www.sosyalbilgiler.org Journal of Social Studies Education Research Sosyal Bilgiler Eğitimi Araştırmaları Dergisi FROM THE EDITORS OF SPECIAL ISSUE Global Citizenship Education in the Social Studies Teaching about globalizations and our interconnectedness with people and places around the world is an essential component of K-12 and higher education, but knowledge about global issues and news is not enough. Increased mobility, digital communication, and cultural hybridity, along with oppression and social injustice require that educators and students not only be able to communicate and collaborate with people different from them, but regularly engage in critical self- reflection around perceived norms and values. In January 2016, the editors of this special issue distributed a call for theoretical, research-based, and practitioner oriented manuscripts on teaching and learning that bring social studies and global citizenship education together. Evidence by the transnational contributions published within this issue of the Journal of Social Studies Education Research, the place of global citizenship education within the social studies is evolving, multifaceted, and not without complications. In short: just how it should be. It is understood that globalization and global education are not the same. Globalization is a series of processes and systems: economic globalization, cultural globalization, communication and information technologies, mass media, migration, and many more issues make up what we know to be globalization. In fact, the term globalization went from meaning a lot to being nearly meaningless because it is used so frequently and generally. Global education, on the other hand, not only queries how cultural practices become normalized, but provides a theoretical lens through which to analyze the processes, systems, and practices that are used to construct and perpetuate narratives that “other” and ultimately reduce people and places to stereotypes. The co-editors of this issue spent time working with social studies teachers in Kütahya, Turkey during June and July 2016 on these very concepts. During the workshops and discussions, teachers pointed out that global education provides the tools for analyzing and critiquing globalization, but also ways of thinking about how to respond to inequities caused and sustained through global systems. However, when the topic of global citizenship was introduced, there was a range of responses and questions as to the goals, privileges, and controversies associated with such a concept. Central to the debate was concern that the United States, as a global power, possesses advantages that nations www.sosyalbilgiler.org Journal of Social Studies Education Research Sosyal Bilgiler Eğitimi Araştırmaları Dergisi ii such as Turkey and others do not, thus creating privileges around citizenship and global mobility for few rather than many. In such instances, as social studies teachers in Kütahya argues, global citizenship cannot be presented as a monolithic status of positivity and achievement since not all people possess citizenship within a nation nor are afforded rights of equal protection. This is the kind of debate this issue intends to forward so that social studies educators in Turkey, the United States, and elsewhere can interrogate what and who global citizenship includes, and the extent to which this is a desirable or even achievable status. Infusing global citizenship education in social studies education across K-16 classrooms involves more than covering global issues related to cultural and economic globalization. A first step toward accomplishing these goals involves instructors and students unpacking how they imagine the world and reflecting on their biases as part of an ongoing process known as developing one’s perspective consciousness. Stereotypes, exotic images, and myths about other cultures are barriers to global citizenship education because they distort reality and go hand in hand with prejudice and ethnocentrism. Often stereotypes are used as shortcuts so that people do not have to examine cultural complexity and can justify their status, behavior, and worldview. Too often, the lack of depth these approaches promote results in “othering” and the portrayal of cultures as static, when instead, educators should explore and value difference across and within places and people. A global citizenship education approach to understanding culture requires examination and reflection beyond surface representations of what people do, eat, and wear to a more substantive understanding of “internal culture” which includes use of language, interpretation of events, beliefs, and values. If we are to help students develop compassion for others, if we want them to see potential for good in the systems and institutions that operate across borders, then social studies education must include stories and issues relevant to all students, particularly those who do not see themselves or their race, gender, ethnicity, religion, citizenship status, or cultural heritage, represented in our curriculum. According to the 2001 National Council for the Social Studies’ (NCSS) position statement on preparing students for a global community, “a global perspective is attentive to the interconnectedness of the human and natural environment and the interrelated nature of events, problems, or ideas” and “in studying the traditions, history, and current challenges of other cultures, the perspective consciousness of our students must be raised and ethnocentric barriers www.sosyalbilgiler.org Journal of Social Studies Education Research Sosyal Bilgiler Eğitimi Araştırmaları Dergisi iii must be addressed.” A social studies education oriented toward the future requires educators who incorporate ways for students to bridge the space between the classroom and society so that lessons about citizenship, global interconnectedness, and social justice are applied rather than abstract. Through the incorporation of technology and cross-cultural leaning opportunities, social studies educators foster critical thinking and expose their students to multiple perspectives across time and space. These goals remain achievable despite emphasis on assessment in education because teacher educators and in-service social studies teachers understand that our work remains oriented toward college, career, and civic preparedness for the 21st century. Our shared future requires that social studies educators continue to prepare students to be informed, open-minded, and responsible citizens for and in a global age. It is imperative that social studies teacher candidates, those who are working to become teachers, develop a global perspective because their students will continue to be engaged with people and issues across the planet as the world’s peoples, economies, politics, and environmental issues become ever more interdependent. Students play video games with people around the world, they watch Youtube videos made by peers they may never meet in person, and they buy products made by people, too often children, who would give anything to have an opportunity to go to school. For these reasons, the place of global education in teacher education must be enhanced and one way to do that is to make sure your students and our students, and the students of social studies educators around the world, are communicating with one another. Meaningful social studies engages students in analyses of the past to not only make connections to the here and now, but so that students reflect on how their actions impact our collective future. To achieve these goals, teacher candidates and social studies professionals need to identify views and voices that are not represented in the curriculum and incorporate resources that assist students in developing a