Introduction Getting Ready
Learning Circles Teachers' Guide
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Society's Problems Learning Circles

INTRODUCTION TO SOCIETY'S PROBLEMS LEARNING CIRCLES

The Society's Problems theme provides students the opportunity to explore problems that confront their communities and to work together as teams to propose effective solutions. The students research issues and discuss the impact of similar problems in diverse local communities. By comparing problems across different communities, students gain a deeper understanding of the complexity of these issues, and work together to propose solutions to them.

Learning Circle participants produce a final publication called Investigating Society's Problems covering a broad range of topics. The students may want to investigate teenage-related problems such as drugs, alcohol abuse, teenage pregnancy, abortion, school dropouts, runaways, academic pressure, gangs, suicide, or cheating.


Other Learning Circle participants may want to sponsor research on local governmental responses to problems such as unemployment welfare, crime and punishment, death penalties, gun control, minimum wage, or illegal immigration. The students may also choose to study certain social groups such as the elderly, the family, the homeless, the hungry, AIDS victims, ethnic groups or the handicapped.

Bill Burrall (WV) designed a project for his Learning Circle which involved having experts on society's problems--felon prisoners--share their unique perspectives with secondary students.

 

 

Return to List of Themes in the Overview

 

 

Copyright © 1997, 2002, Margaret Riel