Google and other online search engines can provide immediate answers to empirical questions about history. However, this immediacy may undermine higher-level historical reasoning and student engagement in historical research. It is important that teachers continue to develop strategies that support students' active engagement with online…

The author wanted help in learning how to be more effective at supporting his students to learn how to conduct effective research so he interviewed several historians, artists, and educators about the ways in which they carry out their research, and how those researchers who are currently in classrooms help their students to learn and develop…

One of the challenges that social studies educators face daily is how to make student learning relevant. Digital technologies can play an important role by connecting what happens in the classroom to the world beyond. One way to do this is by turning students into producers of information and having them create content rather than simply consume.…

Research has pointed out that an over reliance on textbooks and lecturing in the social studies often devolves instruction into narrow perspectives and uninspiring activities. Thus, teachers allowed their students to use something they were interested in, technology, to access a wide range of resources for a class project. This assignment, the…

Suggests primary sources for studying local ethnic groups when conventional textbooks omit or distort information. Primary sources include church and census records, city directories, oral tradition, pictorial records, programs, and artifacts such as statues and plaques. (AV)

A file management computer program that allows secondary social studies students to store information on cards on a floppy disk and to retrieve all or parts of the data as needed is described. The program will help students develop information-processing skills in locating, organizing, interpreting, and presenting social data. (RM)

Describes a project for high school students where the students write research papers that incorporate oral history interviews. Provides a list of questions students can answer and excerpts from students' research papers. Discusses which National Council for the Social Studies standards the assignment addresses. (CMK)

Provides a lesson that enables students to explain the global importance of mountains by applying the five themes of geography (location, place, relationships within places, movement, and regions) to a particular mountain range. Explains that students work in teams to prepare a brochure about their mountain range. (CMK)

Presents a lesson in which the students are divided into four Mountain Study Teams in order to examine a sacred mountain. Explains that the students in each group assume a particular role, such as an historian or scientist. Provides a profile on the four mountains and a definition of the seven student roles. (CMK)

One aspect of children's daily lives--the school itself--is often ignored as a source of readily available data for student activities. School-based research activities that require students to collect, organize, and interpret data are described. For example, students conduct research on how students travel to and from school?

Discusses a research project on the Tuskegee Airmen conducted by at-risk students at the Central Alternative High School (Dubuque, Iowa). These students interacted and corresponded with World War II veterans and composed a book on these men and women. Includes information about the Tuskegee Airmen's response to a questionnaire. (CMK)

Describes an activity in which students examine the value content of news presentations. Explains that after classroom brainstorming, students watch news broadcasts and answer values-related questions. Suggests references for teachers on the sources of U.S. values. (SG)

Advocates conducting oral history projects as part of elementary school social studies programs. Outlines key steps for incorporating oral history projects including determine a focus; identify local residents to interview; practice interviewing techniques; exchange information; and create booklets. Lists research resources. Stresses the…

Notes that teachers can make writing assignments more acceptable by using innovative techniques. Suggests that using letter writing for research projects is a good motivational technique. Asks students to assume roles of persons of a specific historical period and write from the first-person perspective. Includes sample letter. (NL)

Uses letters of John Kay, a Union Army soldier, to initiate a technology-based project that illustrates reasons for fighting in the Civil War, the daily life of a soldier, and the tragedies families endured. Explains that students learn that history is filled with real people who lived and died for their beliefs. (CMK)