Young Citizens of the World: Teaching Elementary Social Studies Through Civic Engagement

Young Citizens of the World 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. The holistic, multicultural approach is based on this clear curricular and pedagogical purpose.

Straightforward, engaging, and highly interactive, the text lays out a three-part process for civic preparation that helps students understand their world and their place, as citizens, in it: becoming informed, thinking it through, and taking action. Six outstanding teaching strategies bring this framework to life. Social studies for young learners is treated as constructive, dramatic, deliberative, conceptual, literature-based, and inquiry-oriented.

Each chapter is written as a civic engagement. Teaching/learning projects throughout are invitations to learn through intensive, integrated, meaningful studies of special places, important people, and significant times. These civic engagements are teacher-ready for use in elementary classrooms. Readers are encouraged to rehearse the projects in their social studies education courses and then to reinterpret them for their classrooms.

Providing a powerful alternative to the Expanding Horizons social studies curriculum, Young Citizens of the World is a compelling choice for elementary social studies education courses, as well as practicing teachers who wish to enhance their social studies instruction.