By Mary Jester
Asst. Campus Editor

Students majoring in education are not the only ones learning how to teach. Teachers have been coming to Purdue's James F. Ackerman Center for Democratic Citizenship to improve their teaching skills.

In order to be an effective teacher, one needs to be a lifelong learner, said Brian Fultz, a fourth—grade teacher at Happy Hollow Elementary School. The center is a place where teachers from across the nation can learn how to teach character education.

Each summer, the center holds the Ackerman Civic Education Summer Institute that lasts for two weeks. Fultz has participated in and led programs for the institute.

Lynn Nelson, associate professor of social studies education and director of the center, said teachers come to learn new ways to teach American history, government and civics.

Besides the institute, the center holds a Russian civic education program, a social studies convention, a holocaust conference and a conference on school violence.

Teachers come to the institute to learn how to teach character and citizenship values to their students. Fultz said teachers are often afraid to teach character and deal with values. However, he said, as a society we not only have private values, but public values as well such as citizenship.

Nelson said, "Our programs deal with effective teaching of history and civics and government and economics." Teachers learn how to teach students that they do have responsibilities to other people.

He said themes such as social responsibility and citizenship can be taught through history when studying the Constitution, or events such as the holocaust or the Lincoln—Douglas debate.

Fultz said his students hear about current events such as the elections, the war in Bosnia or a nativity scene displayed at a courthouse and form opinions but don't have a lot of information on them.

Fultz said they discuss these issues in class and the students learn how to look at issues from different points of view. He uses these events to teach students concepts such as individual rights versus the common good.

Learning concepts in this way helps them learn about events from the past, such as the French and Indian war. Fultz said that war is an example where groups - in this instance the French, the British and the Native Americans - had conflicting beliefs.

Fultz said teachers at the institute were able to realize that they have the same problems, regardless of where they are from, and together, they learned from each other's experiences and shared ideas to take back to their classrooms.

Fultz said one program, Project Citizen, allows students to work to form a solution to a problem in the community. Fultz said these projects allow students to see how they can be active participants in the community.

Examples of issues students deal with are school violence, bilingual education and school uniforms. There will be a competition, Project Citizen Northern Regional, where students in fifth to ninth grades will present their research. The competition is on Friday.

Fultz said during the institute, the teachers did their own projects and presentations just as their students would. He said it allowed them to experience everything their students would experience, including the frustration and nervousness that accompanies working with a group and making a presentation.

"A lot of times people are afraid to do new things because they don't understand it," said Fultz. "They've done it. It's real to them now."

"We the People" is another program that deals with the Constitution through three different levels of books.

In April, teachers who attended the institute last summer will be returning to Purdue to share the ideas and programs they experimented with this year.

For more information, see http://www.soe.purdue.edu/ackerman/.