Journal of International Social Studies, v. 9, n. 1, 2019, pp. 1-2 Corresponding author: rapoport@purdue.edu ©2012/2018 National Council for Social Studies International Assembly http://www.iajiss.org ISSN: 2327-3585 Page 1 From the Editor: This issue opens with the article by Brad Maguth (The University of Akron) and Huiyong Yang (Henan University, China) The United Nation’s Sustainable Development Goals as a Global Content Framework? that received the 2019 NCSS International Assembly Best Paper Award. Congratulations, Brad and Huiyong! In this article, the authors consider the use of the United Nation’s Sustainable Development Goals (SDG) as a prospective global content knowledge framework to impart global learning in social studies. Middle-grades Ancient World History content standards from two countries, China and the U.S., were reviewed to evaluate the degree of their alignment to the United Nations’ Sustainable Development Goals, particularly Goal 5: Gender Equality. The authors found little direct content alignment between content presented in the SDG and the reviewed content standards. The authors also discuss how to prepare learners to live up to the expectations of the Sustainable Development Goals in social studies classrooms. Australia’s involvement in World War I continues to capture the public’s imagination in a way that surpasses many other historical events in Australia’s history. This is particularly due to popular culture representations, children’s literature, popular and academic history publications, and educational resources at primary, secondary, and tertiary levels. As a result, by the time high school students study the unit on Australia’s involvement in WWI, they are already familiar with the common tropes of narratives surrounding Australia’s first major military campaign, Gallipoli, however inaccurate they may be. Australian High School Students on Commemorating the Gallipoli Campaign: “It baffles me” and “It’s a bit weird” by Heather Sharp and Melanie Innes from University of Newcastle, Australia reports on research conducted in three Australian high schools that provided students with a collection of five sources and a series of questions to answer about the Gallipoli campaign as a historical and commemorative event. The research is interested in understanding how the Gallipoli campaign is perceived at the time of its 100-year anniversary and to see whether or how students reflect collective memory and official history in their own narratives of the nation. In Search of a More Effective Strategy: Using Simulation Games Instructional Strategy for the Teaching and Learning of Social Studies in Secondary School by Clifford Edore Ogheneakoke, Sunday Obro, and Joseph Benike from Delta State University, Abraka, Nigeria investigates the effect of simulation game instructional strategy on academic performance of students in secondary school Social Studies. The authors used 50-items multiple-choice Social Studies Achievement Test (SSAT) to collect data. The result of the study showed that simulation games instructional strategy enhanced students’ performance in the social studies classroom. Based on mailto:rapoport@purdue.edu http://www.iajiss.org/ Journal of International Social Studies, v. 9, n. 1, 2019, pp. 1-2 Corresponding author: rapoport@purdue.edu ©2012/2018 National Council for Social Studies International Assembly http://www.iajiss.org ISSN: 2327-3585 Page 2 the findings the authors recommended among that simulation games strategy should be used in teaching Social Studies. In their article Overseas Student Teachers’ Reflections on American National Identity: A Longitudinal Study, Frans Doppen and Bahman Shahri from Ohio University analyzed written reflections of 78 student teachers across all grade bands [K-12] and content areas who completed three months of student teaching in an overseas country through the Consortium for Overseas Student Teaching (COST) during their final undergraduate senior year between summer 2008 – summer 2018. Each student submitted a written reflection in response to the questions: What did you learn about yourself as an American? What did you learn about others’ perspectives of what it is that makes someone American? The findings include 12 major themes combined into three major categories: socialization, hegemony and individuation. Using an ecological perspective, Chris McGrew, John Conant, Cristle Miller from Indiana State University and Sandy Huber from LaPorte Community School Corporation address the problem of the narrowing of the K-12 curriculum and how it changed the relationship between teachers and the community. Their article Rebuilding Community Connections Through Experiential Professional Development describes an effort by the economic development organization in Indiana to help rebuild those relationships through an experiential learning professional development activity. The authors conclude that the concerns of environmental sustainability and economic vitality are central to this generation of learners and that understanding these complex environmental management issues provides teachers with an experience that they are able to bring into their classrooms and share with their students. The article also includes sample teacher developed work plans for teaching economic concepts and skills through community based experiences. How do we explain the disintegration of a super power? What theories of change may be valid in a case that has no precedent? The essay titled Using Social Science Inquiry for Explaining Major Events in Global History: The Disintegration of the Soviet Union as a Case Study by Iftikhar Ahmad (Long Inland University) seeks to explore the causes of the disintegration of the Soviet Union through the formulation and testing of a correlative hypothesis: A strong correlation exists between the break-up of the Communist Party of the Soviet Union (CPSU) and the disintegration of the Soviet state. The author is convinced that this hypothesis is specific, testable, verifiable, and it is supported by historical evidence and events examined in the paper. Anatoli Rapoport mailto:rapoport@purdue.edu http://www.iajiss.org/