In this second edition of Getting Beyond the Facts Kincheloe presents a comprehensive view of
complex-democratic social studies in the 21st century. He argues that the reform of social
studies education requires a corps of rigorous social science scholars who understand the
historical origins of the social studies the conceptual foundations of the field its
strengths and weaknesses and modes of social theoretical analysis and takes students through
numerous intellectual encounters in social studies and the contexts that inform it. Focusing on
the importance of knowledge production and interpretation Kincheloe calls for the education of
social studies teachers as researchers who can critique and reconstruct curriculum as they
expose the covert ideological functions of contemporary educational reforms and top-down
standards-driven social studies subject matter. In an era of depoliticization and induced
political illiteracy Kincheloe calls for a new form of social studies social sciences
scholarship to counter such alarming trends.
