Social Studies Research and Practice: Volume 6 Issue 2

No Child Left in Museum?

Chrystal S. Johnson, Chris McGrew

This article presents an ecologically informed approach for comprehending the nature of and perceived changes to the relationship between Indiana’s kindergarten-5 classrooms and…

Street Theatre: Critical Pedagogy for Social Studies Education

Al Karim Datoo, Zainab M. A. Chagani

This paper aims at exploring the usefulness of street theatre as critical pedagogy in teaching of social studies education. It gives a brief background of street-theatre and its…

Promoting Educational Reform through Teaching about Hurricane Katrina

Margaret S. Crocco, Ching-Fu Lan, Hui Soo Chae, Gary Natriello

This paper deals with two types of educational reform related to teaching and learning the traditional school subject of social studies. First, we consider the importance of…

Students’ Original Political Cartoons as Teaching and Learning Tools

John H. Bickford III

A meta-analysis of educators’ uses of political cartoons suggests they are mostly used for teaching interpretation skills and then usually only with gifted and older students…

The Persona Doll Project: Promoting Diversity Awareness Among Preservice Teachers Through Storytelling

Mary Ellin Logue, SooJoung Kim

The Persona Doll Project describes an experiential intervention with undergraduate preservice teachers designed to increase awareness about diversity and apply this awareness to…

Picture Book Biographies: Fostering Active Student Involvement in Women’s History Month

Kay A. Chick

This article features the achievements of women through four picture book biographies, all of which are National Council for the Social Studies Notable Trade Books for 2011. These…

Mary Sheldon Barnes: An Educator’s Life in Historical Context

Chara Haeussler Bohan, James A. Chisholm

The challenge of writing a historical biography is interesting from several perspectives. The writer primarily seeks to provide a clear picture of the subject without imposing…

Leveraging the Affordances of Educational Blogs to Teach Low-Achieving Students United States History

Meghan McGlinn Manfra, John K. Lee

In this qualitative case study we explored the experiences of low- achieving students responding to an educational blog. Our intention was to leverage the unique affordances of…

Monkey Business: Teaching the Scopes Evolution Trial

Eric Groce, Tina L. Heafner, Katherine A. O’Connor

The Scopes Monkey Trial is a landmark court case in American history and has often been referred to as “The Trial of the Century.” It provides a curricular platform for…

Notable Trade Book Lesson Plan Through Time London: From Roman Capital To Olympic City Written by Richard Platt

Ashley G. Lucas

Through Time London: From Roman Capital to Olympic City is essentially a picture book that explores how the city of London has changed over time. This lesson plan provides an…

Trying to Revalue Elementary Social Studies: Dilemmas and Insights

Marilynne Boyle-Baise, Ming-Chu Hsu, Shaun Johnson, Stephanie C. Serriere, Dorshell Stewart

In 2007, the authors conducted a case study of 13 teachers across seven elementary schools. We learned that, due to pressures of the No Child Left Behind Act (NCLB, 2002) and…