This guide outlines a nine to eighteen week course of study for secondary level students on the history of Russia and the Soviet Union. The course teaches the concepts of change and continuity, cause and effect, structural complexity, societal interdependence, freedom and obligation, human needs and cultural functioning, and national behavior patterns. Suggested teaching techniques include the use of readings, audio-visuals, classroom discussion, debates, lectures, and student research and reports. The guide treats five major topics: (1) the origins of the Russian people as a matter of historical speculation, (2) the formative years of the Russian nation and the development of autocracy, (3) the Russian autocracy's retention and consolidation of power while withstanding great stresses and strains, (4) the failure of Russian autocracy to accommodate itself to change, and (5) the confronting of the world by the Soviet Union as a great and changing nation which still holds to the continuity of the past. Behavioral objectives, suggested activities and procedures, resource materials, and evaluation techniques are provided for each topic. A bibliography of basic texts and other references and a list of periodicals, films, filmstrips, maps, tapes and transparencies for Russian history are included. (Author/RM)