There is a nascent literature on the question of whether active learning methods, and in particular simulation methods, enhance student learning. In this article, the authors evaluate the utility of an international relations simulation in enhancing learning objectives. Student evaluations provide evidence that the simulation process enhances…

This series of lesson plans provides an overview of the Federal Republic of Germany. Transparencies and instructions are provided for each of the four lessons. Lesson 1 looks at "Culture and Perspective Taking on the Federal Republic of Germany" with five activities relating to: (1) "Impressions of Germany and Germans"; (2)…

During the 1990s, there has been an unprecedented global dissemination of information about the theory and practice of democracy and civic education for democracy. This digest identifies nine trends having broad potential for influencing civic education in the constitutional democracies of the world: (1) conceptualization of civic education in…

This project introduces a syllabus for studying comparative politics among Canada, Pakistan, and Japan. Students learn that comparative politics provides an understanding of how different political systems operate and the importance of culture in understanding politics. Three functions are addressed in the course: system functions, process…

This set of collaborative lessons and teacher resources offers a unique focus on Central and Eastern Europe and the tremendous changes of the last decades. Thirty-five lessons present material about the history and government of Central and Eastern European nations and ask students to use comparative analysis with their own nation's history and…

The question of the relationship between capitalism and democracy is not new; scholars have produced a rich literature about it that includes virtually every considerable point of view. Yet the question is of more than historical interest; with the recent dramatic political and economic upheavals in Eastern Europe and the former USSR, it becomes…

This paper provides an overview and critique of a team taught, senior level, interdisciplinary college course entitled "AIDS: Challenges and Crises." The details of the course and its underlying rationale are outlined. The paper concludes with a curriculum proposal rooted in the idea of critical education for citizenship. Those who teach political…

It is difficult to attempt to assess citizenship and political education in the United States over time or even at one point in time. The country is huge, culturally and politically diverse, and educational decision making is highly decentralized. Thus, to determine exactly what is being taught in the name of political education is not easy.…

A descriptive study was conducted to delineate a structured representation of one abstract type (theoretical) and suggest how this predictable representation could affect user-system interfaces of information retrieval systems. Fifty-five argumentative type abstracts were selected from issues of "International Political Science Abstracts." Each…

Since its founding in 1983 The Jefferson Foundation has engaged increasing numbers of Americans in study and discussion of the U.S. Constitution. Through participation in Jefferson Meetings on the Constitution, citizens will come to a fuller understanding of how the Constitution was made, why it designed the national government the way it did, and…

A discussion guide, one of a series on constitutional reform issues by The Jefferson Foundation as part of The Jefferson Meeting on the Constitution project, examines proposals to institute item and legislative veto power. The first section discusses the historical background surrounding the formative debate on veto legislation. The separation of…

Schema theory may be significant in determining if and how news audiences process information. For any given news topic, people have from none to many schemata (cognitive structures that represent organized knowledge about a given concept or type of stimulus abstracted from prior experience) upon which to draw. Models of how schemata are used…

The fields of social and cognitive psychology and political science have offered several experimental designs for assessing the presence, type, and complexity of scripts (memory structures used to encode knowledge of an action) or event schemata. Script measurement is a potentially valuable tool for the study of information and news processing…

This book explores the lives of people who have shaped the laws and legal system of the United States and describes their impact on the U.S. Constitution. The new government's beginnings are examined in unit 1, through the pitfalls and triumphs of the First Continental Congress. The role of John Marshall, the First Chief Justice of the Supreme…

This teacher's guide was developed for the second of four courses in Valencia Community College's Interdisciplinary Studies Program, a 2-year core general education curriculum which chronologically examines the major developments in the evolution of human knowledge. The guide provides an introductory overview of the semester's topic (i.e., the…