This issue of Social Education abounds with suggestions for teaching about historic and contemporary events in ways that develop the skills and knowledge students need to become informed and active citizens.
Studying the Twenty-Sixth Amendment, which lowered the voting age to 18, can springboard into important classroom lessons on federalism, republicanism, and checks and balances.
The featured correspondence between George Washington and Major General Henry Knox can launch an engaging lesson on the Constitutional Convention and spur student research into Washington’s extensive papers.
Investigating heritage symbols in the classroom can ignite constructive discussions on the kinds of values a statue communicated at the time of its creation.
Positioning students as authors of untold or under-told historical narratives spurs them to engage with history and “talk back” to the dominant narrative.
Examining the Supreme Court’s reversal on abortion rights can foster important classroom discussions on the principle of stare decisis and on judicial activism.
Social studies teachers can gain valuable insight from Kathleen Wellman’s book about U.S. and world history textbooks created by conservative Christian publishing houses.