Computational Thinking (CT) has recently been addressed as one of the key skills for the twenty-first century. Integrating CT into different subject areas of K-12 education is also now widely accepted to improve the quality of instruction. In that sense, it is important to enable educators and researchers to recognize how to integrate…

Methods for facilitating students' standards-based consumer literacy are addressed via the use of problem solving with food and product labels. Fifth graders will be able to: (1) provide detailed analysis of food and product labels; (2) understand large themes, including production, distribution, and consumption; and (3) explore consumer…

This article illustrates how community service-learning can be defined and implemented as a group inquiry project in which students apply academic knowledge and social problem-solving skills. The authors examined eleven different community service-learning projects put into practice by elementary and middle school teachers who participated in…

The author presents five classroom activities that involve students in the settlement at Jamestown. Activity 1 simulates the problems encountered on the "Godspeed," a fifty-two-foot foot boat with fifty-two passengers traveling across the Atlantic in 1607 for three slow months. In Activity 2, students plot their route, ocean currents,…

Critical thinking has long been a goal of social studies education, and its importance has been reiterated in documents delineating standards for the social studies. Yet, teaching critical thinking is problematic because there are competing definitions and practices and many barriers to its implementation (Wright 1995; Onosko 1989). In this…

Intermediate and junior high school students became very involved with this learning activity which involved detective work. Working in groups, students had to solve a riddle based on a sequence of clues. The answer to each set of clues was either a person, an event, or a place. (RM)

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)

Social studies educators advocate discussion as an influential instructional method to encourage students to apply knowledge and develop higher-order thinking and understanding. The classroom reality, however, is that teachers only use the discussion method sparingly. Instead, teachers predominantly use a quasi-discussion form called recitation to…

Reviews the constraints on implementing an issue-centered approach to social studies education and argues that schools play an important role in socializing students into society. Concludes that advocates of new theories of social studies education must take into account the realities of contemporary school and society. (SLM)

Outlines a method for modifying the current social studies curriculum so it can be taught from an issue-centered approach. States that conventional courses in history and geography would be organized around the study of a select number of important issues and illustrates the way these classes would be taught using this approach. (SLM)

Discusses the contributions of issues-centered education to a multicultural education program. Suggests that middle school students will develop an open-ended attitude toward social problems that aids the development of problem-solving skills. Presents an example of a multicultural issue including background information and a script of a class…

When Creative Problem Solving (CPS) was introduced into social studies programs, the students' participation in the classrooms began to change. They began to assume leadership roles and take on a sense of responsibility; they asked questions and worked cooperatively to decide on social action. In this article, the authors argue that CPS has the…

Contends that the problems approach is new to most teachers and is at odds with the dominant curricular trend that includes reliance on textbooks and content-oriented courses. Concludes that there is a formidable set of forces opposing the implementation of such a curriculum. (SLM)

Focuses on how conceptual themes can assist students in problem solving by acting as organizing elements and guides for thinking. States that students can learn how to use important ideas to drive key questions, discern the relationships among concepts that reflect the operation of principles, and visualize a problem to clarify essential issues.…

Suggests promoting student critical thinking and motivation through the dramatization of U.S. history. Explains that the exercises make use of old newspaper articles, diaries, and letters, as well as physical artifact facsimiles. Discusses an activity in which students acted out the formation of the Iroquois nation, then wrote first person…