Senior high social studies students discuss how people who lived during the Great Depression viewed the future and then, coming back to the present, predict how 13 new industrial inventions of today may affect life a hundred years from now. (RM)

History textbooks usually read like dictionaries and encyclopedias--compact, fact-filled, and dry. To help senior high school students get meaning from this kind of text, teachers can use graphic techniques to preview the text, to guide students during reading, and to review the text after the students have read it. (RM)

Study showed that almost half of all high school social studies teachers cannot perform the basic critical thinking skill of distinguishing between statements of fact and statements of opinion. Teachers cannot teach critical thinking skills, one of the major objectives of social studies education, if they themselves lack the skill. (RM)

Despite all the technology at educators' disposal, the field of social studies is more uncertain of its goals and more intellectually confused than ever before. The failure to deal in a rigorous and uncluttered way with current social problems is one of the most unconscionable defects in the social studies today. (RM)

Social studies teachers have long accepted critical thinking as an important and desirable outcome of instruction. However, they have accepted critical thinking in principle without bothering to define the term precisely or to do much by way of direct instruction to see that this goal is achieved. (Author/RM)

Developing an accurate, commonly accepted definition of critical thinking is absolutely essential. This article proposes and discusses such a definition. Critical thinking is defined as the process of determining the authenticity, accuracy, and worth of information or knowledge claims. It consists of a number of discrete skills. (RM)

Two strategies for teaching elementary students to distinguish relevant from irrelevant material are described. The word associates strategy provides students instruction in writing or stating a generalization that expresses the criteria for relevance. The defending a point of view strategy provides instruction in developing relevant arguments to…

U.S. history is an ideal subject in which to inculcate skepticism and to teach critical thinking skills. High school students who read and analyze rival interpretations of history come to expect that there is more than one viewpoint to most historical topics. Sample lessons are presented. (RM)

A detailed explanation of a strategy for teaching any critical thinking skill is presented. The skill of distinguishing between statements of fact and opinion is used to illustrate the steps necessary to plan for teaching critical thinking. (RM)

Involving students in the planning, use, and assessment of their own questions can help them realize that they can control the direction of their own learning. A sample lesson involving a class of middle school students in a study of Canadian culture and national unity is presented. (RM)

A framework for teaching critical thinking skills is presented, and specific strategies that can be used at key places in this framework are outlined. The framework requires that teachers employ direct, systematic instruction in critical thinking skills prior to, during, and following student introduction to these skills. (RM)

The subject matter social studies teachers choose to have students think critically about is very important. Appropriate types of material--such as excerpts from primary sources--are provided as an illustration. Also included are 10 key critical thinking questions that teachers can use to generate class discussion of the excerpts. (RM)

A social studies department chairperson describes the case concerning the importance of elementary social studies education that she presented at a school board hearing. As a result of her presentation, the board added 50 minutes to the daily time allotted for intermediate grade social studies instruction. (RM)

In 1981, the Boston Public Schools embarked on a program to develop new, city-wide curriculum objectives and tests in all subject areas. This article examines the state of K-8 social studies as they found it and discusses the philosophy and goals of the new curriculum. (RM)

Children's (ages 8-12) interactive social responses to computers were examined. Results showed that students had not considered the social implications of using another's data. When infringements of their rights to privacy took place, students demanded penalties. Students showed preference for group problem-solving strategies. (RM)