Evaluates elementary students' ideas about Native Americans as revealed by two studies. Illustrates how the students' knowledge of Native Americans progressed from stereotyped images, to realistic and empathetic views, to the loss of information and empathy as new topics were introduced. Reveals that the traditional curriculum reinforced this…

Prior to a curriculum unit on European exploration of the New World, a class of fifth grade U.S. history students stated what they knew (or thought was true) about the discovery of America and what they wanted to learn about it. After the unit, they reported what they had learned about the general topic of European exploration of North America. In…