Democratic Education for Social Studies
Democratic Education for Social Studies

Author: Anna S. Ochoa-Becker

Publisher: IAP

Published: 2006-12-01

Total Pages: 362

ISBN-13: 1607525836

DOWNLOAD EBOOK

In the first edition of this book published in 1988, Shirley Engle and I offered a broader and more democratic curriculum as an alternative to the persistent back-to-the-basics rhetoric of the ‘70s and ‘80s. This curriculum urged attention to democratic practices and curricula in the school if we wanted to improve the quality of citizen participation and strengthen this democracy. School practices during that period reflected a much lower priority for social studies. Fewer social studies offerings, fewer credits required for graduation and in many cases, the job descriptions of social studies curriculum coordinators were transformed by changing their roles to general curriculum consultants. The mentality that prevailed in the nation’s schools was “back to the basics” and the basics never included or even considered the importance of heightening the education of citizens. We certainly agree that citizens must be able to read, write and calculate but these abilities are not sufficient for effective citizenship in a democracy. This version of the original work appears at a time when young citizens, teachers and schools find themselves deluged by a proliferation of curriculum standards and concomitant mandatory testing. In the ‘90s, virtually all subject areas including United States history, geography, economic and civics developed curriculum standards, many funded by the federal government. Subsequently, the National Council for the Social Studies issued the Social Studies Curriculum Standards that received no federal support. Accountability, captured in the No Child Left Behind Act passed by Congress, has become a powerful, political imperative that has a substantial and disturbing influence on the curriculum, teaching and learning in the first decade of the 21st century.

Teaching and Studying Social Issues
Teaching and Studying Social Issues

Author: Samuel Totten

Publisher: IAP

Published: 2011-01-01

Total Pages: 389

ISBN-13: 161735046X

DOWNLOAD EBOOK

Teaching and Studying Social Issues: Major Programs and Approaches focuses on many of the major innovations developed over the past 100 years by noted educators to assist students in the study and analysis of key social issues that impact their lives and society. This book complements earlier books that address other aspects of studying and addressing social issues in the secondary classroom: Researching and Teaching Social Issues: The Personal Stories and Pedagogical Efforts of Professors of Education (Lexington, Books, 2006); Addressing Social Issues in the Classroom and Beyond: The Pedagogical Efforts of Pioneers in the Field (Information Age Publishing, 2007); and Social Issues and Service at the Middle Level (Information Age Publishers, 2009). The current book ranges in scope from Harold Rugg’s pioneering effort to develop textbooks that purposely addressed key social issues (and thus provided teachers and students with a major tool with which to examine social issues in the classroom) to the relatively new efforts over the last 20 to 30 years, including global education, environmental education, Science/Technology/Society (STS), and genocide education. This book provides the readers with details about the innovators their innovations so they can (1) learn from past efforts, particularly in regard to what worked and didn’t work and why, (2) glean new ideas, methods and approaches for use in their own classrooms, and (3) craft new methods and approaches based on the strengths of past innovations.

The New Social Studies
The New Social Studies

Author: Barbara Slater Stern

Publisher: IAP

Published: 2009-11-01

Total Pages: 522

ISBN-13: 1617352853

DOWNLOAD EBOOK

This volume, The New Social Studies: People, Projects and Perspectives is not an attempt to be the comprehensive book on the era. Given the sheer number of projects that task would be impossible. However, the current lack of knowledge about the politics, people and projects of the NSS is unfortunate as it often appears that new scholars are reinventing the wheel due to their lack of knowledge about the history of the social studies field. The goal of this book then, is to sample the projects and individuals involved with the New Social Studies (NSS) in an attempt to provide an understanding of what came before and to suggest guidance to those concerned with social studies reform in the future—especially in light of the standardization of curriculum and assessment currently underway in many states. The authors who contributed to this project were recruited with several goals in mind including a broad range of ages, interests and experiences with the NSS from participants during the NSS era through new, young scholars who had never heard much about the NSS. As many of the authors remind us in their chapters, much has been written, of the failure of the NSS. However, in every chapter of this book, the authors also point out the remnants of the projects that remain.

