Results of a conference on the relationship of political science research and formal civics education showed that civics and government courses have little effect on developing political orientations, perhaps because of the emphasis on the formal, legal-institutional view of politics. Yet teachers and researchers both demonstrated interest in…

Political science and its subfields cannot ignore the work being done in two areas of the life sciences: sociobiology and neurobiology. Current theories of political socialization which suggest that society molds the child will be increasingly affected by sociobiological theory which posits that children operate as independent actors in the…

To determine the effect of early political instruction, a series of basic political concepts were introduced to primary grade children. Using one class of second and one class of fourth graders as control groups and one class of second and another class of fourth graders as experimental groups, a unit of civic instruction was taught during the…

This report, prepared by the Academic Games program of the Center, investigates the effects of the game Democracy on the political attitudes of junior high school students through two studies. The game focuses on the process of log-rolling, which the players, assuming the role of congressmen, quickly discover to be the most effective way to…

The main purpose of this volume is to provide information and ideas which might contribute to the improvement of secondary school instruction about voter behavior and elections. The focus is on the real political world and why people behave as they do. Facts and ideas are drawn from the work of social scientists, and the questions raised are those…

First in a series of three articles providing the reader with a critical but comprehensive review of the monograph literature dealing with political science in elementary and secondary schools. (Author)

Describes a project to assess the impact of teacher unemployment in the United Kingdom and the United States on teachers' attitudes toward the political system and on perceptions of the political self. Findings indicate that status deprivation results in awareness of political forces and tends to make unemployed individuals somewhat more…

Reviews the contributions made to scientific knowledge about American political behavior, processes, institutions and governmental policies from 1950-1970. (Author/DB)

Points out dominance of political as opposed to other types of history in General Certificate of Education (GCE) and Scottish Certificate of Education (SCE) papers, considers alternative approaches to the content of those papers, and suggests means of implementing the suggested changes. (CM)

This research study used citizen profile data from the National Election Study surveys for the presidential elections years from 1980 through 1992. By crossing internal efficacy and trust indicators, the researchers hypothesized citizens would fit into four types: (1) the "Wary Monitors" have high internal efficacy and low trust with the highest…

The paper discusses civic literacy as it bears on adult education. Civic literacy addresses the domain of intentional actions about political community, in a process of discovery and invention, the result of a dynamic interaction between practice and theory. The action-inquiry model of civic literacy consists of two theses and five competencies.…

This collection of readings was first assembled in order to bring together materials for a course at Wayne State University focusing on the conditions of change and conflict in the political socialization process. The first chapter, Learning and Development, concentrates on the mechanics of this learning process. The next five chapters The Family,…

Authority relationships in American classrooms are mirror images of authority relationships in the larger society. These patterns originally developed out of the Western liberal tradition where parental authority and authority of counsel (or wisdom) evolved into authority by force and bureaucracy. In either case the result was politically and…

To introduce the inservice program the author argues in favor of involving discipline-oriented professors and professional associations in the teaching of their discipline in the secondary schools, but also discusses the problems to be avoided in such involvement. The inservice program described is being carried out by the Center for Teaching…