This study aims to augment the current understanding of how practicing teachers perceive and implement disciplinary literacy and in what ways they collaborate with researchers in a disciplinary literacy project. To do this, we collected and analyzed transcripts of the meetings from a disciplinary literacy project that was a university-school…

Teaching about the many controversial issues found in social studies is not easy. Teachers often shy away from such topics, especially in classrooms where students may be socially challenged and unaware of the vocabulary and social norms of civil discourse. This article explores how the narrative strategy Storypath can be used as a vehicle for…

Understanding the pressing need for humans to limit their consumption to more supportable levels, this study investigated how one social studies teacher taught the social issues associated with a sustainable food supply. This article discusses what the teacher's curricular, pedagogical, and assessment strategies were in engaging students with…

The fascination with buried treasures and lost civilizations transcends all ages and serves as an effective magnet for drawing students toward the study of archaeology. Connecting students to the past gives them a better understanding of their own present and future. In this article, the author describes how the scientific method of investigation…

This package includes materials for students and accompanying teaching guides and posters for teaching about life in contemporary Saudi Arabia for grades 1-8. The student folder for grades 1-3 presents information about the Middle Eastern nation in the form of a boy's letter to a friend back home. In the letter are descriptions of the cities of…

Children can acquire basic skills through social studies content using the traditional early childhood learning center environmental organization. Such learning centers are described and possible social studies units and daily routines and activities that can be used in the centers are discussed. (RM)

Prepared by NASA, this guide contains lessons dealing with space for use in elementary and secondary social studies classes. Activities are many and varied. For example, students analyze the costs and benefits of space travel, develop their own space station, and explore the decision-making processes involved in the shuttle. (RM)

Five units are designed to assist kindergarten teachers in developing and implementing social studies programs which focus on introducing children to the world, its resources, and its peoples. Designed as a readiness program to help prepare kindergarten children for the primary grade social studies program, these units identify instructional…

This 10-day unit on the French Revolution is designed to help high school students understand the interplay of economic, social, and political forces in the process of revolutionary change, and the development of modern democratic forms of government. Critical thinking and geographic skill activities are employed throughout the unit and include…

This paper explores research on problem solving and suggests a problem-solving approach to elementary school social studies, using a culture study of the ancient Egyptians and King Tut as a sample unit. The premise is that problem solving is particularly effective in dealing with problems which do not have one simple and correct answer but rather…

The purpose of this unit is to help elementary students make new friends among their classmates and outside the classroom. The underlying rationale is that primary students especially can benefit from the study of the characteristics of friends because they need to learn how to interact with other children, to assist in overcoming the egocentric…

Explores the relationship between current events instruction and economics education and explains how teachers can stress the relationship between these two areas of study and increase students' interest in and understanding of both areas. Suggests how to use a current events game ("The Interwoven Web") to provide important learning experiences…

This four-day unit is designed for use in social studies and/or literature classes at secondary (7-12) and community college levels as a general introduction to conflict on personal, group, and world levels. The unit introduces students to and familiarizes them with the characteristics and mechanisms of conflicts at all levels and with basic…

This is the second part of a teaching guide described in SO 000 195. "A series of inquiry plans for the systematic development of learning and thinking skills are provided." (SBE)

Examines teaching techniques and units which have proven successful in motivating low-interest high school students in social studies and English. Units on effective listening, vocabulary meaning, and personality are described. (DB)