International children’s picture books provide windows and mirrors for children and allow them to consider issues of fairness, justice, equity, diversity, and the common good as they build their nascent citizenship skills.

The National Council for the Social Studies and the Children’s Book Council are pleased to present this year’s selection of outstanding books for teaching primary, intermediate, and high school social studies.

This year’s award winners include books that spotlight African American trailblazers (Sojourner Truth), barrier breakers (the all-black Attucks high school basketball team), and a book created in collaboration with contemporary teenage immigrants.

Social studies narratives that portray individuals as either heroes or villains not only stifle students’ feelings of civic agency, but they minimize the role of community in creating social change  

A high school history teacher describes her experience on a humanitarian mission in Ukraine and offers a lesson plan for teaching about the war and the experiences of refugees.

Investigating heritage symbols in the classroom can ignite constructive discussions on the kinds of values a statue communicated at the time of its creation.

Encouraging students to investigate competing perspectives on societal issues helps them deepen the skills of working through disagreements.

Even before the first U.S. death from the mysterious, new coronavirus, Dr. Kizzmekia S. Corbett and Dr. Barney Graham were in a race against the clock. In 2020, they were research team members at the National Institutes of Health’s (NIH’s) Vaccine Research Center in Bethesda, Maryland.

As young children engage in their play and daily activities, they show a natural interest in the world around them. Early childhood educators may capitalize on these interests and carefully plan a variety of experiences with social studies in mind, cultivating and extending young children’s diverse skills and abilities to form and voice opinions, identify and solve problems, negotiate roles, perceive diversity and inequality, and recognize the consequences of their decisions and behaviors on others. Social studies is a vital part of the early childhood curriculum, since children’s formative…

Teaching media literacy helps students interpret media messages accurately and supports their informed civic participation.