To seriously consider one's rights under the US Constitution, one must grapple with the realization that many rights are not absolute. Instead, they are contested. But how to introduce younger students to such a complex concept, given short attention spans? In this article, we discuss the opportunities, pitfalls, and planning logistics of the 2013…

Curriculum innovation in Kansas high school social studies departments replaces the traditional history courses with mini-courses which provide more varied elective experiences for students. This approach to individualization is suggested as a viable organizational innovation with important future educational implications. (SM)

The reorganization of an undergraduate history curriculum from a semester system into a series of three and one-half week courses is described. (DE)

Presents results of a study of student attitudes toward United States history 10-week minicourses. Course titles include America's West, Roaring Twenties and Desperate Thirties, Nuclear Age, and Popular American Image. Concludes that minicourses allow students to choose among a variety of offerings and to determine which subjects are relevant and…

Arguing that almost any period of history is a microcosm of the whole, this author suggests that the traditional survey course should give way to short intensive courses in areas of special interest in order to make the curriculum more relevant and improve student attitudes. (Author/JB)

A two-week library unit of an introductory history course is profiled. The purpose of the unit is to familiarize the students with both the general and specialized resources available to them. (DH)

Because the study of history efficiently enculturates the young and contributes to the security and continuity of the society, it has almost always been accorded a place in the syllabus. Its inclusion in the American school syllabus has been variously modified by the considerations of several schools of educational philosophy and by the reports of…

With enrollments in the social sciences declining markedly and their educational values being deemphasized, a new approach must be taken to social sciences instruction. Social science courses are antiquated, need revision, fail to offer enough job relevance to draw most students, are taught too conservatively, and no longer enjoy a protected…

A year-long interdisciplinary project sought to develop professors' available repertoire of strategies for guiding students' independent learning from texts and developing students' ability to learn from texts with adjunct guide materials in a minicourse setting. Adjunct materials included such instructor devised aids as study questions, graphic…

With an acute awareness of learning problems among inner-city students, the teachers in New Haven, Connecticut, modified their courses to relate to the opportunities and challenges of modern education. They reorganized the traditional, year-long, survey history courses into quarter miniunits which emphasize the inquiry approach to analyzing…

This paper reports the scope of minicourse offerings in Kansas secondary social studies classes. The more course options provided students, the greater the humanistic potential of the school program. During the 1974-75 school year, the vast majority of Kansas high schools continued to offer traditional one- or two-semester long courses. United…

The Yale-New Haven History Education Project began in Spring 1970 with the expressed goal of improving the quality and relevance of secondary school history courses in New Haven's public schools. Thirty Yale history professors worked with a comparable number of high school teachers and created approximately eighty "mini-courses" in…

These 12 essays examine trends and innovations at the community colleges of the State University of New York (SUNY). George Robertson details aspects of recruitment and mission planning at Mohawk Valley Community College for the 1980's. Judith Hall relates her experiences in integrating Latin American reading materials in an introductory…

This is the report of an attempt to develop and teach a high school American history course based on inquiry techniques. Chapter I and II discuss recent changes in teaching methodology and the author's interest in the problem. Chapter III details the search for materials. Chapter IV describes the new method being tested in the classroom. Students…

A study was conducted by the Center for the Study of Community Colleges to determine the different emphases and program strengths within the humanities curricula at the 27 Washington State community colleges. Information contained in the Fall 1979 class schedules of the colleges was used to evaluate the following disciplines: history/appreciation…