Teaching about the civil rights movement in the elementary grades has, in many schools, focused exclusively on the lives of Martin Luther King Jr. and Rosa Parks. Many students are well versed in the content of King’s “I Have A Dream” speech, and they know well that Rosa did not give up her seat on the bus. While these moments and heroes of the movement are essential in the study of this era in history, the study of more obscure and lesser known people and events is a great way to deepen our students’ understanding of the sacrifices that so many thousands of ordinary people made in the…

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

Each year, NCSS seeks approximately five new members to serve on our Notable Social Studies Trade Books for Young People Book Committee. The book committee consists of 15 members who review, evaluate, and select social studies trade books for our annual bibliography: "Notable Social Studies Trade Books for Young People." The "Notables" contain 100-200 titles selected from as many as 900 books submitted by publishers each year. The list is published annually in the May/June issue of Social Education. See previous Notable Social Studies Trade Books for Young People Lists. Requirements…

It is difficult to overstate the power of visual images, particularly historical primary source photos, to provide a window into the past. Here, the authors outline how educators can utilize historic photos to provide students with a deeper understanding of the past. When students do not see their heritage and culture represented in images, the development of their historical understanding can be incomplete or fragmented. Historical understanding can be enhanced, however, when students “see themselves” in the primary sources presented to them.

This article posits that children’s literature can present difficult knowledge about wars in a child-friendly way. The author shares transnational children’s literature and a sample lesson to teach about the Korean War in a more critical and complete manner than is usually provided to students

The C3 Framework by NCSS has caused a great deal of change over the last decade. The lead authors of the C3 Framework stress that K-12 social studies teachers need to develop their students’ disciplinary literacy, thinking, and argumentation skills in the four core disciplines of the field: history, civics, geography, and economics (Lee & Swan, 2013; NCSS, 2013). To accomplish these goals, social studies teachers need to meaningfully integrate primary and secondary sources for their students to analyze and use evidence from their research to take civic action (Levinson & Levine, 2013…

North Platte Canteen Nebraska 1941 Eric Groce, Tina Heafner, Elizabeth Bellows, and Robin Groce The Green Book: Finding Safe Passage in Jim Crow America Steven S. Lapham and Calvin Alexander Ramsey

This article highlights effective films for teaching world history and suggests related classroom activities.

An overview of teaching materials provided by the Women’s Suffrage Centennial Commission for the Nineteenth Amendment, including an online version of a giant mural created by British visual artist Helen Marshall and exhibited in Washington, DC, in 2020. 

1. Thank you for agreeing to this interview! Could you tell us about yourselves? Dr. Jeremiah Clabough is an Associate Professor of Social Science Education at the University of Alabama at Birmingham where he trains pre-service teachers to be middle and high school social studies teachers. He earned his PhD at The University of Tennessee in Spring 2012. Before this, he was a middle and high school social studies teacher. His research interests center on strengthening middle and high school students’ civic thinking skills as outlined by the indicators in the C3 Framework. Additionally, his…