The next American president will likely be the candidate who crafts the best "impression" in the media. It is the job of social studies teachers to help students separate impressions from substance and to understand the role that media play in crafting people's meaning making and shaping their decision making. Social studies teachers can help…

Argues that London newspaper satirists are important in the history of Charles Darwin's theory of natural selection: (1) they were among the interpreters of a paradigm shift in biology from the older idealist thinking to the newer empiricist thinking and (2) they simplified the idealist-empiricist issue by making it more accessible to the general…

Presents an activity for high school government or U.S. history classes on President Johnson's attitudes toward education. Students analyze and discuss four primary source documents--a speech, memos, presidential remarks on the signing of education amendments, and a political cartoon. They write a paragraph on Johnson's role in education. (AM)

Compares John Bull and Uncle Sam as iconographic symbols, respectively personifying male images of the British and United States national characters. Recounts their origins, evolutions, and representative values, and includes cartoons depicting the evolution. Describes female counterparts: Britannia and Columbia/Liberty. (CH)

Traces the history of political cartoons in the United States from the first (Benjamin Franklin's "Unite or Die") in 1754 to the present. Discusses three requirements for effective cartoons, and identifies important cartoonists and their work. Characterizes political cartoons as one of the United States' liveliest, most enjoyable, and…