This qualitative case study investigated rural high school social studies teachers' perceptions of Robert Stahl's decision-making materials within their content area and the relevance of curricular implementation. The primary questions addressed in this study focused on high school social studies teachers' perception of current instructional…

This study utilizes action research to examine the design and implementation of inquiry-based teaching in a middle school social studies classroom. As a practitioner, fulfilling the role of teacher and researcher, I sought to better understand my teaching practices. To do so, I collected multiple forms of data that would help me understand…

Middle school social studies teachers are increasingly working on argument writing in their classrooms so that students can successfully write counterarguments that acknowledge competing perspectives about historical and social issues by the end of eighth grade. The authors' prior research indicates that eighth-grade students "can" grow…

Intervention research indicates that historical inquiry curricula call for different tasks, materials, and methods of teaching compared to those focused solely on content. Inquiry curricula require teachers to shift from the methods, materials, and assessments to which they are accustomed. As a result, despite intervention research efforts that…

In this article, the authors tackle the tension between a fact-based civics test and inquiry-based teaching and learning. The authors begin with a short history on the civics test and the new standards in Kentucky before turning their attention to one approach to the civics test using an Inquiry Design Model (IDM) inquiry--"Does the civics…

The concept of project-based learning (PBL) has garnered wide support among a number of K-12 education policy advocates and funders. This working paper builds on and updates a seminal literature review of PBL published in 2000. Focused primarily on articles and studies that have emerged in the 17 years since then, the working paper discusses the…

Preparing teachers to implement a new curriculum presents a significant but important challenge. While formal professional development programs can assist in this preparation, finding prescribed experiences that meet the needs of all teachers can be formidable and indeed may not always be the best option for promoting change in practice. Decisions…