Four issues of a current awareness bulletin published occasionally by the ERIC Clearinghouse for Social Studies for use by elementary and secondary social studies teachers are combined in this document. The first issue deals with the application of competency-based curriculum to teacher education, focusing on teacher growth and evidence of pupil progress. The second issue, on public doublespeak, features an interview with a member of the National Council of Teachers of English in which the relation of language to public policy is discussed and classroom techniques for preparing children to cope with commercial propaganda are presented. Historian Willa K. Baum explains in the third issue how the methods of oral history can help students gain both social skills and a concern for social action in addition to academic skills. In the fourth issue, on the subject of death and dying, Dr. Elisabeth Kubler-Ross maintains that inclusion of more courses in death education would encourage students to adopt less judgmental, destructive, and materialistic standards. The format of each four-page bulletin differs slightly, but generally each includes a definition of the topic, interviews with leaders in the field, abstracts of ERIC documents related to the topic, a book review, descriptions of related games and learning activities, classroom activities, and a bibliography of books and multimedia products in the field. (Author/DB)