National Council For The Social Studies Research Articles

Embracing the interdisciplinary nature of psychology: Challenging the increasing dismissiveness of high school psychology as a social studies course

ABSTRACT Despite psychology’s position within the National Council for the Social Studies' definition of social studies, the American Psychological Association is advocating the rebranding of psychology as a science course. This study interviews six high school psychology teachers and employs a Foucauldian framework to understand different perspectives on this rebranding, what makes teachers position their psychology course as science or social studies, and how that rebranding has impacted teachers’ perceived ability to make psychology content relevant to students’ lived experiences. We find significant disagreement among psychology teachers about the degree to which they should embrace the “psychology-as-science” paradigm. We also find that most professional development for high school psychology teachers is rooted in the science paradigm and that many teachers feel limited by their ability to connect psychology content to students’ lived experiences under the science paradigm. We conclude with recommendations for teachers, curriculum leaders, researchers, and teacher preparation programs for upholding psychology as an interdisciplinary social studies course.

Early preservice teachers' development of social studies inquiry projects

PurposePreservice teachers (PSTs) typically have few opportunities to observe social studies instruction in PSTs' elementary field placements. To practice effective integration as a pathway to include more social studies instruction, PSTs developed a unit plan based on inquiry during an undergraduate methods course. The purpose of this study was to explore what scaffolds were effective in PSTs' development of social studies inquiry projects.Design/methodology/approachThe author used a multiple case study approach, examining initial submissions, feedback and resubmissions as PSTs developed PSTs' inquiry projects. The data were analyzed with an eye on PSTs' ability to plan a unit according to the four dimensions of the C3 Framework's inquiry arc (National Council for the Social Studies [NCSS], 2013).FindingsThe author analyzed data related to PSTs’ area of highest need from PSTs' initial submissions: staging the task, formative tasks and resources. PSTs were able to develop inquiry projects after being supported in their (1) organization, (2) clarity, (3) alignment and (4) developmental appropriateness.Originality/valueThis study shows that novice teachers can create high-quality social studies learning experiences in elementary school when provided appropriate supports (in this case, feedback about organization, clarity, alignment and developmental appropriateness). With the tools to develop such projects, new teachers may be able to increase the amount of social studies taught in elementary classrooms.

Exploring the Use of Digitally Archived Folk Music to Teach Southern United States History

Southern United States folk music is rich in not only sound, but in voices of the past. Folk songs were created by working class individuals who described aspects of their life in connection with societal issues and events. Folk songs, now digitally archived, can serve as primary historical sources that can be used to enhance the secondary social studies U.S. history curriculum. The vast offerings of folk songs can allow students to listen, read, and analyze the lyrics to gain a deeper understanding of the U.S. South, shed the hillbilly stereotype that Southerners have been historically subjected to, understand why and how Southerners spoke out against injustices through song, and analyze the lyrics that portray the history of southern folklife. Based on the National Council for the Social Studies’ Themes of Social Studies and integrating folk songs from such online sites as the Library of Congress and Smithsonian Institute, curriculum implications are presented for students to reflect on the Southerners’ settings, perspectives of events and issues, and methods of protest. Modern technology’s preservation of folk songs that would otherwise be absent from history not only has the power to educate, but also to keep southern folk music alive.

Student Inquiry: Using Civil Rights Movement Curricula to Extend Students’ Ideas about Human Dignity and Human Rights

Human dignity is a complex, though essential, concept for students to master. Inserting human dignity into existing curricula provides students with more opportunities to consider the problems of vulnerable classmates and the status of human dignity and rights in the United States and around the world. Using parts of the US modern Civil Rights Movement curricula, as an example, this lesson exposes students to activities and research sources that support their critical thinking about human dignity, real-life discrimination, and human-rights violations. The article includes (a) an inquiry-based learning framework borrowed from the College, Career, and Civic (C3) Life Framework for Social Studies Standards; (b) National Council for the Social Studies (NCSS) standards; and (c) a lesson plan/unit structured within The Inquiry Design Model (IDM) Blueprint™. The lesson plan/unit is teaching-ready. All resources are prepared and ready for teachers and students, including some suggestions for useful, current digital tools. Ultimately, the lesson aims to reach educators who aspire to facilitate students’ conceptual understanding of human dignity and question the effects of discrimination.

