Jon E. Pedersen – författare

Educating About Social Issues in the 20th and 21st Centuries: A Critical Annotated Bibliography, is comprised of critical essays accompanied by annotated bibliographies on a host of programs, models, strategies and concerns vis-à-vis teaching and learning about social issues facing society. The primary goal of the book is to provide undergraduate and graduate students in the field of education, professors of education, and teachers with a valuable resource as they engage in research and practice in relation to teaching about social issues.

In the introductory essays, authors present an overview of their respective topics (e.g., The Hunt/Metcalf Model, Science/Technology/Science, Genocide Education). In doing so, they address, among other concerns, the following: key theories, goals, objectives, and the research base. Many also provide a set of recommendations for adapting and/or strengthening a particular model, program or the study of a specific social issue. In the annotated bibliographies accompanying the essays, authors include those works that are considered classics and foundational. They also include research- and practice-oriented articles. Due to space constraints, the annotated bibliographies generally offer a mere sampling of what is available on each approach, program, model, or concern.

The book is composed of twenty two chapters and addresses an eclectic array of topics, including but not limited to the following: the history of teaching and learning about social issues; George S. Counts and social issues; propaganda analysis; Harold Rugg''s textbook program; Hunt and Metcalf''s Reflective Thinking and Social Understanding Model; Donald Oliver, James Shaver and Fred Newmann''s Public Issues Model; Massialas and Cox'' Inquiry Model; the Engle/Ochoa Decisionmaking Model; human rights education; Holocaust education; education for sustainability; economic education; global education; multicultural education; James Beane''s middle level education integrated curriculum model; Science Technology Society (STS); addressing social issues in the English classroom; genocide education; interdisciplinary approaches to incorporating social issues into the curriculum; critical pedagogy; academic freedom; and teacher education.

(orginally published by Lexington Books, A division of Rowman & Littlefield)

Researching and Teaching Social Issues: The Personal Stories and Pedagogical Efforts of Professors of Education is comprised of original personal essays in which notable teacher educators delineate the genesis and evolution of their thought and work vis-a-vis the teaching of social issues. In relating their personal stories, the authors were asked to discuss among other issues those individuals and/or scholarly works that have most influenced them and how, their own aspirations in the field, the frustrations they have faced, their perceptions of the field, their major contributions, and their current endeavors. Our goal was that each and every story be as informative, instructive, and engaging as possible. We believe that readers will be thoroughly engaged as they read the stories of these individuals—stories that are inspiring, filled with passion, and reflective in nature. We also believe that readers will gain unique pedagogical insights into the field and ample food for thought.

The individuals selected for inclusion in the book dedicated a great amount of time, thought, energy, and commitment to creating powerful and pedagogically sound ways to teach about social and/or controversial issues. Many have done so for well over forty years, and have been among the strongest advocates vis-à-vis the place social issues have in the extant curriculum and beyond.

Over the course of the past decade and a half, we, Samuel Totten and Jon E. Pedersen, have co-edited a series of books on teaching and learning about social issues. Our goal has been to build a series that would broadly represent the work that has been undertaken over the past 110 plus years related to the field of teaching and learning about social issues. As we created and added to the series (see for example: Addressing Social Issues in the Classroom and Beyond: The Pedagogical Efforts of Pioneers in the Field; Researching and Teaching Social Issues: The Personal Stories and Pedagogical Efforts of Professors of Education; Teaching and Studying Social Issues: Major Programs and Approaches), we came to the conclusion that the development of an annotated bibliography of the key works (books, chapters, articles, reports, and research) on a wide-range of issues/topics germane to teaching and learning about social issues was a logical addition to the series. In Educating About Social Issues in the 20th and 21st Centuries Volume 1: A Critical Annotated Bibliography (which was published in early 2012), the focus was on a host of programs, models, strategies and concerns vis-à-vis teaching and learning about social issues. This new book constitutes Volume Two in the series entitled Educating About Social Issues in the Twentieth and Twenty First Centuries and picks up where Volume One left off.

Included in this book are the pioneering works of the following: Boyd Bode, Alan F. Griffin, G. Gordon Hullfish, Richard Gross, Robert Yager, and James Banks. Collectively, their work on social issues spans the period between the late 1930s through the present (with James Banks and Robert Yager continuing to publish through today). As for the subjects/topics (other than pioneers of teaching about social issues) addressed in this volume, they are: Issues-Centered Approaches to Teaching Geography, Addressing Social Issues in Sociology and Anthropology Courses, Peace Studies, The Vietnam War, and LBGT.

Visual Data in Science Education builds upon previous work done by the editors to bring some definition to the meaning of visual data as it relates to education, and highlighted the breadth of types and uses of visual data across the major academic disciplines. In this book, the editors have brought this focus specifically to science education through the contributions of colleagues in the field who actively research about and engage in teaching with visual data. The book begins by examining how the brain functions with respect to processing visual data, then explores models of conceptual frameworks, which then leads into how related ideas are actuated in education settings ranging from elementary science classrooms to college environments. As a whole, this book fosters a more coherent image of the multifaceted process of science teaching and learning that is informed by current understandings of science knowledge construction, the scientific enterprise, and the millennium student as they relate to visual data.

This book is the first volume of an attempt to capture and record some of the answers to these questions—either from the pioneers themselves or from those persons who worked most closely with them. We know there are many pioneers and early trailblazers who are not included in this volume, but there are other volumes to follow. As we have posed questions, rummaged through files and oft-neglected books, and probed the memories of many individuals, we have come to realize our list of true pioneers is ever growing. There are names on the list that most of us readily recognize, and there are names of whom few of us have heard—yet who were significant in their roles as mentors or idea development and teaching. We quickly discovered that the “family tree” showing connections between these people is not a neat, clean simple branching tree, but is more like spaghetti. The connections are many, are intertwined, and all have their significance. The stories in this volume demonstrate how vital this network was in supporting the individual pioneers during their journey in difficult times and continues to be for those of us today in our own enterprise.