Reminds readers of the 1989 Carnegie report on the education of young adolescents ("Turning Points: Preparing American Youth for the 21st Century"), its warnings, and its recommendations. Introduces this special issue on middle-school social studies, discussing from many different viewpoints just how teachers and students might proceed…

Discusses the standards described in the U.S. book "National Standards for World History." Summarizes the book's content and gives examples of specific topics for different grade levels. Believes that world history teachers in Canada should read this book even though it excludes information on the South Pacific, Australia, and Canada.…

Describes a lesson plan to develop the students' mental mapping skills that was used with preservice elementary teachers in a social studies methods course. Students deduce the location of a particular Centerville among the 38 throughout the United States. The lesson can be used with fourth grade students and above. (CMK)

Explores the content of the Iowa Test of Basic Skills (ITBS) and describes similarities between the ITBS and the National Council for the Social Studies (NCSS) standards. Addresses three NCSS standards and how each may be represented on a standardized test. Provides eight confidence-boosting principles. (CMK)

Explores social education and the nature of social knowledge, focusing on reconstructivism, John Dewey's criticism of reconstructivism, the two developments that unraveled the reconstructionist counter-socialization argument, and the current emphasis in social education on the loss of respect for the core values and objective methods for…

Describes how by designing a playground, the fifth-grade students at Good Shepherd School in Edmonton, Alberta (Canada) learned in a hands-on manner that geographic knowledge has practical applications in the real world. Explains that the geography concepts utilized in this activity follow the objectives of the Geography Education Standards…

Examines how the voluntary national U.S. history standards contained within the "National Standards for United States History: Exploring the American Experience" were presented in selected U.S. newspapers. Uses ethnographic content and critical discourse analytic methodologies. Indicates that most newspapers presented a fragmented and inflated…

This manual of ideas zeroes in on current picture book titles. It features reproducible worksheets, writing activities, related reading-based activities, and technology for grades three through five. The ideas have been tested in the authors' libraries and are linked to national curricular standards. Designed for school librarians, the book is…

"Tora no Maki" or "Scroll of the Tiger" is a teacher's guide designed to aid in teaching appropriate standards for social studies content and skills, using a contemporary focus on Japan's culture and economy. Topics of the 22 lessons include: group culture, school population, economics, geography, the Internet, family values,…

Let students travel to countries around the world and experience life in different cultures and times by using foreign films with English subtitles in the classroom. Author Kerry Holmes, contends that students want to read as they become involved in the plot of a movie, their interests are piqued by novelty, and their attention is attracted to…

The Water in Africa Project was realized over a 2-year period by a team of Peace Corps volunteers. As part of an expanded, detailed design, resources were collected from over 90 volunteers serving in African countries, photos and stories were prepared, and standards-based learning units were created for K-12 students. This unit,…

The Fall 2003 Idea Book features: "Save Our History Study Guide: Our Documents"; "History International Study Guide: Pyramids"; "The History Channel Study Guide: Lewis and Clark" (Ideas from Our Teachers Contest Rules; Ideas from Our Teachers Context Winners); "A&E Classroom Study Guide: Post…

Beginning a journey mid-May 1804, what became known as the Corps of Discovery, under the command of Meriwether Lewis and William Clark, set out to investigate the newly acquired Louisiana Territory, locate a water route to the Pacific Ocean, and strengthen U.S. claims to the northwest. The 55-member group navigated a variety of terrains and…

Over the past 10 years, there have been calls for and attempts at social studies reform in Norway and the United States. But all social sciences, it seems, are not equal. Some social sciences (history, geography, civics, economics) are more equal than others (sociology, anthropology, psychology). Within this charged atmosphere the Social Science…

Under Article I, Section 8, Clause 4, of the United States Constitution, the U.S. Congress is granted the power to "establish an uniform Rule of Naturalization." With passage of the Chinese Exclusion Act in 1882, Congress exercised this authority, denying the rights of citizenship to all Chinese immigrants. The Chinese Boycott Case…