A description of the activities of an ongoing curriculum development project aimed at preparing an alternative program for political science education is provided. (Author/DE)

Presents design, collected data, and findings of study that deals with students' exposure and improving information-gathering procedures on students' knowledge bases in political science. (Author/ND)

This second of three units to the 12th-grade first-semester "Comparing Political Experiences" course provides 20 student activities that examine political resources such as wealth, skills, status, information, and ideas. The activities and readings are divided into six sections which stress the alternative patterns of political resources…

The relationship between student attitudes and the school as a political system is analyzed in this research report. Four types of school systems are hypothesized: elite, bureaucratic, coalitional, and participant. After testing this conceptualization, student attitudes of trust, integration, confidence, and interest toward both school and society…

Four interrelated questions in this paper provide a framework for examining the rationale of a model for developing a political laboratory which would fulfill meaningful objectives for civics and government instruction. The first question, why make the school the focus of the laboratory, offers reasons for preferring the school over the classroom…

This is the introductory unit to the second semester "Comparing Political Experiences" course which focuses on specific, controversial political issues. The unit uses a comic book format to teach 12th-grade students the fundamental political concepts of system, political-system types, and political experiences which will be used in later…

Designed to be an integral part of the second-semester "Comparing Political Experiences" course, this skills kit provides supplementary student activities for four documentary "Political Issues" units. The kit is divided into three sections on skills. The analytical skill section provides exercises on six analytical skills…

This monograph is intended to inform curriculum writers, evaluators, and consultants about the High School Political Science Curriculum Project's first year of work. The main purpose of the project is to develop, test, and disseminate a two-semester program entitled "Comparing Political Experiences." The program, designed to serve as an…

The rationale, goals, curriculum components, instructional strategies, and curriculum development process of a two-semester, secondary-level political science course, "Comparing Political Experiences," are described in this paper. Developed as part of the High School Political Science Curriculum Project at Indiana University, the major…

This first of three units of "Comparing Political Experiences", a first-semester course, provides 18 activities which introduce 12th-grade students to political system concepts that they will work with in-depth in succeeding units. The activities and readings, divided into seven sections, stress the development of political knowledge,…

This is the third unit to the second-semester "Comparing Political Experiences" course which focuses on a specific, controversial, political issue. The unit analyzes the concept of political maintenance by studying the United Mine Workers of America (UMWA) between 1918 and 1975 and its fight to secure mine safety standards. A documentary…

This is the fourth unit to the 12th-grade second-semester "Comparing Political Experiences" course which focuses on specific controversial political issues. The unit analyzes the concept of political development by examining the Cummins Engine Company and employee job security during the company's growth into a multinational corporation.…

A theoretical framework for mapping school political life is developed which distinguishes elite, bureaucratic, coalitional, and participant types of school political organizations. The framework provides tools for analyzing and comparing patterns of political behavior within and across school political behavior settings. Definitions and…

The third unit to the first-semester course, "Comparing Political Experiences," provides 16 activities to help 12th-grade students acquire in-depth knowledge of various kinds of political activities, such as decision making, leadership, communication, and participation. The activities and readings are divided into six sections which…

Since the first unit of the second-semester "Comparing Political Experiences" course is self-instructional, this teaching guide focuses mainly on instructional objectives, mastery tests, and application exercises. The objectives and mastery tests are provided for each of the five lessons in the student materials. Following the completion…