Secondary civics and government courses are often framed as a content area in which students learn about processes of government and ways of participating in a democratic society, as opposed to a discipline in which students use specific tools and ways of thinking that mimic those used by professionals within that discipline. In this article, we…

Engaging students in controversial issues provides numerous benefits for developing democratic citizenship. A wide variety of pathways and challenges exist to their discussion in classrooms, many of which are based upon societal and cultural context. This study explores the context of Guam and maps the issues of controversy within categories of…

The ability to make connections is an important aspect of teaching history and a vital skill in our increasingly globalized world. This study examines how preservice and practicing teachers organize and connect world historical events and concepts for themselves and for instructional purposes. Findings are based on interviews with 2 card-sorting…

This article reports findings from a 3-year study on preservice middle and secondary social studies teachers' common content knowledge of politics and current events. Surveys showed that both groups were generally uninformed about these issues, and on almost all measures, the middle-grades preservice teachers performed worse than those in the…

This is an instrumental case study of 1 novice and 1 experienced secondary social studies teachers' concurrent assessment practices within tightly structured, standardized-tested curricula and flexible elective curricula. It is anchored by 2 questions: (1) How did the teachers' assessment stances and practices manifest across the 2…

Museums have great potential to help secondary students develop a deep understanding of the past; however, we know little about what history teachers actually do or want to accomplish when they utilize museums. In this study, the authors draw on questionnaire and interview data from 94 secondary history teachers in Connecticut in an effort to…

In 2 related studies framed by social constructivism theory, the authors explored a fine-grained analysis of adolescents' civic conceptual knowledge and skills and investigated them in relation to factors such as teachers' qualifications and students' classroom experiences. In Study 1 (with about 2,800 U.S. students), the authors identified 4…

In this qualitative study, the authors first explore the "sense making" of Emma, a former high school teacher (and co-author of this study), with regard to discussion of issues around race that became controversial in her social studies classroom. Her student population comprised predominantly white, rural, socioeconomically disadvantaged…

This qualitative case study examined the place that historical empathy, as both a subjective and an objective endeavor, occupied in one teacher's instruction and her students' response. Data--collected over five months--include 29 hours of classroom observations in an Advanced Placement European History course, instructional artifacts, and…

Using the 2008 Presidential Election as a case of curricular controversy, the author describes how six high school government teachers responded to the racial, gender, and religious diversity included on the presidential tickets of the two major political parties. Teachers had to decide whether the issue of Americans challenging the tradition of…

In this article the author examines (a) preservice teachers' reactions to graphic novels featuring social studies material, and (b) the potential for using graphic novels in secondary social studies classrooms. An analysis of preservice teachers' written book reports, classroom discussions, and individual interviews revealed the range of reactions…

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…

This case study examined how mentoring experiences might encourage teachers to consider and adopt a problem-based historical inquiry (PBHI) framework for teaching. We mentored six teachers over 15 months as they planned and implemented PBHI teaching, reflected on their experiences, and then engaged in peer mentoring of other teachers. Data…

The purpose of this article is to evaluate a social studies teacher education vision statement as it relates to Parker's (2003) "advanced" conception of citizenship education for democratic society. The vision statement, titled "Powerful Vision of Social Studies," was created by a group of practicing teachers and teacher educators as part of a…

This study examines how two history teacher candidates, Monica and James, learned to teach historical thinking and reading in a discipline-specific teacher education program. Data include pretests and postests, interviews, observations, and university course assignments. Qualitative data analysis reveals that although both teachers excelled in the…