Social Studies: Think About it!

Dr. Carla Peck - Keynote Presentation Slides

Dr. Carla Peck is Professor of Social Studies Education in the Faculty of Education, and Adjunct Professor in the Department of History, Classics & Religion, at the University of Alberta. She is the Director of Thinking Historically for Canada’s Future, a national research partnership focused on K-12 history education (www.thinking-historically.ca).

Carla researches teachers’ and students’ understandings of democratic concepts, teachers’ and students’ historical understandings, and is particularly interested in the relationship between students’ ethnic identities and their understandings of history. She has held several major research grants, has authored and co-authored numerous journal articles and book chapters, and has co-edited several books related to her research interests, including Teaching and Learning Difficult Histories in International Contexts: A Critical Sociocultural Approach, The Palgrave Handbook of Global Citizenship and Education, and Contemplating Historical Consciousness: Notes from the Field.

Carla regularly works with teachers at the provincial, national, and international level and serves as a consultant on numerous boards and advisory groups for history and civic organizations. She has been involved in various aspects of curriculum development in Alberta, Canada, and internationally and is actively engaged in political advocacy for quality social studies and history education in Alberta. Strongly committed to social justice education, Carla has always sought ways to engage students of all ages in discussions about how to make the world a more equitable and just place to live. She views a solid grounding in history and historical inquiry as foundational to these discussions. Before Carla found her way to academia, she was an elementary school teacher in New Brunswick.