Exploring the ways that various forms of patriotism (authoritarian, democratic, and critical) are represented in popular music can launch a stimulating classroom lesson on the meaning of patriotism across history.  

Debating controversial issues such as whether voter ID laws safeguard or suppress democracy helps students evolve as informed and active citizens.

To cultivate engaged citizens, we should ensure that students have real-world opportunities to develop, practice, and apply civic skills.

Students can develop their abilities to analyze complex topics when they evaluate primary sources such as the excerpted documents in this article.

Students will learn about the uses of data for research, planning, and policymaking when they review the census from 100 years ago and gather contemporary information about their own households.

William W. WilenWith the right combination of sensitivity and knowhow, teachers can involve reticent students successfully in classroom discussions.57

In this article, the author describes one way to teach about religion in elementary school social studies using the C3 Framework IDM model. The compelling question that guides the lesson focuses specifically on whether Judaism is a race, religion, or ethnicity. Each compelling and supporting question in the lesson is connected to one or more picture books that complicate student understandings of what it means to be Jewish. Students use these texts to develop answers to the questions. Throughout the lesson, students are asked to engage in formative performance tasks, but teachers are also…

Young children’s self-identification and self-identity are essentially a set of conscious and unconscious beliefs built from experiences.2 Students’ self-image, and their understanding of society, can change when they research how women contributed to our nation and to our daily lives. Such lessons can render these historical figures accessible and relevant. We created a lesson based on inquiry activities as described in the College, Career, and Civic Life (C3) Framework for Social Studies State Standards, introducing students to a compelling question: “Why do we celebrate Women’s History…

While some racial and ethnic groups share similarities, it’s important to disaggregate our teaching so that overlooked communities such as Southeast Asians can be properly represented.

Pauli Murray was an activist, legal scholar, author, and she was also queer. Her impact on the civil rights and women’s rights movements cannot be overstated. The authors present the reader with the potential for elementary teachers to disrupt and “unmute” curricular silencing by shifting focus to Pauli Murray’s story and work in the civil rights movement.  In this C3 inquiry, students explore ways Pauli “pushed for the promise” of America, revealing a more diverse citizenry within the social studies curriculum.