Black Critical Patriotism: An Inquiry for Social Justice

Black Critical Patriotism: An Inquiry for Social Justice Terrance Lewis (bio) Ahmaud Arbery, COVID-19, George Floyd, Black Lives Matter protests, Breonna Taylor, and the election of President Joseph Biden. [1] These pivotal events and others from 2020 revealed much about societal norms and conditions currently existing within the United States of America, which many consider to be post-racial. While many of those events affected all communities in negative ways, no community felt it worse than those who have been historically excluded from fully benefiting from the rights and privileges guaranteed to all citizens born or naturalized in America. [2] To add to that, I believe many of the events from 2020 not only revealed but exacerbated the unfair societal conditions already facing members of historically excluded communities, leaving many questioning the validity of America’s claim to be a post-racial society. I find it impossible to consider America a post-racial society without questioning the existence and impact of dominant power structures stemming from one of the darkest moments in American history, the period of enslavement. Those power structures, in my opinion, continue to be dominated by race, gender, and class. Furthermore, research and the recent racial injustices occurring in 2020 suggest historically excluded communities within the United States do not have equal experiences with the same political systems promising equal opportunity for all. [3] Unfortunately, this reality is not isolated, and has continued to occur since the arrival of diverse groups in America. Therefore, the time has come for America to speak honestly regarding the negative ramifications of enslavement currently existing within society. In complete honesty, this will be easier said than done, especially given the current amount of polarization in American society. [4] A quick view of social media platforms will show the difficulty of engaging in simple civil discourse regarding [End Page 19] anything considered controversial or political.[5] However, I believe civil discourse and open discussion are the first steps in dismantling the dominant power structure in America and making America a more equitable country for its entire citizenry. While every entity and everyone has a role to play, schools are uniquely positioned to play a major role achieving this goal. Given the diversity of perspectives present in most schools, they are gold mines for teaching students how to civilly discuss, engage, and respond to those with whom they might differ. This type of instruction will be critical in achieving and sustaining worthwhile change beneficial to everyone living in American society. Furthermore, a proper and effective social studies education requires such instruction. According to the National Council for the Social Studies (NCSS) Position Statement, a powerful social studies education prepares students to be productive citizens, requires students to “confront multiple dilemmas,” and “encourages students to speculate, think critically, and make personal and civic decisions on information from multiple perspectives.” [6] It goes on to say powerful social studies should be value-based and include multiple points of view. While I agree with all these assertions, I believe an effective social studies education goes a step further by equipping students with tools to challenge and ultimately change dominant power structures they deem unjust or unfair. Critical pedagogy, social justice pedagogy, and abolitionist teaching include the major components associated with this form of teaching. [7] Therefore, any conversation examining the impact of dominant power structures must occur through a lens of social justice where all perspectives are included, heard, and respected. I believe that this will lead to the creation of a more equitable society. While the results of this practice are promising, this must be a collaborative effort. Although much of the conversation surrounding the teaching of civil discourse occurs within the field of social studies education, it needs to be included across all content areas. All content areas present opportunities for students to engage and discuss with others who have differing experiences and perspectives. Given these opportunities, social studies classes must take the lead in modeling and implementing this work. Nevertheless, research suggests many students are not engaging in active or critical learning requiring them to consider multiple perspectives, debate, or engage in discussion, which are all skills needed for productive civil discourse...

