This lesson uses Irena Sendler and the Children of the Warsaw Ghetto to introduce students to a true story of a Catholic, Polish social worker who saved the lives of thousands of Jewish children during World War II by relocating them. Students are asked to consider Irena’s actions and her...

In this paper, we outline the rationale for developing the Survey of the Status of Social Studies (S4). The instrument contains items for analyzing the organizational structure, instructional decision-making, professional attitudes, and demographics of social studies teachers....

This study aimed to explore pre-service teachers’ epistemological beliefs about economics, and their reported future teaching styles for economics using survey and interviewing methodologies. This study revealed that the pre-service teachers considered economics to be practical as well as...

Over the past two decades significant attention has been given to the topic of historical empathy, yet the manner in which historical empathy is currently defined, operationalized, and put into classroom practice lacks consistency and often is based on dated conceptualizations of the construct....

Graphic novels can contribute to effective content area reading on social studies topics such as the American Revolution. This action research study’s purpose was to examine student recall of facts, enjoyment of reading, and interest in the topic when using graphic novels as compared to...

The U.S. has a deficit problem. Both political parties agree that the debt and the deficit must be addressed, but are at odds about how to do so. Worse still, there are members of both parties who make finding solutions difficult because of entrenched ideology. As we approach the second year of...

This paper describes an integrated unit of study conducted with middle school students who— after being asked to consider the profound and potentially nebulous question, “What does it mean to be an American citizen?”—were directed to respond by developing performance poetry and...

Although several articles of progress exist that indicate various levels of improvement in race relations in America—perhaps the most notable being the election of the country’s first African American president--racism is far from over. News reports have highlighted the resurfacing of hate...

Drawing from research on art integration, we discuss why visual arts and social studies can be powerful partners in promoting critical thinking skills. Because this is an increasingly visual society, visual literacy is becoming progressively more important. Through the visual arts, students have...