Promoting Adolescents' Comprehension of Text (PACT) is a text- and discourse-based set of instructional practices that engage students with disciplinary texts as a means of building content knowledge and improving reading comprehension. PACT)s "efficacy" has been the subject of extensive previous trials. The purpose of this study was to…

For more than a century, the state of Florida has been home to a rich, diverse cultural tradition and history stemming from its pan-ethnic Latine population. While large metropolitan areas such as Miami and Orlando are home to sizable Latine communities, the idyllic and traditionally West-Central region of the state currently experiences a…

The United States and Brazil were the two largest slave societies in the history of New World slavery, and the legacies of that history remain salient in both nations. Slavery and the slave trade are important topics to be taught in history courses, and future generations need to be given accurate information about the history and legacies of…

Textbook costs can have a significant impact on the purchasing behaviors and academic success of higher education students. Open textbooks promise significant cost savings, yet perceptions about quality and efficacy still linger. This study explored the impact of an open textbook adoption in an American history course on student academic outcomes…

In this reflective essay, the author addresses fellow educators and their responsibility to students on issues surrounding the ongoing struggle for civil rights. She links the integration of Little Rock, Arkansas schools in 1957 with the 2018 student protest against gun violence following the Parkland, FL mass shooting. As a facilitator of…

In April 2013, Florida will commemorate Juan Ponce de Leon's historic voyage. Yet Ponce de Leon's arrival was, in several important ways, not just the beginning of Spain's presence in Florida, but in North America as a whole. Today, the historical Spanish influence on America is palpable--in culture, language, politics, and more. This year marks…

Florida has experienced some of the greatest growth of Advanced Placement (AP) programs in recent years and student scores on the AP exams have evolved into a highly significant metric in evaluating student proficiency and teacher and school effectiveness. Despite this growth, it is not well known how AP teachers make decisions about the content…

The purpose of this study was to describe and explain the portrayal of American Indians in U.S. textbooks selected for review in Hillsborough County, Florida's 2012 textbook adoption. The study identified which of the textbooks under consideration contained the greatest amount of information dedicated to American Indians. The study then analyzed…

When combining the increasing use of online educational environments, the push to use serious video games and the lack of research on the effectiveness of online learning environments and video games, there is a clear need for further investigation into the use of serious video games in an online format. A mix methods model was used to triangulate…

This article utilizes "Brown v. Board of Education," which is traditionally taught in college and K-12 history courses as the case that both started the discussion about and ended the practice of segregation in schools, to highlight "testimonios of coalition" as a framework for historical analysis. First, the authors…

Alternately referred to as historical role-playing, dramatic improvisation, sociodrama, or first-person characterization, role playing is a teaching strategy that often uses official accounts, personal narratives, and diaries to recreate a particular time period, specific event, or breathe life into a character from history. Historical…

This guide provides descriptions of the social studies courses that are offered in Florida schools for students in grades six through eight. Specifically, the guide presents broad guidelines for course content and outcomes and is intended to assist educators in developing specific instructional plans for given subject areas. The guide is designed…

This guide to the social studies was developed for use in the senior high schools of Duval County, Jacksonville, Florida. Topics covered are United States government, United States history, anthropology, bible history, comparative institutions, European history, Florida history, human relations, political science, economics, psychology, sociology,…

Discusses the educational benefits of using visual materials as historical sources. Outlines steps for analyzing historical photographs. Applies these steps to two sample lessons about sugar-cane syrup making in Florida and dealing with migrant workers in Florida during the Depression. (RW)

This article describes how, by comparing multiple perspectives of the story of Rosa Parks and the Montgomery Bus Boycott, students can experience first-hand how different published accounts of the same event may contain different information. The author relates the lesson plan of Jennifer Morrow, a third-grade teacher at Coral Ridge Elementary…