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The 2016 Central States Conference on the Teaching of Foreign Languages (CSC), a joint conference with the Ohio Foreign Language Association, focused on fostering language and culture connections within and outside the language classroom and across the curriculum at all levels. A variety of approaches aimed at improving skills in language, literacy, and critical thinking were highlighted in order to engage students and prepare them for global citizenship in the 21st century. This 2016 report entitled "Fostering Connections, Empowering Communities, Celebrating the World," contains 12 articles that focus on fostering connections between and among language students and teachers, language, culture and content, the language classroom and the world and between K-12 and higher education. Through the integration of meaningful curricula, engaging learning tasks, media and technology, authentic materials, and cultural products in the language classroom, teachers can connect their language classrooms with the authentic lives of their learners. All of these articles underscore the important role of connecting learners with the target language and culture through a variety of means aimed at improving language skills, knowledge and attitudes of language learners in order to prepare them for global citizenship in the 21st century.

The "International Society for the Social Studies Annual Conference Proceedings" is a peer-reviewed professional publication published once a year following the annual conference. It contains the following papers: (1) Teacher Perceptions of Authentic Pedagogy: A Case Study of Professional Development in an African American High School's Government Class (Christopher Andrew Brkich); (2) Characteristics of Effective Secondary Level History Teachers (Brad Burenheide); (3) Teaching Secondary Social Studies in Inner-City Schools (Chris Busey); (4) Using the 2008 Election to Teach Political and Social Concepts (Chris Busey and Stewart Waters); (5) Culturally Responsible Teaching: A Pedagogical Approach for the Social Studies Classroom (Brandon M. Butler and Alexander Cuenca); (6) The Battle for Stalingrad: An Interactive Approach towards Learning about World War Two (Jeff Byford); (7) Are We Ready for Another Curriculum Revolution? Evaluating the Strength and Weaknesses of the New Social Studies Projects (Jeffrey Byford, Eddie Thompson, and Cody Lawson); (8) Whitewashed: Social Studies and Raceless Pedagogies (Prentice T. Chandler); (9) Social Studies Professors Theorizing: Insights from Two Decades of Deliberation and Collaboration (Richard H. Chant and Jeffrey Cornett); (10) Revisiting Political Socialization in Secondary Education: A Study of Government Classes in Three Demographically Diverse Schools during the 2008 Presidential Election (Wayne Journell); (11) Heritage Language Learners and the Social Sciences (Christopher John Kazanjian); (12) Global Citizenship Education in the Classroom: A Collaborative Canadian Study (Marianne Larsen); (13) Thematic World History: A Defense and Field Report (Christopher Dean Lee); (14) Utilizing a Personality Template in Differentiating Potential Teaching Styles of Pre-Service Teachers (Sean M. Lennon and Jeff Byford); (15) Who's Responsible for Citizenship Education? Views from Pre-service Educators (Leisa A. Martin); (16) SHOW & TELL: Choosing Appropriate Scaffolding Techniques to Make Social Studies Concepts Comprehensible to English Language Learners (Joyce Nutta and Carine Strebel); (17) Integrating Technology into Teaching Social Studies Methods Course: A Classroom Example (James Oigara); (18) You Tube as a Learning Tool (Russell Owens and Barbara Fralinger); (19) A Case for Infusing Content on Students with Disabilities into Social Studies Teacher Preparation Programs (Kimberly Pawling); (20) Universal Design for Learning in the Social Studies Classroom (Kimberly Pawling); (21) Thinking Critically or Thinking or Thinking Historically: Which Objective do we choose in Secondary History Classrooms? (Anthony Pellegrino); (22) Got History? An Examination of Attitudes, Content Knowledge, and Perceptions Related to Historical Fiction in a Children's Literature Pre-service Course (Sherron Killingsworth Roberts, Vicky Zygouris-Coe, and Patricia Crawford); (23) Enhancing History Instruction with Online Auctions (Kirk Robinson and Scott M. Waring); (24) Utilizing Film to Teach Social Issues (William B. Russell III); (25) Images of the Holocaust: Using Holocaust Art to Promote Higher Order Thinking Skills (William B. Russell III and Stewart Waters); (26) Talkin' the Talk and Walkin' the Walk: The NCSS Position Statements Regarding Controversial Issues Instruction (Kimberlee Sharp); (27) Cross-Border Education: A Basis for Wider Cross-Cultural Communication between Thailand and Cambodia (Sunida Siwapathomchai); (28) Identifying Culturally Responsive Practices in Classrooms Serving Haitian and Haitian American Students (Martha Scott Lue Stewart, Kevin Meehan, and Rosalyn Howard); (29) An International Model: Preparing Pre-Service Teachers for Cultural Diversity (Brenda S. Thompson); (30) Making the Most of Existing Technology in the Elementary and Middle Grades Social Studies Classroom (Scott M. Waring and Amy J. Good); (31) U.S. Monuments and Memorials: Incorporating the Art of Remembering into the Social Studies Curriculum (Stewart Waters); (32) Promoting Global Citizenship by Analyzing Social Issues and Human Rights Violations of the WWII Era (Stewart Waters and William B. Russell III); (33) Using Digital Storytelling for Vocabulary Instruction (Susan Wegmann); and (34) Film, Arts and Culture as Community Outreach Tools: Perspectives from Singapore (Victor Yu). (Individual papers contain references.)