Stuck in a box: Elementary teacher education students’ perspectives of the impact of edTPA on social studies instruction

The purpose of this study is to ascertain perspectives from pre-service and in-service elementary teachers on whether edTPA impacted their preparedness to teach social studies. Major findings show that while study participants found some benefits from edTPA for preparing to teach social studies, pre-service and in-service elementary teachers face significant challenges including time constraints, marginalized emphasis on teaching social studies, facilitating conversations about current events and contemporary issues, and accessing relevant professional development that can support their teaching of content-specific topics with inquiry-based pedagogies such as the National Council for the Social Studies (2013) College, Career, and Civic Life Framework. Recommendations for future studies include examining how partnerships between colleges of education, school districts, and local educational agencies can support pre-service and in-service elementary teachers’ ambitious social studies teaching by focusing on content that highlights contributions of underrepresented historical figures and events, implementing curriculum that promotes inquiry skills, and applying knowledge of the contexts in which they teach to meet the diverse needs of students.

Examining the Cold War in the 1980s with Comic Books

The role of literacy in social studies education has been greatly elevated over the last decade. The National Council for the Social Studies (NCSS) models through the indicators of its C3 Framework how to strengthen K-12 students’ disciplinary thinking, literacy, and argumentation skills in the four core social studies disciplines: civics, history, geography, and economics. One resource that social studies teachers can use to address the indicators within the C3 Framework is comic books. Comic books employ both visual and textual modalities to convey meaning, through text boxes, people’s facial expressions, and imagery to capture the author’s arguments. The various modes of communication utilized in comic books allow students to construct meaning. In this article, we discuss how to use two comic books, Batman: Ten Nights of the Beast, and Suicide Squad: Trial by Fire, to teach about the Cold War in the 1980s. We start by giving a brief historical overview of the Cold War in the 1980s. Then, the focus of the article shifts to provide an examination of the potential benefits of utilizing comic books. This section also discusses how popular culture reflects the issues, values, and beliefs of an historical era. Two activities are given that scaffold how high school social studies teachers can employ these comic books to analyze important components of the Cold War in the 1980s. The steps and resources needed to implement our activities are provided.

A Limited Portrayal: Depictions of the American Civil Rights Movement in Award-Winning Children’s Picture Books

This article explores depictions of the American Civil Rights Movement in award-winning children’s picture books published between 2010 and 2018. Specifically, we focused on 25 books chosen by the American Library Association (ALA) and the National Council for the Social Studies (NCSS) for inclusion on their yearly book lists. We included books about events or figures of the long Civil Rights Movement as well as notable African-American “firsts” or famous cultural figures whose experiences with racial discrimination and/or engagement with activism during this time period were depicted. Using qualitative content analysis, we explored the extent to which books expanded or limited six common and inaccurate narratives of the movement. Ultimately, we found that the majority of award-winning books we analyzed present a limited portrayal of the Civil Rights Movement, often depicting racism as confined solely to the South, failing to depict sexism against women within the movement, reducing the demands of the movement to solely desegregation, and presenting heroes of the movement rather than collectives. While we see many of these books as limiting, we close with suggestions for using these texts in ways that can expand students’ understandings of the Civil Rights Movement.

