Essentials of Middle and Secondary Social Studies

Building on the success of the previous editions, Essentials of Middle and Secondary Social Studies Third Edition focuses on the key issues central to the teaching of middle and high school social studies, including lesson planning and instructional strategies. Written in an engaging, conversational style, the text encourages teachers in their development as professionals and enables them to effectively use creative and active learning strategies in the everyday classroom.

New to This Edition

This third edition has been refined with new and relevant topics and strategies needed for effectively teaching middle and high school social studies. New features include:

• An expanded chapter on the decision-making process in secondary social studies. This chapter provides additional discussion about the importance of helping middle and high school learners better understand the decision-making process and offers strategies for helping teachers make connections between choices, values, character development, and social justice
• An updated chapter on technology designed to better prepare secondary social studies teachers to effectively incorporate technology into their instruction. Focus is given to virtual teaching and learning, media literacy, teaching with film, and numerous other ways to improve teaching and learning in the digital age
• Updated further readings and helpful resources for all chapters to include supplemental digital and video sources related to various topics throughout the chapter. These resources were specifically curated to be impactful for preservice and in-service teachers, as well as anyone teaching secondary social studies methods courses
• Added a "Checking for Understanding" section of questions at the end of each chapter that focuses on comprehension, application, and reflection on key concepts throughout the chapters
• An expanded discussion of the Common Core Standards and C3 Framework and how it impacts teachers
• An updated chapter titled "Experiencing Social Studies". This chapter focus on topics such as teaching with drama, role play, field trips, and service learning
• Each chapter includes a "Helpful Resources" section that details various websites and online resources for further discovery

William B. Russell III is Professor of Social Science Education at The University of Central Florida.

Stewart Waters is Associate Professor of Social Science Education at The University of Tennessee, Knoxville.