Takes a clear stance: Social studies is about citizenship education that is informed, deliberative, and activist―citizenship not only as a noun, something one studies, but as a verb, something one DOES. Its holistic, multicultural approach is based on this clear curricular and pedagogical purpose. Straightforward, engaging, and highly interactive, the book encourages students (and their teachers) to become informed, think it through, and take action. Each chapter is written as a civic engagement which is teacher-ready for use in elementary classrooms.

Presenting U.S. history as contested interpretations of compelling problems, this text offers a clear set of principles and strategies, together with case studies and "Mystery Packets" of documentary materials from key periods in American history. Structured to encourage new attitudes toward history as hands-on inquiry, conflicting interpretation, and myriad uncertainties, the whole point is to create a user-friendly way of teaching history "as it really is" ─ with all its problems, issues, unknowns, and value clashes. 

Offering a philosophy, methodology, and examples for history instruction that are active, imaginative, and provocative, this text presents a fully developed pedagogy based on problem-solving methods that promote reasoning and judgment and restore a sense of imagination and participation to classroom learning. Designed to draw readers into the detective process that characterizes the work of professional historians and social scientists - sharing raw data, defining terms, building interpretations, and testing competing theories. 

An antidote to rapidly growing pressures for quick and easy teacher results, and constant evaluations. Employ creative ideas to resist teaching to the (usually factual) test, and to the many choking rules, standards, cores, and state regulations that strangle motivation and destroy experimentation.  Excellent as part of any ‘methods’ course as the text or a supplement. Offers ideas and techniques to meet and EXCEED current standards for instruction and provide a sense of Ethics in Education. Suitable for workshops that seek to spark discussion of professional development.