In this article, the author offers a summary of the major research assignment she has developed for HIST 100, as well as the successes and struggles she has had along the way. The project requires students to experience research as a difficult process that demands their patience, perseverance, and assiduousness. Group work in class clearly plays…

In an attempt to increase college history majors' ability to analyze primary sources, the author set up a unique research project designed to tap into his students' personal interests, and which would utilize a specific method requiring them to grapple with primary source materials in an unfamiliar, though hopefully more profitable fashion. The…

Once adapted to the context of the classroom, the tenets of successful counterinsurgency offer teachers a potent intellectual framework for conceptualizing teachers' efforts to build effective active learning communities together with their students. In this article, the author describes a counterinsurgency analogy that shares essential features…

If teachers want to get their undergraduate students engaged in the study of history, there is no substitute for getting them to do their own research using original sources. In practical terms, this involves posing a good question, framing that question in a critical framework for analysis, searching for relevant documents, writing an interesting…

Discusses techniques and provides background information to help teachers use debate in U.S. history courses. By debating controversial issues, students learn to do in-depth research. The necessity for anticipating evidence and arguments generates great incentives for study. (RM)

Describes National History Day, a year-long program using history to teach students research, analysis, and communication skills, in which students from grades 6-12 research topics related to an annual theme. Focuses on the 1998 contest with the theme of "Migration in History: Peoples, Cultures, Ideas." (CMK)

Recent changes in the history syllabi stress the importance of developing an investigative/enquiry method of learning involving the framing of questions, subsequent research, and the presentation of findings. Scotland has made several attempts to assess not only the end result (the paper) but also the process itself and now uses an extended essay…

Students from the University of Montevallo, Alabama's public liberal arts university, re-created the Battle of Shiloh (April 6-7, 1862) approximately twenty miles north of Corinth, Mississippi. For ten weeks in a classroom environment, nineteen students studied strategy, operations, and tactics that affected events nearly 143 years prior. Then,…

Argues that students should do hands-on work with original primary sources that are within archival collections. Gives students an opportunity to interact in an unfamiliar environment, learn new techniques for discovery, and develop a connection with people from the past. Offers examples of how students can work with archival materials. (CMK)

Provides historical information on the science of eugenics beginning in ancient Greece. Discusses the use of "racial hygiene" by the Nazis' Third Reich and its effect on eugenics. Addresses the pros and cons of eugenics and genetic engineering. Includes an annotated bibliography. (CMK)

For several years the author has sought ways by which he can employ film in a creative and academically sound manner as a teaching device. In this article, the author describes the History and Film course he developed for his students. The author began by compiling lists of films that he felt supplemented the subject matter covered in his survey…

Proposes a list of goals for a research paper and focuses on implementing these goals through application of political/social theory to historical conflict in U.S. history. Demonstrates methodology through a step by step analysis of a specific paper assignment. Concludes that this type of research exercise provides students with a sense of…

Reviews the last major battle of World War II that occurred at Okinawa (Japan) in 1945. Explains why the Battle of Okinawa was the turning point in World War II. Includes two maps in the appendix and an annotated bibliography. (CMK)

Describes the Instructional Technology Project (ITP) at Floyd College (Georgia), a two-year school where every student must lease a laptop computer to access CD-ROMs and the Internet. Focuses on issues such as how the laptops are used and Internet research. Argues against a total virtual education and assesses the contribution of the laptops. (CMK)

Argues that the Kennedy assassination is an important event for history classroom consideration. Offers ways this event can be examined to develop discussion and research skills. Outlines a possible course syllabus with an extensive bibliography and lists a wide range of materials for teaching a unit on presidential assassination. (RKM)