This guide is designed to aid social studies classroom teachers develop and implement programs using the community as a social sciences laboratory. The document describes how to prepare a social profile of the community. Based upon the Colorado System-Based Social Science Project which was sponsored by the National Science Foundation, the study aims to increase the options of youth in their home communities and in communities to which they might migrate. The document is presented in three parts. Part I presents background information on the system-based social science curriculum, stresses the need for a strong community-school relationship, and explains how to generate local curriculum guidelines. Part II outlines strategies for use in preparing a community social profile. Information is presented on clarifying the purpose of a community profile, specifying format, putting together a research and writing team, selecting research tools, and determining content. Part III, the bulk of the document, suggests a wide variety of learning activities and objectives related to children's awareness of values, social reality, social problems, systems, time and space, work and leisure, the future, and social science knowledge. The activities, which can be used without prior preparation of a profile, involve the students in analyzing historic documents, defining values, discussing parental and community attitudes, surveying class and community members, presenting oral reports on current issues, writing research reports on selected community problems, working with maps, and participating in the community. The appendix presents an outline of the Community Social Profile. (Author/DB)