One central aspect of a healthy democracy is the practice of democratic dissent. For the first time in many years, dissent is being widely practiced in town hall meetings and on street corners across the United States. Despite this presence, dissent is often suppressed or omitted in the prescribed, tested, hidden, and external curriculum of US…

In this article we argue for the necessity of far-reaching change in school curricula and pedagogy. More particularly, we argue that developing students' understanding and engagement in the disciplines which make up the school curriculum requires an unearthing of the philosophical issues underlying science, mathematics, the arts, geography,…

The considerable debate in recent years on the aims of citizenship education has not been accompanied by an equally substantial discussion on the educational processes involved. This article puts forward a theoretical framework, referred to as "curricular transposition", for understanding the complex task of realizing normative ideals of…

Three years into the Decade of Education for Sustainable Development, there has been considerable discussion regarding education for sustainable development (ESD) at a policy level, yet very few countries and communities have moved to integrate ESD into their educational curriculum. In this article we argue that the conceptualization and…

This study explores the enactment and evolution of moral education in Beijing, China. In particular, the author examines the extent to which moral education teachers develop reflective thinking and broach controversial issues within their classrooms. Drawing on interview data from secondary moral education (deyu) teachers, professors who prepare…

It is generally supposed that a curriculum should engage students with worthwhile knowledge, which requires an understanding of what it means for something to be worthwhile: a substantive conception of the good. Yet a number of influential curriculum theories deny or undermine one or another aspect of the key assumption upon which a meaningful…

As LGBTQ issues gain prominence in political and social arenas directly related to social studies teaching, the field of social studies can no longer remain silent. The author argues that we need to move beyond marginal programs and an emphasis on anti-bullying measures to examine the heteronormative structures that school students in sexuality.…

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 study explores the implementation of a Holocaust curriculum, designed for Latvian schools through the method of curriculum deliberation, five years after its enactment. By exploring the complexity of implementation, the study provides a generative knowledge base for curriculum proposals, symposia, and other initiatives that seek to disrupt…

This document-based historical study explores the nature of the Jewish social studies curriculum in American Jewish schools in the early 20th century (c.1910-1940), a period of significant growth and reform in the modern American Jewish education enterprise. "Jewish social studies" refers to school programs in which Jewish history, Jewish…

Frame analysis was used to examine how competing stakeholders framed a sixth grade curriculum controversy over whether the WWII internment of Japanese Americans should be categorized as a controversial issue. Teachers and administrators in a northwestern U.S. school claimed that the internment was clearly wrong and not controversial, but these…

Teaching about the Holocaust is a deeply sensitive and controversial topic in the Republic of Latvia. Due to a Soviet-imposed silence on the topic and the developing nature of democratic education in Latvia, many schools cover this history superficially, if it is covered at all. This study examines a cross-cultural curriculum development project…

This article describes and defends a revision of the traditional elementary social studies curriculum rationale. It calls for retaining most of the same topics, but developing them more coherently and shifting emphasis from the expanding communities sequence to introducing students to the fundamentals of the human condition as the primary…

Over the past decade and a half, states in all regions of the United States have formed Holocaust councils, advisory groups, and other agencies for the purpose of developing educational programs in response to a growing interest in the Holocaust. Some states have called upon educators and Holocaust agencies within the state to develop curricula…

States that the Education Forum and Enterprise New Zealand Trust took exception to the lack of instruction on New Zealand's European heritage, expressing the curriculum lacked an explanation of capitalism. Reports the New Zealand Federation of Social Studies Associations complained about the lack of emphasis on decision making and critical…