Instructional Strategies for Middle Secondary Social Studies: Methods, Assessment, and Classroom Management

Instructional Strategies for Middle and Secondary Social Studies is an exciting methods-based text that integrates appropriate management and assessment techniques with seven distinct teaching strategies. Writing explicitly for pre-service social studies teachers, veteran teacher educators Bruce E. Larson and Timothy A. Keiper offer detailed descriptions of a range of teaching techniques, from lectures to role plays to student-directed investigations. It provides a practical guide for considering when to use what strategy, how to determine that students meet learning objectives with a particular strategy, and how to keep the learning environment positive.

Special features include:




Clear, step-by-step descriptions of the seven categories of instructional strategies that social studies teachers need most to engage all students and promote student learning.


Practical ways to manage the learning environment and assess student learning for each of the instructional strategies.


Rich, detailed and social studies-specific examples to illustrate each concept or teaching method described.


Guidelines for deciding how each strategy might allow for diverse learners and differentiated learning environments.


Clear and concrete guidelines for setting course goals and objectives as well as writing unit plans and lesson plans.


For any aspiring social studies teacher who wants to make the most informed decisions about day-to-day instructional strategies, the unique integration and contextualization of curriculum, instruction, assessment, and classroom management that this textbook offers will make this an invaluable resource.

Bruce E. Larson is Professor and Chair of the Secondary Education Department at Western Washington University.

Timothy A. Keiper is an Associate Professor in the Secondary Education Department at Western Washington University.