Pull-out from Social Studies and the Young Learner. Includes list of children's books about elections.   

An earlier article (by W. Toledo and others) in Social Studies and the Young Learner examined how young students engaged with locally-relevant civics curriculum focused on civic perspective-taking, a process wherein students examine multiple perspectives on public issues and form their own stances on these issues using fact-based reasons with a consideration for the public good. Here, the authors present additional key skills in civic thinking and important strategies for teachers hoping to engage young students in civic perspective-taking.

A number of education theorists propose that promoting civic engagement in classrooms is essential to supporting children in learning how to participate in shaping decisions that affect their lives. Müge Olğun Baytaş and Stephanie Schroeder examine civic education with younger students and note that early childhood and elementary educators can take a leading role in fostering civic engagement and agency with even the youngest of children. The authors share an approach where children’s literature can be used to introduce young children to the concept of citizenship as active civic and…

Pre-service teachers in a social studies methods course designed to address issues of inequity and privilege, engaged elementary students in a ten-week inquiry project. Based on this project, this article shares insights about the processes involved in enacting justice-focused pedagogy.

Sports can be a unique platform to teach third-grade students about women’s history and civic values. This lesson addresses two social studies practices for the third grade in the New York State K-8 Social Studies Framework (Gathering, Interpreting, and Using Evidence; and Chronological Reasoning and Causation) and three themes from the National Curriculum Standards for Social Studies (TIME, CONTINUITY, AND CHANGE; PEOPLE, PLACES, AND ENVIRONMENTS; and INDIVIDUAL DEVELOPMENT AND IDENTITY).

A troubling observation is that—outside of Black History Month in February and Women’s History Month in March, during which students are acquiring some knowledge about noteworthy women and minorities—teachers in every grade level often teach about the same figures rather than expanding their lessons to include less-conventional or less-well-known individuals. To address these gender equity gaps related to social studies instruction, the authors established “Little Leaders,” a group consisting of pre-kindergarten and kindergarten girls.

The abilities to listen reflectively and speak respectfully con- cerning another person’s opinion, as well as to think critically about that opinion and one’s own, are essential to a functioning democracy. The teaching and learning of these abilities is well incorporated into the social studies and English language arts standards that are used to inform state and local curricular guidelines throughout most of the United States. This article describes a method of teaching civic discussion and offers a step-by-step guide for classroom implementation. It then provides an illustration of how this…

Teaching about the civil rights movement in the elementary grades has, in many schools, focused exclusively on the lives of Martin Luther King Jr. and Rosa Parks. Many students are well versed in the content of King’s “I Have A Dream” speech, and they know well that Rosa did not give up her seat on the bus. While these moments and heroes of the movement are essential in the study of this era in history, the study of more obscure and lesser known people and events is a great way to deepen our students’ understanding of the sacrifices that so many thousands of ordinary people made in the…

We live in a world that is becoming increasingly divided, particularly in the United States. In fact, people tend to interact almost exclusively with individuals who hold their shared world views and beliefs. Because of these trends, teaching students from a young age how to engage with others on issues that they may disagree about is of the utmost importance. Unfortunately, this type of social studies learning rarely happens in public schools, particularly in lower elementary school classrooms. To address this challenge, we formed a collaboration to develop a curricular intervention with…