To investigate how parents support children's learning at an exhibit on evolution, the conversations of 12 families were recorded, transcribed, and coded (6,263 utterances). Children (mean age 9.6 years) and parents visited Explore Evolution, which conveyed current research about the evolution of seven organisms. Families were engaged with the…

Teaching is emotional work. This is especially the case in the first years of teaching when new teachers are particularly vulnerable. By understanding changes in teacher emotions in the early years of teaching, we hope to identify strategies that might ultimately reduce teacher attrition. As part of a larger study of the transition of new teachers…

Social studies teachers live with the unintended consequences of the No Child Left Behind (NCLB) Act every day. They understand that the law has created flawed incentives for states and school districts to narrow their curricula to English and math. This fundamentally misguided practice leaves out core disciplines that are essential to a…

On 1860, Prince Albert Edward took a daylong excursion aboard the 270-foot revenue cutter USS "Harriet Lane" to Mount Vernon, the ancestral home of George Washington. The ceremonial visit to Mount Vernon was thought of at the time as not only a tribute to Washington as a man and leader, but as symbolic of reconciliation between England and its…

History has placed the stamp of approval on the publication of the Pentagon Papers, the top-secret history of the Vietnam War. If WikiLeaks editor-in-chief Julian Assange is another Daniel Ellsberg, then it is possible the website's disclosures will be viewed over time as similarly in the public interest. A classroom discussion on the release of…

One of the great challenges social studies teachers face is promoting economic and consumer literacy among their students. Fostering such literacy helps students to think critically and independently about their own roles as consumers as well as about the claims and promises the corporate world makes through mass advertising and the branding of…

Professor Bryant Simon is the author of "Everything But the Coffee: Learning About America From Starbucks" (University of California Press, 2009). He presented his key findings to the class and summarizes them here. Studying Starbucks reveals essential truths about what its customers, who represented a large cross-section of the American…

Manifest Destiny, the idea that Providence guided the conquest and settlement of North America, is one of the most contested ideas in American culture and history. One's opinion about this central aspect of American mythology depends heavily on one's point of view. Exploring westward expansion and the Cherokee Trail of Tears with primary sources…

Just about three years ago, the author wrote a column titled "What Websites Are on My Favorites List." He received a great deal of e-mail about his selections. While some readers criticized one or more of his selections, many more sent him recommendations for other websites they found helpful in their planning and instruction. He thought it was…

Throughout the world, today's students are being characterized as digital natives, the "net generation." This twenty-first-century student cohort is adept at multi-tasking and at using a variety of tools and resources including electronic search engines, blogs, wikis, visual images, videos, gaming platforms, and social networking. Current…

There is a widespread movement today to prepare all students for college, and it is promoted in the name of democracy. I argue here that such a move actually puts our democracy at risk by forcing students into programs that do not interest them and depriving them of courses at which they might succeed. We risk losing the vision of democracy that…

Many teachers struggle to maintain or build hope among themselves and their students in today's climate of high anxiety and low morale. This article describes and responds to those challenging conditions. It offers teachers and scholars of education a philosophically sophisticated and feasible understanding of hope. This notion of hope is grounded…

This study examines a two-year effort to engage groups of inner-city students in community engagement projects at Social Action Charter High School, SACHS, in Milwaukee, Wisconsin. In this project, graduate student volunteers coached small groups of students working on community change projects, collecting data on what happened over time. Kahne…

Drawing from a two-year ethnographic study of Latino high school students engaged in youth participatory action research (YPAR), this article describes students' quest for freedom in schools, locating their struggle within a larger effort to realize the democratic ideals of public schooling. Using Latino/a Critical Race Theory as a theoretical…

Public schools historically have been the primary institution responsible for preparing young people for participation in a democratic society. However, the almost exclusive focus by today's schools on knowledge and skills hinders their ability to be environments that support overall development and to produce the kinds of flexible, creative, and…