Call for Manuscripts for Social Studies and the Young Learner

If you are an enthusiastic elementary teacher or teacher educator with great ideas that you have implemented in the classroom, we invite you to share your work. Here are upcoming themes. We also welcome pieces that do not fit these particular themes, as well as reviews of children’s literature and books for teachers.

World History and Geography for Young Learners

In our interdependent world, there are numerous ties between the local and the global, and between the present and the past. Questions and contradictions that affect us have often affected others in different times and places. Manuscripts may focus on geography and world history; on cultural, linguistic, and socioeconomic diversity; or on global issues (e.g., hunger, poverty, environmental challenges) and the utilization of GIS, Skype, and other emerging technologies.

Submission Deadline: June 15, 2016
Issue: November/December 2016

Cultivating Civic Life through Studying Current Events

How do we help elementary students explore current events (local, national, and global) in ways that support their civic development? How can we present multiple perspectives in ways that make sense to young learners? What methods can we employ to instill interest, hopefulness, and civic agency? In this issue we ask authors to share ideas for connecting civic life in and out of the classroom through the study of current events. Articles should be no more than 3,000 words.

Submissions Deadline: July 15, 2016 Please send your manuscript to Guest Editors Kathryn Obenchain and Julie Pennington at kobench@purdue.edu for this issue only. Issue: January/February 2017

Agency and Empowerment with Younger Learners

Young children often willingly and enthusiastically discuss and act upon issues of fairness and unfairness. How can social studies educators help young learners see themselves as agents in greater capacities? This issue examines and presents ways in which children have been agents in various locations throughout the world and at different points in time. What strategies and approaches have you used to empower your younger learners and facilitate their capacity to become agents?

Submissions Deadline: November 15, 2016
Issue: March/April 2017

Please contact the editor at ssyl@ncss.org if you have any questions or ideas you would like to share. Please send manuscripts by email.

Scott Waring, Editor
Social Studies and the Young Learner
Professor and Program Coordinator
Social Science Education
University of Central Florida
407-823-1766