as a unique individual. Social studies students should be sensitive to…

The "College, Career, and Civil Life (C3) Framework for Social Studies State Standards" guides teachers to initiate complex inquiries by sparking students' disciplinary literacy and critical analysis of rich sources. With effective scaffolding and engaging content, elementary students can explore and contextualize complex historical…

A troubling observation is that--outside of Black History Month in February and Women's History Month in March, during which students are acquiring some knowledge about noteworthy women and minorities--teachers in every grade level often teach about the same figures rather than expanding their lessons to include less-conventional or…

Given the current marginalization of the social studies within elementary classrooms it is vital that elementary educators seek integrative techniques that promote the social studies. This article explores one such example of integration taught by the authors within an elementary classroom. The three-day lesson taught to fifth-grade students aimed…

Teachers often respond to the perils of teaching about religion by simply avoiding the subject. An investigation of secondary lesson plans on three prominent Martin Luther King, Jr. websites reveals little attention to the ideology of the civil rights movement, especially those touching on religious ideas. Ignoring King's religious views risks…

The aim of this study is to evaluate the opinions of social studies teacher candidates on use of biography in science, technology and social change course given in the undergraduate program of social studies education. In this regard, convergent parallel design as a mixed research pattern was used to make use of both qualitative and quantitative…

The use of testimony in teaching about the Holocaust has long been a practice, relying on resources such as memoirs, diaries, and audio recordings. Having first-person accounts provides a window into the experience of those who lived the historical events that now fill the pages of text. As we mark the 70th Anniversary of the end of World War II…

In 2007, Indian Residential School System (IRS) survivors won a class action settlement worth an?estimated 2 billion dollars from the Canadian Government. The settlement also included the establishment of a Truth and Reconciliation Commission. Despite the public acknowledgement, we posit that there is still a lack of opportunity and the necessary…

This practitioner-based book provides different approaches for reaching an increasing population in today's schools - English language learners (ELLs). The recent development and adoption of the Common Core State Standards for English Language Arts and Literacy in History/Social Studies, Science, and Technical Subjects (CCSS-ELA/Literacy), the…

This autobiographical piece of collaborative discensus (Gershon, 2008; Gershon, Peel & Bilinovich, 2009) presents the authors' interwoven perspectives about the challenges they faced as they talked about race in a pre-service social studies class. Their work here serves two main purposes. First it is an opportunity for a teacher and two former…

The author describes a social studies unit designed to help students develop critical thinking skills. The lessons give students opportunities to analyze multiple perspectives, use multiple sources when conducting research, and construct historical narratives through the creation of a digital historical biography.

In this article, the author goes beyond Supreme Court decisions to investigate the upbringing and personalities of three Supreme Court justices who left their mark on history: Oliver Wendell Holmes, Jr., Thurgood Marshall, and Sandra Day O'Connor. His interviews with their biographers, G. Edward White for Oliver Wendell Holmes Jr., Juan Williams…

This study examines the life histories of three African American social studies teachers, focusing on the evolution and changes in their identities, perspectives, and attitudes related to their profession and instructional practice. In addition, the study addresses the significance of the teachers' racialized experiences as African Americans and…