This unit is one of a series that represents specific moments in history from which students focus on the meanings of landmark events. The purpose of this unit is to study the development and significance of the universities of the Middle Ages and their ties to the university system of the 20th century. The university structure of higher education…

This unit begins by examining the problem of rural poverty in China in the 1940s. A variety of solutions attempted by the Chinese government between the mid 1940s and the present all aimed at the improvement of peasant living standards in the countryside. Because 80 percent of China's people are peasants, the Chinese Communist party saw the…

This unit is one of a series that represents specific moments in history from which students focus on the meanings of landmark events. By studying a crucial turning-point in history, students become aware that choices had to be made by real human beings, that those decisions were the result of specific factors, and that they set in motion a series…

This paper describes a study of students' abilities to read and understand maps that are essential for understanding how geographical factors played in shaping a country's history. The maps help to: (1) relay location of countries; (2) demonstrate changes in the geographical boundaries caused by historical events; and (3) elevate the students'…

Designed to help classroom teachers implement the Alabama Course of Study for the social studies, this state curriculum guide covers two areas: the world geography and Alabama history. World geography looks at geographic themes and concepts, physical geography, human geography, the developed world, and the less developed world. Alabama history…

Twenty-five freshman Hispanic girls at Bowen High School in Chicago were motivated and encouraged to continue their education and explore various career goals. Methodology involved a highly personal interaction with the program worker. Three groups were formed--two were conducted in English and one was conducted in Spanish. Project goals were to…

Four experimental reading-treatment classes (n=94) and four control classes (n=100) wrote pre- and post-compositions which were evaluated for overall quality, syntactic density, T-unit length, productivity, and selected grammatical errors. Analysis of results found significant differences in reading skills but no differences in writing skills. The…

Describes the comprehensive curriculum approach and teacher training program on the Jewish Holocaust that has been developed for adolescents by Facing History and Ourselves, a nonprofit organization. Course objectives, problems teachers will encounter, and student response are discussed. (MBR)

In this interdisciplinary curriculum unit intended for ninth grade students, students explore in groups in a role playing format public policy questions related to rain forests. Examined in the lessons are political, economic, and ecological issues from which students are expected to make recommendations on what policy course should be followed.…

Provided is a model to depict how the development of process skills can be systematically achieved and in turn determine the students' achievement in science practicals. Modified laboratory instruction is compared with conventional laboratory instruction. The results of field testing on 164 ninth grade subjects are described. (MVL)

Describes a four week simulation of the U.S. Constitutional Convention in which ninth grade students use problem-solving and decision-making skills to debate the issues of the convention. Students are assigned identities and interest areas to stimulate the writing of a class constitution which is then compared with the U.S. Constitution. (LS)

Introduces students in grades seven-nine to the sometimes ambiguous differences between abstract and realistic art. Explores ways in which the same idea can be expressed in both formats, using Cy Twombly's "Synopsis of a Battle" as an example. Students research a war and create both abstract and realistic pictures of the battlefield…

Describes the implementation of a humanities-based curriculum for all ninth and tenth grade students at St. Michael's Academy (Austin, Texas). The ninth grade core is thematically organized, integrating the study of English and religion. The sophomore core integrates world history, world literature, and comparative religions. Describes sample…

The Alberta (Canada) curriculum for 7th, 8th, and 9th grade French immersion instruction is presented. An introductory section describes the rationale and objectives of the program and provides a brief bibliography. The next section charts the types of discourse on which the curriculum focuses within each language skill area (listening, speaking,…

The purpose of this document is to provide teachers, administrators, students, and parents with samples of students' performances that exemplify standards in relation to the 1993 Grade 9 Science Performance-Based Assessment Tasks for the province of Alberta, Canada. A sample of 698 randomly selected students from 31 schools did the…