So tall within: sojourner truth’s long walk to freedom

Purpose The purpose of this paper is to support teachers in utilizing the 2019 National Council for the Social Studies (NCSS) Notable Tradebook, “Sojourner Truth’s Long Walk to Freedom” (Schmidt, 2018). The authors found this book to be useful, beautiful and well-written but with several complex and dense literary aspects. Thus, this lesson offers supports for students in decoding similes and metaphors within “juicy sentences” (Fenner and Snyder, 2017, p. 131). These tools are especially important for English language learners’ (ELLs) unlocking the meaning of a book. Through this lesson, learners are supported in understanding Schmidt’s “So Tall Within” retelling the life of an extraordinary citizen, Sojourner Truth, who worked for the enforcement of emancipation promised in the 13th amendment. Design/methodology/approach In this lesson, students learn to recognize similes and metaphors in texts as a tool to decode a text’s meaning. In the beginning of the lesson, students listen to a rap about Sojourner Truth’s life to initially recognize in-text similes and metaphors. Then, students apply this new skill to unlock the meaning of metaphors and similes in the “So Tall Within” book to better understand the author’s message about Sojourner’s life. Last, students each make an illustrated and written postcard to Sojourner Truth called “Walking Tall Postcards” with their given metaphor or simile and add reflections on how they do or can “walk tall.” Finally, students chronologically re-construct the postcard statements and create a class book called, “Postcards of Walking Tall.” Findings Students, especially ELLs, must be given supports to unlock the meaning of dense texts (Fenner and Snyder, 2017). To promote equity in the classroom, the lesson was created to make this text more understandable for all learners. Originality/value Like many NCSS Tradebooks that are beautiful in illustrations and lyrical prose, this book requires supports for young learners to decode and understand. This lesson plan scaffolds students’ understanding, especially ELLs’ understanding, of simile and metaphor as a tool to unlock a text’s meaning toward increased historical understanding of Sojourner’s life. Understanding the legacy of Sojourner Truth is evermore important to teach today – she was a woman empowered with knowledge of the law to recognize human rights violations and act on behalf of others.

NCSS notable trade book lesson plan Before She Was Harriet

Purpose The purpose of this paper is to allow students to explore the accomplishments of Harriet Tubman at various stages of her life through a guided research investigation. Students will be able to identify Harriet Tubman as a human hero by creating biographical story boards to display first in the classroom and later moved to a local cultural museum. The lesson plan is based on the trade book Before She Was Harriet. This short biography of Harriet Tubman is written in a free verse style to introduce young readers to the several roles she held throughout her impressive life span. Design/methodology/approach Social constructivist principles are integrated throughout the lesson; that is, meaningful interactions with peers and the teacher influence student learning. Students participate in a scaffolded research project with the support of teacher modeling and graphic organizers. They expand their knowledge by creating an original interdisciplinary project, a story board biography. Throughout all phases of the learning experience, students engage in critical thinking and challenging activities that include drawing connections among ideas, evaluating group work, arguing positions and applying research skills. Additionally, a variety of resources, including technology, are incorporated to promote active student engagement. Findings This is a National Council for the Social Studies (NCSS) Notable Tradebook Lesson Plan. Originality/value Young learners need the opportunity to engage in scaffolded research activities in a social studies classroom. This innovative instructional plan provides PreK-3 teachers a guide to introducing students to Harriet Tubman by reading aloud Before She Was Harriet, a 2018 Notable Trade book, and allowing students to gather a deep understanding of this historical figure through guided research over the course of two to three sessions.

Secondary teacher candidates’ experiences teaching about religion within a history curriculum

PurposeThe National Council for the Social Studies (2014, 2017) has called for increased attention to religion in social studies curriculum. A small but growing body of research has examined the preparation of social studies teacher candidates to teach about world religions, but critical questions remain. The purpose of this paper is to explore the question: what is the experience of the secondary social studies teacher candidate as he/she teaches about religion in a high school, world history course?Design/methodology/approachThis study employed a phenomenological approach to examine the experiences of six teacher candidates as they endeavored to teach about world religions through a two-semester, intensive internship.FindingsFindings, drawn from individual interviews with the candidates, suggest that their efforts to teach about religion were marked by fears, worries and concerns. Additionally, candidates understood their personal religious identities and experiences as significant influences on their experience teaching about religion. Finally, candidates experienced several features of their internship as key supports in their efforts to teach about religion.Originality/valueThis paper concludes with a series of recommendations for strengthening the preparation of social studies teacher candidates to teach about religion in public school settings.

Inquiry By the Book: Using Children’s Nonfiction as Mentor Texts for Inquiry

Across grade levels, teachers and students are encouraged to engage in inquiry-based practices. The College, Career, and Civic Life (C3) Framework (National Council for the Social Studies, 2013) and the Common Core State Standards (Council of Chief State School Officers and the National Governors Association, 2010), as well as recent state-level standards documents, provide guidelines for inquiry; but there are varying degrees of experience and comfort with the inquiry process. One – often untapped – way to build understanding and comfort with inquiry, notably the C3 Inquiry Arc, is through the use of mentor texts. In this article, I describe the inquiry process in Ain’t Nothing But a Man: My Quest to Find the Real John Henry (2008) by Scott Reynolds Nelson with Marc Aronson, which the authors make transparent throughout the text.

