Presents a lesson plan for teaching about the role of African-American religious leaders in the U.S. civil rights movement. Provides scripts with which students play the roles of various members of a community. Explains that students decide which speakers would be most likely to lead the local civil rights movement. (SG)

This simulation for secondary students takes place in 1858 in Jackson, Mississippi. Harriet Beecher Stowe, the American abolitionist, has been apprehended. A street trial is convened to hear charges against her. Students role-play accusors and witnesses for the defense. (RM)

Presents a lesson plan utilizing personal letters of ordinary people to teach U.S. history. Suggests that the lesson can teach about the historical information available in personal letters, develop analytical skills through use of primary sources, and increase students' understanding of minority issues. Includes four letters to use as handouts.…

Uses role playing activities to stimulate students' problem-solving skills in dealing with the problems of Reconstruction. Lists discussion questions and suggests descriptions for the roles of radical northern Republicans, moderate Northerners, moderate Southerners, radical southern rebels, Black slaves, and foreign diplomats. (KO)

Describes a lesson plan for a classroom activity in which students research the causes that prevented the usefulness of early nineteenth-century schools. Discusses the project, a town meeting in which students play roles of community members. Includes instructions, follow-up activities, roles, and materials for use in the project and evaluation.…

Asserts that social studies teachers generally agree that critical thinking and cooperative learning skills are two primary instructional goals. Describes a class activity utilizing roleplaying and the cooperative "jigsaw" approach to study the U.S. Constitution. (CFR)

Presents a lesson plan based on the military decisions made at the Battle of Manassas, or Bull Run, in the Civil War. Provides historical background and outlines the military strategies of both the North and South. Includes role-playing description handouts and possible choices for students involved in the role-playing. (CFR)

Describes teaching methods used to prepare students for conducting oral history interviews. Fishbowl interviews consist of a behavior-modeling exercise where the teacher interviews a guest in front of the class. Examines other instructional techniques such as role playing and paired interviewing. (MJP)

Presents a lesson plan focused on the events surrounding the 1894 Pullman railroad car strike. Reviews the particulars of the strike (the federal government used armed force to end the strike) and then presents a simulation where students role play members of the investigating presidential commission. Includes related documents. (MJP)

Outlines a lesson plan in which students role play a 1920s farm family deciding whether to buy an automobile or a tractor. Other students act as automobile and tractor sales groups. Explains how the lesson illuminates relationships between technological advance and social history. Includes handouts identifying benefits of purchasing cars or…