College and University Faculty Assembly of the NCSS

News from CUFA Members

1. Franklin named U.S. Fulbright Scholar in Slovakia

2. Two New Books by Murray Nelson

3. 2010 Annual Conference for The International Society for the Social Studies

4. A New Book by Lois Christensen

Read more about these on "The News" page.

New "Note on Research and Practice" Available

We are pleased to announce a new article on the Notes on Research and Practice section from CUFA colleagues, Alan S. Marcus and Jeremy D. Stoddard, about teaching history with feature film.

Teaching History with Feature Film

Alan S. Marcus, University of Connecticut
Jeremy D. Stoddard, College of William and Mary

The viewing of a film in the social studies classroom, or any classroom for that matter, used to be a novelty. It was generally used to break up the usual classroom routine, to provide some motivation for students, or to show students a more dramatic version of the past than was possible in filmstrips (Cuban, 1986). Over the past twenty plus years, however, the production and delivery technologies for visual media have become more accessible and more cost effective, resulting in a vast sea of visual media available from classroom use. This increase in visual media access, along with more technology in today’s classrooms, has led to frequent use of news clips, documentaries, television programs, and feature film use by social studies teachers...

Full article here.

2009 CUFA Elections

Nominations are now open for the 2009 election to the Executive Board of CUFA and for CUFA representatives to the NCSS House of Delegates.

Social Studies Themed Issue of the Journal of Inquiry and Action in Education

There is a special social studies issue of a new journal, Journal of Inquiry and Action in Education. The issue focuses on teaching history with big ideas. CUFA members, S.G. Grant and Jill Gradwell, co-authored an article about ambitious teaching and teaching with big ideas. The URL to the journal issue is:
https://journal.buffalostate.edu/index.php/soe/issue/current

House of Delegates Resolutions, 2009

An important role of Affiliated Councils, Associated Groups and Communities is to provide direction for the current and future work of the National Council for the Social Studies (NCSS). The NCSS Board of Directors has defined short and long term goals through its strategic plan; however, the implementation of these goals is guided by the input provided by the membership of NCSS. This is achieved through the resolution process as part of the NCSS House of Delegates (HOD).

The resolutions process provides a forum for state affiliates, associated groups, communities, committees, and the general membership to express ideas, recommendations, issues, and concerns about your professional needs at the local, state and national levels that are relevant to NCSS and its work to promote quality teaching and learning of social studies in our schools. The process is initiated by you, the leaders of grassroots organizations, and NCSS members who articulate their views through the creation of a resolution. There are various paths through which resolutions may be introduced to the HOD before being considered by the NCSS Board of Directors. Resolutions may be submitted following the guidelines outlined in Article IX of the NCSS House of Delegates manual.