In this article, the author offers teaching resources and insights from a two-week unit taught with in an eighth grade U.S. history class that deconstructed the boundaries between public and private by investigating the evolution of American household labor and tools.

Through collaboration and involvement, we can meet the five critical challenges facing social studies educators today.

—Ilene R. Berson and Michael J. BersonProperly managed blogs can serve as useful learning tools; however, teachers working with blogs in the classroom must provide guidelines for the safe and appropriate use of this medium.130

The featured letter from a nine-year-old boy to JFK will highlight the need to promote physical fitness in our schools, and can ignite class discussions of issues such as federalism, Title IX, and the overall health of Americans.

Students’ investigation into the 1961 Supreme Court case that addressed desegregation efforts in New York can be a springboard into research into the desegregated status of their own local schools

Two accounts of Ruth Bader Ginsburg, published in the last two years and named as Notable Social Studies Trade Books for Young Readers, are welcome additions to biography shelves in school classrooms and libraries. Both books reviewed here, Ruth Bader Ginsburg: The Case of R. B. G. vs. Inequality and I Dissent: Ruth Bader Ginsburg Makes Her Mark, are inspirational and tell a story that is both typical and exceptional–the striving of the children of immigrants and their conviction that the law could be an instrument of societal change.

A close look at the contemporary role of social media in social justice struggles can prompt an engaging class discussion about tactics for social change—from the 1963 Civil Rights March to the 2017 Women’s March.

Reforming our tax laws poses enormous political challenges today, but a good start would be to teach students about the inequities in the U.S. tax system.