This paper investigates issues-centered instruction looks in two ninth grade classrooms composed of large numbers of low achieving high school students. The key principles of issues-centered instruction are described with an examination of the barriers of the approach with low achieving students. The paper reports on two world geography classrooms…

This document is part of series that seeks to help people think constructively about foreign policy issues, to improve citizen involvement, and to encourage debate on public issues. "Global Environmental Problems"; "The Human Factor in the Changing Environment"; "Public Policy and the Environment"; and "The U.S. Role in Global Environmental…

The guide is designed for a one-semester high school course focusing on American problems. Objectives are to help students develop a practical understanding of the law, acquire an appreciation of the principles of our laws, and participate in the legal system. The guide is arranged in three major units. Following a course outline and list of…

Reliability data suggest that, although there are many problems, it is feasible to systematically evaluate a student's analytic and persuasive competence in free oral argumentation. The first part of the paper describes the contexts within which the evaluation project took place. Specifically discussed are the five areas of analysis on which the…

This document is the record from a U.S. Congress oversight hearing on the Department of Education's refusal to fund a program to teach students about the Holocaust. The program, "Facing History and Ourselves," applied for federal funding to the Department of Education's National Diffusion Network (NDN), an organization intended to…

Five commonly used educational psychology textbooks were reviewed in terms of the accuracy and comprehensiveness of their coverage of three controversial topics: Piagetian theory; self-fulfilling prophecy; and learning styles. Although textbook coverages were accurate as written, they often failed to convey the degree of controversy that exists…

Given the lack of interest among college and high school students and the declining rates of participation in political affairs, the concept of political specialization has significant implications for teaching political science. Research reveals that almost 90 percent of high school students who do not plan to attend college are either completely…

To illustrate the incorporation of liberal arts values into the speech communication curriculum, this paper presents a rationale for creating a public speaking course that emphasizes the analysis of current critical issues. The paper argues that by requiring students to speak on important issues, rather than on personal topics, they will need to…

Divided into two sections, this booklet demonstrates how the discovery/inquiry approach and values clarification can be used to teach population education. Each part presents a theoretical discussion of a teaching method including its definition, its relevance to population education, some outstanding characteristics that make it suitable for…

Current media--films, videos, television programs, advertising in both print and television, and newspaper and magazine articles--can be successfully employed in college literature and composition classes, enhancing the learning environment by involving those students who might otherwise show disinterest. For example, a unit on pornography,…

As the controversy over religion in the classroom increases, the presence of religious influences and foundations in history has become almost non-existent in textbooks, and classic literature is dropped in favor of reading texts that are "dumbed down" by readability formulas, that avoid anything that might offend influential interest…

Nuclear war education has become a topic of concern among educators who, on one side, see it as an essential component of undergraduate education or, on the other, see it as political indoctrination dominated by direct and indirect Soviet interests. This study assessed the affective impact of an intensive (eight hours per day for five straight…

U.S. public education has always been value laden, and a straightforward approach concerning what values will be taught is an appropriate policy. In spite of U.S. pluralism, a relatively common set of traditional values is possible and desirable. Three assumptions have been accepted in this essay: (1) no one lives a value-neutral life; (2)…

This guide is designed as a resource for individuals and groups who are considering why and how to implement teaching about nuclear issues in the classroom. Section I presents some questions frequently asked about nuclear education and responses based upon the experience and research of Educators for Social Responsibility. Section II highlights…

Academic freedom and its impact on scholarship are considered in this University of Toledo's Honors Day address. As introduction, some significant points of the University's history that portray its commitment to academic freedom are cited, along with trends affecting academic freedom in the United States as a whole. It is suggested that academic…