Social Studies for a Better World: An Anti-Oppressive Approach for Elementary Educators

Giving young people opportunities to grapple with injustices and complex social problems can inspire them to build a better world. In this bestselling book, two experienced social studies educators lay out their vision for an elementary social studies education that will help young people find value in learning about the world as they consider how to make their communities more just, equitable, and healthy.

Rodríguez and Swalwell unpack the problems that so often characterize the elementary curriculum--normalization, idealization, heroification, and dramatization--and show how common pitfalls can be replaced with creative solutions. This timely second edition discusses increasingly important topics like book bans and the rise of AI, provides updated research and resources, and includes strategies for teaching anti-oppressive social studies even when circumstances are less than ideal.

Whether you’re a classroom teacher, methods student, or curriculum coordinator, this is a book that can transform your understanding of the social studies disciplines and their power to disrupt the narratives that maintain current inequities.

Noreen Naseem Rodríguez (she/her) is the daughter of Asian immigrants and was a bilingual elementary educator in Austin, Texas before becoming a teacher educator. She is currently an Assistant Professor of Elementary Education and Educational Justice in the College of Education and core faculty in Asian Pacific American Studies and Muslim Studies at Michigan State University. Noreen engages in tsundoku-the art of collecting books but not reading them-and enjoys art projects, baking, and cooking.

Katy Swalwell (she/her) is the descendent of European settlers in Iowa and was a middle and high school social studies teacher before becoming a professor in elementary education programs at universities in the Midwest and Mid-Atlantic. She is now a consultant with the Equity Literacy Institute and Past Present Future Consulting & Media. She enjoys road trips with her family, co-hosts a history podcast called ＂Our Dirty Laundry,＂ and co-founded a children’s book company called Past Present Future Publishing. Noreen and Katy bonded over their love of escape rooms, theme parties, and dessert. When together, they are bound to burst into song and gesticulate wildly.