This volume fills a significant gap in the scholarship on social studies education by providing thoughtful reflections on research methods in the field. It is not a "how to" guide but an exploration of key issues related to the design and implementation of empirical studies. The authors are active researchers who use varied methods in diverse settings-including historical research, international comparative studies, survey research, interviews with students and teachers, classroom observations, self-studies and action research, and emancipatory methodologies. They use their own experiences to examine such topics as the conceptualization of research questions, relationships with participants, researchers' identities, and elicitation of students' and teachers' thinking. This collection should become indispensable for both beginning and experienced scholars in social studies.

-Focuses specifically on curriculum development and provides a principled approach for addressing the needs of those involved in developing curriculum-teachers, schools, foundations, non-profits, and government agencies. -Emphasizes the knowledge component of the curriculum, rather than skills, competencies, or interpersonal interactions, which have been the subject of most recent work in social and civic education (e.g., historical inquiry, discussion skills, social and emotional learning, etc.). -Grounded in contemporary and international scholarship from political theory, cognitive science, and other areas.

-Focuses specifically on curriculum development and provides a principled approach for addressing the needs of those involved in developing curriculum-teachers, schools, foundations, non-profits, and government agencies. -Emphasizes the knowledge component of the curriculum, rather than skills, competencies, or interpersonal interactions, which have been the subject of most recent work in social and civic education (e.g., historical inquiry, discussion skills, social and emotional learning, etc.). -Grounded in contemporary and international scholarship from political theory, cognitive science, and other areas.

This is the only book to feature extensive descriptions and analysis of elementary students engaged in historical inquiry. It is also thoroughly grounded in contemporary theory and research on teaching and learning, and it reflects detailed applications of principles of historical research and interpretation, as well as the role of the subject in preparing students for democratic civic participation Updates to this new edition include: Expanded coverage of teaching about topics involving conflict and oppression, including enslavement and the dispossession of Native lands. Inclusion of principles for historical perspective-taking activities that reflect historical agency and avoid reenactment of trauma and oppression. Updated explanation of methods for engaging students in deliberative discussions, reflecting changing public and political climates and recent research on teaching controversial issues. Expanded guidance for finding children's literature that addresses a variety of historical topics and reflects a range of perspectives and experiences. Updated overview of principles of teaching and learning, along with incorporation of recent theory and research on teaching and learning history.

Dilemmas surrounding the role for religious beliefs and experiences permeate the school lives of teachers and teacher educators. Inspired by the need for teachers and students to more fully understand such dilemmas, this book examines the relationship between religion and teaching/learning in a democratic society. Written for pre-service and in-service teachers, it will engage readers in thinking about how their own religious backgrounds affect their teaching; how students' religious backgrounds influence their learning; how common experiences of school and classroom life privilege some religions at the expense of others; and how students can better understand diverse religious beliefs and interact with people from other backgrounds. The focus is specifically on classroom issues related to religious understandings and experiences of teachers and students, and the implications of those for developing democratic citizens. Grounded in both research and personal experience, each chapter provides thought-provoking evidence related to the role of religion in schools and society and asks readers to consider the consequences of varied ways of responding to the dilemmas posed.

This is the only book to feature extensive descriptions and analysis of elementary students engaged in historical inquiry. It is also thoroughly grounded in contemporary theory and research on teaching and learning, and it reflects detailed applications of principles of historical research and interpretation, as well as the role of the subject in preparing students for democratic civic participation Updates to this new edition include: Expanded coverage of teaching about topics involving conflict and oppression, including enslavement and the dispossession of Native lands. Inclusion of principles for historical perspective-taking activities that reflect historical agency and avoid reenactment of trauma and oppression. Updated explanation of methods for engaging students in deliberative discussions, reflecting changing public and political climates and recent research on teaching controversial issues. Expanded guidance for finding children's literature that addresses a variety of historical topics and reflects a range of perspectives and experiences. Updated overview of principles of teaching and learning, along with incorporation of recent theory and research on teaching and learning history.

"The authors' research is well known and among the most important American works being done on how children learn history. It is thus a great idea to gather this pivotal research in one place. The volume offers a new perspective through the authors' reflections on the research process. It is profound without pomposity, ideal for the intended audience; the tone is just right. There really isn't another book that does what this one does."

