Competent social work practice includes the use of advocacy to promote equal opportunity and justice for all individuals, particularly those living in vulnerable circumstances. Group role-play exercises are an innovative teaching method that can promote advocacy skills guided by social work values and the code of ethics. Group role-play exercises…

Cultural Political Vignettes (CPVs) are hypothetical situations involving ethical or social dilemmas presented to students in the form of brief vignettes. They help students consider and discuss questions about ethics, society, and responsibility, and develop both skills (like critical thinking) and dispositions (like empathy) needed to be a…

People often make choices that go against their own best interests. In the controversial bestseller "Nudge," Richard Thaler and Cass Sunstein argue that people can benefit from simple "nudges" to improve their decision-making. In an upper-level undergraduate course on political decision-making, I created a series of assignments around "Nudge." In…

This article explores how teaching about identity in Australia has been framed by the recent historical and political context. It analyses the influential characterisation of Australian identity during John Howard's period in office between 1996 and 2007. The findings of Australian education researchers relating to young people's sense of what it…

Structured classroom debates (SCDs), whereby teams of students debate a question prepared outside of class, help advance two goals many political science instructors struggle to achieve with their students: classroom participation beyond the "usual suspects" present in every classroom and critical thinking and analysis of political issues. This…

This teacher's guide to unit three of the second-semester "Comparing Political Experiences" course provides specific objectives and instructional procedures for each of five activities that focus on the United Mine Workers of America (UWMA). In addition, the guide provides instructions for coordinating the use of the student book,…

This paper describes and evaluates a political skills course for college students. Course objectives include teaching students to do the following: organize and run a meeting; bargain effectively; communicate within and between groups; manage a crisis; organize a political coalition; be aware of personal stress and some of the ways to reduce it;…

Part of the Global Development Studies Institute series of model curricula, the teacher guide presents strategies for teaching about energy as a global issue. The unit, intended for students in grades 11-14, is designed for one semester. The overall objective is to promote awareness of and responsibility toward the global community through an…

The unit supplement provides skill development activities for high school students in mass media techniques. It is intended to be used with a social studies curriculum unit entitled "Unit on Political Decision Making and Action Strategy Over a Local Environmental Problem," (ED 118 526). Teacher directions for using the supplement as a single unit…

This teacher's guide to unit 5 of the 12th-grade second-semester "Comparing Political Experiences" course provides specific objectives and instructional procedures for each of the five activities that focus on the case study of the Cummins Engine Company. In addition, the guide provides instructions for coordinating the use of the…

This teachers guide to unit two of the second-semester "Comparing Political Experiences" course provides specific objectives and instructional procedures for each of the four student activities on the Boston busing controversy. In addition, the guide gives instruction for coordinating the use of the student materials, audiovisual…

This teacher's guide to unit four of the second-semester "Comparing Political Experiences" course provides specific objectives and instructional procedures for each of five activities which focus on the smog problem in Riverside, California. In addition, the guide provides instructions for coordinating the use of the student text,…

Two guides are presented for the development and teaching of political/legal education based on a model designed by the Institute for Political and Legal Education (IPLE) in New Jersey. IPLE has developed curriculum materials and community study projects to instruct secondary students in the political, governmental, and legal processes. One part…

The booklet presents 15 articles describing innovative social studies materials and teaching techniques. It was designed to help classroom teachers develop and implement social studies programs at the elementary school level. The materials were developed by teachers in education programs at the University of North Dakota from 1968-77. The first…

This teacher's curriculum guide is designed to introduce secondary students to the ideas behind the Bill of Rights to the U.S. Constitution and the experiences of the Founders that led to the creation of this document. The curriculum's intent is to provide young people with a knowledge of how the Bill of Rights came into existence, why it took the…