In a three-year study, the authors explore students' understandings and experiences of citizenship at two high school sites in Regina, Saskatchewan. Specifically, the authors consider the possibility that social location mediates the extent to which the official social studies curriculum is able to produce students as "good" citizens. The analysis…

Understanding world history is critical for our development as citizens in our interconnected society. Yet it is not clear that the standards for world history courses in the U.S. foster understanding of the whole world or of its history. The authors argue that the high school world history standards mapped out by various states promulgate a…

Teachers' beliefs influence their behaviors in classrooms and their organization of classes, each of which can greatly impact student learning. This study focuses on four categories of teachers' beliefs--beliefs about subject, about learners and learning, about teaching, and about self-efficacy--and their potential to shape civic education. More…

This multiple case study traces the influence of cultural biographies on the curriculum decision making of two Latino preservice teachers who student taught in standards-based schools. These participants drew on their personal and cultural experiences to disrupt the "official" curriculum, which they believed failed to address fundamental issues of…

This qualitative case study examines one secondary social studies teacher's enactment of her critical constructivist beliefs in teaching for democratic citizenship education. Results are organized around the knowledge, skills, and dispositions addressed, and their consistency with critical constructivism. The teacher's practices were consistent…

History teachers are faced with numerous literacy-related decisions about the types of texts they use and how students are taught to learn with texts. Teachers' decisions about texts and instruction reflect their knowledge of historical inquiry processes and attitudes about the purpose of history instruction, specifically whether instruction on…

This self-study reports on the professional learning and development of a beginning social studies teacher educator via an examination of the evolving relationship between the author's beliefs and practices during his first three years preparing social studies teachers. Throughout this time data were systematically collected in the form of written…

This article explores the relationship between students' ethnic identities and their ascriptions of historical significance to moments in Canada's past. Twenty-six grade 12 students living in an ethnically diverse urban centre in British Columbia, Canada participated. Phenomenographic research methods were followed, with a range of data informing…

Education has long been heralded as the key to sustaining a healthy democratic state (Dewey, 1916/1996; Jefferson & Peterson, 1984; Parker, 2003). As such, teacher educators have a responsibility to prepare teachers committed to the aims and practices of democracy. Central to this goal is helping teachers understand the relationship between…

The importance of clarity in definitions of gender is discussed and several conceptual models of gender are presented. Four of these models begin with biological sex differences but draw attention to other aspects of gender. Four models set biology aside and are based on social and cultural theories. Some of the advantages of the latter for…

Prior research on students' uses of technology in the context of Euclidean geometry has suggested that it can be used to support students' development of formal justifications and proofs. This study examined the ways in which students used a dynamic geometry tool, NonEuclid, as they constructed arguments about geometric objects and relationships…

Discussions about school mathematics often address the importance of reasoning and proving for building students' understanding of mathematics. However, there is little research examining how teachers enact tasks designed to engage students in justifying and proving in the classroom. This article presents results of a study investigating the…

A content analysis of over 28,000 pages from 141 elementary school mathematics textbooks published between 1900 and 2000 shows that widely used mathematics textbooks have changed substantially. Textbooks from the early part of the century were typically narrow in content but presented substantial amounts of advanced arithmetic and also asked…

The 1999 International Association for the Evaluation of Educational Achievement (IEA) Civic Education Study revealed that most countries having recently undergone political and social transformations had lower civic knowledge scores than more stable nations. However, Poland, which instituted policies aimed at educating citizens for democratic…

The International Baccalaureate (IB) programs and Montessori education both claim to promote values associated with global citizenship in order to help prepare students for new challenges presented by an increasingly globalized world. While the IB's secondary programs are widespread in international schools, Montessori programs at that level are…