Fourth Graders Confront an Injustice: The Anti-Bullying Campaign—A Social Action Inquiry Project

Abstract

 

As the development of active, democratic citizens has become, arguably, the primary purpose of social studies education, the model of instruction in citizenship education varies significantly. Although current models of citizenship education typically foster a sense of societal conformity and law-obeyance to the exclusion of social change, this article illustrates how elementary school students engaged in the critical examination of a pertinent social issue and guided the direction of a social action plan devised to overcome the injustice of bullying. The focus of this article is to illustrate how one fourth-grade teacher harnessed her students’ enthusiasm and interest in activism through an inquiry-based, interdisciplinary social action unit devised to solve elementary school bullying. A detailed, step-by-step narrative of the unit is described.

Keywords:

• citizenship education
• inquiry
• social action

Note

Notes

1. B. Hayes and C. Degelman, Active Citizenship Today Field Guide (Alexandria, VA: Close Up Foundation & Constitutional Rights Foundation, 1994). Erin used this structure for her social action inquiry project. There are other well-known structures and programs that teachers may also be familiar with such as Project Citizen from the Center for Civic Education (www.civiced.org) and The Kid's Guide to Social Action by Barabara A. Lewis.