Elementary classroom libraries and social studies trade books

PurposeStandards and policy changes in K-12 education have created the unintended consequence of reducing instructional time spent on social studies content. This limited time devoted to social studies presumably has led to more integrated social studies and literacy instruction. The purpose of this paper is to document the types of high-quality social studies children’s books found in classroom libraries across five states.Design/methodology/approachIn the present mixed methods study, the researchers utilized a database of 60 classroom libraries across five states to identify which high-quality trade books, defined by the National Council for the Social Studies, were present. The researchers document trends in both frequencies of books and social studies content across decades, classrooms, grade levels and states from 1972 to 2015.FindingsThe findings indicate that National Council for the Social Studies (NCSS) Notable Trade Books for Young People texts are largely missing from the elementary classroom libraries the researchers sampled. Of the 5,544 unique titles included on the NCSS lists from 1972 to 2015, 453 were located in the US classroom libraries database, representing 8.17 percent of books found on the notable lists.Originality/valueBefore teachers can take steps toward integrating social studies and literacy, they need easy access to high-quality social studies texts. Many high-quality trade books are recommended each year for exposing students to social studies content; however, the researchers found limited numbers of these books in classroom libraries. The researchers recommend the lists be circulated to a wider audience to inform more teachers about these texts.

African Americans and the Vote: Echoes From the Past

4 | BLACK HISTORY BULLETIN VOL. 82, NO 2 82 No.2 LA VONNE I. NEAL, Ph.D., Professor Emerita and Retired Associate Vice President, Administration and Finance, Northern Illinois University; Email: lneal1@niu.edu ALICIA L. MOORE, Ph.D., holds the Cargill Endowed Professorship in Education at Southwestern University, Georgetown, Texas; Email: moorea@southwestern.edu FOREWORD AFRICAN AMERICANS AND THE VOTE: ECHOES FROM THE PAST By: Alicia L. Moore and La Vonne I. Neal “I believe unconditionally in the ability of people to respond when they are told the truth. We need to be taught to study rather than believe, to inquire rather than to affirm.” —Septima Poinsette Clark The theme for this Black History Bulletin issue is “African Americans and the Vote.” We begin this issue with a powerful introduction—”Looking Back, Reaching Forward: African Americans and the Vote,” written by guest editor Dr. Conra D. Gist, Associate Professor of Teaching and Teacher Education in the College of Education at the University of Houston. She sets the stage for the authors—educators, lawyers, and activists such as Michelle Duster, great-granddaughter of Ida B. Wells, and Gary Bledsoe, president of the Texas NAACP, who illuminate current Black voter suppression laws that echo the laws of the past and the collaborative networks used then and now to defeat them. Additionally, in the spirit of Septima Clark, the authors have developed culturally responsive lesson plans that feature inquiry and critical thinking skills by incorporating the College, Career, and Civic Life (C3) Framework for Social Studies State Standards, described below: What binds purpose, preparation, and practice together in this document is the College, Career, and Civic Life (C3) Framework for Social Studies State Standards, released in 2013 (NCSS, 2013). The C3 Framework is a set of interlocking and mutually reinforcing dimensions of practice that focus on the intersection of inquiry, ideas, and learners. As a collaborative effort that began in 2010, the C3 Framework was built on the following shared principles: (1) social studies prepares the nation’s young people for college, careers, and civic life; (2) inquiry is at the heart of social studies; (3) social studies involves interdisciplinary applications; (4) social studies is composed of deep and enduring understandings, concepts, and skills from the disciplines; and (5) social studies emphasizes skills and practices for democratic decision-making. The four dimensions of the Inquiry Arc in the C3 Framework center on the use of questions to spark curiosity, guide instruction, and deepen investigations, and ideas in real-world settings in order to become active and engaged citizens in the twenty-first century. As the statement on what meaningful and powerful social studies instruction ought to look like, the C3 Framework served for the 2016 committee as the milestone for the kinds of knowledge, skills, and dispositions social studies teacher preparation programs are required to cultivate. Each standard outlined in this document is framed by the ethos of the C3 Framework—to enhance the rigor of social studies education by building the critical thinking, problem solving, and participatory skills that enable students to become informed citizens.1 Notes: National Council for the Social Studies, National Standards for the Preparation of Social Studies Teachers, January 1, 2018, available from https://www.socialstudies.org/standards/teacherstandards, 8. ...

