The paper gives reasons why the type of social studies genuinely committed to the education of citizens in a democracy has never flourished in the United States, though such education is crucial to the nation's survival. Social studies, as a discipline, should be utilized to solve social problems and not be a vehicle for imposing a particular…

The aim of this study was to determine the effects of ethnicity and course structure on academic achievement at the college level. The sample consisted of 298 undergraduate students: 65% white, 12.5% Asian, 9.5% Hispanic, 9% black, and 4% other racial/ethnic groups. Students were randomly assigned to one of two introductory sociology sections. The…

Classroom teachers in high school and college need communication skills beyond precise and dramatic lecturing. They must be willing to plan and ask searching questions meant to transform classrooms into dialogic and interpersonal places. Educators must halt the curricular production of passive stenographers and begin the work of assisting students…

Drawn largely from the experiences of Bloomfield College (Illinois) with its Freshman Core Program, but citing other efforts to develop thinking skills as well, this essay considers several questions and issues concerning the cognitive skills approach to teaching. The paper begins by identifying some of the increasingly common learning problems…