Powerful Social Studies for Elementary Students

Ideal whether you're a pre-service or in-service teacher, POWERFUL SOCIAL STUDIES FOR ELEMENTARY STUDENTS outlines ways to select content and teach history, geography, and social sciences meaningfully. It combines theory and research with examples from classroom practice. The fourth edition emphasizes the importance of using developmentally appropriate content and methods when helping students to develop social understanding and prepare for civic life. It also includes a solid research base, uses additional visuals to display content, provides examples of curriculum and design, and reflects principles emphasized in the new College, Career, and Civic Life Framework for Social Studies State Standards.

Table of Contents:
1. Elementary Social Studies: What Is It? What Might It Become? 2. How Can I Build a Learning Community that Supports and Engages All Children? 3. What Social Studies Planning Tools Will Help Me Teach Social Studies Powerfully? 4. What Social Studies Planning Tools Are Available? 5. How Can I Teach History Powerfully? 6. How Can I Teach Culture, Geography, Sociology, and Anthropology Powerfully? 7. How Can I Teach I Teach Economics, Civics and Government, and Psychology Powerfully? 8. How Can I Engage Students in Substantive Discourse? 9. How Can I Assess Student Learning? 10. What Strategies Can Help Me Teach Social Studies Powerfully? 11. How Can I Design, Implement, and Evaluate Instructional Activities? 12. How Can Social Studies Education Be Made More Powerful through Curricular Integration? 13. How Can Social Studies Be Extended to the World Beyond School? 14. What Is the Research Base That Informs Ideas about Powerful Social Studies Teaching?

About the Author :
Jere Brophy was a leading researcher and scholar in education. He was a University Distinguished Professor of Teacher Education at Michigan State University, where he taught from 1976 until his death in 2009. Janet Alleman is Professor Emeritus of Teacher Education at Michigan State University, where she focused on curriculum content and instruction methods as well as issues in teaching social studies. She has co-authored a host of books, including an award winning one with Jere Brophy entitled CHILDREN'S THINKING ABOUT CULTURAL UNIVERSALS. Other books co-authored with Jere Brophy and Barbara Knighton include INSIDE THE SOCIAL STUDIES CLASSROOM and A LEARNING COMMUNITY WITHIN A PRIMARY CLASSROOM. Currently, she serves as a consultant and teacher coach in K–12 schools. Anne-Lise Halvorsen is an associate professor of teacher education, specializing in social studies education, at Michigan State University. Her research and teaching interests are elementary social studies education, project-based learning, the history of education, the integration of social studies and literacy, and teacher preparation in the social studies. She is a former kindergarten teacher and a former curriculum writer for the State of Michigan.

Review :
"This book is a sine qua non compendium of relevant themes for today's social studies education and stands out as a stellar academic beverage worth sipping twice." "This text goes beyond exploration of effective social studies instruction to examine good pedagogy that transfers to other content areas. It is helpful for teachers just beginning their careers in classrooms, as well as being useful for teacher education students who are eager to step into their own social studies classrooms."