This study is aimed at exploring how teachers make curricular-instructional decisions regarding teaching contemporary controversial public issues in Taiwan (e.g., national identity, sovereignty, and ethnic issues). Using a case study design, this study documents how six social studies teachers make curricular decisions about whether to teach…

"Teaching and Studying Social Issues: Major Programs and Approaches" focuses on many of the major innovations developed over the past 100 years by noted educators to assist students in the study and analysis of key social issues that impact their lives and society. This book complements earlier books that address other aspects of studying and…

Science has a role to play in the resolution of many of the issues deemed controversial in all societies. However, evidence of a lack of public confidence in science and scientists as effective problem-solvers continues to accumulate. This paper speculates that this lack of confidence might in part be due to the way in which science educators…

The conflict-resolution steps outlined in Arnold Burron's "Heed Community Values" article suggests an oversimplified picture of educational change. Consensus in diverse communities is elusive. Parents' rights are problematic. Conflict will continue as long as communities expect schools to resolve society's problems. Sharing…

Outlines two reasons that issue-centered discourse will be legitimized in the schools. Contends that the impact of societal problems will force schools to deal with social issues, and that the recognition of the hidden curriculum's influence will impel schools to capitalize on the learning taking place within their walls. (SLM)

Notes the current attempt to replace social studies with U.S. history and geography. Delineates the two strands of thought in the social studies reform movement and argues that there is a strong tradition of the social studies as a unified, issue-centered field of study. (SLM)

Reviews the history of social studies as an integrated, issue-centered field of study from its inception within the progressive movement to the present. Summarizes major curricular development projects within the issues-centered orientation and speculates on the decline of the problems approach in social studies education. (SLM)

The authors offer their view of a normative basis for an approach to teacher education that contributes to the establishment of more critical and emancipatory practices in the public schools of United States. These ideas are then linked to the broader tradition of radicalism in teacher education. A variety of conceptual lenses and instructional…

Compares 1989 National Commission on Social Studies in the Schools' report, "Charting a Course: Social Studies in the 21st Century," to a similar curricular endeavor during the 1930s. Finds the 1989 version conformist, narrow, prescriptive, overly content oriented, and not reflective of educational research. Because of its academic…

Criticizes the National Commission on Social Studies in the Schools' report, "Charting a Course: Social Studies for the 21st Century." Questions the report's chronological exposition of history, exclusion of social problems until twelfth grade, emphasis on content, lack of selectivity, and declarative mood. Contends that, by ignoring…

Contends that it is increasingly clear that schools must prepare students to be able to adapt to a changing world. Asserts that multicultural education is an intellectual concept that should focus on significant social issues. Maintains that effective multicultural education requires conceptual teaching methods. (CFR)

Examines changes in social studies education from the late 1960s into 1980s, stating that it is important today to teach about social issues using some form of values clarification. Advocates the use of such methods so that students may effectively confront today's challenges, namely Acquired Immune Deficiency Syndrome, drug abuse, alcoholism, sex…

Traces historical trends in social studies education, examining pressures that have both produced and inhibited change. Analyzes differences between discipline-based and issue-centered approaches. Presents pessimistic, optimistic, and realistic scenarios of the next 100 years of social studies education. Advocates developing issue-centered social…