Provides 11 guideposts for teachers and students planning constructive community action projects. These include avoid overanalysis at the beginning, write your original idea down before you modify it, ignore negativity, do your homework, build a core group, and recruit community allies. (MJP)

Introduces law-related education (LRE) projects developed in Texas, highlighting the State Bar of Texas' LRE curriculum, "Law in a Changing Society." Identifies LRE's nontraditional methods, including role playing, simulations, debates, mock trials, and lectures from community professionals. Stresses LRE's ability to teach responsible…

Expounds on the importance of teaching the interrelationships among science, technology, and society (STS). Addresses the problem of what can be done to infuse STS into the social studies curriculum. Provides bibliographic entries, including resources from the Educational Resources Information Center (ERIC) useful to educators in developing and…

Discusses the use of a mock Canadian city council to help students develop an understanding of their local government and community. Presents a plan for running a mock council, and encourages the use of simulations to enhance the learning experience. (LS)

Applauds the adoption of National Standards in Civics and Government as necessary and overdue. Briefly describes the consensus-building process that produced the standards. Contains a list of the five significant questions asked, along with guidelines for classroom implementation of the standards. (MJP)

Considers the controversy over national education standards and evaluates their potential in the classroom. Specifically, looks at staff development and the goals of school administrators in the light of the recent National Standards in Civics and Government. Postulates that classrooms can become living laboratories for American democracy. (MJP)

Presents a lesson plan that accentuates honesty as a central tenet of moral behavior. The first handout requires written answers to open-ended questions based on the students' personal convictions. Subsequent handouts contain quotes, arguments, and "Six Reasons for Being Honest." A class discussion follows. (MJP)

Asserts that before civics/government teachers teach about the First Amendment to the U.S. Constitution, students should be introduced to the religious and philosophical background of religions freedom in the United States. Identifies issues and historical documents that provide the foundation. (CFR)

Presents two lessons designed to counter textbook images of minorities merely as victims, by introducing high school students to two federal court cases involving Asian immigrants' efforts to guarantee their rights. Includes lesson objectives, background on lesson organization, procedural outline, primary documents necessary for each lesson, and…

Presents a plan for a student-organized open discussion relating to conflicts between the desire to protect children from harmful material on the Internet and the need to protect First Amendment rights. Includes a note to teachers, instructions for conducting the forum, background information, and roles for students participating in the…

Charts the intellectual history of competing conceptions of national unity, diversity, and ethnic identity. Explicates three models: monolithic integration (monocultural assimilation of diversity), pluralistic preservation (diversity and unity as equal values), and pluralistic integration (stressing consensus about core civic values while…

Describes a seventh-grade class project in which students researched a specific social problem, proposed an action plan, and took steps to implement the plan. Students who chose problems closer to home (the elderly, literacy, dropouts) were able to develop more effective action plans. (MJP)

For more than 200 years, American democracy has served as a model for the world. Central to the founders' vision was that government requires the consent of the governed that the people must be active and responsible participants in their own governance. A primary mission of American public schools has been the civic education of young people.…

This article addresses the democratic rhetoric taught in a Costa Rican High School and the ways in which that rhetoric clashed with school practices that revealed hierarchies based on race, ethnicity, class, and religion. This contradiction was rendered visible through student elections, the Independence Day celebration, and civic acts. Through…

Standardization discourse is dominantly linked to tests; yet standardization occurs in practices of everyday social life, too. This research seeks to understand standardization processes involved in the writing done by a class of seventh grade students, half of whom did not do well in school or on tests. Acting as participant observer in a…