ABSTRACT
Our aim is this book has been to develop a viable vision of an inquirybased social studies education in which students engage in new literacies to understand and address complex multifaceted problems. We have advocated a vision of social studies as new literacies because so much of what we know about and do in the world is mediated through texts, technologies, and media. In turn, we believe inquiry approaches can help students best navigate new and emerging global landscapes and transnational fl ows. Social studies as new literacies for understanding and addressing multifaceted problems can direct teachers and students toward what Dewey (1935) referred to as a “method of intelligence”– the critical capacities to analyze social problems and participate actively in improving social conditions (Stanley, 2010). Developing these capacities prepares students to engage in logical analysis, test the range of beliefs and claims they encounter (including their own and those commonly accepted) for justifi cation, validity, and consistency, and construct and effectively communicate their own claims about the social world. This type of education is absolutely critical for helping students confront ideological fundamentalisms, dogmatic rigidity, intolerance, and the fear of uncertainty. Students develop the confi dence to deal with increasing complexity, novelty, diversity, and ambiguity amidst rapidly changing social conditions. This type of education is integral to cultivating relational cosmopolitanism in the classroom.
