This study explores how two elementary teachers (first and fifth grades) integrated social studies content and skills throughout their school day. More specifically, we describe and explain their social studies instruction in terms of integration as it reflects fractured, healthy, and stealthy integration (Hinde, 2015). As researchers, we spent…

In this article, Dr. Wanda Hurren highlights eight pedagogical opportunities that arise when sharing poetry in social studies classrooms. These opportunities are discussed as: aesthetic ways of knowing, contemplation, creativity, embodied knowing, pleasure, pondering, protest, and spirit. Connections between poetry as a way of coming to know…

This special issue of "Canadian Social Studies," entitled "Monumental Mistakes? Confronting Difficult Pasts," has brought together a diverse range of scholars offering insights into discussions regarding removing or altering monuments, buildings, and other reminders of difficult histories. The editors have requested that…

A recent study that surveyed close to 500 Alberta social studies teachers concluded that irreconcilable pressures "point to tensions between the formal program of studies and its prescribed outcomes, and the realities and complexities of classrooms where teachers attempt to realize good practices" (Alberta Teachers' Association, 2016, p,…

This paper conducts an affirmative reading of key constructs of pedagogy, ethics, culture and justice put forth in the texts of Roger Simon. Rereading these texts with, against and across the trajectory of one thinker's thought, the article generates new possibilities for pedagogy in global and contemporary times. The paper demonstrates that…

In 2007, Indian Residential School System (IRS) survivors won a class action settlement worth an?estimated 2 billion dollars from the Canadian Government. The settlement also included the establishment of a Truth and Reconciliation Commission. Despite the public acknowledgement, we posit that there is still a lack of opportunity and the necessary…

This paper reports on a study exploring ways in which five experienced teachers interpreted and responded to a curricular initiative in Alberta calling for teachers to help students see social studies through multiple perspective lenses representing Aboriginal (and Francophone) communities. Over the course of the study, which focused primarily on…

In this essay, the author employs psychoanalytic inquiry (Britzman, 1998; Felman, 1992; Lacan, 1988) to think about the relationships between pedagogy, trauma, and crisis in the contexts of social studies and teacher education. The paper explores a potential space in social studies education that can acknowledge the psychic consequences of…

The current Alberta Social Studies curriculum places a strong emphasis on recognizing the importance of multiple perspectives in the interpretation of Canada's past. The three drawings that the author has created represent the progression from the overall arching grand narrative of Canadian history to the introduction and embedding of the multiple…

When Canadian students are asked their perceptions of Mexico, their answers are filled with stereotypes from the media. When they are asked about Darfur, they have no idea what or where Darfur is, or what has occurred there. When they are asked to list the names of famous Canadians they state the names of white men, primarily politicians. When…

This autobiographical piece of collaborative discensus (Gershon, 2008; Gershon, Peel & Bilinovich, 2009) presents the authors' interwoven perspectives about the challenges they faced as they talked about race in a pre-service social studies class. Their work here serves two main purposes. First it is an opportunity for a teacher and two former…

This article was motivated by Summer 2006 Canadian Social Studies: History Alive! Old Sources, New Technologies. In light of technological advancements, programs, and efforts to enhance social studies, it appears history educators have forgotten about and overlook the benefits of leading children to authentic, historical places that exist outside…

Judging from public debate and policy, there is renewed interest about the state of young peoples' civic engagement, their character development and their knowledge levels about public issues. At the same time, there are persistent concerns about the narrow and nationalist construction of the very curriculum which should be challenging young…

The dreams and predictions of a digital classroom never quite materialized in the social studies history area. For a variety of reasons teachers keep the technology just outside the door peeking in but never truly welcomed. Not welcomed because of the nature of courseware initially offered, not welcomed because the technology was advanced for the…

The history that students learn in schools supports a view of the past that casts men as dominant and universal subjects. As such, the way that students understand the past will inevitably influence the way they think about the present and consider the future. Rather than perpetuating dominant narratives, this paper argues that history and social…