The Study
This study examined cases of fifth-grade students' learning from their experiences in class as they studied U.S. history. The inquiry was facilitated by two classroom teachers and associate professors Cheryl L. Rosaen and Kathleen J. Roth of the Department of Teacher Education at Michigan State University. One of the two teachers was Corinna Hasbach, who also was a researcher in the project and a graduate student in the department. She is now an associate professor at Albion College. Instead of chronologically, the course was organized around selected events in history: colonization, westward expansion / conquest, the Civil War and the civil rights movement. Discussion was focused on the themes of: perspective, democracy, freedom, liberty, equality, justice, rights /duties, racism, prejudice, discrimination, sexism, exploitation, power and empathy. Group and individual in-depth interviews were conducted to assess students' ways of making sense of the central concepts taught in the context of the U.S. history curriculum. Ten of the 47 fifth graders enrolled in the two classes were targeted for in-depth individual interviews across the year and at the end of the year. Audio tapes, field notes and students' writings were also part of the analysis.

The Findings
Three learning themes emerged as students spoke about their understanding in social studies:

a) learning to re-think social studies and U.S. history, using the core concepts;
b) learning to take a critical stance; and
c) learning to use the core concepts in their lives.

The kinds of understandings developed by the students contrasted with the fact-oriented knowledge that students typically develop in social studies classes. By pursuing a more inclusive and multi-cultural curriculum, students were able to think about their place in the scheme of things; by seeing a historical event from a multiplicity of vantage points, learners came to better understand that event. Because the students were spoken with -- not to or about -- a learning community was created, and the traditional power relations between teachers and students were revised.

What It Means to You
This study was an attempt to open up dialogue surrounding the teaching and learning of social issues and social justice in the context of elementary social studies. If this is a concern in your school, you may want to consider some of the vexing questions that are posed by the study: What is "powerful" social studies? For whom is it powerful? For what purposes is it powerful? If your goal is to construct curriculum that inspires passionate responses to controversies and conflicts which existed throughout history and still exist today, you may want to deal directly with such risky topics as: name-calling, racism, sexism, ageism, Native Americans, religion, exploitation, discrimination, etc. and make sure that the curriculum enables both "winners" and "losers" to speak.

More Information
To learn more, review Hasbach, C., Roth, K.J., Rosaen, C.L. and Hoekwarer, E., "Powerful Social Studies: Concepts that Count?" Advances in Research and Teaching, 1995, Volume 5, pp. 245-289.

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