According to the authors, five years ago their school district embraced Understanding by Design as the organizing framework for curriculum. The emphasis on enduring understandings and essential questions led the sixth grade social studies teachers to reevaluate what they were teaching in their World History Curriculum. Together the authors worked…

What does it mean to teach meaningful and powerful social studies? What curricular frameworks might be useful to this end? What does vibrant social studies look like in the classroom? The purpose of this article is twofold--to propose a curricular and pedagogical framework for teaching powerful social studies and to illustrate outstanding…

Integrating the visual and performing arts is one clear and concrete strategy to engage students in learning social studies content and concepts while making them interactive and relevant to their daily lives. In this article, the authors offer a rationale for teaching integrated arts with social studies, provide a framework for planning, and…

Everybody knows how easy it is for students to react negatively to people who act or think differently from themselves. To counterbalance students' often egocentric and ethnocentric views (which are normal for this age), teaching team collaborates to integrate voices from the world across the curriculum. They want their students to be learning…

What happens when three primary-grade teachers, whose schools are located in Tennessee, Texas, and Michigan, decide to teach a unit of instruction focusing upon the same cultural universal (the human need for shelter) at the same time? How do the teachers use the Internet to share with each other their geographically and socio-economically diverse…

It is no secret that language arts and math are the dominant features of the elementary curriculum. This is especially the case in Kindergarten through third grades. In many states, the thrust of the curriculum in the primary grades is on learning to read. After that, it is thought that students will then be able to read to learn. With that…

The population of American schools has continually become more diverse over time and so too have the needs of the students as well as the responsibilities of teachers. One must include in this multicultural amalgam those who have learning disabilities (LD). Arguably, nowhere else in society are disabilities so openly recognized and acknowledged as…

Describes the social studies curriculum at Oceanside School District in Long Island (New York) that focuses on the concept of essential questions. Explains that the teachers wanted the questions to reflect an awareness of current world problems that students could identify, discuss, and debate in a creative and age appropriate manner. (CMK)

Focuses on the experiences of some New Jersey teachers and reviews John Goodland's five types of curriculum in an effort to describe the nature of Holocaust education in the United States. Provides suggestions of how Holocaust education can be taught in an age-appropriate manner for K-4 classrooms. (CMK)

Asserts that elementary students should learn economics to prepare for their adult roles as consumers, producers, and voters. Discusses the "Voluntary National Content Standards in Economics" that consist of 20 standards and the respective benchmarks that describe the concepts students need to know by the end of grades 4, 8, and 12. (CMK)

Describes a middle school class that incorporated social studies and state history into a course on African American history. Recommends the children's book, "African Americans in Florida," a model for an exploration of state history that can be used as a guide by teachers looking for similar books. (MJP)

Criticizes the traditional approach to childhood social studies curriculum, "Me, My Family, My Community," as being superficial and inadequate. Maintains that a rapidly changing world will demand students with highly developed thinking and social skills. Includes guidelines for an optimal social learning environment for early childhood. (MJP)

Stating that the essential characteristics of citizenship are found in children's natural social interactions, the authors argue that sports should be used in citizenship education to teach rules, roles, consequences, respect, allegiance, winning, losing, and fairness. Teaching suggestions include a list of exemplary sports heroes, illustrative…

Argues that citizenship cannot be learned by reading textbooks, but instead is learned through daily interactions. States that the classroom, with its rules, authority, individuals, and groups, allows students to practice citizenship daily. Suggests that instruction focus on immediate student concerns and identifies strategies for connecting…

Reviews four approaches to the integration of ethnic content into the curriculum. The contribution and additive approaches add ethnic heroes and courses to the curriculum. The transformation approach changes the basic assumptions of the curriculum while the social action approach requires students to use the information gained in transformative…