This experimental unit on death employs a cross-cultural comparison of death and burial customs to increase student understanding of the values and reasons behind events surrounding the end of the life cycle. Nine activities are presented in which students collect, label, analyze, and generalize about the relationship of death customs to the…

This unit examines four topic areas related to police: rules and enforcement, police discretion, variety of police tasks, and police differences among societies as products of certain social pressures. High-school students learn about the police as an institution that responds to social and historical pressures. Students study police systems in…

Showing a variety of learned behavior about aging, activities in this unit are designed to help high-school students become aware that their views (preconceptions) on aging are not universally held. Objectives of the unit include achievement of global perspective on aging and its problems, understanding of the effects of population growth and…

In this unit, high-school students identify and evaluate their own images of the Arabs and begin to develop more accurate perceptions of the Arabs through data analysis. Activities emphasize social studies skills, such as mapmaking and reading, use of time lines and the concept of chronology, and data collection and analysis. Students compare…

This instructional unit offers high-school students experiences in learning about how human beings communicate and fail to communicate. It is based on the assumption that personal and cultural differences create differing "perceptual sets." Seventeen learning activities are grouped into four units: (1) Communication Processes and "Meaning-Making,"…

The value of motion pictures as a significant, vital, cultural force in our society is presented. This document is divided into four parts, which contain altogether 17 chapters. Chapter 1 presents a discussion of an experimental course of study for high school senior social studies using films to introduce or supplement the basic required…

A pilot project was conducted to determine if there was evidence to support an experimental program for comparison with the current, conventional programs of 9th grade social studies in the East Lansing, Michigan schools. The experimental program was one in which students were introduced into the world of work and spheres of the citizen within the…

This unit explores the roles of women today and the possible effects of social, political, and economic equality for women on students' personal lives, the nation, and the world. Thirteen activities are designed to help secondary students develop an understanding of the status of women in U.S. society as compared with other cultures. These…