During the 2024-2025 school year, the state of South Dakota will implement a curriculum inspired by the conservative Hillsdale College model. South Dakota teachers will need to expand their content coverage without the benefit of additional instructional time; find ways to teach young students content that is developmentally inappropriate; base…

Teaching about religion in public schools is a complicated and nuanced topic. Though religious illiteracy has been named as a widespread concern throughout the United States, little research has been conducted that critically analyzes what teachers are asked to cover. Preservice teachers often confess they do not understand what they are and are…

The marginalization of social studies has led to many questions about how elementary teachers include social studies in their curriculum. Using a survey distributed to Texas teachers, this study explores the instructional strategies, integration emphasis, and content area instructional time utilized in the elementary classroom. Through a…

This article is a pedagogical case study reflecting on the "Teaching the Levees" curriculum (Crocco, 2007), written in the aftermath of Hurricane Katrina and in tandem with the Spike Lee film, "When the Levees Broke" (2006). Over 30,000 copies of the curriculum, underwritten by the Rockefeller Foundation, were distributed…

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…

This new report from the Center for Educational Equity offers insights into the resources and practices necessary to prepare students for civic participation in accordance with students' constitutional rights. The pilot study on which the report is based documented major disparities in learning opportunities among the study schools, including in…

This article addresses the need for researchers to move beyond discipline-specific approaches to research and practice and offers an example of how interdisciplinary understandings can increase knowledge in respective disciplines. The specific focus of the article is the shared challenges of broaching controversy in science and social studies…

The National Council of Social Studies stated that students are not prepared for living in an increasingly multicultural society, even though federal legislation expects the integration of multicultural concepts and skills into state social studies standards. What remains unclear in this expectation is how K-12 social studies teachers have…

This study addresses how my freshman world history students come to understand controversial issues as provocative within the secondary social studies classroom, and in what ways does their engagement with provocative issues influence their understanding of the content and the world around them. In addition, this research study seeks to discover…

Incorporating controversial issues into pre-service teacher education provides teacher candidates with opportunities not only to gain effective civic competence but also to develop skills and experience in their teaching of controversial issues. The purpose of this study was to ascertain social studies teacher candidates' views on the…

Discusses objectives of "Canada in a North American Perspective," a controversial postsecondary course taught as an Ontario Academic Credit course. Argues examination of Canada's perspective and history as a North American nation can benefit from comparison to the United States. Suggests this continentalist approach need not diminish…

Discusses issues related to teaching international relations. Supports the position that teaching controversial issues is an integral part of any social studies course. Explores some controversial issues that might be considered in the classroom, describing approaches to teaching these issues. (KO)

This paper examines issues that K-12 science and social studies teachers need to keep in mind when teaching about nuclear power. The information needs to be presented in as objective a manner as possible. Science needs to become more social oriented. Team teaching should be encouraged. Elementary and secondary inservice teacher education is…

Explores questions raised in discussions of genocide and reviews ways in which the topic can be investigated. Argues that no matter what the outcome of student inquiry, it is essential that schools carefully and comprehensively include the study of genocide in social studies curricula as a means of reducing the potential for its occurrence. (GEA)

One's conceptions define what is worth learning about war and peace and why. Educators must make important choices of content. Three conceptions of peace education are discussed: those that focus on information, those that center on issues, and those dealing with attitudes. (RM)