Educators increasingly recognize the importance of disciplinary literacy for student success, beginning as early as the primary grades. This cutting-edge volume examines ways to help K-12 students develop the literacy skills and inquiry practices needed for high-level work in different academic domains. Chapters interweave research, theory, and…

The introduction of standards-based instruction ushered in a movement to clearly articulate the academic outcomes for students across the curriculum. State departments of education and local school districts across the nation have invested tremendous resources to define what students "need to know and be able to do" in English Language…

Purpose: This final article covering the topic of the interplay between decoding, comprehension, and content versus structure knowledge describes a set of language initiatives that are focused toward content area learning. Inspired by the work of their colleagues from diverse fields and their own work, the authors offer suggestions to clinicians…

We cannot assume that youngsters will be drawn to a study of the past on their own initiative, and the public education system has dismissed the study of history as irrelevant. Native-born Americans cannot gain the same insights through osmosis that foreign-born citizens acquire through supervised study. (MT)

Presents a simulation which can be used in any secondary social studies course to teach about the Equal Rights Amendment. It can be played with as few as ten and as many as 40 students. Playing time varies from three to seven class periods. (RM)

Social studies educators share the responsibility for identifying gifted students and helping them to reach the limits of their abilities and talents. A set of recommendations with steps that social studies supervisors and teachers can take to differentiate instruction to meet the needs of gifted students is presented. (SR)

This brief bibliography lists materials and resources of use to an instructor planning futures-oriented inservice and classroom instructional activities for teachers, students, and communities. Several publications of general interest to futurists are cited, following which materials within five different categories are listed: societal futures;…

From the late 1940s through the 1970s the belief that we were being visited by intelligent guests from other worlds swept the United States and the world. Discusses how materials generated by the unidentified flying objects controversy can be used to encourage secondary students to examine a popular topic. (RM)

This teaching guide focuses on courses integrating social studies and the environment. The guide is divided into the following parts: (1) "'ECO/Social Studies' Course Syllabus--K-12 Teacher Education"; (2) "Culture Literacy, National Standards, and Georgia's QCCs"; (3) "Sample Unit--Outline"; (4) "Using a Matrix…

Guidelines are presented that will enable teachers to help students complete each step in a group project successfully. Guidelines are discussed for selecting the project, setting goals, planning procedures, choosing tasks, finding sources and resources, setting time limits, activity action, project completion, and evaluation. (SR)

The poster "Energy Search," inserted in this issue of the journal, is presented to stimulate thought and discussion among elementary and secondary students concerning possible ways of meeting vital energy needs. Activities are provided on the reverse side of the poster. (RM)

Describes current secondary school courses about religions which are incorporated into the social studies curriculum. Course titles include Religion in Human Culture, Religions of Man, Great Religions, Comparative Religions, History of Religions, and the Bible as Literature. (KC)

The author shows how to promote critical thinking in the secondary social studies classroom through argument anticipation (defined as a procedure for eliciting agreement on persuasive reasons for a given conclusion). Six steps to argument anticipation: state the conclusion; list conditions for agreement; distinguish empirical and normative claims;…

A model which secondary social studies teachers could apply to their content area suggests an interplay between the inductive and the deductive--where students first identify a proposition from an examination of evidence and then test the proposition to assess its power in helping students understand the complex nature of social reality.…

Discusses the 1916 Committee on Social Studies report. Describes the preparation of the report, who was involved and some of the social welfare and efficiency ideas of its authors. Observes that the report culminated in the introduction of the social studies into the U.S. secondary school curriculum. (SG)