A volume in Research in Curriculum and Instruction
Series Editor: O. L. Davis, Jr. The University of Texas at Austin
Teaching and Studying Social Issues: Major Programs and Approaches focuses on many of the
major innovations developed over the past 100 years by noted educators to assist students in the
study and analysis of key social issues that impact their lives and society. This book complements
earlier books that address other aspects of studying and addressing social issues in the secondary
classroom: Researching and Teaching Social Issues: The Personal Stories and Pedagogical Efforts
of Professors of Education (Lexington, Books, 2006); Addressing Social Issues in the Classroom
and Beyond: The Pedagogical Efforts of Pioneers in the Field (Information Age Publishing,
2007); and Social Issues and Service at the Middle Level (Information Age Publishers, 2009).
The current book ranges in scope from Harold Rugg's pioneering effort to develop textbooks that purposely addressed key social issues
(and thus provided teachers and students with a major tool with which to examine social issues in the classroom) to the relatively new
efforts over the last 20 to 30 years, including global education, environmental education, Science/Technology/Society (STS), and genocide
education. This book provides the readers with details about the innovators their innovations so they can (1) learn from past efforts,
particularly in regard to what worked and didn't work and why, (2) glean new ideas, methods and approaches for use in their own classrooms,
and (3) craft new methods and approaches based on the strengths of past innovations.