Social Education

--Arlene L. Gardner and John Chambers
By applying conflict resolution strategies to such events as the Mexican-American War, students grapple with difficult historical disputes, learn mediation and negotiation skills, and gain a deeper understanding of the costs, complexities, and consequences of conflict.

• http://publications.socialstudies.org/se/6505/650505.html

--Keith C. Barton
Elementary teachers can use historical photographs in the classroom to engage young students in authentic historical inquiry. Students’ critical skills develop beyond mere observation as they consider what life was like when the photographs were taken.

• http://publications.socialstudies.org/se/6505/650503.html

--Robert L. Stevens
Even as the Western frontier was disappearing in the 1880s, Eastern illustrator Frederic Remington was conjuring up an image of it that found wide popularity among the urban public. More myth than reality, Remington’s works helped to obscure the real nature of the struggle between white settlers and American Indians over land in the West.   --> read more »

--Gary Fertig   --> read more »

--James H. Landman
This article revisits the historic two-hundred-year-old verdict that affirmed the Supreme Court’s right to review, and overturn, congressional or executive acts it deems unconstitutional.

• http://publications.socialstudies.org/se/6607/6607400.pdf

—Lee Ann Potter
A newly launched project highlights one hundred landmark documents—such as the United States Constitution, Thomas Edison’s electric lamp patent, and the canceled check for Alaska—that have influenced the course of U.S. history. Here’s how to integrate these documents into classroom instruction.

• http://publications.socialstudies.org/se/6607/6607390.pdf

--Toni Fuss Kirkwood-Tucker and Janet E. Benton
The authors explore using literature to teach controversial topics—like the Vietnam War—from a global perspective.

• http://publications.socialstudies.org/se/6606/660606.shtml

--Karen Needles and Lee Ann Potter
Slave trader Nathaniel Gordon was found guilty of illegally transporting African slaves in 1861. A trail of documents recounts the legal battle waged by his supporters to try and stop his execution.

• http://publications.socialstudies.org/se/6606/660601.shtml

--James H. Landman
This article compares state systems that elect judges with other systems for the appointment of judges, in the light of a recent Supreme Court decision that might lead to judicial elections becoming more political.

• http://publications.socialstudies.org/se/6605/660506.shtml

--Helen Divjak and Lee Ann Potter
German immigrants who had not yet become citizens of the United States found their world turned upside down by a presidential proclamation declaring them enemy aliens in World War One.

• http://publications.socialstudies.org/se/6605/660501.shtml