Action-oriented learning activities, most drawn from resources in the ERIC system, are designed to stimulate elementary and junior high school students' interest and participation while conveying important social studies content and skills. The activities are organized into six sections. The first section focuses on developing social studies…

Civic education "means explicit and continuing study of the basic concepts and values underlying our democratic political community and constitutional order" (Butts 1988, 184). It draws its content chiefly from four disciplines: political science, jurisprudence, history, and economics. Political science and jurisprudence provide an…

The essence of a healthy democracy is open dialogue about issues of public concern. An integral part of the training of young citizens, therefore, includes the discussion of controversial social, political, and economic policies. The use of classroom discussions as a pedagogical technique to examine controversial issues is explored by considering:…