Decades of scholarship on teaching and learning affirm the benefits of public service internships on student learning outcomes. Studies emphasize how hands-on fieldwork can increase students' substantive knowledge, political efficacy, trust in government, and civic participation, among other factors. However, most articles treat internships…

Project 18 is a course developed to encourage student involvement in the political system. It attempts to teach the importance of an active, concerned citizenry for the democratic process. (Author)

The social sciences may be viewed as policy sciences and, as such, can make significant contributions to both public policy and the social studies curriculum. Political science has made contributions in legislative reform, centralized budgeting, regulation of lobbying, and improvement of election administration. Sociology has helped make…

Acting on the belief that existing courses in civics and government lack success because they are largely redundant and fail to capitalize on recent research in political science, the High School Curriculum Center in Government developed a two-semester program entitled "American Political Behavior" (APB). The final report of the curriculum project…

This progress report, issued by the Indiana University High School Curriculum Center in Government, attempts to make clear the Center's position on certain issues in social studies curriculum development and the rationale behind these positions. The paper's first section considers complaints about present government courses and examines existing…

Asserts that before civics/government teachers teach about the First Amendment to the U.S. Constitution, students should be introduced to the religious and philosophical background of religions freedom in the United States. Identifies issues and historical documents that provide the foundation. (CFR)

Recommends that undergraduate journalism and communications majors receive more thorough training in local and public affairs education. Changes in communications technology have raised the importance and accessibility of local news for national candidates, often without a corresponding rise in sophistication of coverage. (MJP)

A curriculum project on political party democracy in West Germany is described. Intended mainly for use in grades 9-10, the curriculum was developed by German social scientists, educators, and students from 1971 to 1973. The curriculum report is presented in two sections. Section I describes the learning package, tells who it is designed for,…