Maintaining that resources for students learning about Africa must provide clear, comprehensive, and accurate factual coverage and should excite student interest, this article suggests a variety of Africa-related materials, including yearbooks, periodicals, geography texts, encyclopedias, and political publications from African organizations. (DB)

Whenever a class begins to study a new part of the world, teachers must deal with students' preexisting ideas about the area. Activities which will challenge elementary students' initial impressions of Australia and encourage them to learn more about the country are described. (RM)

This curriculum unit introduces students in grades K-8 to an important Mexican holiday, the Day of the Dead (November 2). The unit provides an overview of the celebration and is divided into two lessons: (1) "Classroom Altar" (with seven typical art and food preparation activities); and (2) "Day of the Dead Procession" (with…

These essays were written to assist teachers in the task of making Russian history intelligible to young U.S. students. In "An Approach to Russian History," Edward Keenan proposes that students need to gain a better understanding of how Russians perceive themselves and their history. In "Pre-Petrine Russia," Andrzej S. Kaminski…

The Aboriginal Australians traditionally were a homogeneous people, living as hunter-gatherers and dispersed across Australia. Today there are 176,300 Aboriginals and Torres Strait Islanders in Australia--more than one percent of the country's population. Their history and current problems are examined. (RM)

This collection of lessons was developed as a result of a study/travel seminar undertaken during the summer of 1999. The goal of the project was to develop and disseminate exemplary lessons for teaching about the role of the Federal Republic of Germany in the European Union. These lessons are designed so that they may be used individually via…

This Digest guides the elementary teacher in choosing accurate and appropriate works of fiction for teaching about Japan. It suggests important content to watch for and includes a checklist of questions to be used when selecting a book. The questions deal with literary qualities, accuracy, authenticity, stereotyping, language, and morals. Contains…

This curriculum project about the history and culture of Hungary and Poland is intended for secondary school students. The project features a unit called "Heroes in Our Lives" and points out the sacrifices a few individuals have made for the betterment of all. Students identify heroes and learn about the impact these heroes have made on…

Developed to help young people prepare for 21st-century challenges, this book is part of a project to produce a series of instructional units about German for implementation in K-12 classrooms and to offer staff development activities that facilitate the implementation of these units. This volume's main focus is Germany and social studies, but it…

This lesson, one of four stand-alone lessons that examine Australia as an aspect of world history, points out that Australia's unique geographic characteristics and history serve as a useful case study of key global concepts. The lesson focuses on exploration and control of trade routes during the Age of Discovery. The lesson has two parts. In…

Discusses how the global approach can be used to teach about Japanese culture in elementary and secondary social studies classes. Students compare and contrast Japanese and American cultures. Methods for helping students to become familiar with aspects of Japanese culture are included. (AM)

Suggests methods for teaching about Yugoslavia. Recommends assigning students to maintain journals of news clippings about developments in Yugoslavia. Proposes forming cooperative-learning groups for researching the country's various regions. Offers activities for teaching about language arts, fine arts, reading and literature, religion,…

The East Asian Curriculum Project (EACP) of Columbia University is a national effort whose goal is to support education about Asia at the secondary and elementary levels. The project has developed a variety of curriculum resources and collaborated with state and local educators in designing teaching units about various countries. Each of these…

This ERIC Digest considers: (1) why U.S. students should learn about Canada; (2) where course content on Canada belongs in the curriculum; and (3) useful strategies and resources to improve the teaching of Canadian studies. The United States and Canada share the world's largest undefended border, and the United States trades more with Canada than…

Discusses problems with existing social studies curriculum, including the dichotomy between in-depth studies and coverage studies, lack of correlation with other fields of instruction, and uncertainty about the appropriate sequential development of concepts. A master plan for social studies curriculum, focusing on grades five through eight, is…