About the Book

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For courses in Elementary Social Studies Methods.

Note: This is the bound book only and does not include access to the Enhanced Pearson eText. To order the Enhanced Pearson eText packaged with a bound book, use ISBN 0134286642.

A practical guide that helps elementary social studies teachers activate a dynamic learning experience, inspiring children to understand and participate in the world around them.

Practical and dynamic are the hallmarks of the popular Dynamic Social Studies, and this new edition steps up its focus with a fresh design and a number of updates that give readers a clear vision of the most effective ways to teach social studies to elementary school students--with the hope of inspiring them to become informed, rational, and culturally responsive citizens. Using a constructivist framework, key instructional approaches, literacy-based pedagogy, text sets, activities, and illustrative classroom scenarios, the book focuses on motivation, creativity, and the excellent examples of experienced teachers to help readers breathe life into their social studies teaching.

In addition to new, authentic classroom scenarios, the Eleventh Edition also includes four new chapters (5-8) that reflect current best practices and align to the College, Career, and Civic Life (C3) Framework for Social Studies Standards, and the Common Core Standards. Current, practical, and dynamic, this book provides the foundation that pre- and in-service teachers need to create the most effective, creative elementary social studies classrooms. The Enhanced Pearson eText version includes embedded video examples, video exploration exercises, and self-check quizzes.

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About the Author: George Maxim began his professional career in rural Appalachia classrooms and ultimately taught in varied settings and at different levels from preschool through the elementary school grades. After several years of experience, he pursued a PhD in Elementary Education from Penn State University, specializing in early childhood and social studies education. At the time, Dr. Maxim was the first doctoral student at Penn State to select a doctoral program combining those two disciplines. He accepted a position at West Chester (PA) University immediately after completing the requirements for his program, where he taught graduate and undergraduate courses in early childhood education, creativity, social studies methods, and literacy. Dr. Maxim served as Director of West Chester's early childhood program for several years. In addition, Dr. Maxim has spoken to various groups, conducted in-service programs, consulted on many topics, and delivered workshops to teachers throughout the region. He has been invited to speak to audiences in locations as distant as Seoul, South Korea.

Dr. Maxim has received a number of teaching awards, including the Certificate of Excellence in College Teaching from the Pennsylvania Department of Education. He actively served various professional organizations, including the National Council for the Social Studies and the National Association for the Education of Young Children. As Chair of the Early Childhood Committee of the National Council for the Social Studies, Dr. Maxim was instrumental in starting the NCSS journal devoted specifically to early childhood/elementary educators, Social Studies and the Young Learner, and served on its editorial board for several years.

Dr. Maxim's articles have appeared in various journals, including Childhood Education, Social Education, Social Studies and the Young Learner, Science and Children, The Arithmetic Teacher, and other relevant professional journals. He has written several books, including The Very Young, The Sourcebook, Learning Centers for Young Children, and Social Studies for Constructivist Classrooms.