For the past 2000 years the Ramayana has been among the most important literary and oral texts of South Asia. This epic poem provides insights into many aspects of Indian culture and continues to influence the politics, religion, and art of modern India. This booklet contains material designed to provide an entry into the study of this tradition.…

This study analyzes the treatment of Asian Americans in a group of selected high school U.S. history textbooks published between 1994 and 1996. Using a content analysis technique, nine of the textbooks most widely used in Hawaii were evaluated in terms of Asian groups represented, events and personalities identified, and multicultural concepts…

This paper introduces topics about the American West to teachers and students of U.S. history and suggests that interested students can pursue the topics at greater length. The report is based on information from the novelist, Tony Hillerman, who states in "The Best of the West" (1991) that there are many firsthand accounts and other…

The goal of this study unit on education for a culture of peace in a gender perspective is to assist teachers in their efforts to educate caring and responsible citizens, open to other cultures, able to appreciate the value of freedom, respectful of human dignity and differences, and able to prevent conflicts or resolve them by nonviolent means.…

The September 11, 2001 attack on the United States and the killing of thousands of innocent people mark the end of one world and the beginning of another for many. For the United States, global issues became personalized. This resource guide seeks to place terrorism in the context of world affairs, in the belief that students need to know how to…

"Image to Word--Word to Image" is a professional development workshop which is part of the Pacific Center for the Arts and Humanities in Education (PCAHE) at the Pacific Resources for Education and Learning (PREL). The program combines the cultural reality of the islands with educational research to create a vision in which visual arts…

The social, cultural, and historical documents and commentary in this casebook illuminate the reading of "The Catcher in the Rye," a novel that has become an important rite of passage for many young adults. In addition to a literary analysis, the casebook acquaints students with the larger world in which Holden Caulfield, the…

This casebook of materials about William Shakespeare's "Julius Caesar" will enrich students' understanding of the historical context of the play and encourage interpretations of its cultural meaning. Shakespeare's "Julius Caesar" reflects perennial cultural concerns about order and freedom, particularly as they clash in the…

This book aims to motivate children to learn about history and social studies by beginning with what they already know--from home life, family life, ethnic/cultural life--and then building on that personal knowledge by adding information from family and community resources. The book includes activities that can help the teacher show students that…

This paper describes and analyzes definitions of democracy and civic education of teachers and students in each of three types of secondary schools in an emerging democracy: the Czech Republic. The paper's theoretical framework is rooted in anthropological and sociological notions of the social context of culture that attend to the fact that all…

The Water in Africa Project was realized over a 2-year period by a team of Peace Corps volunteers, World Wise Schools (WWS) classroom teachers, and WWS staff members. As part of an expanded, detailed design, resources were collected from over 90 volunteers serving in African countries, photos and stories were prepared, and standards-based learning…

Castolon, a small trading and farming community in far southwest Texas has a history that includes harmonious mixing of the people along the United States-Mexico border. The first inhabitants were American Indians who hunted and farmed. By 1900, the area began to attract U.S. and Mexican farmers and ranchers interested in establishing homesteads.…

This publication contains a collection of curriculum projects developed by educators who were participants in the 2001 Fulbright-Hays Summer Seminars Abroad Program in Morocco and Tunisia. The 13 curriculum projects in the publication are entitled: "Women in Morocco, Artists and Artisans" (Virginia da Costa); "Cultures of…

This Idaho Social Science Exploratory course of study applies standards-based content knowledge and skills to an enhanced investigation of geography, history, entrepreneurism, and civic engagement at an eighth-grade level. The exploratory course draws upon the disciplines to emphasize concepts and generalizations from the social sciences, promotes…

This qualitative case study describes a portfolio program in the teaching of English as a foreign language in two Finnish upper secondary schools. Approximately 100 students participated in the portfolio program, whose topic area was culture. First, the purpose of this action research was to try out and develop portfolios in foreign language…