In the previous issue of "Social Education," this column looked at the upcoming elections from a more general point of view and recommended websites that examined presidential election history, voting laws, and the origins of the Electoral College and how it works. In this column, the author focuses specifically on this year's presidential battle…

The preparation of students for global citizenship represents a central challenge to social studies educators in the twenty-first century. Two-thirds of the world's poor are steeped in abject poverty and its grim consequences. The world refugee problem has reached staggering proportions. There is an international epidemic of human trafficking, and…

A study of human rights prepares students for their role as global citizens and their study of practices in the world's countries that relate to the rights of human beings. Today, when one talks of human rights it is usually with reference to the 1948 Universal Declaration of Human Rights (UDHR). It is the task of teachers to give students the…

Capital punishment, still practiced in many countries around the world, represents a highly controversial human rights issue. As citizens of the world, the existence of a diversity of death penalties challenges some of the most cherished and universal values. For social studies educators seeking to move their students toward finding their voice as…

During World War II, human rights violations against women took on gargantuan proportions of indescribable horror. The Japanese military engaged in the systematic abduction of women from China, Indonesia, Japan, Korea, the Philippines, Taiwan, and other nations and confined them to military installations in Japanese-occupied territories to serve…

The forceful induction of children as child soldiers is an abhorrent violation of human rights. It is very disturbing that while many children are forcibly recruited into armed conflicts, others actually volunteer, due to their nightmarish alternatives. Although the practice has recently gained worldwide attention, awareness alone will not end the…

Iranian women have endured more than 30 years of an Islamist dictatorship that uses religion as a validation for unjust control. Human rights violations against women in Iran are a tragic phenomenon for an otherwise highly developed civilization. Invisible and powerless in a male-dominated society, Iranian women are discouraged from becoming…

The non-violent participation of Nobel Peace Prize laureate Aung San Suu Kyi and Buddhist monks in resistance efforts to advocate for the welfare of Myanmar's people has played an important role in educating the world about human rights violations in the country. Faced with international condemnation, Myanmar's junta released Aung San Suu Kyi from…

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 to…

Using literature in the social studies classroom is a useful pedagogy that is particularly well-suited in human rights education. Literature can give voice to people who cannot speak for themselves and gives students an opportunity to consider perspectives that are often foreign to them. When used with delicacy and care, these literary…

The study of human rights is inseparable from social studies. Beyond the basic political, economic, and social freedoms and rights spelled out in The Universal Declaration of Human Rights, hundreds of specialized topics have developed that demonstrate the complex nature of human rights in the twenty-first-century world--environmental exploitation…

On Saturday, January 3, 1863, Assistant Secretary of State Frederick W. Seward sent a letter to John D. Defrees, superintendent of Public Printing, asking that 500 copies of a "circular and proclamation" be printed. The letter also gave specific instructions as to what type of paper was to be used, the layout, and when the department wanted the…

Is sniffing at the front door of a private home by a trained narcotics detection dog a Fourth Amendment search requiring probable cause? Is a "drug dog" somehow like a manmade technology, such as a thermal imaging device? These were a couple of the questions recently presented to the U.S. Supreme Court during arguments in "Florida v. Jardines."…

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,…

Research has shown that formative assessment is a key ingredient in raising student achievement. The goal of formative assessment is not to grade students, but to pinpoint where they are having trouble and then to take appropriate instructional action. In a review of 250 studies, Black and Wiliam found that formative assessments had a more…