New Book: Korea’s Place in Teaching Social Studies
November 15, 2021
As a way to enhance insights and balance perspectives on Korea’s place in our social stud-
ies education, both the Korean War Legacy Foundation (KWLF) and the World History Digital Education Foundation (WHDEF), established in 2012 and in 2016, respectively, have published a series of curriculum books: Korea’s Place in Teaching World History with the National Council for Social Studies (NCSS) in 2018; The Korean War and Its Legacy with NCSS in 2019; Korea’s Place in Teaching World History: Korean War Module (self-published in 2020); Exploring and Teaching the Korean War with Great Britain’s Historical Association in 2020; and Korea’s Place in Teaching Human Geography: Lessons on the Population, Culture, and Economy of the Republic of Korea with NCSS in 2020.
Korea’s Place in Teaching Social Studies is our sixth book in this series. It marks a slight departure from our previous single-discipline books with its wide range of topics in the disciplines of history, geography, economics and civics, which can be taught to meet curriculum standards throughout the United States. Each state in the union has its own independent curriculum and standards in the disciplines of social studies. Because of this decentralized educational system, there is, for exam- ple, no single set of guidelines to teach the history of Korea (or any other country, including the United States!). However, our target in this book is to meet social studies standards that are typical throughout the United States in the four disciplines that states regard as the core social studies disciplines: history, geography, economics, and civics. To illustrate this objective, an Appendix cites curriculum standards from three states, California, New York, and Texas, to show how the topics in this book align to standards and instruction across the country. The lesson plans and primary and secondary resources in this book will help teachers to incorporate Korea into the social studies curriculum. The authors present valuable case studies in Korean history, geography, economics, and civic life. This book will maintain the momentum created by our earlier publications for AP curricula and development programs for professional teachers.