In a study to evaluate an approach for improving the critical thinking skills of middle school science students, 60 students were given the assignment of completing three guided laboratory activities and writing a report for each. In writing their reports, students were expected to identify the manipulated variable, identify the responding…

Integrating concepts of basic citizenship education with community involvement, this experiential curriculum, written in Spanish, provides a means for developing decision making and critical thinking skills within the existing social studies curriculum in grade 1. Using short stories, field trips, and class discussions, the 11 lessons on…

Two articles are presented relevant to media and adult learning. In the first article, "The Pedagogy of Communication: Conscientization through Mass Media," David G. Gueulette sets forth ideas derived from Freire's theory of literacy training and suggests means by which effective teaching strategies can be developed through popular mass…

A rationale and guidelines are presented for using social science research methodologies to teach elementary school social studies. The goal of using these methodologies is to help children develop independent and self-directed thinking and problem-solving skills. The authors describe four research approaches and give examples of how each…

THIS IS THE FIFTH IN A SERIES OF GENERAL BIBLIOGRAPHIES WHICH ARE BEING DEVELOPED TO DISSEMINATE INFORMATION CONCERNING DOCUMENTS ANALYZED AT THE ERIC INFORMATION ANALYSIS CENTER FOR SCIENCE EDUCATION. REPORTED ARE OVER 85 CITATIONS TO SELECTED DOCUMENTS ON STUDENT ACHIEVEMENT IN SCIENCE. THE DOCUMENTS INCLUDED REPRESENT RESEARCH REPORTS, RESEARCH…

CURRENT DEVELOPMENTS IN SCIENCE EDUCATION ARE REVIEWED IN THIS YEARBOOK OF THE NATIONAL SOCIETY FOR THE STUDY OF EDUCATION. THE ROLE OF SCIENCE IN OUR CULTURE AND ITS RELATIONSHIP TO THE HUMANITIES AND TO SOCIETY ARE DISCUSSED. THE OBJECTIVES OF SCIENCE TEACHING ARE CONSIDERED FROM THE VIEWPOINTS OF THE RESEARCH SCIENTISTS, THE SCHOOL…

Competence in humanities may be considered in terms of knowledge (the mental processing of information), thinking skills (the organization of knowledge), communication skills, and personal integration (the effect of knowledge upon the individual). Specific competencies to be acquired in an interdisciplinary twentieth century humanities course…

This is the fifth in the second series of general bibliographies developed to disseminate information on documents analyzed at the ERIC Information Analysis Center for Science Education. Reported are some 76 citations of selected documents related to student achievement in science. The documents included represent research reports, research…

The goal of educational programs for educable mentally retarded (EMR) children is to progressively develop socially mature individuals who can think critically and act independently. The major focus is a curriculum that encompasses social and occupational concepts, facts, and behaviors that are consonant with social adaptation during maturation…

This is the fifth in the third series of general bibliographies developed to disseminate information on documents analyzed at the ERIC Information Analysis Center for Science Education. Reported are some 64 citations of documents related to student achievement in science and mathematics education. The documents included represent research reports,…

Part I of this social studies report presents the results of curricular research, at Utah State University, to develop a set of "critical thinking" concepts appropriate for the analysis of political-ethical public issues, and to prepare materials and suggestions for teaching those concepts. The analytic concepts, presented in both outline and…

The ideas and theories of Immanuel Velikovsky are introduced to social studies teachers and a nine-week minicourse designed to investigate his theories is reported. The contradictions and inconsistencies that Velikovsky found between the events as recorded in original records of the ancient Middle East and the chronological timetable of this…

Focuses on the need for improved teaching at the secondary and college levels of the English curriculum, emphasizing the view of learning that also includes the development of thinking abilities capable of helping students use information to create their own insights. Reviews recent pedagogical guides that follow this approach. (NKA)

Concludes that the nature of the writing tasks assigned to students will emphasize some aspects of the curriculum and de-emphasize others. (NKA)

Describes a media literacy project that provided fifth graders with a hands-on approach to study of television form and nature of message transmission to improve their understanding of media-related concepts. Results of a media literacy test reveal course participants performed significantly better than the control group. (MBR)