Presents sample writing assignments that enable students to practice social studies skills. Suggests that the use of creative writing assignments allows students to make a jump in time or place to the era and area being studied. Argues that using the imagination is a better approach to learning than memorizing facts. (DK)

This 27-minute videotape joins a third-grade class as they discover local history by looking into the community for ideas, by exploring their families and neighborhoods for oral history, and by writing as a way of recording what they learn. It shows how teachers think about how to use language skills for learning and how to make use of local…

Pupils need variety in their writing experiences, and social studies writing involves writing across the curriculum as well as stressing positive attitudes and feelings of the learner. Subject matter should come from the pupil, and diverse learning opportunities should assist the pupil in acquiring the relevant facts, concepts, and main ideas…

Designed with real teachers and real conditions in mind, this booklet presents a model for a writing-across-the-curriculum/writing-to-learn program that can be used in all classrooms in all subject areas from grades 4 to 12. The model presented in the booklet defines five types of writing assignments and the outcomes expected for each--using…

Noting that the process of making and supporting generalizations and argumentation are two thinking strategies that cut across almost every subject area, this paper presents several class activities designed to improve students' ability to make and support generalizations and produce arguments in a written (or oral) composition. The first activity…

Describes an effort to provide students in an introductory human anatomy course with an experience that both allows them to be creative with the facts they are learning and to be supported throughout the writing process. (ZWH)

Presents results of a project examining the effects of writing to learn in elementary social studies. Explains that the research explored journal writing activities as a means of improving social studies achievement, writing fluency, and communication. Concludes that journal writing does increase writing fluency and learning retention. (DK)

Describes various types of writing across the curriculum (WAC) programs and issues in program implementation, examines the implications of WAC programs for teaching basic writers, and outlines some instructional strategies that can be used by teachers to prepare basic writing students for participation in WAC programs. (PAA)

Suggests that developmental writing courses that emphasize transactional writing with assignments directly related to general education courses increase the motivation of students to take the developmental writing assignments seriously, realize that writing skills contribute to academic success, and transfer these writing skills to the written…

A faculty member at the University of Toronto (Ontario) developed an informal survey designed to assess her undergraduate students' views of the writing they did during the course of their university studies. The survey consisted of a 2-page questionnaire that could be completed in 5 to 10 minutes; it was administered to 722 students during the…

Describes five writing activities and assignments designed to help students understand the content of social studies and the process of writing. These include student journals, biographical poems, elaborate word games, and creative writing exercises. Illustrative examples relate these to social studies issues. (MJP)

This document consists of six issues of a newsletter that provides a forum for the sharing of research findings and instructional strategies by faculty of Western Michigan University. Issue Number 1 addresses writing in the Writing Across the Curriculum Program with notification of a faculty workshop, hints on how to encourage good writing, and a…

Presents a model for structuring writing in the geography class with a focus on using maps to prompt writing that will promote student interaction with geographic concepts. Delineates four components of successful writing as fluency, flexibility, frequency, and formality. Includes suggestions for geographic writing activities. (MJP)

Examines whether writing activities promote learning and thinking in elementary and secondary social studies students. Describes writing activities that teachers have used to draw on existing student knowledge, consolidate and review new information, and reformulate and extend knowledge. Concludes that writing activities benefit student learning…

Contends that teachers often demand creative and concise writing but do not provide students with concrete suggestions. Presents an approach to writing instruction using geometric figures as models for essay writing. Includes 10 examples of models with essay questions derived from each model's conceptual base. (CFR)