This article discusses techniques for integrating real problem solving and decision making into secondary social studies programs. Approaches to creative problem solving are presented, and various systematic decision making programs currently available for classroom use are identified. (Author/RM)

Suggests ways to use media to improve teaching and learning in social studies classrooms. Examined are the use of multimedia packages for individualized learning, problem solving with media, having students design an instructional unit, and the use of media in a traditional classroom. (RM)

Considers how elementary school classroom teachers can employ exploration methods (gathering, evaluation, and synthesis of data related to a specific topic) to help students develop readiness for intellectually complex problem solving. (Author/DB)

Describes a simulation game developed to introduce elementary school students to basic economic concepts, including scarcity, availability, resource utilization, trade-offs, and demand and barter. The simulation, based on a shortage of chocolate milk in the elementary school lunch room, stressed problem solving skills. (DB)

Describes a Student Advisory Council which was established to address the problems of the Cottage Lane Elementary School (Blauvelt, New York) and its students. Contends that through this participatory activity, students are learning how to solve public problems. (SLM)

Designed by classroom teachers who, through repeated experimentation, identified activities that proved successful in developing students' understanding of citizenship, this unit contains 12 lessons that focus on the multicultural dimensions of citizenship. Each lesson includes objectives, procedures, and materials designed to involve students…

Activity requires secondary students to make an entrepreneurial decision concerning a conflict between long-term and short-term results. Students read a dilemma story involving an automobile manufacturer. They must write down positive and negative consequences for alternative decisions on a "Human Consequences Matrix" and an "Economic Consequences…

Describes an exercise designed to help students experience the inequities of land and wealth distribution and to raise serious questions about solutions to those inequities. (FL)

Maintains that good thinking skills do not just happen; but rather they must be taught and practiced. Provides a lesson on creative problem solving in which students identify a problem, find facts, develop ideas, and create solutions. Discusses the application of the lesson to other areas of the social studies curriculum. (RW)

Discusses teaching social studies using public issues to develop student understanding. Describes identification of issues, justification and clarification of positions, and the discussion process. Suggests that selection of issues should be based on the importance of the issues to society and their significance for teachers and students. (DK)

There are two currents of social studies reform. One involves the search for an appropriate social studies core and is spearheaded by state governments and scholarly organizations. The second reform movement flows toward a social studies curriculum based on urgent domestic issues and the realities of global interdependence. The cross-purposes of…

The lesson for junior high and secondary social studies classes illustrates the effects of a breakdown in the functioning of one key system in an interdependent network. Based on an airline strike, the activity involves students in identifying the subsystems affected by the strike, devising solutions, and writing business reports about the…

Identifies kinds of thinking that fit naturally into elementary social studies curricula, using models of thinking that are not complex. Models include general problem solving skills and skills pertaining to specific types of intellectual tasks, such as comprehending information, solving specific problems, researching topics, and making decisions.…

Presents activities in creativity for use in secondary social studies courses. The activities involve students in laying out alternatives for ethical decision-making, for accomplishing a task, or for problem solving. (RM)