Proving history's relevance to students is a daunting task that social studies educators face everyday as they create lesson plans that they hope will spark their students' interest in learning about the past. Few educators would argue that demonstrating the relevance of the objectives toward which they are teaching is an unnecessary duty. Perhaps…

In the early months of 2005, much of the world celebrated the 60th anniversary of the World War II Allied victory over Nazi Germany and Imperial Japan. Around the same time, protests erupted in Asia against a revised Japanese history textbook, "The New History Textbook," which critics said covered up Japanese World War II atrocities.…

Many challenges face local governments in Virginia and nationwide in the 1990s. As federal funding has decreased, local governments have been forced to take on greater responsibilities. This increased workload has created a greater demand for resources and forced many localities to raise taxes. Citizens have often voiced opposition to these tax…

These classroom materials on Romania are intended to be used in U.S. history, European history, world history, area studies, or current affairs courses. The materials are designed to offer an historical framework for considering current events, as well as some insight into the events, ideas, issues, and personalities involved in Romania's struggle…

This paper presents the thesis that there has been a return to the definition of citizenship forwarded by educational reformers of the 1890s that characterizes much of the reform efforts of the 1990s. The paper examines the current debate about school reform in light of the citizenship education debate of the 1890s that saw the emergence of the…

This curriculum unit uses the U.S. policy options in the Middle East following the Persian Gulf War as the focal point for discussing present and future policy goals. The range of views presented about postwar policy in the Middle East reflects differences in underlying beliefs about the proper role of the United States in the world and about the…

With proper inquiry into pertinent source material, a teacher can spark discussion and intelligent analysis of current issues on days when planned curriculum is not productive. Preplanning and questions for a discussion on Vietnam are offered as an example for teacher preparation. (DE)

A study was conducted to assess the arguments that have been made in favor of and opposed to the electronic curricular supplements, Channel One and CNN Newsroom. Four types of information were analyzed: (1) corporate news releases and research results were reviewed; (2) Channel One and CNN Newsroom programs were studied for format, style, and…

This document consists of the three issues of this newsletter published in 1990. Designed to assist teachers at the secondary and college level in designing and presenting instruction on the topic of astronomy, typical articles in this newsletter include: (1) "Introductory Astronomy Glossary," which presents the definitions of 42 different terms;…

More than 200 years after its founding, the U.S. government continues to thrive on argument, dispute, and debate. For citizens to be fully engaged in the political process, they must continue to participate in the tradition of public discourse exemplified by the ratification debate of 1787-88. College-Community Forums are designed to further…

Using a revised theoretical model of newsworthiness, a study investigated the prominence with which world events are covered by the United States news media. The model differs from previous newsworthiness studies by adding two measures of the deviance of events and by including several country-based social significance predictor variables. Two…

An independent, critical press has been active in Nigeria for a century. Most newspapers are privately owned and publish a range of news and commentary, often critical of the government. The history of the relations between the press and the government during the century, and particularly during the 20 months of rule by the Mohammedu Buhari regime…

This guide contains 20 classroom activities designed by teachers to study topics in geography with the eventual goal of aiding in the development of geographic literacy in students. The various activities involve map reading skills, climatology, current events, urban development, and community planning. Each activity presentation includes an event…

A 3-part teaching unit acquaints secondary students with election procedures and with the issues surrounding the 1984 presidential election. While designed to accompany an educational television series on the 1984 election produced by Albany Educational Television (AET), materials may also be used independently and adapted to other elections. Part…

An address presented at the Second Annual Meeting, American Council on the Teaching of Foreign Languages, New York, December 1968.