How can we rethink teaching practices to include and engage the whole student? What would student experience look like if we integrated silence and feeling with empirical analysis? "Tuning the Student" Mind is the story of one teacher's attempt to answer these questions by creating an innovative college course that marries the spiritual…

Issues regarding sexuality are often little discussed in high schools serving students from religiously conservative backgrounds. Frequently, parents and school administrators are uncomfortable with, and reluctant to discuss the topic, and as a result students have inadequate opportunities to engage in discussions about sex and relationships. This…

The article describes an approach to infusing human dignity into the social studies curriculum through (1) planned instruction, (2) teacher-child interaction, and (3) school responses to unacceptable behavior. Recommended practices for each of the three components are offered. (DB)

Presents a Project WET water education activity. Students rank and compare different uses of water in order of their importance. The class develops a "Water Index," an indication of the group's feelings and values about water and its uses. (LZ)

Offers three sample lesson plans for elementary grades designed to demonstrate the religious values inherent in the United States Constitution. Each lesson plan focuses on one amendment and includes a discussion of class activities. (DMM)

Suggests utilizing foreign coins and banknotes as teaching aids for geography. Discusses coins portrayal of such issues as societal goals, historical commemorations, or conservation of wildlife. Cites banknotes as a source of even more geographical information than coins. Suggests sources of information, coins, and banknotes. (DK)

Discusses the Salem witchcraft trials as a reflection of the social and moral values of colonial Massachusetts and New France. Traces the history of the trials. Describes other instances of witchcraft and folk superstitions during that same historical period. Provides primary sources of a picture, map, and excerpts from letters pertaining to the…

Offers an interpretation of Jean-Jacques Rousseau's "Discourse on the Origin and Foundations of Inequality" and provides examples of classroom exercises designed to make Rousseau's ideas and writings accessible to undergraduates. Stresses Rousseau's philosophy on natural man, language, ethics, and society. Includes interpretive…

Contends that middle- and upper-income youth may indirectly be the beneficiaries of social systems that are based on policies of injustice for the sake of profit or power. Suggests using an approach that helps such young people see that the establishment of social justice is beneficial to them as well as to the victims of injustice. (CFR)

Reviews Elie Wiesel's "Night," an account of his Holocaust experiences. Concludes that what is important is not that students' questions be answered, but that people continue to ask them. (EL)

Asserts that central goal of sociology is to provide students with sociological perspective or the ability to reflect on their own society from a distance. Argues that ethnocentricism can be affected by an "insider's bias" and an "outsider's bias." Describes the use of Horace Miner's "Body Ritual of the Nacirema" as a…

Television programming has a huge impact on the lives of children. This lesson focuses on the stereotypical and racial messages that are portrayed through television programming with a focus on situational comedies. During the four 45-minute lessons, grade 6-8 students will: analyze portrayals of different groups of people in the media;…

Presents a Project WET water education activity. Students analyze public values regarding water issues to help them evaluate approaches to managing water resources. Students recognize that people have different values, evaluate strengths and weaknesses of proposed solutions, and examine the purpose of diverse advocacy groups. (LZ)

Environmental issues that can be explored in social science courses include problems with potential to cause serious or irreversible change to an ecosystem or biosphere. Areas for discussion include: environmental attitudes, values, and behaviors; the environmental movement; risk perceptions; and the political economy of the environment and…

Character education has become the fastest growing school reform movement in the United States. Surveys conducted in the last few years indicate that Americans tend to place character (values) education as the highest priority in school restructuring programs, and there is nothing to suggest that the nation's concern is temporary. Teachers in the…