This article is an exploration of the potential of a more purposeful application of criticality in undergraduate classrooms. Conventional pedagogy, often lecture-based, does not prepare students well for life, a career, or service toward the common good. A more critical approach in the classroom stimulates critical thinking, critical…

As social studies teachers, the authors feel they have a moral and ethical responsibility to provide students with the knowledge, skills, and dispositions necessary to become active participants in democracy. This starts with a transformative social studies curriculum that promotes critical thinking, is meaningful and relevant to the lives of…

A comprehensive social studies education provides the foundation for an appreciation of democracy, an understanding of the responsibilities and rights that come with participating in a republican form of government, and the knowledge and skills to be informed, responsible, and active global citizens. As students participate in their social studies…

The forming of microplastics in the environment continues be a global problem with damaging risks to ecosystems and human health. Currently, most microplastic studies concentrate on water and air, while research focus on terrestrial samples such as soil still lags behind. This project reports the first results of our effort to develop and…

Every year on January 16, Washington public schools participate in Temperance and Good Citizenship Day (TAGCD) in accordance with Revised Code of Washington (RCW) 28A.230.150. On this day, Washington social studies teachers must provide instructional time for high school seniors to register to vote. The Office of Superintendent of Public…

In addition to the continuing need for citizens who can address the challenges of "human" communities, growing concerns have arisen regarding "all" life on the planet. Indeed, one of our most urgent conditions is the decline of the environment upon which all life depends. Yet, despite our concerns, there remain vastly differing…

Civic engagement and social justice are topics that maintain the ability to impact individuals personally, professionally, and academically. This article outlines the importance of having discussions centered on equality, integrity, and community involvement in two-year institutional classrooms. Examinations are conducted on moments in history…

By implementing carefully selected children's literature into the current reading curriculum, teachers can help students develop into civic-minded citizens who are willing and able to take meaningful action. Much has been written about the need to link learning and culture in our literacy classrooms (Banks, 1995; Gay, 2010; Ladson-Billings, 1995,…

This article reports on a case study from a larger project exploring ways in which online citizen science projects can enhance students' learning in science and in digital technology. In this case, two teachers integrated the digital technology curriculum with the science capability "interpreting representations" using the engaging…

To start teaching about climate change in an immediately attention-grabbing and fully somatic way, the author begins with an activity called Singer/Songbird. The goal is for students to quickly identify that media and technology influence our environmental knowledge, beliefs, attitudes, and behaviors toward climate change. Besides learning that…

This paper is concerned with the civic significance and cultivation of three constructs that involve different ways of having an expansive and virtuous concern for others. Identification with all humanity involves caring for an expansive domain of others, identifying with humanity generally and not just with one's ingroup. Others-centeredness…

Since classical times, character development has played a key role in the proper functioning of democracies. This article outlines a modern reimagining of a classical archetypal character construction as a novel method for character development. The author presents examples of its operation in higher educational settings and in professional…

As a pedagogical approach aiming at increasing the quality of classroom talk, dialogic teaching and learning puts an emphasis on students' understanding and thinking and supports their learning process in numerous ways. As recent studies show, alongside promoting students' cognitive, social, and emotional development, dialogic teaching and…

This essay calls for a pedagogy of consilience and renewal as a dynamic fusion of research and practices in order to provide a more coherent way of examining some of the keen, interlaced variables that trouble the academy and society. The project challenges scholars to study five key scholarship of learning variables that should help transform the…

The American educational system, because it is based in behaviorist rather than progressivist philosophy, has not well-served the development of a citizenry capable of effective participation in the democratic decision-making process, the remedy being the progressivist methods described in the later chapters of Progressive Education for Democratic…