Almost eighty years ago, Lucy Sprague Mitchell, founder of Bank Street College of Education in New York City, wrote about social studies in ways that sound remarkably contemporary: "In the first place, we shall say that the curriculum should continue the laboratory methods, which means it should furnish the children with as many first-hand…

Compares the effectiveness of two types of classroom vocabulary instruction with a noninstruction type homework assignment. (FL)

Provides a school library media activity for elementary grades using the "Guinness Book of World Records" in print and CD-ROM format. Lesson objectives, librarian preparation required, student activities, and evaluation are included. (EAM)

Tells benefits of approaching the study of literature through a study of folk tale variants; suggests a plan for helping children analyze and compare folk tale variants. Includes a model of a discussion based on three versions of "Jack and the Beanstalk," and lists and annotates variant editions of nine familiar folk tales. (ET)

Proposes a model for teaching multicultural awareness in elementary social studies classes in order to give children a more meaningful perspective on their own culture. Based on a comparative study of critical life events such as marriage or death, the model should be of immediate personal interest to students. (AV)

Examines students' motivations for participating in literacy tasks. Finds that grade five students responded positively when the context was perceived as autonomy supportive, and grade three students reported more intrinsic motivations when they perceived the context to be socially supportive than nonsocial contexts. (CR)

This study investigated time allocated to instruction as a function of the specific type of mild handicap and as a function of setting and subject matter content. Subjects were 122 elementary students categorized as learning-disabled, emotionally/behaviorally disturbed, educable mentally retarded, and nonhandicapped. Subjects were in mainstreamed,…

Survey results summarize elementary-school use of Canadian and non-Canadian oriented materials, resources, and activities in the borough of North York, Ontario. A questionnaire completed by 205 teachers inquired about use of textbooks and unpublished material, resource people, and field trips. Focus on Canadian culture was identified whenever it…

This four-week fourth grade social studies unit dealing with religious dimensions in ancient Egyptian culture was developed by the Public Education Religion Studies Center at Wright State University. It seeks to help students understand ancient Egypt by looking at the people, the culture, and the people's world view. The unit begins with outlines…

A grade 6/7 class which constructed and explored three-dimensional shapes with the VREAM virtual reality (VR) development system program was compared with a grade 5/6/7 control group using card nets (diagrams which can be cut out/folded). Results indicated that VR had little impact on shape visualization and name writing, but it strongly enhanced…

Observations were conducted to document the active academic responding and academic engagement rates of 122 elementary students (30 learning-disabled, 32 emotionally/behaviorally disturbed, 30 mildly mentally retarded, and 30 self-contained programs. Data were recorded in 10-second intervals for each student over an entire school day. During a…

Part of the Anthropology Curriculum Project, this document presents lesson plans and a pupil activity book introducing some basic anthropological concepts to students in grades K-1. The objective is to aid teachers in helping young children acquire an understanding of the concepts anthropologists use to observe, describe, and report social…

Part of the Anthropology Curriculum Project, this teaching guide presents lesson plans introducing basic anthropological concepts to students in the first grade. The objective is to aid teachers in helping young children acquire an understanding of the concepts anthropologists use to observe, describe, and report social phenomena. This guide…

This social studies unit includes teacher background material, a student text, study guide, and composite pretest/posttest explaining and discussing cultural concepts. It is part of the Anthropology Curriculum Project and is designed to be used in grade 4. The unit objective is to provide students with a background for understanding man and his…

By distinguishing between the Soviet government and the Russian people in Soviet studies, teachers can assist students in forming positive but realistic attitudes about Russia. Geography, music, art, and literature offer a wealth of information about Russia. A good starting point is a discussion of Russian children: the age at which they enter…