Teaching Social Studies in an Age of Partisanship and Polarization

How can K–12 social studies educators address the effects of political partisanship and polarization in their classrooms?This book provides research-tested strategies for navigating today’s complex political climate. While education cannot stop the forces fueling division, it can equip young people to understand these forces and model the behaviors of informed citizens. Author Jeremy Stoddard draws on 20 years of research to offer a framework that moves beyond standard news literacy toward a deeper understanding of our media ecology.Teaching Social Studies in an Age of Partisanship and Polarization shifts the focus from merely protecting students from bad information to helping them engage with local and state policy issues. Through innovative pedagogical features—including a political communication firm simulation—students learn to analyze how media is used to influence and polarize groups. By focusing on local contexts and state issues, educators can help students develop the confidence to engage across differences and work toward understanding others as "political friends.”Key Features:Research-Based Strategies: Offers authentic pedagogy for teaching about propaganda, partisanship, and the emotional appeals of political rhetoric.Media Ecology Framework: Goes beyond basic fact-checking to help students understand the broader political information ecosystem they inhabit.Active Modeling: Provides techniques for modeling the information-seeking behaviors of informed citizens rather than just analyzing static texts.Classroom Simulation: Includes a detailed modeling simulation where students act as political communication interns to learn how media campaigns are designed and targeted.Local Engagement: Demonstrates how using local journalism and community-based issues can lower the impact of affective polarization.