Martin’s Big Words: The Life of Dr Martin Luther King, Jr Lesson

PurposeMartin’s Big Words: The Life of Dr Martin Luther King, Jr is a timeless book well-known among K-6 teachers, students, librarians and book-lovers throughout the USA. This multi-award winning picture book provides readers with insight into Dr Martin Luther King Jr’s life and the oppression and progress of African Americans before and during an era known as the modern US Civil Rights Movement (CRM). The biography outlines the period’s equity issues, and serves as a springboard for this upper elementary lesson. While Dr King played an iconic role, there were many other individuals involved in the CRM, most of whom students do not know. The purpose of this paper is to offer varying perspectives related to lesser known CRM leaders, protesters, advocates, perpetrators and bystanders.Design/methodology/approachTechnology is incorporated through online research, videos and productions; thus, students actively engage in making connections to various individuals’ points of view, those both supportive and oppositional. Students conduct research while responding to higher-order, critical-thinking questions regarding groups and forces of the CRM. Then, they expand knowledge through jigsaw research activities by collecting information, responding to inquiry questions and presenting relevant evidence-based information about CRM contributors, perpetrators and bystanders.FindingsThis is a National Council for the Social Studies (NCSS) Notable Tradebook Lesson Plan.Originality/valueThis is a NCSS Notable Tradebook Lesson Plan.

Shooting at the Stars: the Christmas Truce of 1914 NCSS Lesson Plan

Purpose The purpose of this paper is to explore a true World War One event, the Christmas Truce of 1914. The paper is inspired by the National Council for the Social Studies (NCSS) award winning book, Shooting at the Stars: The Christmas Truce of 1914 by John Hendrix, which narrates the truce through a fictitious letter from a British soldier. On Christmas Eve, German soldiers on the western front line, specifically near the Belgium border, ceased fire and invited British soldiers to celebrate Christmas. Descriptions of events derive from oral histories and photos collected from actual soldiers who experienced this unusual historic event. Design/methodology/approach This lesson engages students in inquiry centers focused on events, location, soldiers, remembrance, and primary sources to answer the question: Why did the First World War Christmas Truce of 1914 occur? Practical implications World War One (AKA the First World War and The Great War) classroom history studies typically focus on tragic components of, what many call, a needless war. Many lessons examine military technologies, political power struggles, horrors of trench warfare, disease and casualties. In essence, “World War I saw unprecedented levels of carnage and destruction. By the time the war was over and the Allied Powers claimed victory, more than 16 million people – soldiers and civilians alike – were dead” (history.com Staff, 2009). This lesson reveals a spontaneous, impactful, emotionally charged event occurring during the worst of times. The Christmas Truce of 1914 moves students from thinking about the ravages of war into thinking deeply about what it truly means to be enemies, friends or even to mend relationships. Who are soldiers – what do they feel, need, believe and miss? During the truce, the longing for peace and human interaction superseded political ideologies, for a while. This lesson starts with students participating in a class discussion to uncover prior knowledge of the famous event. Students examine their real-life feelings regarding personal truces, answer guiding questions while rotating through classroom research centers, and collectively create a generalized response to answer the compelling question: Why did the First World War Truce of 1914 occur? Students will apply their understandings of the event, location, and feelings associated with the truce by taking a soldier’s persona and writing a letter home. Illustrations and maps further engage students’ creativity. Social implications This true story about the Christmas Truce of 1914 reminds us that countries may have differing ideologies and political beliefs which cause conflicts, yet people, as individuals, find commonalities making them seek peaceful connections with one another. Originality/value “The soldiers of 1914 remind us of the choice we all can make: we can see others as humans who matter like we matter – even when they’re our enemies. They also show us what can happen when we make that choice: enemies can become friends and, at least for a moment, there is peace” (Arbinger Institute, 2017, Section 3). This quote embodies the lesson’s value, because it brings understanding to a personal level – soldiers on the field. First World War soldiers were typically powerless. For instance, as many as 250,000 boys under the age of 18 served in the British army during the First World War. Patriotic fervor, escape from poor conditions or hopes for adventure were motives for joining. Birth certificates were uncommon; war recruiters received money for each sign-on, so boys as young as 14 went to war. In this lesson, students examine First World War background information; analyze the truce’s events, geography, soldiers and memorials. Students are immersed in large numbers of resources including videos, music, photographs, maps, books, articles, newspapers, historians’ perspectives, oral histories, museum archives and the First World War soldiers’ original letters that help reveal the story and help students understand underlying feelings of soldiers and their families.

