The Keys election forecast system predicts a loss for Donald Trump’s reelection bid. Studying the system can give students a more profound understanding of the factors that determine the outcome of a presidential election.

Children’s literature can play a powerful role in young children’s lives to learn, inspire and transform. The images and words convey a compelling story and message that has the potential to leave lasting impressions. In recent years, there’s been an explosion of children’s books that go beyond social and emotional learning. Books for young children about historical topics like enslavement, the Holocaust, Japanese-American internment, voting rights, segregation, and genocide are presenting them with both sensitivity and insight. When it comes to current event topics there are many excellent…

1. Congratulations, Rebecca Valbuena, on being elected to the NCSS Board of Directors. When did you first hear about NCSS, and what drew you to join the association? After my third year of teaching, I attended the California History-Social Science Project’s three-week institute at University of California - Berkeley. Dr. Matt Downey was the director at the time, and the focus of the institute was Specially Designed Academic Instruction in English within History-Social Science, a topic of great interest. A colleague and I were asked to present our units from the institute at…

Lookout Point: Abolitionists Among the Founding Fathers Kevin Brady Runaway Slave Advertisements: Teaching from Primary Documents Tom Costa and Brooks Doyle Teaching About Immigration, Past and Present Susan Pass Facts about Our Immigrants

The featured document and painting about the then-Prince of Wales's visit to Mount Vernon serve as excellent primary sources for a lesson on American diplomatic history.

The featured book offers a valuable perspective on the importance of integrating sports into education.

iCivics is featured in a new book exploring how video games are pioneering social change around the world.POWER PLAY: How Video Games Can Save the World by Asi Burak and Laura Parker devotes a chapter to iCivics’ origin story to illustrate how video games can be a force for good in society. The chapter narrated how Justice Sandra Day O’Connor was inspired to turn educational video games into the nation’s largest civic engagement project, which is now used by over 5 million students every year. Justice O’Connor said of the book, “This fascinating book shows how much games have to teach not…

Voices of a People’s History of the United States in the 21st Century, a new book from Seven Stories Press, brings to life social movements through speeches, essays, poems, and calls to action from Black Lives Matter, #MeToo, Indigenous struggles, immigrant rights activists, the environmental movement, disability justice organizers, and frontline workers during the global pandemic. The book’s editors, Anthony Arnove and Haley Pessin and contributor Jesse Hagopian discuss why this book is an important teaching resource in the classroom.  

The highlighted websites offer lesson plans, book lists, or other resources that can help teachers integrate literature and the arts into their social studies instruction.

This year’s Carter G. Woodson award winners include books about the Birmingham Children’s March, Japanese internment (Fred Korematsu), and recognizing the history of people of African descent.