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Social Studies in Elementary Education, 16th edition

Published by Pearson (December 29, 2020) © 2021

  • Terence A. Beck University of Puget Sound
  • Walter C. Parker University of Washington, Seattle

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For courses in elementary social studies methods (K to 8).

A wealth of content, strategies, tools, and resources for teaching K to 8 social studies

Social Studies in Elementary Education presents the elements of a strong social studies curriculum in elementary and middle schools. It explains effective teaching methods including a wealth of field-tested examples, exercises and activities. It presents critically important ideas and complex methods in a clear, straightforward manner. Beginning and new teachers will develop the knowledge needed to unleash their creativity.

The 16th Edition emphasizes the inquiry-based College, Career, and Civic Life (C3) Framework throughout the book.

Hallmark features of this title

  • An emphasis on the connection between literacy/literature and social studies highlights the ways literacy and social studies instruction are best taught in relation to one another.
  • Issues and Challenges sections raise issues that social studies teachers tend to find challenging, offering thought-provoking ideas for classroom discussion.
  • Diversity content is infused throughout the book, to help educators both teach diverse students and teach about diversity.
  • 20 lesson plans that model active social studies instruction provide examples of how a teacher might prepare to teach and differentiate.
  • Standards coverage includes the Common Core State Standards (CCSS), the standards developed by the National Council for the Social Studies (NCSS) and more.

New and updated features of this title

  • NEW: A new integrated unit plan, "Pollinators, Plants, and People," that illustrates how teachers might fuse science and social studies content that is driven by compelling and supporting questions, active and engaging tasks, and relevant, up-to-date sources.
  • NEW: 3 learning segments (Lesson Plans 16, 17, and 18) that illustrate how questions, tasks and sources work together to help students master critical skills and rigorous big ideas.
  • NEW: A discussion about the difficulties of talking about race (Chapter 2, "White Discomfort and Race in the Classroom").
  • NEW: Advice on teaching about the institution of slavery in the United States (Chapter 12, "Teaching about Slavery and Enslaved People").
  • NEW: Children's literature suggestions relevant to the topic being discussed are now presented in easy-to-reference tables. A new media literacy segment helps teachers clarify the goals of media literacy and explore Online Civic Reasoning.

The LMS-Compatible Assessment Bank streamlines assessments and grading

  • NEW: Learning outcome quizzes, application exercises and automatically graded chapter tests can be assigned from a packaged file. Questions give students feedback and model responses based on their answers.

Part 1: Introduction to Social Studies Education

  1. Social Studies Education: Why and What
  2. Teaching in Diverse Classrooms

Part 2: The Social Studies Curriculum

  1. Civics and Democratic Citizenship Education
  2. Civics: Current Events and Public Issues
  3. Economics, Anthropology and Sociology
  4. Geography
  5. History

Part 3: Planning and Teaching Social Studies

  1. Assessing Student Learning
  2. Planning Units, Lessons, and Activities
  3. Five Great Teaching Strategies
  4. The Literacy-Social Studies Connection
  5. Social Studies as the Integrating Core
  6. Finding, Evaluating, and Using Great Resources

About our authors

Terence Beck is Distinguished Professor in the School of Education at the University of Puget Sound in Tacoma, Washington. He works with aspiring K to 12 teachers in the areas of social studies and literacy education. He also teaches classes focused on issues of education and social justice. Terence was the 2018 recipient of his university's top teaching award, The President's Excellence in Teaching Award. Terence is particularly interested in classroom conversations that engage diverse students in thinking about and exploring big and often controversial ideas and has published widely in these areas. Prior to moving to the University of Puget Sound, Terence taught in elementary and middle schools for 11 years before serving 9 years as an elementary school principal.

Walter Parker is Professor Emeritus of Social Studies Education and Political Science at the University of Washington, Seattle. He studies K to 12 social studies education and, in particular, the civic development of youth. He is especially interested in the ways civic education, multicultural education and global education overlap. His other books include Teaching Democracy: Unity and Diversity in Public Life (2003) and Social Studies Today: Research & Practice (2015). Walter was born and raised in Englewood, Colorado, on Denver's south side and taught social studies for 10 years in Adams County on Denver's north side.

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