Education for Democracy
Education for Democracy

Author: Steven P. Camicia

Publisher: IAP

Published: 2021-01-01

Total Pages: 131

ISBN-13: 1648023142

DOWNLOAD EBOOK

This book presents a vision of education for democracy built around promoting equity and social justice. In doing so, Camicia and Knowles challenge many of the common perspectives of democratic education, deliberation, and the common good. The authors have published widely on the topic of education for democracy. This book builds upon their work to assist practicing teachers, teacher educators, graduate students, and educational researchers in understanding the background of education for democracy, as well as new directions for the field. While one of the primary goals of public schools is to teach students how to build better communities, this goal is increasingly difficult given the degree of political polarization within societies. Recent events provide no shortage of challenges to democracy in the United States and beyond. Utilizing theory and research, Camicia and Knowles promote instructional methods that are responsive to changing cultural and political contexts. There is an increasing need to rethink democratic principles and how these principles might be supported in classrooms in order to teach for social justice. This requires a move away from often stated idealistic notions of deliberative democracy, toward a perspective of education for democracy that incorporates aspects of identity, interests, and inequitable power relations within society.

Addressing Social Issues in the Classroom and Beyond
Addressing Social Issues in the Classroom and Beyond

Author: Samuel Totten

Publisher: IAP

Published: 2007-01-01

Total Pages: 366

ISBN-13: 1607527995

DOWNLOAD EBOOK

Addressing Social Issues in the Classroom and Beyond: The Pedagogical Efforts of Pioneers in the Field is comprised of essays that delineate the genesis and evolution of the thought and work of pioneers in the field of social issues and education. The authors (many of whom, themselves, are noted professors of education and who have done significant work in the field of social issues and education) delineate and analyze the efforts (e.g., theoretical work, research, curriculum development, and teaching) of such pioneers within the larger framework of their life-story. As a result, the reader is not only introduced to the significant work of each pioneer but valuable and often fascinating insights into how his/her life experiences informed his/her thinking, beliefs, goals and work. This book constitutes a rich and unusual record of the thinking and accomplishments of those luminaries who worked tirelessly in the belief that a well-educated and well-informed populace was absolutely imperative in a democracy if the latter were to remain healthy and vibrant. Beyond current scholars and students, we believe that this book will be of great interest to a wide spectrum of individuals: teacher educators who perceive the need to avail their students of the rich history, rationales and methods for incorporating the study of social issues across the curriculum; professors who teach history of curriculum courses and/or history of education courses are likely to be drawn to the book, both for the rich stories as well as the bounty of information found in each chapter; those who specialize in autobiographical studies in the field of education are likely to find the book to be remarkably rich and valuable both for their own research as well as in their teaching; secondary level teachers in science, social studies, and English who are interested in incorporating the study of social issues into the courses they teach will glean incredibly rich insights into why and how to go about such an endeavor; and future scholars and students who care deeply about how society impacts education, education impacts society, and how individuals and groups can have a positive impact on society through their collective efforts are bound to find the book both fascinating and instructive.

Democratic Social Education
Democratic Social Education

Author: David W. Hursh

Publisher: Routledge

Published: 2014-03-05

Total Pages: 282

ISBN-13: 1135711410

DOWNLOAD EBOOK

In 1932 George Counts, in his speech "Dare the School Build a New Social Order?" explicitly challenged teachers to develop a democratic, socialistic society. In Democratic Social Education: Social Studies for Social Change Drs. Hursh and Ross take seriously the question of what social studies educators can do to help build a democratic society in the face of current antidemocratic impulses of greed, individualism and intolerance. The essays in this book respond to Counts' question in theoretical analyses of education and society, historical analyses of efforts since Counts' challenge, and practical analyses of classroom pedagogy and school organization. This volume provides researchers and teacher educators with ideas and descriptions of practice that challenge the taken-for-granted meanings of democracy, citizenship, culture, work, indoctrination, evaluation, standards and curriculum within the purposes of social education.