This paper examines ways for students to learn the importance of history. It provides teachers with ideas and thoughts about different approaches to teaching history. The study examined how students viewed historical time, made historical judgments, and what students saw as historically important. An ethnically diverse, urban class of 22 eighth…

Contrasts two approaches to achieving depth in an 8th grade U.S. history class. One presents a detailed and chronological approach, the other a discipline-based matrix structure with chronological and regional evolutions as a backdrop. Favors stressing major principles and generalizations while focusing in depth on prototypical examples. (MJP)

Describes a unit on North American colonization taught in an eighth-grade history class. Profiles the students' knowledge of colonial history before and after the class through in-depth interviews. Discusses current reform movements in social studies instruction and how they relate to this unit. (MJP)