The purpose of this professional development manual is to provide materials and activities for developing and using assessments in social studies. The manual came about through the efforts of the 25 state consortium Comprehensive Social Studies Assessment Project (CSSAP) to make the alignment of assessments, curricula, and instructional programs…

As the United States approaches the bicentennial of the Meriwether Lewis and William Clark expedition, it is critical to embark on a voyage of recovery to help restore the Missouri River to some of its original prominence and splendor. The mission of the Missouri River Project is to emphasize the role of the Missouri River in the physical…

This lesson, one of four stand-alone lessons that examine Australia as an aspect of world history, is designed to teach students about hunter-gatherer societies in the context of Tasmanian Aboriginal culture. Tasmania represents a particularly useful site for the study of hunter-gatherer societies because it is geographically isolated, even from…

Paterson, New Jersey, was established in the 1790s to utilize the power of the water that cascades through the Passaic River Gorge. Massive brick mill buildings lined the canals that transformed the power of the falls into energy to drive machines. These mills manufactured many things during the history of this industrial city. In the late 19th…

Beginning a journey mid-May 1804, what became known as the Corps of Discovery, under the command of Meriwether Lewis and William Clark, set out to investigate the newly acquired Louisiana Territory, locate a water route to the Pacific Ocean, and strengthen U.S. claims to the northwest. The 55-member group navigated a variety of terrains and…

This publication is dedicated to social studies education at all levels. Articles and teaching ideas in this issue are: "Defending Multicultural Education, Academic Freedom, and Democracy in the Wake of 9/11/01" (A. Singer); "Teachers Respond to 'Defending Multicultural Education'"; "'Any Other Day': Dealing with the…

This report shows how the study of U.S. history can be enriched by blending geography into the curriculum. Because the fields of history and geography have not been melded together in terms of curricula, often history is not taught in relation to geography and geography has tended to be taught primarily as location/place information. The report…

Stating that social studies can help students find order in their lives by illustrating patterns and connections of human existence, this guide addresses essential learning requirements for social studies in the state of Washington. The guide notes that these requirements seek to give students the knowledge and skills they need to participate as…

This report describes a program designed to enhance social studies skills and knowledge. The target areas for enhancement are geography skills and community understanding. The targeted population is a second grade class in a rural Midwestern setting. The need for strengthening these skills was documented by observation, checklists, surveys, and…

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…

This curriculum guide provides activities to help students understand Latin America. A foundation for analyzing the interdependence of world nations develops critical thinking, and problem solving skills. Activities emphasize research, reading, writing, and speaking skills. Detailed lesson plans and accompanying reproducible student handouts are…

This learning module aims to engage students in problem solving, critical thinking, scientific inquiry, and cooperative learning. The module is appropriate for use in any introductory or intermediate undergraduate course that focuses on human-environment relationships. The module states that human health is a product of complex interactions among…

The revised North Carolina Standard Course of Study has moved from a detailed, prescriptive curriculum guide to a more flexible instructional guide, emphasizing what students should know and be able to do as they progress through various levels of proficiency and ultimately exit from high school. The revised curriculum focuses on themes and…

Twenty-five years ago "history and civics" was the term generally applied to the efforts of the schools to explain man in society. The amount of civics in the combination is indicated by the fact that the committee of seven of the American Historical Association, reporting in 1898 on the study of history in the schools, recommended that…

This article describes an introductory geography course on the distribution and analysis of wealth at a global level, focusing on the attempts of poor nations to improve their condition and using ten novels as a major resource replacing traditional textbooks. A list of non-western novels is included. (JH)