The purpose of this lecture is to provide a perspective from which parents and school people can formulate reasoned opinions on what the school's role should be in regard to students' values. The author offers a definition of values and discusses three rough categories of values--esthetic, instrumental, and moral. The school is a creature of the…

Written for prospective and practicing K-12 teachers, this book examines values education. The authors' central concerns are twofold. The first is to help and encourage teachers develop their own rationale for values education. The second concern is to help teachers help students develop a rational foundation for their own values and learn the…

Given the general recognition that what we do is influenced as much or more by our value commitments as by our factual knowledge, it is ironic that social studies, the area of the curriculum supposedly focused on citizenship education, has paid so little attention to values. There are many reasons for this, but one of them, the author believes, is…

Traditionally, the social studies have been defined as the social sciences adapted and simplified for pedagogical purposes. This definition assumes that the criteria for curriculum selection and development in social studies should come from the social sciences and not from an independent view of what the social sciences should be about. Hence,…

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)

The Analysis of Public Issues Approach to ethics education assumes that controversy is inevitable within a society committed to human worth and made up of diverse groups. This cognitive approach is based on the Oliver and Shaver book, "Teaching Public Issues in the High School." Controversy ensures that societal problems are brought to…

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)

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)

Consideration is given to making the discussion of issues provided by the American Issues Forum most meaningful for students and applicable to their decision making about issues outside of the classroom. The Bicentennial and the American Issues Forum provide an excellent opportunity to help students develop a better understanding of our society's…

The author is concerned that teaching strategies based on the values clarification approach (VCA) and on Kohlberg's stage theory of moral development might be premature. The VCA has been adopted widely despite concerns about threats to privacy of participating students, infringement on rights of parents to shape their children's values, and…

A formal critique of the social studies profession by the president of the National Council for the Social Studies. He examines social studies educators' failure to question certain assumptions, including those about moral education, rights of parents, and preparation of social studies teachers. (Author/RM)

The content and components that can be included in the social studies curriculum are dependent upon how the discipline is defined. If social studies is not simply an offshoot of social sciences, but, rather a required general education program concerned with the preparation of citizens for reflective participation in a democratic society and with…

Can a structure be created that provides a broader and more valid base for the general education curriculum in the social studies than would the structure of social science disciplines? One alternative would be to focus on the making of decisions about public issues as the crucial element of citizenship behavior in a democracy. Using the common…

This paper defines, inquires into the relationships, and analyzes the terms social sciences and social studies. Too often social studies are a simplified instructional adaptation from the social sciences in which curricular decisions are made on the basis of dictates of the social science disciplines and of college prerequisites. A social studies…