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In an era of extreme political polarization, the impact of disinformation on Americans is an issue with which social studies teachers will have to contend. Equipping our students with media literacy skills is no longer a luxury, but is instead a critical component of an effective social studies education. However, it is less about strategies and resources and more about cultivating a "habit of mind" that helps students discern the presence of distortion, manipulation, and falsehood in our current political environment. This article details the role of logical tools like "Occam's Razor" which can help our students maintain an objective foothold on our political narrative.

Teachers have often relied on a dialogic style in their classrooms--utilizing dialogue and questioning techniques to develop student comprehension, probe for misunderstandings or misapprehensions, and provide "real-time" opportunities for the construction of knowledge and problem-solving. Effective teachers can use these techniques to scaffold dialogue in order to promote deeper understandings of complex problems. But the traditional functions of a dialogic classroom aren't readily available or apparent in remote environments. For professors and students during the global COVID-19 pandemic in 2020, the vibrant nature of "in person" teaching gave way to remote environments and online-only interactions. How, then, can teachers still make use of the flexibility and energy of dialogic teaching, within the confines of a Zoom portal? The purpose of this paper is to reflect on the curricular and instructional adaptations implemented by faculty at a small teaching college in the spring of 2020, which were aimed at maintaining the advantages of a dialogic style in the midst of enforced remote learning. These changes included both synchronous and asynchronous features in a variety of classes. As teacher educators across the country are preparing for the possibility of extended or renewed quarantines in the future, the adaptations described here not only provide a roadmap for departments with similar needs, but also outline the often-unexpected advantages to a remote environment. This is particularly relevant for those educators who have traditionally relied on a discursive, dialogic style, which places a premium on face-to-face interaction and an improvisatory element found in "live" teaching.

Young children's visual environments are dynamic, changing moment-by-moment as children physically and visually explore spaces and objects and interact with people around them. Head-mounted eye tracking offers a unique opportunity to capture children's dynamic egocentric views and how they allocate visual attention within those views. This protocol provides guiding principles and practical recommendations for researchers using head-mounted eye trackers in both laboratory and more naturalistic settings. Head-mounted eye tracking complements other experimental methods by enhancing opportunities for data collection in more ecologically valid contexts through increased portability and freedom of head and body movements compared to screen-based eye tracking. This protocol can also be integrated with other technologies, such as motion tracking and heart-rate monitoring, to provide a high-density multimodal dataset for examining natural behavior, learning, and development than previously possible. This paper illustrates the types of data generated from head-mounted eye tracking in a study designed to investigate visual attention in one natural context for toddlers: free-flowing toy play with a parent. Successful use of this protocol will allow researchers to collect data that can be used to answer questions not only about visual attention, but also about a broad range of other perceptual, cognitive, and social skills and their development.

Geography, as a social studies discipline, can be a powerful tool for students to explore how their social and political worlds have been built. In this sense, the discipline can be an affirmational, positive inquiry into how humans organize in and around spaces to form communities. It can also, however, be used to explore how discriminatory practices and beliefs are acted out, in the creation of physical or conceptual boundaries. The reality of racial residential segregation is, and has been, an enduring feature of American life. It has been fostered along through the use of a variety of repressive policies, laws, and practices, but possibly the most insidious characteristic of the phenomenon is how invisible it can be, both to those it benefits and those it victimizes. This article explores the origins and continuing influence of racially restrictive covenants and the practice of redlining, as well as how teachers can use modern tools to help students see its presence in their lives.

Memorials and monuments represent a society's view of its own history and the conclusions we collectively wish to draw about its meaning. In America in recent years, public clashes over the presence of contested public memorials--including and especially monuments dedicated to the Confederate cause in the United States Civil War--have led to considerable debate over the proper role for such monuments in public spaces. Such debates also provide high school teachers with a unique opportunity to explore contested history and the process of memorialization. In this article, that process is analyzed, using the nation of Germany as a comparative example of how to build a "memory culture." Various teaching methods are also discussed, including strategies for reconceptualizing memorials through a "truth and reconciliation" process.

This article focuses on ten U.S. history textbooks, all in common use across the nation. This study adopts a historical narrative analysis, which aims to determine the manner in which textbook narratives may promote "de facto national mandates." This method allows for the comparison of textbook narratives to historical works, looking for alternative interpretations, omissions, distortions, and the presence of historical "myth." It is important with this approach to incorporate relevant and substantial historiography in order to mitigate the inherent subjectivity of this methodology. With that in mind, the author relies on including James McPherson's "Battle Cry of Freedom" (1988), Christopher Olsen's "The American Civil War: A Hands-On History" (2006), and David Williams' "A People's History of the Civil War" (2005). Primarily, the focus of this analysis is on how wars start: What do textbooks say about the beginning of the Civil War? Why did the attack at Fort Sumter happen? And was it sufficient provocation to begin the bloodiest war in U.S. history?

