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If you would like to write for this, or any other Emerald publication, then please use our Emerald for Authors service information about how to choose which publication to write for and submission guidelines are available for all. Please visit www.emeraldinsight.com/authors for more information. About Emerald www.emeraldinsight.comEmerald is a global publisher linking research and practice to the benefit of society. The company manages a portfolio of more than 290 journals and over 2,350 books and book series volumes, as well as providing an extensive range of online products and additional customer resources and services.Emerald is both COUNTER 4 and TRANSFER compliant. The organization is a partner of the Committee on Publication Ethics (COPE) and also works with Portico and the LOCKSS initiative for digital archive preservation. AbstractPurpose -Although social studies teachers are charged with explicitly teaching about citizenship, all teachers in a school implicitly teach about citizenship. That is, in their daily interactions with students, whether specific to subject area content or not, teachers impart lessons to their students about what citizenship is and what it means to be a citizen. The paper aims to discuss these issues. Design/methodology/approach -Examining the "powerful" stories of three teachers, only one of whom teaches social studies, this paper focuses on "informal citizenship education" across schools. Findings -It concludes with implications for workers in and beyond the field of social studies education. Originality/value -Ultimately, it suggests that as notions of citizenship education expand to include informal citizenship education, teachers will better teach students to be effective citizens.

People rely on power plants to generate the electricity needed to run much of their lives. Power plants, though, are typically not the domain of the average citizen. Even if they stand near homes, schools, and other important places, the operations inside, not to mention the many social and environmental impacts outside, largely lack the scrutiny of most citizens. Is this a problem, especially when some governmental oversight already regulates the plants’ operations? The National Council for the Social Studies (NCSS) defines the main purpose of social studies education as creating effective citizens. This article describes an interdisciplinary unit of study by middle-grades youth about a proposed power plant in their city of Lansing, Michigan. It shows students scrutinizing the complex power plant issue through a variety of experiences and from different angles. While supporting NCSS’ stance on the teaching of citizenship, we call for a conception of citizenship extending beyond human communities and structures to the community of the earth and all living beings. We also encourage social studies teachers to take up the work of teaching for ecological citizenship.

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