World Religions: A Curriculum Guide.

This curriculum guide is for a semester length elective course on the world's major religions designed to be used at the 10th grade level in the Newtown Public Schools, Newton, Connecticut. It reviews each religion's origins, historical developments, sacred literature, beliefs, values, and practices while emphasizing the impact of religion on history, culture, contemporary issues and affairs, and the arts. The course units concern primitive religions, Judaism, Zoroastrianism, Christianity, Islam, Hinduism, Buddhism, Jainism, Sikhism, Taoism, Confucianism, and Shintoism. Outlined for each unit are objectives, content, text materials, audiovisual materials, and suggested activities. The document also contains a National Council for the Social Studies paper entitled "Including the Study about Religions in the Social Studies Curriculum: A Position Statement and Guidelines" ("Social Education," May 1985) and the following front matter: (1) a description of the Newton Public Schools Social Studies philosophy and goals; (2) Bloom's Taxonomy chart; (3) an outline of the components of the writing process; (4) a speaking, listening, and viewing skills position statement; (5) a list of speaking skills objectives; (6) a list of listening /viewing objectives; and (7) the K-12 Social Studies Scope and Sequence. (DJC)