Cultivating Justice: Curriculum Features That Support K-2 Learners’ Justice-Oriented Argumentation in Social Studies

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Abstract

This study investigates how elementary social studies instruction supported K–2 students in engaging in justice-oriented argumentation. Using design-based research, we analyzed two inquiry-based units implemented in three classrooms: Justice in Our Community (Kindergarten) and Voting and Justice (1st/2nd grades). Drawing on classroom artifacts, we examined how instructional features embedded in the inquiries supported students in making and justifying claims related to justice. Our cross-lesson analysis surfaced three recurring curricular features that supported argumentation: hands-on projects, justice case discussions, and use of the Justice Cycle to frame action. These features positioned K–2 students to make and justify claims about justice using concrete tools, scaffolded discussion, and age-appropriate opportunities for sustained reasoning.

Authors

• Ryan E. Hughes, University of North Carolina - Greensboro

• Beth Meyer, The Experiential School of Greensboro