Full Description
Teaching controversial social issues can be a daunting, and oftentimes terrifying, prospect for social studies teachers. In many ways, this fear is warranted given the politically polarized nature of American society in the 21st century. However, effective social studies instruction requires that students begin to grapple with difficult issues in tolerant ways. The chapters in this book, many of which are written by leading scholars within the field of social studies education, cover a range of 21st century social issues, including politically volatile issues such as gun control, marriage equality, the Black Lives Matter movement, and immigration. This book offers both a theoretical justification for engaging students with controversial social issues and practical suggestions for how to successfully implement discussions of these types of issues in K-12 classroom settings.
Contents
Foreword
Cinthia Salinas
Introduction: Teaching Social Issues in the Social Studies Classroom
Wayne Journell
Chapter 1: Every Issue is a Social Studies Issue: Strategies for Rich Discussion in the Upper
Elementary Classroom
Andrea S. Libresco and Jeannette Balantic
Chapter 2: Preparing Young Adults for Polarized America
Paula McAvoy
Chapter 3: Teaching Immigration as a Social Issue in 21st Century Social Studies Classrooms
Jeremy Hilburn and Ashley Taylor Jaffee
Chapter 4: (Mis)perceptions of Arabs and Arab Americans: How Can Social Studies Teachers
Disrupt the Stereotypes?
Paul J. Yoder, Aaron P. Johnson, and Fares J. Karam
Chapter 5: The Imperative to Teach Marriage Equality in the Social Studies Classroom: A
History, Rationale, and Classroom Practice for a More Inclusive Democracy
J.B. Mayo, Jr.
Chapter 6: #Black Lives Matter as Critical Patriotism
LaGarrett J. King, Chezare A. Warren, Mariah Bender, and Shakealia Y. Finley
Chapter 7: Teaching the Gun Control Debate in an Era of Mass Shootings
Bonnie L. Bittman and William B. Russell III
Chapter 8: Big Data, Surveillance, and the Unprecedented Conditions of Citizenship
H. James Garrett
Chapter 9: Digital Citizenship: Social Media Discourses within Social Studies
Eric D. Moffa, Carolyn J. Brejwo, and Robert A. Waterson
Chapter 10: Financial Literacy in the Wake of the Great Recession
Thomas A. Lucey, Mary Frances Agnello, and James D. Laney
About the Contributors
