Assessment is usually considered as an afterthought in the instructional design process. Given the many challenges of assessment design--and the lack of ready solutions--teachers may fall back on familiar forms of assessments and hope for the best. As a result, the problem is not a lack of will on the part of teachers. Instead, it is the lack of…

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…

in this article, author Neil Shanks writes about a "people's economics" approach to teaching K-graduate economics, an approach he argues should replace the more traditional and pervasive neoclassical approach. Similar to the shift from 'great white men and wars' history to social and 'bottom up' history, Shanks believes a people's…

In this article, the author shares her research, as well as the work of other scholars, on social studies education narratives that portray individuals as heroes or villains and the effect these portrayals may have on students. These narratives not only stifle students' feelings of civic agency, but they minimize the role of community in creating…

As a high school history teacher, author Dave Marshall integrated music more and more into his lessons over the years, yielding powerful results. Early in his career, this was done by playing a relevant song to start class--perhaps Edwin Starr's "War," before studying anti-Vietnam protests. Later, the author built full lessons around…

Given the increasing use of film in education amid a changing industry, it is not surprising that scholars are increasingly exploring its practical applications in K-12 social studies and teacher education. The success of the "Hollywood or History" book series, which has published seven books since just 2018, reflects growing interest in…

"The Stars and Stripes: The American Soldiers' Newspaper of World War I, 1918-1919" collection at the Library of Congress provides access to the newspaper distributed to military personnel during World War I. The news articles reveal what members of the American Expeditionary Force actually read about military battles and campaigns in…

In this Research and Practice article, the author explores the scholarship on women and the social studies published in the last decade and what can be learned from it in order to move forward with teaching students about women in history, government, and the other social sciences. In an effort to compile research recommendations most relevant for…

In Georgia, the recent "Protect Students First Act," or GA HB 1084, states that curricula and training programs should refrain from judging others based on race or advocate for divisive concepts such as "One race is inherently superior to another race," or that "the United States of America is fundamentally racist."…

The College, Career, and Civic Life (C3) Framework continues the long tradition of inquiry-based learning in the social studies by merging disciplinary and critical inquiry approaches. Using the Inquiry Design Model (IDM), an instructional design tool, teachers guide students through a series of formative tasks to address supporting questions. By…

Data literacy, an important goal for social studies education, involves teaching students how to comprehend, analyze, interpret, evaluate, create, and argue with data and data visualizations such as timelines, maps, and graphs. Digital data visualizations support rapid inquiry and explorations that would be difficult on paper - such as adding data…

The "College, Career, and Civic Life (C3) Framework for Social Studies State Standards" (NCSS, 2013) places inquiry at the center of good social studies teaching and learning. Instead of social studies courses that emphasize rote memorization through the use of textbooks and lecture-based instruction, the C3 Framework asks teachers to…

Deliberation and inquiry can go hand-in-hand. Inquiry-based learning calls on teachers to facilitate student-led discovery, something that can only happen when students ask questions and weigh possible answers before settling on a plausible and evidentiary answer. Teaching through inquiry is about setting students up to wrestle with the issue at…

Undocumented youth experience heightened moments of exclusion in certain places and at particular times. Civics classrooms can be such places, especially during times of hypernational focus such as national elections. This article begins by describing one undocumented student's experience in his U.S. Civics class. It goes on to detail a study…

When the author tells people that her research focuses on how people teach and learn with historic places, the first response is usually "Oh, I love field trips." This sensibility, that field trips are required to teach about a place, is the single greatest barrier to understanding what can be learned from Place. Every Place is an…