Identifies the difficulties of teaching the Vietnam War. States that lack of adequate materials, student disinterest, and the complexity of the issue hinder instruction. Describes how some instructors approach the subject and concludes that interest in this area should be encouraged. (GEA)

Explains the cartographic qualities of rectangular world maps and compares the merits of various projections such as the Mercator and the recently-created Gall-Peters. States that the Gall-Peters projection does not provide a reasonable base for a general world map; that no rectangular projection does. (JDH)

Small publishers expect to make a profit with hundreds rather than thousands of products; they do not have to strive to please the broad middle of the consumer population. However, limitations plague small publishers, e.g., they cannot afford giveaways and discounts or to print a teacher's guide in full color. (RM)

Differentiates vocabulary learning from concept learning. Provides two activities designed to help students invent new concept labels or rename existing labels after examining the substance and meaning of the underlying concepts. (JDH)

Presents four universal game grids, which may be used to help junior high students learn various kinds of information. Describes the kinds of games which can be played with each grid and includes a sample drawing of the grid's lay-out. (JDH)

History textbooks usually read like dictionaries and encyclopedias--compact, fact-filled, and dry. To help senior high school students get meaning from this kind of text, teachers can use graphic techniques to preview the text, to guide students during reading, and to review the text after the students have read it. (RM)

Reviews the author's Vietnam War experience and his conviction that students cannot think critically because they are not challenged to do so. Identifies materials from the Center for Social Studies Education curriculum on Vietnam as a framework to be used to teach critical thinking in order to be able to evaluate similar situations appropriately.…

Teachers today are being held accountable and being judged inadequate as a result of factors--curriculum requirements and school organization--over which they have little control. In spite of this, many teachers are making extraordinary contributions to education. Examples of educational innovations being used by secondary history teachers are…

Discusses different goal orientations of educationists and social scientists as a means of stimulating thinking and action in the realm of social studies curriculum and instruction. (Author/DB)

Argues that the public school is a realistic setting for involving students in U.S. style democracy. States that teachers should use the similarities to teach students about representative democracy (school elections) and effective lobbying (petitioning the school board). Concludes that this comparison is an effective way to teach students about…

Identifies diversity of teachers' instructional priorities, student disengagement (boredom), and mediocre teaching as three problem-areas of social studies instruction. Overcoming these problems requires that teachers place depth above coverage, that the school culture be changed to enhance student engagement, and that efforts be made to promote…

Examines the way in which studying history contributes to intellectual development. Identifies five mental attributes it enhances: perspective--gained from placing people, events, institutions against larger background; encounter--confronting great ideas, personalities, etc.; relativism in a pluralistic world--developed from immersion in other…

Based on the idea that the best way to help students write better is to have them write more, this article describes an instructional process called journal freewriting. Shows how freewriting, or writing without planning and without stopping, may be used cooperatively by social studies and English departments to enhance efforts to improve…

Four questions are answered by a social studies coordinator: Does the public value social studies instruction?; What is the K-12 social studies program?; How can social studies be better taught--especially when using textbooks?; and What difference does knowing "what" and "how" make to students? (RM)

The roles and behavior of the process education curriculum of MACOS are meaningfully implemented in a college professional preparatory setting. (Author/KM)