Suggests ways that both individual teachers and schools can reduce the influence of teacher political bias in social studies teaching. (FL)

Describes 10 methods of motivating students drawn from experience and research and offers classroom applications for each. (FL)

Presents a planning strategy which a busy social studies teacher may use to create rich resource units that go beyond the single textbook. (SJL)

Tips for teachers on where and how to search for state history materials. (SJL)

Describes multimedia boxes and how they can be used in classrooms. Suggests ways teachers might begin a multimedia box and different ideas for using it. (HB)

Shows how demographic changes in U.S. classrooms represent a challenge to social studies teachers. Considers how the social studies curriculum might be adjusted to reflect current demographic trends. (HB)

Discusses the attack on the sensibilities of adolescents by the relativized and fragmented effects of the information revolution. Argues for the importance, in light of such a social environment, for the teaching of ethics in high schools. (HB)

Proposes a strategy employing challenge, functionalism, high-order learning, and originality to achieve high-quality individualization in course work. Asserts that individualized instruction better prepares students to solve problems, make decisions, and produce original ideas. (MM)

Presents an outline of a number of curriculum modifications and adaptations that can be relatively simple to implement at the middle school level in order to individualize instruction in mainstreamed classrooms. (FL)

The author points out the wealth of material available to Social Studies teachers this year in particular, due to the information generated by the 1980 census. (KC)

Notes that the curriculum standards under development by the National Council for the Social Studies incorporate authentic learning assessment tasks and suggest ways that civic participation experiences can be included and the subsequent learning assessed. Discusses instruction and assessment opportunities involving citizenship education. (RS)

Argues that social-studies curricula should foster values and practices consistent with democratic values; that this requires critical thinkers who can make informed decisions; and that decision making is based on being able to ask good, probing questions. Discusses the nature of middle-school learners, the strengthening of democracy, and…

This article considers a rationale for a unit approach to teaching social studies, describes the structure of thematic units, identifies four sources of unit themes, outlines the process of developing a thematic unit, and suggests some resources. (Author/SJL)