For generations, schools have aimed to introduce students to a broad range of topics through curriculum that ensure that they will at least have some acquaintance with most areas of human knowledge by the time they graduate. Yet such broad knowledge can't help but be somewhat superficial--and, as Kieran Egan argues, it omits a crucial aspect of…

Argues that it is both possible and desirable to teach history to children in the elementary grades and that it would be educationally beneficial to substitute a history curriculum for the present elementary social studies curriculum. Contends that those who infer curricula from psychologists' findings are confusing concept and content. (Author/WD)

Offers a set of principles that should govern the composition of secondary school social studies curriculum as related to the developing and changing forms of cognition in secondary students. Discusses the "romantic" and "philosophic" stages of the secondary student's development and outlines curriculum implications for each stage. (KC)

Suggests that educators will increase learning if they base curriculum on children's thinking patterns. Discusses prominent characteristics of young children's thinking and selection of content appropriate to these thinking patterns. (DB)

This book sets out to prove that the progressivist tenets that have become the foundation of American education are mistaken. The author does not argue against progressivism on the basis of the usual alternatives of liberal or traditional theories of education because it is not adequately attuned to preparing students for jobs. The author sets out…

Many social studies curricula are based on John Dewey's principle that education should start from what the child knows and work outward from there. This paper suggests that social studies educators will make the pursuit of social studies knowledge more interesting if they tailor curriculum content to students' developing cognition. A three stage…

Traces the richness of oral forms of expression used in nonliterate societies from ancient times to the present. Discusses the implications of research on orality for the early childhood curriculum and for methods of teaching young children. (BC)

Preservice teachers are usually taught to organize lessons by stating objectives, organizing content and methods to teach objectives, and planning evaluation. Suggests an alternative technique that encourages teachers to think of the lesson as a good story to be told rather than as a set of objectives to be achieved. (RM)

Discusses four types of historical understanding and argues for a developmental sequence in historical understanding. Suggests two frameworks: (1) the story-form framework (ages up to 8) and; (2) a romantic framework (ages 8-15), sketching a curriculum based on each. Argues that these forms are necessary for acquiring more sophisticated levels of…