To assist students in comparing living standards in the Soviet Union and Western Nations, a chart containing data from a 1982 survey of the retail prices of 179 selected consumer goods and services is provided. Prices were converted into worktime equivalents and the capital of each country, with the exception of Munich, was chosen to represent the…

Depicting how people in nine countries can improve their lives while living within their environmental means is the primary aim of this book. Chapter 1 highlights the division of earth's people into the haves and the have nots and describes the inequity of so few having so much of the available resources. Chapter 2 examines the problem of how…

This book of teaching activities is designed to address the issue of hunger and develop a sense of activism and hope among students. It encourages students to discover some of the causes and misconceptions about world hunger. The book contains eight lessons with numerous activities to allow students to study hunger and develop a broader…

This material asks social studies students in Canada to recognize the implications of the lifestyles of citizens in developed countries, and the power that consumers have to create change for a better world, to be agents of positive development. Development is seen as a four faceted process. This model implies that development is an approach to…

This teaching guide accompanies the Life Expectancy at Birth poster kit, which presents statistics on life expectancy from 128 countries with populations of more than one million. The statistics relate to economic development and the changes it is bringing about in the world. Sometimes called indicators, the statistics are measures of social and…

This World Bank (Washington, D.C.) kit is designed to teach secondary school social studies students about the Rajasthan (India) Canal Project and the impact it has had on the state of Rajasthan and its population. The kit contains a pamphlet, a booklet, a sound filmstrip, and a teacher's guide. The pamphlet, "Economic Summary: India,"…

Documents history of Lowell, Massachusetts, from the careful planning of town, the recruitment of farm family daughters into the labor force, the demise of the town, and Lowell's subsequent regeneration as a high technology center in the 1970s and 1980s. Suggests that the study of this town's history can illuminate the study of current U.S. urban…

In this lesson, students work in teams, role-playing a nonprofit organization dedicated to improving the quality of life in rural Africa. Teams focus on four goals: (1) grow more food; (2) develop water resources; (3) improve health services; and (4) protect the environment. Each student team is assigned to one of five regions in Africa. Teams…

This book is about economic development, the process by which countries are improving the living conditions of their people. It is about interdependence and the efforts of people to move toward a better world. The six chapters are entitled: (1) "Inside Developing Countries"; (2) "Comparing Countries"; (3) "The Whys and Hows of Economic…

This World Bank (Washington, D.C.) kit is a case study designed to teach secondary school social studies students about an integrated rural development project in Mexico, and how it is helping to raise the standard of living for six million Mexicans in 131 microregions throughout Mexico. The kit contains a pamphlet, a booklet, a sound filmstrip,…

This teaching guide is premised on the ideas that economic development is the best means to a better life for the three-quarters of the world's people who live in developing countries, and that economic development will also contribute to a healthy and vigorous world economy. The goals of the guide are to increase student understanding and…