This first article in a series on 100 years of NCSS leadership in social studies recounts the organization’s establishment and examines its initial mission.

A social studies teacher and a mathematics educator created the featured U.S. history lesson on the three branches of government to help students better interpret evidence presented in graphs.

Enabling students to pose and answer their own questions helps them evolve from passive learners to students who are actively engaged in their coursework.

Recent research shows that growing students’ knowledge of the world through social studies has a greater impact on literacy than increasing English language arts instruction time. 

Educators can get an inside look at how some classrooms have shifted to inquiry-based social studies with four documentary films featured in the The Making Inquiry Possible project. 

The featured primary documents related to white violence against African Americans in Tulsa, Oklahoma, in 1921, and Red Cross relief efforts, can springboard into an important classroom discussion about who gets to tell history.

Examining newspaper articles such as the featured one from 1913 about parents intentionally exposing children to measles can highlight for students the critical connection between science literacy and citizen behavior.

An annotated list of children's books that are high quality, unbiased, and non-stereotypical portrayals of Arabs. It is also a collection that brings the native voices of the MENA region to elementary readers

This article focuses on children’s literature by and about Jane Goodall. Readers are provided with recommended titles; examples for how to address social studies skills and concepts using her biography; and compelling and supporting questions that can drive students to investigate her work. The associated pullout, by the same author, consists of a brief elementary-level biography, “The Inspiring Jane Goodall,” and follow-up activities and questions for further study.