The school shooting in Parkland, Fla., in February 2018 led many students to engage in walkouts and other protests during the school day. Some schools supported their actions, while others disciplined students who participated. Alan Singer considers these schools' responses and explains that the social studies standards in many states encourage…

As the COVID-19 pandemic unfolds, every aspect of daily life is being altered in response to the virus. The pandemic has altered secondary education. Classes online, teachers struggling to learn Zoom and make lessons meaningful and relevant to students. Students struggling to make sense of this moment, struggling with mental health issues due to…

Classroom discussions and deliberations on public issues stand at the core of civic education. Recent research has made a strong case for the potency of these approaches in teaching social studies. Students benefit by learning about argumentation and evidence use, examining their own thinking about an issue, listening to others, and developing…

The authors describe the politicization of the process to revise Michigan's social studies standards from 2005 to the present. In 2005, critics objected to the omission of topics they considered important, even though the content expectations document was not intended to be an exhaustive list of material to be covered. The latest, more limited…

Robert Gardner is a Social Studies teacher at a large urban high school in Edmonton (Canada) with a widely diverse ethnic population. He observes that after the terrorist attacks of September 11, 2001 his students became much more engaged in discussion of international issues and more willing to share their personal experiences of life outside of…

This paper presents a method for social studies teachers to incorporate song lyrics into the study of controversial historical events and issues. Using the Hunt and Metcalf "Seven Problematic Areas of the Social Studies" as the rubric for selecting appropriate songs, the Teacher Candidate (TC) explains how song lyrics make viable text…

There are many approaches that schools could take to prepare and encourage young people to vote. These approaches may be less dramatic than linking registration to graduation, but they are more comprehensive and likely even more effective in the long term. In this article, the author encourages educators, particularly the social studies community,…

In the United States courses on civics or government are often marginalized in most states' social studies curricula in favor of courses in United States or world history. The origins of this history-dominated approach have roots in the debates between the American Historical Association and the National Education Association at the turn of the…

The authors make a case for using "The West Wing," a political drama that aired on NBC from 1999 to 2006, as an instructional tool in high school civics and government classes. The show offers a realistic portrayal of life in the White House through the eyes of Democratic President Josiah Bartlet and his senior staff that can further students'…

The American public can count on a few things during the presidential election season. First, candidates will take a moral high ground and forswear mudslinging. Before long however, they will proceed to engage in nasty accusations against their opponents. A vibrant democracy ought to welcome carefully thought-out views that, when intentionally…

In the recent past, and especially since September 11, 2001, many democratic nations have been forced to deal with the threat of attacks on their land. Former U.S. President George W. Bush famously labeled this challenge the "War on Terror." Examining how nations address this issue offers a golden opportunity for social studies teachers…

This article is devoted to the topic of teaching a geographical component in World History curriculum in American public high schools. Despite the fact that the federal legislation entitled "No Child Left Behind" (2001) declared geography as a "core" academic subject, geography was the only subject dropped from federal funding.…

The emergence of the SuperPACs in American politics is a major issue in the current election. SuperPACs, and the media campaigns they fund, also present a major challenge for media and democratic education. This article explores the issues surrounding SuperPACs and the rise of media in elections and politics in general, and presents some starting…

In August 2006, Australia's conservative prime minister John Howard convened a history summit in Canberra. The purported goal of the summit was the framing of a nationally-acceptable curriculum in Australian history. However, as this article suggests, Howard's hidden intention was to use the summit as a device for introducing a narrowly…

Twenty million voters cast ballots July 30, 2006, in the Democratic Republic of the Congo's first free election since 1960. A runoff election three months later, between transitional president Joseph Kabila and transitional vice president Jean-Pierre Bemba, gave Kabila a mandate to lead the war-torn nation for five more years. The elections, in…