This publication is offered as a resource guide for teachers rather than as a prescriptive syllabus. No course of study is delineated and no course objectives are spelled out. Instead there are illustrative examples for applying discovery techniques to the study of Latin America, suggestions of various themes useful in organizing a course of study…

The Problem Panel Project is an instructor-developed, one-semester course in contemporary problems. Based on the inquiry approach, the course is structured for independent research and group work and requires no traditionally-structured daily lesson plans. The course is divided into six procedural points. First, students decide which contemporary…

In the planning phase of this ESEA Title III Project, a learning unit was developed to serve as an outline for the first draft of the model. The field-lab approach is stressed in the belief that the "real world" offers a unique learning opportunity, since it includes the "how" of living as well as the inquiry process of…

The crucial variable in good classroom teaching is the verbal behavior of the teacher. Through his questioning techniques--what questions he asks, how and when he asks them, how he replies to students, and how he stimulates students to reply to each other--the teacher can evoke a high level of class discussion and force students to go beyond the…

This guide provides a sampling of reference materials which are pertinent for two ninth grade units: Africa South of the Sahara: Land and People, and Africa South of the Sahara: Historic Trends. The effect of urbanization upon traditional tribalistic cultures is the focus. A case study is used to encourage an inductive approach to the learning…

The objective of the project reported here was to devise and put into operation a social studies program for junior high school students in the seventh and eighth grades. The objectives for this program were to develop the informed individual with: 1) a good self-concept with a sense of individual worth; 2) a sense of moral judgment; 3) a valid…

This issue of the Curriculum Report looks into new social studies programs developed by ten different schools across the country. Analysis of these programs is facilitated by discussing and categorizing the changes in social studies as those concerned primarily with content and those associated with strategies of instruction. Four major content…

This sixth grade resource unit focuses on Middle East culture as seen through five areas of the social sciences: anthropology-sociology, geography, history, economics, and political science. Among objectives that the student is expected to achieve are the following: 1) given general information on the Middle East through the use of film, visuals,…

This book attempts to narrow the gap between the rhetoric of social studies reform and the realities of most classrooms. It focuses on strategies for engaging students in the learning process. Practical and workable guides are provided for improving classroom instruction with new techniques and materials for innovative strategies. Although the…

ISSUES, an intermediate-grade social studies program, actively involves 2,000 Kansas City students of their urban communities. Psychological and sociological perspectives on urban problems stress helping children to better understand social realities, their peers, and themselves. The students spend approximately half of their social studies time…

Curriculum guides for four social studies instruction modules at the secondary level are included in this document. The general format for each twelve week course includes a diagram of concept relationships, prefatory remarks, and an outline of concepts coordinated with activities and instructional resources. The first module, Geographic Patterns,…

Implementation of a program designed to prepare researchers in social science education, the Research Training Program at the University of Michigan, is reported. The research focus was given to problems relating to the teaching of the social sciences and history and to such topics as curriculum construction, controversial issues, the conduct of…

The major function of the handbook is to provide secondary level teachers with a collection of data on world problems that can be used in history, world affairs, sociology, or ecology courses. A teacher's guide accompanies the handbook. The teaching technique used is inquiry. Students analyze data, and form hypotheses and generalizations.…

Designed for a social studies program stressing the inquiry method, this packet of sample test questions uses a thematic rather that a topical approach. The four thematic categories are geography, religion and philosophy, cultural characteristics and relationships, and socialization. Four levels of the thinking process are identified and questions…

In 1780, a prize was established in France for the best answer to the question; "Was the discovery of America a blessing or a curse to mankind?" This question and its only response from an individual living in America, constitute the basis of a high school history class unit. The background of the question and the content are developed,…