Social Studies Today: Research and Practice

Social Studies Today: Research and Practice inspires educators to think freshly and knowingly about social studies education in the early years of the twenty first century. Written by the field’s leading scholars, this collection provokes readers to consider the relationship of research and practice as they think through some of the most interesting challenges that animate social studies education today.

Contributors to this volume include luminaries like James Banks, Carole Hahn, Keith Barton, Geneva Gay, Steve Thornton, Linda Levstik, Sam Wineburg, Fred Newmann and more. Each chapter tackles a specific issue and includes discussion of topics such as teaching history, learning tolerance, assessment, globalization, children’s literature, culturally relevant pedagogy, and teaching about genocide. Walter Parker not only pulled these chapters together but also contributes two of his own---both of which are sure to be cited as key works of this era.

Accessible, compelling, and full of rich examples and illustrations, this collection showcases some of the most original thinking in the field and offers pre- and in-service teachers alike new ways to improve social studies instruction.

Walter C. Parker is Professor and Chair of Social Studies Education and (by courtesy) Professor of Political Science at the University of Washington, Seattle.