Educators around the country have been increasingly interested in expanding the teaching of African-American history, and many resources have been created to help. At the same time, scholars have begun to explore how African-American history is represented in these resources, in standards, in popular textbooks, and beyond. One emerging scholar in this area is Brittany Jones, an assistant professor at the University at Buffalo, State University of New York. Her work explores how emotions are represented in the curriculum, how we can help students consider the lived emotions of those in the past, whether or not some types history should be deemed "difficult" for students, and much more. On this episode, Brittany discusses these issues and how she arrived at these questions.


Episode Resources

Brittany Jones's Faculty Page

Brittany's Google Scholar Page

The 1619 Project Curriculum


Key Articles by Brittany Jones

Feeling fear as power and oppression: An examination of Black and white fear in Virginia’s U.S. history standards and curriculum framework

What is the word “difficult” doing in social studies research?: A systematic literature review of empirical research on difficult knowledges and histories, 2004–2022

ESD Resources

Brett Levy's Open Access Research Articles

Education for Sustainable Democracy Site

ESD Facebook Page (Please like!)

ESD YouTube Channel (Please subscribe!)


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Integrating History & Current Events and Creating an Open Classroom Climate, with Amber Joseph (East Side Community School, New York City)

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Guiding Productive Political Discussions, with Diana Hess (University of Wisconsin-Madison)

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How can we teach about elections in ways that support students' political engagement and also strengthen their willingness to consider diverse perspectives? In this episode, Brett draws on his own research to address this question, offering practical tips for the classroom.


Related Resources

Teaching Elections Site

Education for Sustainable Democracy Homepage

Brett Levy's Open-Access Research Articles

Education for Sustainable Democracy Facebook Page (Please Like!)

YouTube Channel for Education for Sustainable Democracy (Please subscribe!)


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The Seal of Civic Readiness for High School Diplomas, with Lisa Kissinger (New York State Council for the Social Studies)

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This is a rebroadcast of an interview with Professor Wayne Journell about teaching elections, recorded in 2020.

How should educators teach about elections? How can they maximize student learning, foster engagement, and minimize overly heated exchanges among students? Professor Wayne Journell from the University of North Carolina, Greensboro, has conducted research on how high school teachers help students learn about elections. He describes how teachers can frame productive discussion of elections, integrate election-related content into other aspects of the curriculum, and model a tolerant attitudes towards different political perspectives. Dr. Journell also explains how educators can help students navigate our complex media landscape and avoid falling victim to misinformation. 

Resources Related to this Episode

Teaching Elections Website

Wayne Journell's Website

Theory & Research in Social Education



ESD Podcast Resources

Brett Levy's Open-Access Research Articles (Free Downloads)

Education for Sustainable Democracy Facebook Page (Please Like!)

YouTube Channel for Education for Sustainable Democracy (Please Subscribe!)

Brett Levy's Twitter/X Handle: @brettlmlevy

Education for Sustainable Democracy Homepage

Support the show

How should secondary school teachers help their student learn about the election during this heated political moment? In this episode, Brett speaks to Dan Hornick, who teaches high school government in a politically diverse district in upstate New York. Dan shares his insights, experiences, and suggestions on teaching about elections in the current era. He also explains how to get students to develop good media literacy habits and become engaged in local civic issues. Dan brings to this discussion over two decades of classroom experience and years working in local government in various positions.

Episode Resources

New York State's Seal of Civic Readiness Site

Brett Levy's Teaching Elections Site


ESD Podcast Resources

Education for Sustainable Democracy Homepage

Brett Levy's Open-Access Research Articles

Education for Sustainable Democracy Facebook Page (Please Like!)

YouTube Channel for Education for Sustainable Democracy (Please subscribe!)


Related ESD Episodes

The Seal of Civic Readiness for High School Diplomas, with Lisa Kissinger (New York State Council for the Social Studies)

Lateral Reading & Other Media Literacy Skills, with Sarah McGrew (University of Maryland)

Teaching Elections & Modeling Political Tolerance, with Wayne Journell (University of North Carolina, Greensboro)

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As the central adults in children’s lives, what should be the role of parents in creating well-informed and active civic participants? This episode's guest wrote a book to help answer that question. Lindsay Cormack is an associate professor of political science at Stevens Institute of Technology in New Jersey, and this month, she released a new book entitled, “How to Raise a Citizen (and why it’s up to you to do it).” Her book and this episode are full of practical advice and rules of thumb that can be useful to many parents uncertain of how to support their children's civic development.


Episode Resources

How to Raise a Citizen

Lindsey Cormack faculty homepage

National Association for Media Literacy Education


ESD Podcast Resources

Education for Sustainable Democracy Homepage

Brett Levy's Open-Access Research Articles

Education for Sustainable Democracy Facebook Page (Please Like!)

YouTube Channel for Education for Sustainable Democracy (Please subscribe!)



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Lateral Reading & Other Media Literacy Skills, with Sarah McGrew (University of Maryland)

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Building a Movement for Civic Education, with Michael Rebell (Teachers College, Columbia University)

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How can young people living in vastly different communities learn to understand each others' political perspectives? The Youth Civic Connections Project aims to answer that question. This episode explores the origins of this project and how it will expand this fall.


More on the Youth Civic Connections Project

Project Overview on Carnegie Site



ESD Podcast Resources

Education for Sustainable Democracy Homepage

Brett Levy's Open-Access Research Articles

Education for Sustainable Democracy Facebook Page (Please Like!)

YouTube Channel for Education for Sustainable Democracy (Please subscribe!)



