This study investigates the visual representation of ethnic minority groups in Chinese elementary social studies textbooks. The author conducts a content analysis to examine the extent to which ethnic minority groups are visually represented and to explore the ways in which they are portrayed in some of the most popular social studies textbooks in China. A total of 6075 visuals drawn from 36 books were electronically coded and analyzed using SPSS. The findings reveal the dearth of ethnic minority-related visuals and (...) show that ethnic minority individuals are visually represented in significantly different ways in many important aspects than non-minority people in these textbooks. The author concludes that the visual representations of ethnic minority groups in these textbooks contributes to a binary understanding of minority and majority by limiting the images of ethnic minority groups to selected cultural markers. (shrink)

Howard Zinn's A People's History of the United States is a polarizing historical survey that has become a common subject of social studies curricular battles. This mixed methods study uses survey data and interviews with teachers who frequently assign the book to understand who uses this text and why. Findings reveal that the text has functional, pedagogical, and political appeal for teachers who are committed to including multiple perspectives and critiquing historical narratives. That these teachers are not primarily animated by (...) Zinn's intention for the text to inspire students’ participation in social movements should undermine critics’ fears of indoctrination and sloppy history teaching, but may disappoint supporters of the text hoping for more critical pedagogical motivations. (shrink)

This study examined the historical perspectives of eleven emergent bilingual and bilingual students at two middle schools. Data analysis revealed that the participants’ perspectives on U.S. history reflected three schematic narrative templates focused on nation-building, equality, and discrimination. The participants primarily employed the (in)equality narratives when discussing aspects of U.S. history directly linked to their identities. The findings add to the extant research on student historical perspectives and use of schematic narrative templates. The findings further suggest that engaging (emergent) bilingual (...) students in examining multiple perspectives and conducting critical history inquiry can contribute to notions of culturally and linguistically responsive social studies instruction. (shrink)