Based on a National Council for the Social Studies position statement on the essentials of social studies, a rationale for teaching about religions in the social studies is presented. The author's rationale includes the following points: (1) that knowledge about religion is not only characteristic of an educated person but also necessary for…

The author develops a rationale for teaching about the non-West in the social studies curriculum in public schools. Suggestions are made concerning curriculum development and teaching methods. (SM)

Discussed are techniques for evaluating students in political science in a sound and humanistic manner. Guidelines are presented to help identify and clarify cognitive skills as well as to reduce political and governmental concepts to measurable terms. Suggestions are made for planning tests that assess the attainment of various learning…

There are major themes in geography, which all teachers should incorporate into the social studies. These themes assist students to organize information and relate relevant ideas. Teachers need to study and experiment with using a set of structural ideas to facilitate student learning. Otherwise, learning may comprise of isolated facts, concepts,…

Guidelines are presented to assist school divisions in implementing the accreditation requirement of the Virginia Board of Education for minimum competency assessment in citizenship for all high school graduates. It is assumed that local schools or divisions have established goals and objectives for social studies programs which may serve as a…

Guidelines are provided in this handbook for secondary level teachers on how to develop and use case studies in their social studies and economics classes. Among the contents are the following: (1) a description of the case study method and its educational goals; (2) the act of case discussion; (3) questioning techniques to use and sample…