The Indonesian language learning program for foreign speakers (BIPA) is currently the government's focus in its efforts to internationalize Indonesian as the language of international communication. BIPA students will learn four language skills: listening, speaking, reading, and writing. The selection of attractive learning media will ease them in learning Indonesian. This study aimed to engage local wisdom as a medium of learning for BIPA students in Surakarta. In this context, Surakarta's local wisdom included tourist attractions, historical places, cuisine, and the local community's culture. This research employed a qualitative design involving a case study approach. The data were obtained from document analysis, observation, and interviews with BIPA students in Surakarta. The data validity was achieved by administering the triangulation of technique and source. The findings indicated that videos, as learning media containing Surakarta local wisdom, could increase BIPA students' enthusiasm to learn Indonesian and local culture. Aside from being a part of Indonesian language learning, local wisdom could also be a medium to promote Surakarta tourism to foreign tourists. BIPA students acquired vocabulary commonly used by the local community. In addition, they also comprehended the culture of the Surakarta people; hastalaku (eight Javanese behaviors). It helped them adapt to the social life of the community. [For the full proceedings, see ED630948.]

Currently, the use of technology in education has become more popular. Special attention has been given to the adaptation of computer technology into the teaching-learning process for effective learning and increasing students' achievement. In recent years, it has been realized that there is an immense benefit in applying computer technology in the social studies classroom in the context of the high school. The first purpose of this study is to investigate the degree of application of these technologies in the social studies classroom, specifically it application in the discipline of archaeology. The second purpose is to show the use of different technologies in order to replace the traditional process of archaeological documentation with a digital one. In this contribution it is presented the methodology used for recording archaeological data in the excavation and in the laboratory, which consist on online database system for field recording and photogrammetry as a means of graphical documentation for the development of the excavated trenches. [For the complete volume, "Proceedings of International Conference on Social and Education Sciences (IConSES) (Chicago, Illinois, October 15-18, 2020). Volume 1," see ED626033.]

Informal learning allows learners to be in charge of their own learning process instead of being a content consumer. Harnessing mobile technology in informal learning field could help learners in taking a learning opportunity whenever they need either individually or in a group. This paper presents a small-scale study to investigate how people may use mobile technology for learning purposes in cultural heritage contexts. A focus group approach was used to capture preliminary results of user requirements. Based on these results, a scenario-based method was used to reflect a tangible picture regarding how people interact with mobile services. This study serves as an initial step of the series of gathering user requirements in developing a mobile location-based learning service. [For the full proceedings, see ED562093.]

For writers that have earned status as cultural legends, like Yehuda Amichai (1924-2000) and Orham Pamuk (1952-), the respective cities where they themselves resided serve as both setting and muse. In the writings of Amichai, the holy city Jerusalem assumes the role of both a backdrop for his poetry as well as an all-encompassing symbol of Israel and its people. In the autobiographical and semi-autobiographical prose of Pamuk, it is Istanbul, the geographical and cultural crossroads of Europe and Asia that simultaneously inspire and dictate the nature of his narrative. Both authors have been celebrated for their integration of the city as a silent, verbally if not literally, character within their works--a multifaceted player shaping and influencing at every turn. For their openness to criticize religion and secular approaches, Amichai and Pamuk lend well to a comparative analysis. Both poet and novelist regard the religious components of their writing as cultural, not spiritual. Amichai saw Jerusalem as both virtuous and hateful, Pamuk regards Istanbul with appreciation and contradiction, but neither writer's name will ever be written or spoken without evoking images of their respective muses. This paper analyzes urban personification to look at the many roles of Istanbul and Jerusalem comparatively. [For the complete Volume 13, Number 1 proceedings, see ED568595.]