The personal experiences and values of individual teachers can tend to restrict the ability to promote a "global perspective" in the social studies, the subject area most suited to that concept. One antidote to this instructional myopia is the prospect of overseas travel, in the form of study tours, the type of which have been shown to have a great impact in this area (Wilson, 1982, 1983, 1993a, 1993b; Germain, 1998; Kirkwood, 2002). This article is a reflection on the findings of a two week study tour of Germany in 2013, sponsored by the Transatlantic Outreach Program and the Goethe-Institut. During this tour, I was able to visit German schools, corporations, museums, , and to meet German educators. In this article, the value of such experiences to promote a global perspective, essential to global education, is examined--additionally, I analyze the impact that the German sozial approach might have on American educational decisions.

Film depictions of the Holocaust have become a ubiquitous part of social studies education, as many states have mandated Holocaust or genocide curricula in recent years; however, the quality of such curricula varies greatly, as does the level of teacher preparation for Holocaust-based instruction. Given the increase in mandates and the lack of more rigorous content knowledge expertise, many teachers turn to films, such as "The Boy in the Striped Pajamas," to represent, for students, the horrors of the Holocaust. The film, however, is deeply problematic in several ways--historical inaccuracy, questions of agency and gender, and an overarching message that represents a potentially dangerous interpretation of responsibility for the greatest crime in human history. This article explores the failings of "The Boy in the Striped Pajamas" and proposes strategies that teachers may use to mitigate the film's shortcoming and to provide for a valuable learning experience for students.

The 2001 Authorization for Use of Military Force (AUMF) has become the basis for nearly every operation against international terrorism since its passage, in the days after the September 11th terrorist attacks. In particular, one 60-word passage has become foundational, both legally and philosophically, to America's "war on terror." An understanding of this document and its impact on modern foreign/military policy is essential for today's students. This article describes the origin of the Authorization for Use of Military Force, its ongoing impact, and strategies for teachers to use in class.

Social studies teachers have an obligation to help students grapple with and thoughtfully examine controversial issues, often in a contemporary context. One such issue is the U.S. use of unmanned aerial vehicles, generally known as drones. Whether for surveillance purposes or military missions, the use of drones by the U.S. government has preceded the development of clearly articulated policy guidelines. This article examines the use of drones in U.S. policy, the argument for and against their deployment, and the manner in which social studies educators may effectively teach their students about such a complex, challenging topic. Toward that end, the article also advocates for the use of an ethical and analytical framework, the "just war" doctrine, which can assist students in critiquing how drones are used, under what conditions, and the social impact that may entail.

The visual arts and media historically employed by teachers as a corollary to "traditional" social education can play a more vital role in promoting critical inquiry among students. The use of short films like "The Flying Man" (2013), a 2013 motion picture which depicts an almost mythic vigilante in a realistic world, can help educators highlight relevant contemporary issues and support an active, constructivist role for student critique. This article describes the role of visual media, the applications of visual art pedagogy, and the potential of works like "The Flying Man" to foster critical inquiry in a nontraditional manner.

Today, a third of American children regularly use computer tablets, while over 40% use smartphones and 53% regularly use laptops in their home. While this is encouraging there is still considerable debate about the shape and direction technology should take in school, particularly online education making it necessary for educators to change in their beliefs about pedagogy and learning. In this article, the author, visualizes himself from three perspectives regarding online education, that of "student," "teacher," and "professor." From the perspective of "student:" online education has been a staple of many universities in American education since at least the 18th century. The advantages of this setting were clear as students had the capacity to interact with their professor in a manner that was absent from traditional online experiences. Similarly, the instructor could solicit answers to problems posed, and could respond directly and immediately to feedback or questions. From the perspective of "teacher:" as technology filtered into schools, teachers began to integrate it into their planning and instruction. The chalkboard was traded in for an interactive Smart Board, and a projector bolted to the ceiling supplanted the TV/VCR cart. It became apparent that most teachers were relying on the Internet for information gathering, for planning, or for basic research purposes for students. Today, nearly every teacher has his/her own website that connect students with resources outside of their classroom or school. From the perspective of "professor:" no matter how adept one may be at integrating an online component to a given class, there is always the possibility that "we acquire a new set of skills, as technology changes require. The experience in online education world, from an instructor's perspective, acknowledges they must become familiar with the virtues and drawbacks of this instructional approach.

The emphasis on technology in preservice teacher education has become more important with the introduction of new standards from the Council for the Accreditation of Educator Preparation (2013). Despite continual efforts by teacher education programs, many social studies classroom teachers still do not effectively integrate technology into their instruction. This article considers the nature of teachers' resistance to such integration, as well as the state of technology in classrooms today, in light of the new national standards. Additionally, this article addresses how teacher education programs may more effectively prepare preservice social studies teachers to use technology in the classroom by examining one university program.

In the age of accountability, there is increased pressure to deliver high-quality education in a limited time period is greater than ever before. Teachers are often left to struggle with issue of determining what knowledge is necessary, and to what depth it may be explored in the classroom. There is a need for strategies to both incorporate the best forms of historical knowledge and to cope with the increased demands on our teachers. The purpose of this article is to examine the idea of what constitutes "historical knowledge," the issues of breadth and depth, and to suggest strategies for history teachers on how to deal with the challenge of finding the "right" balance between breadth and depth in their history courses.