The book presents 477 classroom activity suggestions for elementary and middle school teachers which reflect current social studies instructional thinking. The objectives are to promote greater understanding of the instructional topics presented and to encourage a commitment to integrating current instructional trends into personal classroom practices. The book is divided into four sections. Section I offers 198 suggestions for teaching social studies skills. Subcategories covered, including a rationale for each, are thinking processes; student research; informational skills; maps, globes, and space utilization; time and chronology; and listening. Section II gives 64 activity suggestions encouraging examination of social studies concepts, including rules, conflict, goods and services, learning, communication, and technology. Section III deals with 198 activities for various "in" social studies topics such as career education, global education, environmental education, human equality, school, and news and newspapers. Section IV offers 19 activities relating to the affective/evaluative domain which focus on self-esteem and self-awareness. Each section begins with a rationale, and then lists and describes various teaching suggestions, including teaching procedure, materials needed, and examples or illustrations. A subject cross-index of the sequentially numbered activities concludes the book. (CK)