Maintains that, over the past 50 years, social studies educators have suggested a number of conceptual pathways for approaching their area of academic study. Presents six models: (1) cultural transmission; (2) social action; (3) life adjustment; (4) discovery; (5) inquiry; and (6) multiculturalism. (CFR)

Describes the work of Mary Hunt and the Scientific Temperance movement to mandate teaching about the nature of alcohol and narcotics in the public schools. Examines the struggle over organization and planning within the public school system. Discusses organization in the Scientific Temperance movement's response to public school administration and…

Asserts that the relationship between geography and citizenship education has been used to include geography in the British curriculum. Describes how early geography instruction was linked to imperial strategies of the government. Discusses how geography education changed through the World War I, World War II, and post-war periods. (CFR)

Proposes a broad analytical framework in the study of immigrant naturalization that incorporates an immigrant's individual characteristics with the larger social contexts in the country of origin and the country of destination to explain the likelihood of citizenship acquisition. Results testing of this framework show that such considerations are…

Identifies fundamental educational values that have been incorporated into the Bill of Rights and Responsibilities for Electronic Learners, including equality of access; active, responsible citizenship; control over personal information; freedom of speech; respect for work of others; and responsibility to conserve and protect resources. (LRW)

Summarizes consensus points reached by three university professors and three elementary school teachers who examined the Silver Burdett Ginn elementary textbook series. Explains the study's methodology. Finds textbooks constrained by the expanding environments framework, limited in multicultural coverage, and inadequate in developing themes around…

Business should participate in school reform but has too narrow a perspective to guide it. Nationalizing education through comparative testing is a move to cut spending for social services, to increase accountability and efficiency without increasing financial responsibility or equity. Imposing private-sector rules on public education undermines…

Discusses the concept of participatory citizenship in a democracy. Describes the origin and development of the Close Up Foundation, which sponsors study trips for secondary students to Washington, D.C. Asserts that the teaching methods and materials used in the program promote effective learning and citizen participation. (CFR)

Reviews the debate concerning the impact of Afrocentric education and multicultural education on U.S. history instruction and course content. Responds to criticisms of Afrocentric education by historians Diane Ravitch and Arthur Schlesinger, Jr. Contends that multicultural education can help recognize divisions in U.S. society and show a…

Reports a two-phase project aimed at developing critical language awareness through the teaching of Portuguese. During the first phase, 13-year-olds in a Brazilian state school evaluated their Portuguese lessons, and identified features they felt needed altering to develop critical awareness of language and social reality. Changes were proposed…

Recommends using literature, Supreme Court cases, and moral dilemmas in a debate format as means of instruction for character education. Includes a rationale and examples for each approach. Explains several guiding values (respect for persons, justice, telling the truth) and their relevance to character education. (MJP)

Explores the constitutional amendments and federal laws that extended the right to vote to most citizens. Discusses the historical circumstances and social issues that surrounded passage of the 15th Amendment (elimination of racial barriers), 19th Amendment (women's right to vote), and the Voting Rights Act of 1965. (MJP)

Maintains that the National Voter Registration Act (the Motor Voter Law), which requires states to provide voter registration forms with vehicle registration and at public assistance sites, has increased dramatically the number of registered voters. Discusses legal challenges and answers critics' objections. (MJP)

This essay focuses on the formative years of the Citizenship Training Program as a Highlander project in the Charleston area. Informally known as Citizenship Schools, this adult education program began in 1958 under the sponsorship of Tennessee's Highlander Folk School, which handed over to the Southern Christian Leadership Conference (SCLC) in…

This guide describes "Just Images" a series of television programs and exhibitions that offers a public forum for analyzing television's influential portrayals of trials, lawyers, and the legal system. Contending that television portrayals of high-profile trials has altered the public's perception of law and the role of lawyers in the…