Stephen J. Thornton, University of South Florida

Researching History Education combines a selection of Linda Levstik's and Keith Barton's previous work on teaching and learning history with their reflections on the process of research. These studies address students' ideas about time, evidence, significance, and agency, as well as classroom contexts of history education and broader social influences on students' and teacher's thinking. These pieces-widely cited in history and social studies education and typically required reading for students in the area-were chosen to illustrate major themes in the authors' own work and trends in recent research on history education. In a series of new chapters written especially for this volume, the authors introduce and reflect on their empirical studies and address three issues suggested in the title of the volume: theory, method, and context.

Although research on children's and adolescents' historical understanding has been the most active area of scholarship in social studies in recent years, as yet there is little in-depth attention to research methodologies or to the perspectives on children, history, and historical thinking that these methodologies represent. This book fills that need. The authors' hope is that it will help scholars draw from the existing body of literature in order to participate in more meaningful conversations about the teaching and learning of history.

Researching History Education provides a needed resource for novice and experienced researchers and will be especially useful in research methodology courses, both in social studies and more generally, because of its emphasis on techniques for interviewing children, the impact of theory on research, and the importance of cross-cultural comparisons.

"The authors' research is well known and among the most important American works being done on how children learn history. It is thus a great idea to gather this pivotal research in one place. The volume offers a new perspective through the authors' reflections on the research process. It is profound without pomposity, ideal for the intended audience; the tone is just right. There really isn't another book that does what this one does."

Stephen J. Thornton, University of South Florida

Researching History Education combines a selection of Linda Levstik's and Keith Barton's previous work on teaching and learning history with their reflections on the process of research. These studies address students' ideas about time, evidence, significance, and agency, as well as classroom contexts of history education and broader social influences on students' and teacher's thinking. These pieces-widely cited in history and social studies education and typically required reading for students in the area-were chosen to illustrate major themes in the authors' own work and trends in recent research on history education. In a series of new chapters written especially for this volume, the authors introduce and reflect on their empirical studies and address three issues suggested in the title of the volume: theory, method, and context.

Although research on children's and adolescents' historical understanding has been the most active area of scholarship in social studies in recent years, as yet there is little in-depth attention to research methodologies or to the perspectives on children, history, and historical thinking that these methodologies represent. This book fills that need. The authors' hope is that it will help scholars draw from the existing body of literature in order to participate in more meaningful conversations about the teaching and learning of history.

Researching History Education provides a needed resource for novice and experienced researchers and will be especially useful in research methodology courses, both in social studies and more generally, because of its emphasis on techniques for interviewing children, the impact of theory on research, and the importance of cross-cultural comparisons.

In Teaching History for the Common Good, Barton and Levstik present a clear overview of competing ideas among educators, historians, politicians, and the public about the nature and purpose of teaching history, and they evaluate these debates in light of current research on students' historical thinking. In many cases, disagreements about what should be taught to the nation's children and how it should be presented reflect fundamental differences that will not easily be resolved. A central premise of this book, though, is that systematic theory and research can play an important role in such debates by providing evidence of how students think, how their ideas interact with the information they encounter both in school and out, and how these ideas differ across contexts. Such evidence is needed as an alternative to the untested assumptions that plague so many discussions of history education. The authors review research on students' historical thinking and set it in the theoretical context of mediated action--an approach that calls attention to the concrete actions that people undertake, the human agents responsible for such actions, the cultural tools that aid and constrain them, their purposes, and their social contexts. They explain how this theory allows educators to address the breadth of practices, settings, purposes, and tools that influence students' developing understanding of the past, as well as how it provides an alternative to the academic discipline of history as a way of making decisions about teaching and learning the subject in schools. Beyond simply describing the factors that influence students' thinking, Barton and Levstik evaluate their implications for historical understanding and civic engagement. They base these evaluations not on the disciplinary study of history, but on the purpose of social education--preparing students for participation in a pluralist democracy. Their ultimate concern is how history can help citizens engage in collaboration toward the common good. In Teaching History for the Common Good, Barton and Levstik: *discuss the contribution of theory and research, explain the theory of mediated action and how it guides their analysis, and describe research on children's (and adults') knowledge of and interest in history; *lay out a vision of pluralist, participatory democracy and its relationship to the humanistic study of history as a basis for evaluating the perspectives on the past that influence students' learning; *explore four principal "stances" toward history (identification, analysis, moral response, and exhibition), review research on the extent to which children and adolescents understand and accept each of these, and examine how the stances might contribute to--or detract from--participation in a pluralist democracy; *address six of the principal "tools" of history (narrative structure, stories of individual achievement and motivation, national narratives, inquiry, empathy as perspective-taking, and empathy as caring); and *review research and conventional wisdom on teachers' knowledge and practice, and argue that for teachers to embrace investigative, multi-perspectival approaches to history they need more than knowledge of content and pedagogy, they need a guiding purpose that can be fulfilled only by these approaches--and preparation for participatory democracy provides such purpose. Teaching History for the Common Good is essential reading for history and social studies professionals, researchers, teacher educators, and students, as well as for policymakers, parents, and members of the general public who are interested in history education or in students' thinking and learning about the subject.

