New Items in the REECAS Center's
Outreach Collection-Fall 1998.
The Transboundary Environmental Information Agency has produced a "Directory of Non-Governmental Environmental Organizations of St. Petersburg". This comprehensive guide covers numerous environmental groups in St. Petersburg and provides useful items such as contact information, spheres of activity, and important projects these organizations have undertaken. Issues covered include agriculture, education, politics, and wildlife.
Kutztown State University and the Pennsylvania State Education Association have teamed up to produce a set of curriculum units entitled Russia in Search of Democracy. K-12 teachers in Pennsylvania prepared a wide assortment of mini-units to update the curriculum offerings in basic education relevant to the transition in Russia to a more democratic form of government and a market economy. The units cover a wide range of grade levels and cover such topics as history, art education, social studies, and internet-based instruction. Topics covered in the set include:
- Absolute Monarchy in Russia and World History. Peter Regeski--Social Studies (for Grade 8)
- The Collapse of the Soviet Union. Carolyn Jeffery Sherman--Social Studies (High School).
- Global Education for the Global Student. Barbara S. Clarke--Business Education (High School)
- An Interview with a Russian Student: Age 10-12. Linda Raschiatore--Elementary Education
- A Look at Russian Schools. Kelly Bruckart--Special Education (Grades 5-8)
- Russian Music and Teenagers. Mary Anne Cousins--English (High School)
- Russia Across the Elementary School Curriculum-Reading, Math, Social Studies, Economics, Sports, and Art. Linda Cook--Elementary Education (Grades 2-6)
- Russia in Search of Democracy. Coralee Owlett--Social Studies (High School)
- Russia: History, Culture, Traditions, and Arts. Daniel Burns--Art Education (K-6 arts and crafts projects)
- Russian-American Internet Cultural Exchanges: Keypal Units on Russia's Food, Sports, Space Station, and Television. Richard Gittins--Distance Learning Coordinator (Junior High)
- Russian and American Youth, A Comparison of Attitudes and Interests. Tom Campbell--Social Studies (High School)
- The Use of Advertising to Assist in the Pronunciation of the Cyrillic Alphabet. Thomas Joyce--French (High School).
- Themes and Purposes of Art: Russian Illustrations. Jane Krepp (High School)
Other curriculum aids and lesson plans include:
- Teaching Russian Studies--a set of materials including activities, hand outs, cassettes, and slides (grades 4-9).
- Red Square-- a full-size, color poster and lesson plans on Moscow's famed landmark (grades 5-10)
- Russia and Its Neighbors-Uneasy Relationships -- Discusses the tense relationships between Russia and the newly independent states of Eastern Europe and Central Asia. Contains a booklet with photos, maps, and tables (grades 9-12).
- CIS and Eastern Europe On-File--a comprehensive collection of maps, charts, and historical studies of Eastern Europe, Russia, and the nations of Central Asia.
- Zlata's Diary--a complete teaching unit based on a diary written by an eleven-year old girl who witnessed the horrors of war in Bosnia. Included in this set is a copy of her diary, a video about Zlata produced by NBC News, and a curriculum unit with five lesson plans.
- "Russian Leaders"-- a set of four books on past and present Russian leaders. Included are books on Peter the Great, Vladimir Lenin, Leonid Brezhnev, and Boris Yeltsin (grades 4-9).
New videos include:
- Dr. Zhivago --The classic film based on Boris Pasternak's novel of love and war in Revolutionary Russia.
- Anastasia--a film produced for public television about the mystery surrounding the youngest daughter of the last Tsar of Russia.
- Rasputin-The Mad Monk--a documentary film about the much maligned Grigori Rasputin.
- Chernobyl Recovery: A Blueprint for International Cooperation--a documentary on the nuclear disaster at Chernobyl and the efforts to contain the damage there.
- The Herders of Mongun-Taiga: the Tuvans of Mongolia.
- St. Petersburg--a documentary on the city and its people.
- Russia Today--a documentary for grades 5-8.
- The Russian Federation--grades 9-12.
- Before Gorbachev and Mikhail Gorbachev--Two Videos dealing with Soviet-era politics and the last leader of the Soviet Union.