Provides educational resources from ERIC (Educational Resources Information Center) to help teachers find the material to teach the five themes of geography. An annotated bibliography of seven ERIC documents on geographic location is provided. (LS)

Spatial dynamics is an instructional strategy whereby students create large scale models that capture the details of a historic event. This Digest discusses classroom floor models and papier mache models. Floor models are best suited to elementary classrooms and middle schools. Papier mache models, appropriate for high school social studies…

Geography helps one understand the physical and cultural characteristics of the world. Geographic education provides the values, knowledge, concepts, and skills to better understand ourselves, our relationship to the earth, and our interdependence with other peoples of the world. There is a great need to increase the quantity and quality of…

Students today face a wide range of economic decisions. To be wise consumers, prudent savers, and knowledgeable investors, they need basic economic concepts and decision-making skills. To this end the National Council on Economic Education (NCEE) developed the Voluntary National Content Standards in Economics (1997) for students in kindergarten…

"We the People . . . Project Citizen," an instructional product, involves students in the selection and investigation of important public issues in their community and thus engages students in learning experiences designed to affect positively their civic development, which involves three basic components of democratic citizenship: (1)…

The concept of citizenship is at the core of education for democracy. This Digest presents what citizenship is; why citizenship is an essential element of democracy; and how to teach about citizenship in a democracy. In a democracy, the source of all authority (the legitimate basis of all power) is the collective body of the people, the citizens…

Defining law-related education (LRE) as "education to equip nonlawyers with knowledge and skills pertaining to the law, the legal process, and the legal system, and the fundamental principles and values on which these are based, this Digest outlines four essential elements of LRE. These are: (1) subject matter and concepts; (2) instructional…

This booklet, part of the "TeachERIC Resource Series," is an annotated bibliography of elementary and secondary social studies curriculum guides available through the ERIC system. One purpose of the series is to help familiarize teachers with the ERIC system and what it can do for them. Curriculum guides are defined as course outlines and syllabi.…

Many totalitarian communist states throughout the world have broken up during the 1990's, and citizens in those countries, from Central and South American to Central and Eastern Europe, are working to build constitutional democracies out of the rubble. Part of creating these new governments is devising new school curricula to include civic…

The document presents an annotated bibliography of resources in the Educational Resources Information Center (ERIC) for teaching social studies skills to elementary and secondary students. It is one of four bibliographies in volume 1 of the TeachERIC Resource Series. The objective of this bibliography is to offer teachers resources which would be…

This annotated bibliography, one of four separate resources in the "Teach ERIC Resource Series," cites materials that will help elementary teachers incorporate a global approach into social studies instruction. All materials listed are available through the ERIC system and in journal articles. The purpose of the Series is to help familiarize…

Community studies and an urban focus are returning to the social studies. This digest reviews urban studies from a historical perspective. The first section discusses the value of studying cities, noting that city living is becoming fashionable again, and a movement called the New Urbanism has brought a new appreciation for the social, cultural,…

This collection of the National Council for the Social Studies (NCSS) presidential addresses seeks to provide a valuable window to the history of NCSS and the field of social studies. Following the "Introduction" (James J. Sheehan), addresses appear chronologically: 1936 "Social Sanity through the Social Studies" (R. O.…

Examines (1) the meaning of the term Pacific Rim, (2) the reasons for emphasizing the Pacific Rim in the social studies curriculum, and (3) useful strategies for teaching about this part of the world. Provides a list of reference and ERIC resources dealing with this subject. (GEA)

Provides a detailed description of nine ERIC resources designed to aid instruction about China. Included are teaching units, collections of activities, and teacher background material developed between 1981 and 1984 for use in elementary and secondary school settings. (JDH)