Dilemmas surrounding the role for religious beliefs and experiences permeate the school lives of teachers and teacher educators. Inspired by the need for teachers and students to more fully understand such dilemmas, this book examines the relationship between religion and teaching/learning in a democratic society. Written for pre-service and in-service teachers, it will engage readers in thinking about how their own religious backgrounds affect their teaching; how students' religious backgrounds influence their learning; how common experiences of school and classroom life privilege some religions at the expense of others; and how students can better understand diverse religious beliefs and interact with people from other backgrounds. The focus is specifically on classroom issues related to religious understandings and experiences of teachers and students, and the implications of those for developing democratic citizens. Grounded in both research and personal experience, each chapter provides thought-provoking evidence related to the role of religion in schools and society and asks readers to consider the consequences of varied ways of responding to the dilemmas posed.

In Teaching History for the Common Good, Barton and Levstik present a clear overview of competing ideas among educators, historians, politicians, and the public about the nature and purpose of teaching history, and they evaluate these debates in light of current research on students' historical thinking. In many cases, disagreements about what should be taught to the nation's children and how it should be presented reflect fundamental differences that will not easily be resolved. A central premise of this book, though, is that systematic theory and research can play an important role in such debates by providing evidence of how students think, how their ideas interact with the information they encounter both in school and out, and how these ideas differ across contexts. Such evidence is needed as an alternative to the untested assumptions that plague so many discussions of history education. The authors review research on students' historical thinking and set it in the theoretical context of mediated action--an approach that calls attention to the concrete actions that people undertake, the human agents responsible for such actions, the cultural tools that aid and constrain them, their purposes, and their social contexts. They explain how this theory allows educators to address the breadth of practices, settings, purposes, and tools that influence students' developing understanding of the past, as well as how it provides an alternative to the academic discipline of history as a way of making decisions about teaching and learning the subject in schools. Beyond simply describing the factors that influence students' thinking, Barton and Levstik evaluate their implications for historical understanding and civic engagement. They base these evaluations not on the disciplinary study of history, but on the purpose of social education--preparing students for participation in a pluralist democracy. Their ultimate concern is how history can help citizens engage in collaboration toward the common good. In Teaching History for the Common Good, Barton and Levstik: *discuss the contribution of theory and research, explain the theory of mediated action and how it guides their analysis, and describe research on children's (and adults') knowledge of and interest in history; *lay out a vision of pluralist, participatory democracy and its relationship to the humanistic study of history as a basis for evaluating the perspectives on the past that influence students' learning; *explore four principal "stances" toward history (identification, analysis, moral response, and exhibition), review research on the extent to which children and adolescents understand and accept each of these, and examine how the stances might contribute to--or detract from--participation in a pluralist democracy; *address six of the principal "tools" of history (narrative structure, stories of individual achievement and motivation, national narratives, inquiry, empathy as perspective-taking, and empathy as caring); and *review research and conventional wisdom on teachers' knowledge and practice, and argue that for teachers to embrace investigative, multi-perspectival approaches to history they need more than knowledge of content and pedagogy, they need a guiding purpose that can be fulfilled only by these approaches--and preparation for participatory democracy provides such purpose. Teaching History for the Common Good is essential reading for history and social studies professionals, researchers, teacher educators, and students, as well as for policymakers, parents, and members of the general public who are interested in history education or in students' thinking and learning about the subject.

This volume fills a significant gap in the scholarship on social studies education by providing thoughtful reflections on research methods in the field. It is not a ""how to"" guide but an exploration of key issues related to the design and implementation of empirical studies. The authors are active researchers who use varied methods in diverse settings-including historical research, international comparative studies, survey research, interviews with students and teachers, classroom observations, self-studies and action research, and emancipatory methodologies. They use their own experiences to examine such topics as the conceptualization of research questions, relationships with participants, researchers' identities, and elicitation of students' and teachers' thinking. This collection should become indispensable for both beginning and experienced scholars in social studies.