Two experimental groups of fourth graders received instruction in the use of graphic organizers. Subjects in the control group were taught by the reading-recitation method. Graphic organizer instruction improved students' ability to read and retain social studies information. (RM)

Upper elementary and high school students completed an instrument that measured student attitudes toward social studies and indicated the presence of factors found to contribute to positive student attitudes toward social studies in previous research. It was concluded that teaching style did not have a meaningful impact on student attitudes.…

Social studies educators are encouraged to investigate propositions that have been extracted from anthropological literature in order to determine their value in shedding new light on learning and teaching. For example, anthropologists believe that learning and teaching are processes associated with cultural transmission and that social…

A questionnaire was sent to a random sample of members of the College and University Faculty Assembly of the National Council for the Social Studies to determine how socially active these teacher educators actually are. Results indicated significant election campaign, special issue, and moderate local issue involvement. (Author/RM)

Questionnaires completed by 22 student teachers and 22 cooperating teachers showed similar attitudes toward instruction and variations with respect to systematic planning and allocation of time. (RM)

Visual diagrams do not make a statistically significant difference in student learning. The study sample consisted of 189 eighth-grade students of various ability levels. (RM)

This national survey revealed that most states (all but six) require the teaching of state history. The majority of the states have a state history textbook of adequate quality, have no curriculum guide setting parameters for state history, and do not require a state history course for teacher certification. (Author/RM)

This article discusses a study undertaken to evaluate self-instructional teacher training materials used at an inservice teacher workshop for mastery teaching. Finds from a survey of the 17 participating teachers indicated they valued many elements of the strategy and that they would adopt parts of the mastery teaching strategy for use in their…

Evaluates 10 new elementary social studies methods texts in 10 areas: topicality, "basics" affect, balance of theory and pragmatic ideas, new social studies ideas, realism, special groups, action learning, broad scale evaluation, and usefulness in service. Three texts are recommended. (AM)

A study of 182 in-service teachers hypothesized a strong relationship between teachers' feelings about themselves and teaching, and their perceived responsibility for student achievement. Findings supported the hypothesis. (AM)

This review of research literature on social studies methods from 1921-1978 includes a discussion of philosophic trends, course content, cultural perspectives, teaching styles, and research measures. The author proposes a new theoretical framework for analyzing social studies methods. (AM)

Describes an experiment with 48 pre-service social studies teachers to determine the effects of methods instruction and student experiences on teacher attitudes toward social studies. Results suggest that methods courses cause more attitude shifts than student teaching. (AM)

Describes a study which investigated whether differences in teacher verbal interactions with students are a function of achievement expectations and sex differences. Ten fourth grade social studies teachers and 120 students were observed using the Brophy-Good dyadic observation system. Results indicated that achievement expectations, but not sex,…

Describes a study which measured the social studies content knowledge of preservice elementary education majors. One hundred twenty-eight elementary social studies methods preservice education majors completed the social studies portion of the General Education Development Test. Results showed weaknesses in student knowledge of political science,…

Describes a study which compared the effectiveness of two teaching methods--the lecture method and experiential learning aimed at improving college students' topographic map skills. Subjects were 76 University of Georgia undergraduate geography students. (AM)