Cooperative Problem-Solving Activities for Social Studies, Grades 6-12

“These activities will foster participation and critical thinking in the classroom.“
-R. Jon Frey, Director of Speech Activities
Aberdeen Central High School, SD

“Cooperative group learning is a powerful approach, and this book provides explicit ideas and guidelines.“
-Stephanie van Hover, Associate Professor of Social Studies Education
University of Virginia

Give your students the opportunity to think, discover, and learn together in social studies!

Teamwork helps students strengthen individual retention, improve performance, and promote meaning-making in the classroom. To give adolescent minds practice in critical thinking, the authors use their considerable teaching experience to present more than 40 problem-solving activities that are ready for immediate use in the social studies classroom.

This second edition of Catch Them Thinking in Social Studies demonstrates how to use collaborative learning strategies to fully engage students in meaning-making. Cooperative Problem-Solving Activities for Social Studies, Grades 6-12 offers lessons in five areas of social studies instruction: geography, politics, economics, culture, and history. Each activity includes background information, clue cards, objectives, tasks, and worksheets. This updated edition helps teachers:

Develop students’ decision-making, analysis, and communication skills
Foster teamwork and interdependent learning
Construct cooperative problem-solving activities using their own curriculum

Featuring current research and new activities, this hands-on resource helps teachers facilitate cooperative problem solving in social studies and provides teacher tips throughout the book.