Offers examples of brainstorming and experiential learning for improving classroom instruction. Includes a list of six questions which a teacher may ask to improve instruction, among them, What is the objective of this section in terms of its desired effect on students, and what indicators tell me that I'm not getting the result I want? (JDH)

Notes that writing can be a more effective tool for social studies learning if assignments require students to generate their own thoughts rather than restate someone else's ideas. Offers a two-day lesson on the reform of child labor practices during the English Industrial Revolution. A wide variety of writing activities are featured. (JDH)

Reviews recent incidents of racial discrimination and discusses the role of education in reducing prejudice. Offers suggestions for classroom instruction and identifies a selection of recently produced classroom materials dealing with prejudice and human relations. (JDH)

Reviews studies on prejudice and children focusing on how children learn prejudice and what can be done to prevent it. Offers three activity and discussion ideas which can be used to develop children's awareness of inappropriate prejudgments. Identifies a selection of related instructional resources and includes a 34-item bibliography. (JDH)

This article reports the results of a two-week minicourse designed to teach seventh graders about exceptionalities. Concludes that the unit provided an encouraging demonstration of the receptivity of students at this age to a program designed to teach about differences. (JDH)

Argues that teachers can achieve the goal of reducing prejudice by focusing on the development of thinking skills. Describes how a group of tenth grade teachers taught a unit on the Holocaust which actively engaged students' thinking and reduced their level of prejudice while increasing their self-esteem. (JDH)

Maintains that students can be taught antiprejudicial thinking by infusing their school experience with critical thinking about knowledge and life. Lists ten attitudes considered essential to the development of critical thinking and reviews classroom characteristics which support prejudice reduction. (JDH)

Argues that the strategies and goals of cooperative learning promote good citizenship and the reduction of prejudice. Reviews supporting theories and research and reports on a fifth grade's ten-week cooperative learning experience. (JDH)

Reviews research on prejudice reduction. The areas covered are audiovisual approaches, approaches using special materials, cognitive approaches, cooperative learning approaches, human relations training, direct approaches, schoolwide conditions, teacher education, and other techniques. (JDH)

Summarizes the incidents of vandalism and violence perpetrated by a teenage group called "skinheads," which occurred on the north side of Chicago, Illinois, on the night of November 9, 1987. Includes information about "skinhead" activities around the United States and how communities and the media have reacted. (JDH)

Provides a list of print and audiovisual instructional materials which may be used to teach about prejudice in elementary and secondary schools. Price and other ordering information are included. (JDH)

Reviews research to answer under what conditions, if any, does homework make a difference in student achievement. Provides a brief history of the homework debate. Reviews 84 homework experiments conduced between 1904 and 1984. Concludes that most studies found homework beneficial. (JDH)

This ERIC/ChESS column presents a variety of resources to help educators find new ways to reduce prejudice. Included are three ERIC documents which cover (1) how to reduce prejudice in the social studies classroom, (2) research on prejudice reduction, and (3) preventing institutional racism and sexism. (JDH)

Provides a lesson plan for high school students which addresses how the electoral college elects the President and Vice President of the United States. The content of the lesson is divided into five interrelated parts which are distributed to separate groups of students. The students must share their group work to complete the lesson. (JDH)

Describes one high school social studies teacher's success in having students construct their own educational games to illustrate concepts from sociology and anthropology. (JDH)