more informed perspective consciousness regarding the complexities of history and contemporary issues. This includes informed use of technologies and media analysis, but the increased use of these resources carries a responsibility to examine the impact of a digital divide. Students need critical media education in order to learn to think critically about sources, motive, and context. Lastly, social studies educators need to foster discussions about the responsibilities students have as digital citizens in an interconnected world. www.sosyalbilgiler.org Journal of Social Studies Education Research Sosyal Bilgiler Eğitimi Araştırmaları Dergisi iv To accomplish these goals, social studies instructors must create opportunities for transnational and cross-cultural collaboration. We must learn from each other and ask each other hard questions about how we teach about the world in our respective classrooms. The majority of teachers in the United States are racially white and teach in majority white schools, meaning many teachers have little experience working with students of color or with students who were born in one place and then moved to another. When discussing global citizenship education (GCE), it is important to ensure that the views and voices represented in the literature are indeed global. To the extent possible, we sought to include research from across the globe to avoid privileging only certain countries or institutions. We also valued inclusion of critical points of view within the work of global citizenship education and the social studies. GCE can often be limited to “elite” students and institutions, but the nature of global interdependency and interconnectedness requires critical analysis to investigate social injustice and movements for change. These perspectives and arguments should inform the implications of some of the research and conceptual work included in this issue. Finally, we were committed to including a variety of methodological frameworks and topics to appeal to as broad a reading audience as possible. Projects on the use of technology to teach for and about global citizenship, cross-cultural learning, service and experiential learning, and more were submitted for consideration, posing a good problem for the review and acceptance process. The issue leads off with Sara Matthews’s investigation of how youths construct and perceive glocal issues using digital participatory research (DPR). In “Using Digital Participatory Research to Foster Glocal Competence; Constructing Multimedia Projects as a Form of Global and Civic Citizenship,” participants in Mathews’ study reflect on how glocal citizenship, which she defines as the merging of civic and global competence, helps students understand how local and global influences interact in their everyday lives. This multi-case study analysis of two groups simultaneously engaging in the DPR project, one in Miami, Florida and one in Kingston, Jamaica, addresses the importance of field research in multiple locations as well as the need for inclusion of youth perspectives beyond the classroom when conceptualizing global citizenship. In “Curricular Connections: Using Critical Cosmopolitanism to Globally Situate Multicultural Education in Teacher Preparation Courses,” Erik Byker and Sheila Marquardt explore the bridging of multiculturalism within a global context through cosmopolitanism. www.sosyalbilgiler.org Journal of Social Studies Education Research Sosyal Bilgiler Eğitimi Araştırmaları Dergisi v Interested in how teacher candidates understand and then teach for social justice, this study considers the issues within global citizenship education that are too often overlooked: privilege, access, and cultural supremacy. The curricular analysis project discussed in Joanna Leek’s article “Global citizenship education in school curricula: A Polish perspective” addresses issues that many classroom teachers looking to develop global citizenship education, regardless of grade or geographic location, encounter regularly. This project queries the extent to which individuals can develop a world- centered perspective without abandoning their own national identity. Tracing Polish history from the end of WWII, through Soviet occupation, and into today, Leek discusses the ways in which students consider global problems to be part of the challenges faced in Poland and offers perceptions that interrogate the degree to which local and global problems are linked to each other. Michael Kopish’s “Global Citizenship Education for Teacher Candidates Through Global Migration Critical Inquiry and Cross-Cultural Experiential Learning” blends work in and out of the classroom to illustrate the importance of place-based learning within global education. By devoting an entire course to experiential learning with the goal of fostering global mindedness, this project provides program and curriculum developers a way to develop meaningful educational experiences that blend technology, local community, and cross-cultural experiences. Interested in closing the gap that exists between classrooms around the world, Dan Krutka and Ken Carano’s “Videoconferencing for Global Citizenship Education: Wise Practices for Social Studies Educators” centers on the use of technology within global citizenship education. By focusing on resource integration and skill development related to media and digital literacy, this article provides a procedural overview that teacher educators with resource access can use to help students engage in intercultural experiences for the purpose of fostering cross-cultural learning opportunities. Most students across the globe possess and interact with cultural practices and perspectives in and out of the classroom at a much higher rate than any generation before them. The demands and outcomes of global interconnectedness have led classroom educators, school leaders, teacher educators, and researchers to rethink what students need to learn and be able to do as members of a globally interdependent world. For instance, content must be paired with discussions of concepts and skills that one needs to participate in a globally interdependent world throughout a course, www.sosyalbilgiler.org Journal of Social Studies Education Research Sosyal Bilgiler Eğitimi Araştırmaları Dergisi vi rather than just learning about systems, processes, and institutions during one or two class sessions dedicated to topics and concepts deemed “global” in social studies. By discussing the extent to which their work involves curricular infusion and transformative approaches to teaching and learning, the projects included in this special issue illustrate why the “add-on” approach to global citizenship education is intensely problematic. As is argued in this volume, facilitating opportunities for teachers and students to reflect on how influences that emanate from across an increasingly interdependent, yet unequal world affect their sense of identity(ies), citizenship, and professional dispositions is integral to how global educators approach social studies education in the 21st century. We appreciate the opportunity to publish this special issue of the Journal of Social Studies Education Research, with sincere gratitude to Dr. Bulent Tarman for his support and guidance. Thank you to the authors for their commitment to this special issue and for their patience during the publishing process. Thank you as well to the reviewers for their prompt and thorough feedback to help us publish this issue on time. Lastly, we remain inspired by our students and colleagues for their commitment to the important work of educating others so that we may achieve a peaceful, inclusive, and compassionate world. Special Issue Editors: Jason Harshman, PhD; University of Iowa, U.S.A. Emin Kılınç, PhD; Dumlupınar University, Turkey