One of the biggest developments in social studies advocacy this month has been the launch of the Learn From History Coalition, led by the Stand for Children Leadership Center and with National Council for the Social Studies (NCSS) as one of its inaugural partners. This is a fast-growing, influential group. On several recent web conferences with other organizations, I described NCSS’ interest in Learn From History and how it responds to the current push for “divisive concepts” legislation and “anti-anti-racism” communications spreading everywhere from state legislatures to school boards…

In advance of our featured session, Shining a Light on a Dark Past: FRONTLINE’s Un(re)solved at the virtual 101st NCSS Annual Conference, please join us for an introduction to the multi-platform project, UN(RE)SOLVED that examines the stories of lives cut short and the federal effort to investigate more than 150 cold cases that date back to the civil rights era under the Emmett Till Unsolved Civil Rights Crime Act. We will preview the web interactive and the associated curricula materials developed and available on PBS LearningMedia. Erika Howard, FRONTLINE Impact Producer will provide…

On a blustery day in March 2021, a line of bundled-up, masked first graders walked from school to a house on the National Register of Historic Places in their south Minneapolis neighborhood. For these 23 young learners, it wasn’t just a walk. This Covid-era field trip was a culminating activity in a series of lessons, “Unearthing Histories,” that empowered the students to be historians, dig into their complex local history, and then take action to help create a more just future.

In this article, the authors discuss the possibilities and benefits of inquiry-based learning at NPS parks, historic sites, and their companion websites. They also stress that you can extend the guidance and resources that may be provided by any historic monument or park close to your school, whether it’s a part of the NPS system or not. Next, they provide steps to help you locate a monument or site that you want to study in your classroom, as well as a selection of NPS parks and monuments that they feel provide excellent, inquiry-based K-6 social studies curricula, including virtual tours…

Even before the first U.S. death from the mysterious, new coronavirus, Dr. Kizzmekia S. Corbett and Dr. Barney Graham were in a race against the clock. In 2020, they were research team members at the National Institutes of Health’s (NIH’s) Vaccine Research Center in Bethesda, Maryland.

This article features highlights from an integrated curricular unit designed to challenge how the gender gap influences young learners’ gender stereotypes of STEM professions by allowing students to question their own biases about these occupations while learning herstory. 

A Position Statement of National Council for the Social StudiesApproved and published 2021   Introduction There are approximately 90,000 government units in the United States (Motel, 2014), and most governing occurs at the local level. These governmental authorities include county, municipal, township, school district, and special district governments (US Census Bureau, 2019), not to mention a myriad of quasi-governmental and nonprofit advisory and governance boards. As Education for American Democracy (2021) reminds us, After years of polarization, the United States is…

How many times have we teachers thrown up our arms in exasperation and wanted to inquire of a student or a group of students, “What were you thinking?” How many times a day do we advise our students to “make good choices” and then cringe when they don’t? All too often, students don’t, or can’t, simply because they don’t know how. Although we know that our students are constantly involved in a thinking process, we tend to take that process for granted, rationalizing that thinking is simply something that everybody does. The term thinking skills is itself broad and ambiguous. Turner refers to…