Describes principles which achieve good writing assignments in the social studies: (1) define the content and skills teachers want students to learn, (2) devise assignments in which level of difficulty of task fits the level of the goal, (3) let students speculate on the topic, and (4) present the topic so that students know how and what to do.…

Describes a test designed to measure outcomes of "inquiry" social studies programs in elementary schools. Results indicate that inquiry students, or those whose teachers use inductive methods to encourage active participation in learning, perform better than noninquiry students on tasks requiring higher cognitive processes. (Author/KC)

Presents guidelines for social studies teachers and a sample writing assignment to encourage student's developmental writing. Suggests that students emphasize the significance of the writer's ideas and information rather than the information itself. Establishes the relationship between thinking processes and writing and the need to break these…