What part, if any, should momentous current events play in the curriculum? This article suggests that some events are so significant they impose themselves on the curriculum, that children need to discuss political events, and that teachers should be realistic, respectful, and reassuring in dealing with these matters. (Author/RH)

Discusses study to determine readability levels of materials for the social studies classroom which examine contemporary problems. The Dale-Chall and the Fry readability formulae were used. Reading levels of newspapers, government publications, magazines, and publications of special interest groups are provided in chart form. (KC)

Suggestions are given on planning successful field trips and using current events, public and personal, as educational tools. (JD)

Reviews events of 1978 in Francophone African journalism, literature, and film. (AM)

Describes three major sources of agreement and disagreement about population policy, i.e., the crisis environmentalists, the family planners, and the developmental distributivists. Discusses moral considerations relating to population policy. Lists types of policies suggested in the World Plan of Action at Bucharest (Population Council, 1974). (CS)

Provides examples of classroom activities that involve the use of newspapers and news magazines to enhance students' motivation and their awareness of current musical events. Suggests using newspaper activities to teach the basics of music criticism, and to develop lifelong interest in music. (LS)

Reviews "Showing Teachers How," a series of 12 videotapes released in 1986 and 1987 dealing with (1) reading instruction using the whole language approach in the elementary grades; (2) social studies instruction using trade books; (3) writing instruction; and (4) discussion strategies for current events. (RS)

Examines the origins of the Bill of Rights. Explores the temptation to focus on current problems at the expense of the future. Introduces four articles concerning teaching about the Bill of Rights. (SG)

Finds that current-affairs knowledge among journalism students was correlated to newspaper use but that, when student self-efficacy was taken into account, newspaper use no longer served as a robust predictor of current-affairs knowledge. (SR)

Presented are the highlights of a press conference featuring biomedical ethicist LeRoy Walters of Georgetown University and attorney Andrew Kimbrell of the Foundation on Economic Trends. The opposing points of view of these two speakers serve to outline the pros and cons of the gene therapy issue. (CW)

In this article, the author provides ways in which educators may start teaching globalism and globalization to their students. The author suggests that there are many opportunities to introduce students to the humane and encouraging aspects of a civil society by attending closely to current events that speak, with light and hope, to the changing…

Educators at the University of Southampton and Sheffield Hallam University have used an online questionnaire and follow up focus groups to establish how much students embarking on courses in business, management and politics know about current affairs and to explore some of the pedagogic and procedural issues associated with research of this kind.…

This study compared the preferred writing topics of urban and rural middle school students. Eighth graders (n = 205) responded to a brief survey of preferred writing topics in the descriptive writing genres of real or imagined stories, reports, and opinions. While some preferred writing topics were divergent such as society, crime, and violence,…

This document presents the proceedings of 16th Annual Research Forum held June 15, 2011, at Wake Forest University in Winston-Salem, North Carolina. Included herein are the following 25 action research papers: (1) The Effects of Prompted Math Journaling on Algebra 1 Students' Achievement and Attitudes (Heidi I. Arnold); (2) Group Work and Attitude…

In order to achieve its goals, the Social Studies course should convey social events, which took place within or out of the school context, into the classroom environment. Current events can be very beneficial so as to transfer the social events into classroom environment in the Social Studies courses. In this study, semi structured interview…