Social studies educators have long advocated using history and the social sciences for the development of citizens. However, vigorous debate continues over what kinds of citizens are needed and who should decide. Where does this leave us as social studies teachers and scholars? And where does it leave our students? In this paper, I argue that…

Students learned to perform first-person presentation to display information researched through an inquiry process. Teachers helped students learn inquiry during instructional time. Teachers, parents, and guardians worked together to support student learning in a high poverty and low educational attainment Appalachian community. The character the…

This article explores how middle school students envision their communities through an in-depth community mapping project. The research explores the extent of students' sense of their community while prompting them to define what community means and whether it is valued by students. The project also seeks to understand students' sense of belonging…

Freedom of expression is the core political ideal undergirding American democracy and recent attacks on freedom of speech are a direct threat to the liberties and rights guaranteed in the United States Constitution. Freedom of expression is essential for participatory democracy, scientific progress, individualism, and civic education in K-12…

Political history lends itself to traditional patterns of teaching and learning in social studies such as students memorizing facts presented in lectures or textbooks. This article presents a recurring activity structure for teaching U.S. political history--Consensus Circle Presidential Rating (CCPR)--which requires students to read across…

Hull-House was a unique social experiment by which Jane Addams realized her egalitarian vision for a shared civic life. Facing soaring social problems of the early twentieth century, Hull-House's most important mission was to help new immigrants learn the rule of self-government and become successful drivers of it. Hull-House was an unusual group…

This study present findings related to students' community and political engagement and activism after participation in an action civics institute. The institute, iEngage, is a weeklong summer experience for rising fifth through rising ninth graders that utilizes the action civics inquiry cycle to foster civic skills and cultivate participation…

Deep social studies-based engagement is critical in early childhood to provide a foundation for later learning and increasingly mature understandings. Skills and attitudes necessary for active citizenship should be fostered in prekindergarten "in a way which is appealing and pleasurable (Casey, DiCarlo, & Sheldon, 2019, p. 1)". The…

This manuscript explores the power of using inquiry in a second-grade classroom to make students' understanding of citizenship more complex. It describes an inquiry unit in which students studied primary sources, engaged with fiction and nonfiction children's literature, and participated in interdisciplinary learning to further understand the…

How better can we prepare students for the roles awaiting them as citizens than by engaging them in addressing challenging issues of the day? We describe our experience as a researcher--practitioner partnership with this objective in a yearlong program involving academically low-performing urban middle schoolers and a student-centered…

Authors discuss the relationship between social studies education and patriotism. The authors share two lesson plans (one elementary and one secondary) that examine the racialized and politicized experiences of three professional athletes, Gabby Douglas, Colin Kaepernick, and Megan Rapinoe. Drawing on tenets of critical race media literacy and…

Given the cultural diversity and pluralistic nature of the United States, an important part of citizenship education is helping children learn how to engage respectfully and dialogically with people whose beliefs and ways of life may differ significantly from their own. Such engagement is necessary for peaceful co-existence, as well as in the…

Civic education for our youngest citizens faces two challenges if we want to imagine new possibilities. First, the field of social studies uses frames of analyzing citizenship education based on studies of older students. Second, predetermined adult ideas (and ideals) of what it means to act civically dominate our conceptions of civic education…

In this article the author seeks to present social studies educators with practical means for using Reddit--an emerging social media website--as a tool for providing students with a democratic education grounded in citizenship and multicultural education. The author focuses on ways in which Reddit offers students the opportunity to learn from…

The manifestation of Campbell's Law is examined in light of the current era in American public schools of high stakes testing inclusive of narrowed curriculums and teaching to the test. The decades-long practice of reducing instructional time of non-tested subjects, which includes social studies fundamentals, has resulted in a less informed…