An analysis of the presentation of Sikhism in social studies textbooks

PurposeThe increase of Islamophobia-inspired hate crimes toward Sikh Americans led the Sikh Coalition of America and the National Council for the Social Studies to request social studies educators to conduct a content analysis on the presentation of Sikhism in social studies textbooks. The Sikh Coalition hopes to use the findings of such research to encourage more appropriate inclusion about the religion in textbooks by the leading publishing companies and as a legitimate social studies subject of instruction in the state standards for all 50 states. The paper aims to discuss this issue.Design/methodology/approachThe incorporation of critical pedagogy, as a tool of critical multiculturalism, serves as the theoretical design of this study. Content analysis serves as the method of research for this study. The authors also employed an online survey to determine the scope of religious literacy of the pre-service teachers with regard to Sikhism before the conducting of content analysis of social studies textbooks for the presentation of Sikhism.FindingsThe current presentation of Sikhism in social studies textbooks has the potential to help fuel the Islamophobia that Sikh Americans now face. The authors found that the pre-service teachers possess little religious literacy regarding Sikhism. Furthermore, from the content analyses, the authors found that a total of 21 out of the sample of 32 textbooks (5 elementary, 11 middle grades and 16 high school) mention Sikhism. Eight textbooks include a mention of the origins of Sikhism. Nine textbooks misidentify the religion as a blending of Hinduism and Islam. Nine textbooks mention the religion in relation to the assassination of Indira Gandhi.Research limitations/implicationsThe originality of this research led the authors to find that the very limited and inaccurate information we found present in the most-used textbooks for elementary, middle grades and high school social studies made the employing of inferential statistics like correlation difficult. Also, the authors found from the literature that research addressing Islamophobia in the classroom has centered on the role of licensed teachers only. The research gives a model to how pre-service teachers may address Islamophobia in the classroom and also gain religious literacy regarding Sikhism.Practical implicationsThe rise of Islamophobia-inspired violence toward students of South Asian descent has led to the call to address this matter. The research introduces a method to how social studies education professors may help engage their pre-service teachers in proactively addressing Islamophobia. Social studies professors have a responsibility to help promote social justice through critical pedagogy that explores the religious literacy of their pre-service teachers beyond Buddhism, Christianity, Hinduism, Islam and Judaism.Social implicationsThe Sikh Coalition, by telephone, has formally acknowledged to the authors that the textbook research has been the most extensive they have received since making their joint request with the National Council for the Social Studies. They have used the research to successfully convince the state education boards of Texas and recently Tennessee to adopt the inclusion of Sikhism in social studies content. More Americans, at a young age, need to learn about Sikh culture, so they are less likely to develop prejudicial ideas about Sikh Americans and commit violent acts of religious-based discrimination.Originality/valueThe research is extremely rare. To date, no one else in the country has conducted research on the presentation of Sikhism in textbooks to the extent that the authors have. The authors hope that the research will encourage more dialogue and further research. The authors hope that the research will help prevent further acts of religious-based violence toward followers of the world’s sixth largest religion.

