Written in an engaging style, this comprehensive text prepares K-12 teachers to address a wide range of contemporary social issues--such as violence, gender, war, terrorism, child labor, censorship, and disabilities--through multicultural children's literature. Each chapter includes sample lessons plans designed to encourage critical and creative…

Describes a strategy for a study of social problems in social studies classes that involves selecting brief excerpts from various literary genres that focus on a key social issue. Notes the students identify the problem, consider its implications, and offer solutions--then the students are encouraged to read the entire text to see how the problem…

Education is the first step toward making changes in habits and practices that are currently threatening the environment. Across the country, evidence is abundant that people are willing to change their habits once they understand the consequences of their choices. Greater numbers of communities are instituting recycling programs. This book is…

Outlines a lesson in which students learn how the constitutional protection of religious freedom has been applied to the Amish. Includes readings from which students can analyze three seemingly contradictory decisions related to the Amish and attempt to understand judicial interpretation. Asks students to apply the concept of judicial…

Presents several arguments and strategies for using films about war and peace in introductory sociology and social problems courses. Addresses the practical problems of cost, scheduling, and locating appropriate resources. An appendix provides an annotated list of effective films, videos, and slide shows. (Author/BSR)

Describes an approach for including social issues in United States history classes. Provides examples of how specific issues were integrated with common course topics. (JDH)

Reviews Elie Wiesel's "Night," an account of his Holocaust experiences. Concludes that what is important is not that students' questions be answered, but that people continue to ask them. (EL)

Each year the Constitutional Rights Foundation (CRF) seeks to create a mock trial that addresses serious matters facing young people today. In recent times, the actions and behaviors of student groups on high school and college campuses have become major stories in the national media. Incidents of hazing and peer pressure have raised questions…

Suggests steps for approaching discussion of controversial issues in the classroom, using the scandal of Canadian Olympian sprinter Ben Johnson as an example. Recommends the reflective inquiry approach, which necessitates framing the problem in relationship to student age, and with attention to the information available about the problem. (LS)

Proposes an alternative way of addressing the California Framework through an issues-centered approach to teaching social studies. Describes issues-centered education as instruction infused with reflection on problematic questions related to social issues. Discusses ways of implementing issues-centered social studies curricula and note resources…

Describes a class project involving citation verification generated by a student's skepticism of the accuracy of a text. Emphasizes the importance of spontaneity and student interest in the success of such a project. Urges teachers to be alert for a spontaneous, student generated challenge to the credibility of texts in use. (DK)

Focusing on the rationales and materials for teaching social issues in the English classroom, this thematic issue contains the following articles: "Introduction: Reflections of Society in Literature" (M. B. Fleming); "Addressing Social and/or Controversial Issues in the English Classroom" (S. Totten); "The Growing Threat to Quality Education: How…

States that social studies teachers should present the available factual information about Acquired Immune Deficiency Syndrome (AIDS) in terms of what is happening globally and examine questions of human and civil rights raised by the disease. Provides a list of facts and discussion questions for classroom teachers. (GEA)

Focuses on the resources that the Internet brings to teaching social or controversial issues in the social studies classroom by listing Web sites and describing how to search for the information. Lists Web sites that help students learn to evaluate Internet resources. Provides information on portal Web sites. (CMK)

Faced with the task of reading literature on themes perhaps foreign to their own experience, students can explore their reactions to these issues by using a case study approach, bridging the gap between the novel and the student's own experience. In a case study, the issue of racial hatred can be objectively discussed as students gather evidence…