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Integrating History and Current Events & Creating an Open Classroom Climate (with teacher Amber Joseph)

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Engagement & Equity in Civic Education (with Prof. Jane Lo)

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How can educators create inclusive environments for LGBTQ+ youth? To explore this question, Brett speaks to a veteran middle school social studies teacher in Massachusetts, Marc Lewis, who has been enacting and experimenting with strategies and curricula to help all of his students feel welcome in his classroom – and to help them understand the complexity and truth of our world and its history.

In our conversation, Marc describes how he builds a trusting classroom community, how he physically designs his classroom, how he integrates LGBTQ+ history into his curriculum, how he shares his own identity as an openly gay man, and how he has responded to challenges related to these practices. Marc also describes a variety of resources (links below) that listeners can check out if they want to learn more about this type of work.

Marc Lewis holds a master's degree from the Harvard Graduate School of Education and bachelor's degree from the University of Wisconsin-Madison. He has taught social studies at R.J. Grey Junior High School in Acton, Massachusetts, for over twenty years.

To support this show, please subscribe, give it five stars in your podcast app, and share an episode with a friend!

This episode originally aired in February of 2022.


LGBTQ+ Teaching Resources

We the Future Posters & Images

Learning for Justice Resources on Gender & Sexual Identity

Gay, Lesbian, & Straight Educator Network (GLSEN) Site

LGBTQ+ History Timeline (GLSEN)

Lesson Plan for LGBTQ+ History Timeline

Other Lesson Plans on LGBTQ+ Issues (GLSEN)

Inclusive Curriculum Guide (GLSEN)


ESD Podcast Resources:

Education for Sustainable Democracy Site

Brett Levy's Open-Access Research Articles

Education for Sustainable Democracy Facebook Page (Please Like!)

ESD YouTube Channel (Please subscribe!)

Support the show

How do we ensure that elections are free and fair? For the past few years, we’ve heard more and more false claims about stolen elections, but the truth is that our election systems are very well-managed. Yes, there are areas where systems can be improved, but among the biggest problems in our election system now are misinformation about the elections and the skepticism that this creates.

In this episode, I speak with Meghan Cook, Program Director of the Center for Technology in Government at the University at Albany, and two election experts – Tom Connolly, the Director of Election Operations at the New York State Board of Elections, and Brendan Lovullo, the Deputy Director of Election Operations at the New York State Board of Elections. In our discussion, we talk about how elections are managed in New York State and elsewhere, and we address some common misconceptions head-on. We talk about how votes are counted, how election machines are secured, how election workers address problems that arise, and much more.

This episode was first aired in November of 2022.

Featured Link: Our Article on Teaching about Election Integrity

Our Guests & Related Resources

Megan Cook's Website

Center for Technology in Government at UAlbany

New York State Board of Elections Website


ESD Podcast Resources

Education for Sustainable Democracy Homepage

Brett Levy's Open-Access Research Articles (Free Downloads)

Education for Sustainable Democracy Facebook Page (Please Like!)

YouTube Channel for Education for Sustainable Democracy (Please Subscribe!)

Brett's Twitter Page for Handle @brettlmlevy


Related Episodes of ESD

Building a Movement for Civic Education, with Michael Rebell (Teachers College, Columbia University)

A Congressional Bill to Strengthen Civic Education, with Cat McDonald (DC Lobbyist for Civic Ed)

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What if a school made preparation for democracy its central goal? That’s what Democracy Prep tries to do - not in just one school but in many. This charter school network includes 24 schools in five states, with schools at the elementary, middle, and high school levels.

In this episode, Brett talks to Rashid Duroseau, the Civics Program Director at Democracy Prep. Rashid describes the civic participation experiences that these schools require of students, how various courses integrate civic issues into the curriculum, how he found his way into education, and more.

This a rebroadcast of an episode first aired in early 2022.

More about Democracy Prep

The Civics Program at Democracy Prep

Democracy Prep Public Schools Homepage

USA Today Story on Democracy Prep's Teaching of U.S. History

Empirical Study of Democracy Prep's Effects on Students (by Mathematica)

Rashid Duroseau's Brief Bio


ESD Podcast Resources

Education for Sustainable Democracy Homepage

Brett Levy's Open-Access Research Articles

Education for Sustainable Democracy Facebook Page (Please Like!)

YouTube Channel for Education for Sustainable Democracy (Please subscribe!)


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Civically Engaged Districts Project, Part 2 (with Students & Teachers)

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This is a rebroadcast of an interview with Professor Wayne Journell about teaching elections, recorded in 2020.

How should educators teach about elections? How can they maximize student learning, foster engagement, and minimize overly heated exchanges among students? Professor Wayne Journell from the University of North Carolina, Greensboro, has conducted research on how high school teachers help students learn about elections. He describes how teachers can frame productive discussion of elections, integrate election-related content into other aspects of the curriculum, and model a tolerant attitudes towards different political perspectives. Dr. Journell also explains how educators can help students navigate our complex media landscape and avoid falling victim to misinformation. 

Resources Related to this Episode:

Article: Teaching the 2020 Election, by Wayne Journell

Wayne Journell's Website

Theory & Research in Social Education

Teaching Elections Website


ESD Podcast Resources

Brett Levy's Open-Access Research Articles (Free Downloads)

Education for Sustainable Democracy Facebook Page (Please Like!)

YouTube Channel for Education for Sustainable Democracy (Please Subscribe!)

Brett Levy's Twitter/X Handle: @brettlmlevy

Education for Sustainable Democracy Homepage

Support the show