The case is made for the jurisprudential approach to social studies, which focuses on the analysis of public issues, as appropriate for gifted students. Case studies illustrate the approach's emphasis on decision making (and its natural concomitants of disagreement and value conflict) as a central component of democratic citizenship. (CL)

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)

The role of decision making, and its import for generating social change are examined. Decision making is considered from psychological, semantic, and scientific viewpoints, and suggestions for constructive change in social studies curricula are offered. (RJG)

Reliability data suggest that, although there are many problems, it is feasible to systematically evaluate a student's analytic and persuasive competence in free oral argumentation. The first part of the paper describes the contexts within which the evaluation project took place. Specifically discussed are the five areas of analysis on which the…