Teaching Humanities and Social Sciences in the Australian Curriculum helps students to understand the world and their place within it. It covers a diverse range of topics from civics and citizenship through to politics and globalism for primary and secondary students.
 
This text encompasses a learning area that is exciting and challenging. It allows students to examine societal and environmental problems and to develop logical arguments to grapple with present day personal, national and international problems such as terrorism, violent retaliation, censorship, repression and ideological conflicts.

Each chapter includes sound pedagogical planning principles together with a comprehensive range of practical ideas and examples. Questions and activities challenge students to think critically about a variety of social and environmental issues.

• Web sources, questions and activities for each chapter provide the potential to challenge students and to encourage them to read further from the extensive and reference list and glossary included at the end of the book.
• Case studies are included to give students a look at different society and environment based perspectives.
• As the editor of the journal 'Curriculum Perspectives' Colin has access to cutting edge reports and articles. Material from the journal is incorporated across the chapters in Colin's own writing and from contributions by journal article authors.
  

This new edition includes a number of major changes. There is increased attention given to the practical needs of student teachers and every effort has been made to ensure that the latest information is provided about curriculum developments in each state.

• Chapter 1 explores the nature and purpose of SOSE within the curriculum. Key theoretical approaches are overviewed and relevant practical issues identified.
• Chapter 2 describes how teaching units and lesson plans can be developed. Special attention is given to the use of curriculum planning models and a number of practical devices, such as checklists, are included to aid the student teacher.
• Chapter 3 provides a wealth of practical information about resources including additional information about the World Wide Web (WWW) and computer-based products such as laptops, tablet PCs, personal digital assistants (PDAs), blogs and interactive whiteboards.
• In Chapter 4 a number of teacher-centred and student centred strategies are presented, including a detailed analysis of cooperative learning and constructivism. This chapter provides an overview for subsequent chapters, which focus upon specific teaching techniques.
• The teaching of concepts and skills and inquiry are presented in Chapters 5 and 6. In each of these chapters, a detailed theoretical analysis, together with numerous practical examples, form the basis for discussion.
• Chapter 7 focuses upon values and schooling, controversial issues, and interfaith understanding.
• This is followed by 'Assessing, Recording and Reporting Student Learning' (Chapter 8), which not only examines purposes and modes of assessment, but also provides approaches for assessing students' achievement of outcomes, strands and levels through the use of portfolios and assessment tasks. Extended analysis is provided about outcome-based assessment and portfolios.
• Chapter 9 - 11 focus on the core SOSE disciplines. In chapter 9, the teaching and learning of history is overviewed.  Core concepts and skills are identified as critical to historical literacy and the broader development of historical consciousness. Chapter 10 demonstrates the importance of geography as a separate teaching subject and highlights the important role of geography I the development of globally aware and responsible young people. Chapter 11 treats the teaching of economics and economic literacy as an important subject in its own right. These chapters provide explicit classroom examples to demonstrate the importance of these disciplines to the teaching of SOSE. Importantly, these chapters also provide a detailed overview of the development of National Curriculum across these disciplines.
•  In Chapter 12, the case for including Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander studies is made very convincingly, and various teaching strategies and resources are described.
• Chapter 13 'Civics and Citizenship Education' has been greatly expanded and revised. The emphasis upon geopolitical contexts is very evident.
• Chapter 14, 'Multicultural and Global and Asian Studies', has a major emphasis upon practical ideas for teachers such as the use of interdisciplinary studies and service learning.