An elementary social studies teacher׳s quest to develop democratic citizens: The boundaries of ambitious teaching

Developing informed and participatory citizens is one of the aims of the National Council for the Social Studies’ (NCSS) vision of civic education. However, when aspiring to meet the call for meaningful civic education, teachers may find themselves at odds with other goals of accountability-driven school environments, creating contexts in which ambitious teaching becomes the answer to instilling democratic citizenship in students. The purpose of this study is to document the experience of such an ambitious teacher, chronicling a fifth-grade teacher׳s quest for ensuring her students’ access to civic education in an urban, highly-structured, and accountability-based school environment. Through describing her teaching philosophy, instructional strategies, and experience with administration hampering her ability to promote civic education, a pattern of ambitious social studies teaching commensurate with existing literature is supported and questioned.

Mountain Chef: How One Man Lost His Groceries, Changed His Plans…

PurposeThe purpose of this paper (i.e. Mountain Chef: How One Man Lost His Groceries, Changed His Plans, and Helped Cook Up the National Park Service; Pimentel, 2016) is to detail a camping trip during which Tie Sing, a Chef, worked with Stephen Mather, a millionaire concerned about conserving national resources, to convince a group of influential Americans to create a National Park Service.Design/methodology/approachThis lesson plan, based in the National Council for the Social Studies (NCSS) C3 Framework, encourages third grade students to investigate the geography of the camping area in what is now Sequoia National Park. Students also analyze and determine whether or not the National Park Service is a good idea. Students move through four stages of inquiry in the C3 Framework as guided by their teacher.FindingsDuring Dimension 1, students determine the types of sources that will help them answer the inquiry questions. Next in Dimension 2, students are engaged in a read-aloud of Mountain Chef while learning how to gather information from the text and record evidence in an I-Chart through teacher modeling (Hoffman, 1992). Students use a text set in Dimension 3 to gather evidence in response to inquiry questions. The lesson concludes in Dimension 4 with students using research evidence to create a WPA-like poster of the camping area and students communicating ideas via social media.Practical implicationsThink-aloud – “Students who are exposed to think-aloud outperform their peers who do not receive the same instruction on measures of reading comprehension” (Ness, 2018). The teacher implements the think-aloud strategy within Dimension 2 of the lesson plan. Think-aloud is a metacognitive strategy that requires a teacher to verbalize thinking processes to scaffold students to perform a learning task on his or her own later. The portions of text that were selected for think-aloud were identified as “juicy stopping points,” points that may pose a challenge for students, or points where there were comprehension opportunities related to inquiry questions. Teachers may adjust this lesson to increase or decrease scaffolding through think-aloud at their professional discretion.Originality/valueMountain Chef was selected as the 2017 winner of the Carter Woodson Book Award in the Elementary category. This lesson plan was presented at the NCSS 2017 annual conference at the Carter Woodson and Notable Tradebooks: Engaging Early Grade Lesson Plans session.

Social Studies Skills or Something Else? An Analysis of How the “Essential Social Studies Skills and Strategies” Reflects Social Studies Instruction

ABSTRACTThis article describes the National Council for the Social Studies (NCSS) collection of “Essential Social Studies Skills and Strategies” in terms of common approaches to social studies teaching and learning (e.g., informed social criticism, reflective inquiry, transmission). We conducted descriptive and inferential analyses and found that these “essential skills” do not strongly align with common social studies approaches. Rather, these skills are broadly presented and open for interpretation as representative of various school disciplines, most notably language arts. This has the potential to dilute social studies teaching and learning.