Recent publications have highlighted a growing concern among American educators, parents, and policymakers about the increasingly ubiquitous role of computer technology in the lives of children and teenagers. These authors warn that young people are becoming "technology addicts" as they spend upwards of 10 or 11 hours a day in front of a…

Classroom discussions and deliberations on public issues stand at the core of civic education. Recent research has made a strong case for the potency of these approaches in teaching social studies. Students benefit by learning about argumentation and evidence use, examining their own thinking about an issue, listening to others, and developing…

This article presents what the authors consider to be the ten top websites for teaching about issues in the election season. These include: (1) The Annenberg Political Fact Check--a non-partisan organization that assesses the accuracy of candidates' information in ads, speeches, and debates; (2) The Living Room Candidate: Presidential Ads…

Social studies teachers are tasked with aiding their students' abilities to engage in public debate and make politically sound decisions. One way the authors have found to help facilitate this is to draw connections between content knowledge and current political conversations through the use of clips from "The Daily Show with Jon Stewart." While…

Because in his Gettysburg Address, President Abraham Lincoln said, "we here highly resolve that these dead shall not have died in vain," and "...that government of the people, by the people, for the people, shall not perish from the earth," it is accurate to report that he spoke the words "perish from the earth" and "died in vain." But if his 1864…

Last summer, California and Massachusetts became the sixth and seventh states--along with Hawaii, New Mexico, Vermont, Rhode Island, and Maryland--to send a resolution to the U.S. Congress calling for a constitutional amendment to (1) end the court's extension of personhood rights to corporations, and (2) enable the government to definitively…

In the recent past, and especially since September 11, 2001, many democratic nations have been forced to deal with the threat of attacks on their land. Former U.S. President George W. Bush famously labeled this challenge the "War on Terror." Examining how nations address this issue offers a golden opportunity for social studies teachers…

To help high school students understand their political world, particularly in an election year, the article describes a teaching approach based on a comparison of political terminology to the transmission shift on an automobile. (DB)

Ideas are suggested as to how teachers can help students deal intelligently with questions of value in the classroom. Steps to use in approaching the conflicting issues related to promotion of world peace are outlined. (KM)

Many teachers advocate teaching students to deliberate on controversial political issues as a powerful way of preparing them for political participation. Support for this approach recently came from a Civic Mission of the Schools report, which endorsed including political controversies in the curriculum. Specifically, it recommends that schools:…

Barbara Petzen began working as a part-time outreach coordinator at Harvard University's Center for Middle Eastern Studies (CMES) a week before September 11, 2001. She was finishing her dissertation in Middle Eastern studies, specializing in the Ottoman Empire and Arab history, and thought it would be a good job to have while she completed her…

Four ideas can be used to help students analyze the upcoming 1976 presidential election: expected vote and departures from it; impact of mass media on voters; use of public opinion polling; and connection between electoral and popular votes. (AV)

Inquiring into controversial issues in the classroom is increasingly important. Teachers meeting opposition might assess representation of the total community in the opposition, determine specific points of disagreement and de facto official support. Remedial and preventive course of action should be explored. (VW)

Discusses episodes from the history of the Sioux Indians in North and South Dakota and suggests ways in which this information can be incorporated into social studies classroom activities. Information is taken from primary source material in the Educational Division of the National Archives. (Author/DB)

Examines methods of teaching high school social studies students about the Cold War. Commonly used textbooks are analyzed for their treatment of the Cold War. (DB)