This study highlights the power of place, and reconceptualizes geography education as integral to the larger project of teaching for democratic citizenship. Using an interactive web platform, the researchers asked 29 seventh grade girls to research and map significant cultural and historical places associated with an ethnic group, or women, in the city of Seattle. The students worked in teams and commented frequently on each other's contributions. Adopting a participatory action research method, the researchers studied the multiple ways in which a greater understanding of spatial production, such as processes of exclusion and inclusion, or mapping and counter-mapping, can give students the knowledge and will to challenge prevailing norms about the "naturalness" of a segregated urban landscape, or the inequitable allocation of resources. This approach follows recent feminist, anti-racist, and internationalist articulations of citizenship education, which advocate a social justice or emancipatory component to teaching and learning.

Immigrant adolescents are one of the fastest growing segments of our population, yet we know little about how schools prepare them for citizenship. Although prior research suggests that high school civics education, academic achievement, and a sense of connection increase political participation in early adulthood, we do not know if these processes apply to immigrant youth. Using longitudinal, nationally representative data from the Adolescent Health and Academic Achievement study (AHAA) and the National Longitudinal Study of Adolescent Health (Add Health), we employ multilevel models to investigate the effects of formal and informal school curricula on early adult voting and registration. We find that children of immigrant parents who take more high school social studies coursework have higher levels of reported voter registration and voting. In addition, attending a high school where students have a greater sense of connection or where parents have more education are important predictors of registration and voting, regardless of immigrant status.

Social studies education is designed to provide a foundation for civic society. In this study we consider immigrant optimism theory within the context of U.S. secondary social studies to examine the civic potential of immigrant youth. Using a mixed-methods approach, we complement analyses of teacher and immigrant young adult interviews with national survey data to explore how adults' expectations shape immigrant youths' civic identity formation. Although immigrant parents consistently express high academic expectations of their children, teachers' civic expectations emerged as a critical factor in immigrant youths' civic development. While teachers and immigrant youth reported rich civic discourse in advanced social studies classes, we counter that limited social studies course taking may restrict exposure to teachers' civic expectations, and result in the unrealized civic potential of immigrant youth. We close with a cautionary note regarding the limits of social studies to develop a transformative, emancipatory citizenry, especially among the increasingly diverse immigrant youth population.