Provides six themes identified by historians and master teachers that should be the goal of any history study. Suggests ways to develop each theme and offers helpful appropriate resource materials. Stresses building historical understanding and empathy for past times and peoples in young learners. (CH)

Analyzes the strengths and weaknesses of the 1984 Jackson Committee report, "The Australian Overseas Aid Program." Urges the use of the report in the classroom as a basis for discussing overseas aid policy, demonstrate the problematic nature of North-South relationships, and encourage students to become part of the overseas aid program…

How technical demographic analysis can inform and confuse judicial considerations of voting rights principles is illustrated in a review of a 1990 case brought against Los Angeles County (California). A postscripted article considers whether the court involved should rely on after-census estimates for redistricting. (SLD)

Analyzes social and economic challenges facing the Caribbean region. Examines colonialism's legacy, factors contributing to emigration, and social stratification. Emphasizes difficulties in self-determination created historically by externally introduced ideas, continuing U.S. hegemony, and cultural, racial, and ethnic differences. Provides maps…

Suggests enhancing geographic education by teaching geography as a relationship between humans and the environment. Explores how to use the geographic themes of location, place and relationships, movement, and regions in the classroom. Provides suggestions for teaching geographic skills and developing geographic tools. Argues geographic awareness…

Describes an instructional activity in which students collected and analyzed data from an urban environment. Explains that students developed an "urban attractiveness scale" and used it to rate different urban areas. Concludes that the exercise was effective as a learning activity. (CFR)

Provides an overview of recent New Zealand immigration policy including information suitable for inclusion in lesson plans and units of study. Discusses accessing and using population, migration, and immigration data and addresses possible problems and deficiencies. Includes statistical and graphic analysis of data. (MJP)

A land use mapping study in an Anishinaabe (Ojibwa) Indian Reserve in northern Ontario attempted to satisfy the demands of both academic and Aboriginal communities. Community elders provided extensive knowledge of the local environment, its history and cultural and spiritual significance, and the links between environmental and community…

Human geography can be taught by focusing on popular culture contexts with which undergraduate students may already be familiar such as rock music. The Geography of the Beatles introduced undergraduate students to concepts of "new" cultural geography such as space, place, representation, geopolitics, social space, and tourism-pilgrimage…

A three-year institute called "The Lodge Pole River Project" was designed to change educator perceptions of American Indian historical geography and encourage the creation of balanced and culturally sensitive American Indian K-12 curriculum. This project offered unique opportunities to assess a geography institute's impact upon teacher knowledge…

Egypt is having a very difficult time supplying enough food to meet the demands of its swelling population. This complex problem is analyzed and discussed from a variety of perspectives. Factors such as foreign aid, family planning, agriculture, demographics, and religious and social culture are examined, as well as more specific issues such as…

In attempts to forestall problems inherent in too-rapid urbanization, China has instituted a migration policy designed to strictly control changes in permanent residence from rural areas or small urban places to larger cities and to encourage the development of small cities and towns. The policy is enforced through the household registration…

This issue of Update contains four separate geography lesson plans on the topics of: (1) the mobility and interactions of people, goods, and ideas; (2) creating thematic maps and comparing the relative wealth of South American countries; (3) identifying and applying key geographic concepts; and (4) human-environment interactions. Each lesson plan…

This study examines the Lao Hmong, an Indochinese refugee group that has resettled in the Denver-Boulder, Colorado, area. Characteristics examined are the following: (1) migration; (2) location; (3) housing; (4) acculturation; and (5) life satisfaction. An extensive literature review discusses the history, ethnography, and culture of the Hmong in…

Four lessons for secondary school geography instruction focus on creative thinking through generating alternatives, imagining consequences, generating analogies, and creating products. In lesson 1 students lay out alternatives to solving a problem and decide the best course of action. Suggested activities include consideration of alternatives in…