Discusses the use of autobiography and personal memoirs as teaching tools in the history classroom. Presents information from Henry Watterson's autobiography that discusses the life of Jane Cazneau. Points out flaws in which incorrect information is presented as true. Includes a complete lesson plan for use with the example. (DK)

Presents study results of teaching social studies in a rural environment. Addresses size of school, teacher preparation in social studies, teacher orientation toward teaching content, and achievement scores. Concludes that teachers in rural schools have more positive opinions of their students but need additional teaching materials and inservice…

Discusses an analysis of 10 common introductory psychology textbooks. Argues that the books tend to present psychology as tedious, even silly, and as a canned, multimedia, self-teaching program. Concludes that replacing textbooks with lectures based on the instructor's personal knowledge and experience would improve the teaching of psychology. (SG)

Discusses the increasing availability of law, justice, and legal history as a first-year college course. Explains that the course is an interdisciplinary one, mostly taught by political scientists, sociologists, historians, and lawyers. Reviews available college and law school textbooks that could be used in the course. (SG)

Discusses a follow-up examination of leading Western civilization and world history textbooks. Argues that the books have changed little over seven years. Identifies improvements but finds little alteration in the books' basic designs and interpretations. Concludes that the books' treatment of literature, art, philosophy, political science, and…

Discusses political education in the postwar Federal Republic of Germany. Describes a U.S. led reeducation program founded upon principles of denazification and democracy and examines German responses. Identifies the influence of the Soviet Union upon West German education. Analyzes the growth of political education in the 1960s, its maturation,…

Explains interrelationships between geography and social studies. Highlights developments affecting school geography since 1980. Determines that geography's spatial perspective distinguishes it from other social sciences. Examines 10 presuppositions of geography education to reveal geography's scope, role, and relevance to social education.…

Argues a global perspective is inherent to all geographic research and education. Quotes several influential geographers concerning their views on globalism and geography as a discipline. Examines geography's five fundamental themes and their applicability to a global perspective. Considers roles geographers can play in solving world environmental…

Delineates the nature of applied geography, asserting that geography links the natural and social sciences. Underscores geography's role in data analysis and problem solving on a global scale. Traces the discipline's history. Maps geography's status in higher education institutions. Discusses new technologies used by geographers. Summarizes career…

Considers the interface of humans and seacoasts over time. Explains how coastal zones are formed and human attempts to defend against sea level changes. Charts the percentage of major world cities that also are ports. Postulates how the greenhouse effect could influence sea level, examining potential human responses to changes in coastal zones.…

Compares differences in resource exploitation and energy development in Louisiana and western mineral-producing states. Identifies socioeconomic impacts of Louisiana's offshore drilling and western coal, oil, and natural gas mining, noting the boom and bust cycles and "hyperurbanization" that attends both. Stresses the necessity of balancing…

Investigates townsite distribution in South Dakota's land settlement pattern. Reviews past theories explaining eastern South Dakota's systematic spacing of towns along rail lines. Indicates a correlation between railroad functions and town development, advancing the theory that nineteenth-century railroad technology, involving traffic control and…

Explores the vital development of the Pacific Rim. Advocates integrating the study of this region into social studies curricula. Criticizes the Eurocentric bias that results in ignoring the Pacific Rim's geography, history, literature, and languages. Reports on social studies programs, primarily in Alaska schools, where study of the Pacific Rim…

Selects and annotates 25 documents and articles on geography education from the ERIC database. Provides information about accessing and ordering materials. Items include surveys of geographic knowledge, suggested classroom activities, and discussion of geography's place in the social studies curriculum. (CH)

Describes a course project in which students used computers to analyze census data to learn social history. Outlines the research project from the beginning when students drew samples from the census data to the final paper written by students. Argues that the analysis of historical data by computers has many potential applications. (DB)