“Why are people marching?” Given today’s level of activism, this is a plausible question many students may have. Although only some students voice the questions, it is very likely that many more have pondered why people are protesting after seeing reports of events such as the Women’s March (equality for women), March for Our Lives (about gun control), Black Lives Matter (for racial justice), Janitors March (for fair pay), and Keep Families Together (demanding the Trump administration reunite immigrant families separated at the U.S.-Mexico border). As elementary teachers, our subsequent…

This set of books offers insight into Canadian aboriginal cultures and the contributions of these groups to the fabric of the nation.

Teaching about Latin America through prose, poetry, and picture books helps bring a human dimension to the study of the region.

Two noteworthy books can help young learners grapple with significant societal issues such as poverty and homelessness and can help teachers introduce students to the vocabulary of civic action.

This ninth-grade inquiry invites students to analyze arguments about banning certain books while also asking them to consider what makes a book worth reading.  

Elementary teachers can help nurture the next generation of citizen-activists with two books that explore examples of young people engaging in civic action.

Download this free book from the website of the author, Raymond G. Wilson, Emeritus Associate Professor of Physics, Illinois Wesleyan University. Visit https://sun.iwu.edu/~rwilson/PNDclass.htmlThe book, titled Nuclear War: Hiroshima, Nagasaki and a Workable Moral Strategy for Achieving and Preserving World Peace (AuthorHouse, 2014) is a PDF, 23 MB, 256 pages. It is also available at Amazon.com in print or as an ebook. Having taught about nuclear war and peace for 55 years, Professor Wilson supplies "the best material from his course, with two specific chapters for in-class guidance."…

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…

M. Gail Hickey, ed. Reflecting on Service‐Learning in Higher Education. Lanham, MD: Lexington Books/Rowman & Littlefield, 2016. 230 pages. $80.0 cloth; 79.77 eBook.This book examines forms of pedagogy such as service‐learning, experiential learning, and problem‐based learning in order to determine how students make connections between and among abstract academic concepts and real‐life issues. This edited collection is divided into three sections—“Reflecting on Community Partnerships,” “Reflecting on Classroom Practice,” and “Reflecting on Diversity”—so as to represent interdisciplinary…

Inviting students to ponder the meaning of secure elections can launch an important discussion about public trust in election results.