Learning Activity 2.4

The e-book listed below was written by Samuel Totten. Information Age Publishing is the company that published the book. It is well known for publishing journals and books of scholarly merit. Totten is a retired professor from the University of Arkansas and editor of a series on genocide studies with Transaction Publisher.

The book is about how to teach social issues. While its intended audience is educators it could easily be used for parents or students themselves. The book covers a large range of topics including genocide, environment, and democracy.

The book was published in 2010. It’s hard to say whether or not this book can be considered old. On one hand, I don’t think of the year 2011 as being too long ago. However, a lot of new research can be done in almost a decade. I would hope that a new edition is published by the time 2020 comes around as this would allow the book to consider new material in the relative fields.

Concerning bias, it is clear that Totten tries to avoid prejudice in all areas, “We have tried our best to include a broad array and a solid representation of the most notable and powerful models, programs and approaches to teaching and learning about social issues” (Totten, 2011, p. 5). This is specifically seen in the chapter dedicated to a global perspective.

I thought the book was a good place to start for my research question regarding how to teach difficult content. I really liked that the content never concentrated too much on one subject. Chapters weren’t named after different historical conflicts, but instead different perspectives and themes. Overall, I will consider this book in my research because it is clearly peer-reviewed and knowledgeable on the subject.

Sources:

Totten, S. (2011). Teaching and Studying Social Issues: Major Programs and Approaches. Charlotte, NC: Information Age Publishing.

http://ezproxy.student.twu.ca:2152/ehost/detail/detail?vid=0&sid=cf425c2c-1fd0-4115-a7fb-3911f1207aed%40sessionmgr4007&bdata=JnNpdGU9ZWhvc3QtbGl2ZQ%3d%3d#db=nlebk&AN=470276

National Writing Project. (n.d.). Retrieved January 13, 2018, from https://www.nwp.org/cs/public/print/nwp_au/317