As a profession, we must have a shift in both perspective and practice to transform teaching at all levels. Are pre-service education classrooms preparing students to be flexible, adapt to new situations, and rely on their own expertise and understanding while seeking support when needed? Lieberman and Miller (2004) identify the following shifts…

Gerard Leonard maps the child's increasingly global environment and sense of citizenship from elementary to adolescence. For the elementary child, an orientation to the local history and geography of their surroundings provides a framework for understanding geography. In Leonard's words, "We have to know and understand a lot about many…

Interesting and stimulating instruction in high school social studies may be achieved by using the community and its institutions as a laboratory for learning and by creating an on-going community resource inservice program. Effective ways to incorporate community resources in the curriculum include creating special sections on developing writing…

Based on the 1989 presidential address to the National Council for the Social Studies (NCSS), the article discusses the role that social studies education plays in developing citizenship skills. States that society cannot leave to chance the promotion of citizenship in successive generations. Calls for the NCSS members to unite their efforts to…

Giving students a sense of efficacy in the political process is one of the most important functions of social studies education. In order to enable students to assume the responsibilities of fully functioning citizens, it is important for social studies educators to encourage and foster political participation among students as part of the…

The Artifact Kits program, which centers on the presentation of two collections of local history artifacts by local university undergraduate students to children in the community elementary schools, is designed to meet three educational needs of the community: the museum's responsibility for broad dissemination of the community heritage, practical…

Three major components of programs offered to public school students and teachers by the World Affairs Council of Philadelphia are described. One of the organization's major objectives is to prepare students for responsible roles as citizens and community leaders. The first component features a certified social studies teacher as liaison with the…

The efforts to reform the U.S. educational system should focus on the goal of creating a Learning Society. A Learning Society is based upon the commitment to a set of values and to a system of education that affords all members of the community the opportunity to stretch their minds to full capacity from early childhood through adulthood. This…

Inquiry techniques are described in which students investigate geographic phenomena in microcosm. The objective of this strategy is to enable students to examine geographic concepts and generalizations on a level which they can easily understand. Specifically, strategies for investigating and analyzing self-contained buildings and planned…

An assessment of current practices in citizenship education in Canada is followed by a proposal for decentralization of educational control and community involvement for students at all levels. In response to research which indicated that Canadian students were virtually ignorant of their government and its political issues and to the demand for…

The paper describes ways in which the urban classroom teacher can celebrate the Bicentennial and investigate the historical role of the cities throughout American history, without sacrificing current and futuristic issues and topics. Primary and secondary sources are used and a community-based field program for students is developed. The following…

A study was conducted in order to determine the specific classroom qualities and characteristics that promote and motivate students to develop attitudes and behaviors conducive to civic participation. One classroom is a bi-lingual sixth grade, located in an older neighborhood school in a coastal southern California city and the other is a…

There are several disturbing trends in U.S. public life. Citizens are increasingly distancing themselves from the institutions that structure decision making in the public domain. There is a diminishing sense of community, individuals tend not to have any personal obligation to their fellow citizens, nor do they seem to expect any consideration…

Cooperation among the various suppliers of consumer education programs and materials is needed. Consumer education has many problems, e.g., lack of substantial support from the federal level and an audience limited mostly to underachievers. But the greatest problem is that consumer educators consider themselves to be home economists or business…

This short essay along with workshop materials outlines constructive ways for Humanities teachers to stimulate discussions on religion. The activities and procedures are based on the author's own experience and philosophy. Student centered discussions are effective and less risky for engaging in religious issues. Student discussions also are the…