The New Social Studies movement was an effort by social scientists to reform US social studies/history curriculum at all levels during the 1960s and early 1970s. In the end, more than 50 different projects attempting to revitalise social studies were developed. Many of the projects focused on inquiry-based teaching practices and curriculum.…

A Soviet experiment in educating by general principles rather than individual facts, exemplified by mathematics instruction, is described in this article and followed by questions and comments from Clive Peters, Bristol, U.K. (JH)

Presents a Russian perspective on patent rights in pedagogic studies. The paper notes that patents and licenses are profitable for the author, firm, and state and questions why teachers are not involved in the process. It also describes a center for pedagogical innovations in the USSR. (SM)

When Gorbachev came to power in 1985, he and his supporters signaled educators that schools were free to concentrate on education instead of enforcing dogma. Soviet secondary school principals are discarding old Bolshevist roles, including those of Marxist-Leninist-Communist watchdog and carrier of Communist command directives. Principals also…

Gives suggestions for books and activities that can be used to take children on literary trips. Provides 77 annotations of educational resources for literary trips to Russia and China that cover the curriculum areas of reading, writing, and the expressive arts. (MG)

The Soviet Union is undertaking a drive for excellence in higher education by tightening academic standards, closing weaker institutions, changing admission criteria, experimenting with instructional approaches in some institutions, and increasing efforts at labor force development and training programs tied to national economic needs. (MSE)

This chapter presents the history, philosophy, and methodology of instructional development and instructional technology in the Soviet Union. It begins by analyzing the structure of the educational bureaucracy in the USSR and explaining the pathways through this structure through which educational decisions are made, and through which…

Soviet teaching experiments, based on the research of P. Ia. Galperin and of V. V. Davydov, are described, in which children are taught abstract concepts before they are provided with concrete examples. (GDC)

Music can play an important part in personality development. Music education for children encourages the capacity for creativity, improvisation, and understanding the beautiful and the good. This book traces the history of the music syllabus among teachers in the Soviet Union and discusses creative freedom and the instructor. It also presents a…

From March 8 to March 11, 1989, student schedules at Lake Region High School in Bridgton, Maine were replaced by Soviet Union culture and history classes. The project was called "Focus: Soviet Union," and was intended as only the first of a series of International Education Days designed to increase United States understanding of other…

Proposes new directions in educational research in the Soviet Union. Assigns priority to pedagogical research tasks. Premises discussion on a growing recognition of the need to promote individual creative development at all educational levels. Advocates extensive experimentation at laboratory schools and cooperation among branches of pedagogical…

Targets key areas in need of reform in the Soviet educational system: (1) career guidance for students in line with social production needs; (2) greater parent-teacher cooperation; (3) student self-government and decision-making power in schools; and (4) creative teaching methods. Notes how bureaucratic resistance to change has hampered reform…

Reports on activities and concerns of the Soviet Union's Academy of Pedagogical Sciences in conjunction with educational reform. Calls for systematic improvement, of which "the pedagogy of cooperation" is only a part. Emphasizes creative teaching methods and better coordination between research and classroom practice. Reviews individual…