In this article, Harper B. Keenan investigates the treatment of violence in elementary history education through a case study of a fourth-grade unit on the colonial history of California featuring "the mission project," a long-standing tradition in California's elementary schools that has students construct a miniature model of a Spanish…

This three-article dissertation specifically examines one challenging element of teaching history to young children: the representation of historical violence and adversity, using fourth grade curriculum and instruction surrounding the topic of Spanish colonization of California as a case study. This era, known as the Spanish mission period in…