Three Lines in a Circle: The Exciting Life of the Peace Symbol by Michael G. Long; illustrated by Carlos Vélez (Louisville, KY: Flyaway Books, 2021) This picture book history of the peace symbol can help expand elementary students’ understanding of peace and introduce them to historical peace movements.  

On a blustery day in March 2021, a line of bundled-up, masked first graders walked from school to a house on the National Register of Historic Places in their south Minneapolis neighborhood. For these 23 young learners, it wasn’t just a walk. This Covid-era field trip was a culminating activity in a series of lessons, “Unearthing Histories,” that empowered the students to be historians, dig into their complex local history, and then take action to help create a more just future.

In this article, the authors discuss the possibilities and benefits of inquiry-based learning at NPS parks, historic sites, and their companion websites. They also stress that you can extend the guidance and resources that may be provided by any historic monument or park close to your school, whether it’s a part of the NPS system or not. Next, they provide steps to help you locate a monument or site that you want to study in your classroom, as well as a selection of NPS parks and monuments that they feel provide excellent, inquiry-based K-6 social studies curricula, including virtual tours…

Elementary teachers understand the importance of building a strong literacy foundation at the early grades and may feel tempted to reduce or eliminate social studies instruction in favor of additional instruction in reading and writing. As we are building skills for literacy, we recognize that background knowledge is one of the strongest indicators for success with reading comprehension. A strong social studies curriculum at the elementary level not only provides opportunities for students to apply their literacy skills to a variety of texts but is critical for building a knowledge base that…

Despite some drawbacks, such as overuse in classrooms, lack of student engagement, and historical inaccuracies, research has suggested that Hollywood movies can be an effective tool in the teaching and learning of social studies. This article describes a strategy for using film in the upper elementary classroom. The authors outline their strategy and delineate how the strategy incorporates each dimension of the NCSS C3 Framework.

Using a modified ethnographic approach, this presentation takes social studies inquiry to another level of engagement by creating opportunities for students to connect the past directly to their lives. This next level of student engagement is created by introducing the participant to the methods for using anthropological concepts within a unit of study that explores connections in culture and social changes as they occurred in the past and how these same concepts are being affected in the present. The presentation is based on the Inquiry Design Model framework by creating a subset of…

When teachers create lessons that include historical sources, it’s important to pay attention to source choice and source attribution. 

The Smithsonian Learning Lab puts the treasures of the world’s largest museum, education, and research complex within reach of teachers, parents, and students. Philippa Rappoport offers this article as a way to help students think about the past and their own recent experiences during a pandemic using the Learning Lab. 

The following articles have been selected from our three main journals for K-12 teachers: Social Education, Middle Level Learning, and Social Studies and the Young Learner. These articles are grouped by topic for easy reference. Also included are recent current event responses that address racism and call for human rights education. NCSS Current Events Responses (2020)Teaching about Race and Racism in the ClassroomThe African American Struggle for Civil RightsSlavery and Its LegacyRacism and Discrimination against Black, Indigenous, and People of ColorHuman Rights EducationMiddle Level…