The case is made for the jurisprudential approach to social studies, which focuses on the analysis of public issues, as appropriate for gifted students. Case studies illustrate the approach's emphasis on decision making (and its natural concomitants of disagreement and value conflict) as a central component of democratic citizenship. (CL)

Suggests that building a sound rationale for dealing with controversial issues in the classroom will prevent unnecessarily adversarial relationships between teachers and administrators or the public. Discusses involving students in real problems in both public and private issues. States that effective rationale building depends on involvement in…

Presents the book selections of eight respected social studies scholars asked to address the question: what books in the 20th century had, or should have had, the greatest impact on social education in North America? Includes the scholars' rationales for their choices. (CMK)

In view of the need for open-mindedness in the instruction of new curricular approaches, such as the analysis of public issues, these studies survey pre-service social studies teachers to discover their positions relative to other pre-service subject teachers in strength of authoritarian and dogmatic characteristics. (JH)

"Research in Social Studies Education , James P. Shaver, Editor, Social Education's Research Supplement, Number one, December 1969. An investigation undertaken at Utah State University concludes, "That economics is not an intellectually inappropriate subject for primary-grades social studies. (Author)

The "Handbook of Research on Social Studies Teaching and Learning," a project sponsored by the National Council for the Social Studies, contains 53 chapters that cover a wide variety of topics of interest to principals. (MLF)

Describes a study undertaken to determine to what extent research in social studies education reflects attention to population and sample definitions and descriptions, to randomness, and to replication. Findings indicated researchers often continue to be careless in their data collection and analysis. (Author/DB)

Suggests that handicapism (discrimination against and stereotyping of the disabled) merits the same attention from the social studies profession as sexism and racism have received. The subject should be introduced into the curriculum and would be appropriate, for example, for historical analysis, psychology, and anthropology. (KC)

Reacts to an article by Jean Anyon (in Theory and Research in Social Education; Sep 1978 p40-55) by reiterating his definition and use of the word "mindlessness" in his National Council for the Social Studies presidential address (Social Education; Apr 1977 p300-06), and reemphasizes the point of that address. (CK)

Discusses study to determine readability levels of materials for the social studies classroom which examine contemporary problems. The Dale-Chall and the Fry readability formulae were used. Reading levels of newspapers, government publications, magazines, and publications of special interest groups are provided in chart form. (KC)

A discussion of the current position of social studies in relation to teaching technique and method leads to advocating a social studies curriculum that provides for relevance to students' lives, examination of social issues, and strategies to help students deal with values and value conflicts. (Author/ND)

The editor of the 'Handbook of Research on Social Studies Teaching and Learning" outlines the reasoning behind and the anticipated content of the handbook. The volume discusses the following topics: audience; scope; style; dimensions of social studies; teachers; students; contexts of social studies education; subject and objectives components;…

The authors take issue with the Shermis and Barth position that indoctrination in American education is wrong (Social Education, March 1985), arguing that they have misunderstood the issue and that the imposition of certain democratic values and processes does not conflict with the goals of reflective inquiry. (RM)

Teachers do not intentionally use or consider research findings in making teaching decisions. This lack of use is usually blamed on research deficiencies; e.g., educational research does not address the realistic demands of classroom teaching, research findings are inconsistent, and research articles are difficult to obtain and read. A major…