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The central concern of this study, which was briefly reviewed in ED 049 143, was to determine effective teaching strategies and practices in secondary social studies classroom discussions of social issues. Teaching effectiveness was evaluated in terms of the cognitive or critical thinking skills of participating students, and their attitudes toward the teacher and class. Incidently, the affective side effects of social issues instruction are reported separately in ED 039 162. In the initial analysis of two audio-taping sessions for each of sixteen classes it became apparent that distinct discussion styles existed: 1) expository, sharing background information only; 2) inquiry-nonprobing, giving hypotheses, opinions, and taking positions only; and, 3) inquiry-probing, developing ideas as well as devoting much time to defining, clarifying, evidencing, or testing these ideas. The instruments used for ascertaining the students critical thinking skills were the Michigan Social Issues Cognitive Category System, developed by the project as reported in ED 039 161, and the Harvard Social Issues Analysis Test; to determine student attitudes, the Minnesota Student Attitude Inventory was used. Students in the probing classes rated their classes highest and did very well on the critical thinking test; the expository classes came next, followed by the nonprobing classes with the lowest ratings and test scores. (Author/SBE)

1Boy Crusoe

By Allan Eric

Also published as" A Yankee Crusoe" . A 15 year old hard working and studious farm boy finds the lure of adventure on the seas as a merchant seaman more than he can resist. This is his story. " I was born in a little town in the State of Maine, near the close of the Civil War. My boyhood life did not differ materially from that of the average farmer's son in the remote country districts of New England--except, perhaps, that I read more and thought more. Hard work on the rugged soil, two terms each year in the little yellow country schoolhouse, a day's fishing now and then filled the early years of my life full to over-flowing. " What he gets is enough excitement and adventure to overflow his wildest dreams. How he experiences disaster and uses his wits and knowledge to overcome every problem makes for a great read. - Summary by Phil Chenevert