In this article, the authors begin by describing a classroom activity from part of the Diplomacy Challenge unit in their Problem-Based Learning (PBL) Advanced Placement (AP) World History Curriculum when students discover and analyze the history of the Early Modern Era (1450-1750). In this article, they explain how they have adopted PBL, its…

How can educators immerse high school students in a real murder case investigation that will require them to draw upon and practice the critical thinking, literacy, and reasoning skill sets so highly valued under the Common Core, the C3 Framework and the 21st Century skills rubric? As an attorney and former high school teacher, the author knew…

On August 9, Michael Brown, a college-bound black male, was fatally shot by a white police officer in the streets of Ferguson, Missouri. For several days, jarring images of tear gas, militarized police, and unrest in Ferguson flickered on screens across the world. Undoubtedly, what brought Ferguson to the national consciousness--the death of a…

This article discusses four current explanations for man's failure to resolve conflicts. Information about and techniques for improving human judgment and opportunities for students to learn to use these are needed to improve efforts to solve social problems. (KM)

Maintains that most discipline problems arise when students are asked to perform beyond their capabilities. Outlines several techniques for teaching social studies to slow learners. Techniques involve students in group reading, simulations, globe and map drills, neighborhood surveys, and art projects. (Author/DB)

Provides background information and related learning activities for three areas of inquiry involving youth and violence: (1) "Evolution of the Juvenile Justice System"; (2) "The Literature of Crime and Poverty"; (3) "Youth Crime and Public Policy." Includes a list of six recommended Web sites. (MJP)

Practical advice on teaching about genocide is provided. Specific learning activities to help secondary students arrive at a more experiential awareness of such inhumanity are suggested. (RM)

Presents a transcript of a decoded telegram which describes events surrounding the death in 1924 of Robert Imbrie, United States Vice Consul to Tehran, Persia (presently Iran). Background information and suggestions for teaching are included. (KC)

Discusses four major approaches to teaching about controversial issues frequently cited in educational literature: problem solving, public issues, decision making, and moral reasoning. Provides guidelines for structuring large-group discussions, small-group discussions, and debates within these approaches. Includes a list of instructional…

Students can learn about the elderly by surveying themselves about their knowledge and attitudes; interviewing elderly people; analyzing cartoons depicting the elderly in our society; investigating volunteer opportunities for people over 65; working in nursing homes; and finding out about associations of elderly people. (AV)

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…

Five teachers describe the ways they teach consumer education: 1) through the theme of American problems, 2) through a team of teachers representing different disciplines, 3) through tandem teaching with constant representation from business and social sciences, 4) as a unit in an economics course, and 5) by activities integrated into the…

In the evaluated project the core of the elementary curriculum is centered around economics, although other social science disciplines are integrated into the program which emphasizes helping students to develop problem solving abilities and analytic thinking through their involvement in learning activities. (SM)

Presents learning activities to help secondary school students understand problems involved in deciding sentences for crimes. The specific objective is to increase students' awareness of alternative punishment for offenders. (DB)

This exercise shows how to turn the expository treatment of a topic or event into a mystery or puzzling situation that students are asked to solve. Once a puzzle is presented, students may pose only questions that can be answered yes or no. Three sample lessons are included to illustrate the process. (JDH)