An intensive five-day all-day humanities course on 18th century thought and culture for eighth graders that involved 11 different departments is described. The course helped students recognize that what they were taught in one class could reinforce and illuminate what they were learning in another course. (RM)

Argues that a separate course of study called "History" should be included in the New York state revised secondary social studies program. History instruction will help the student gain a perspective of time and understand him/herself, his/her society, other societies, and the world. (RM)

Results of a symposium on social studies curriculum revision held in Albany, New York, in December 1983 are presented. Educational needs in the areas of articulation and consistency; interdependence and linkages within the curriculum; and the treatments of history, human rights, and economics are outlined. (RM)

A serious academic curriculum must ask students, particularly in high school, to critically analyze and evaluate primary sources of information. How a lesson was developed around conflicting Senate testimony over the 1892 Homestead Steel Strike is described. Teachers can easily produce such lessons. (RM)

Describes the instructional materials and themes of a New England museum project about work in the early nineteenth century. Introduces elementary and secondary students to concepts of industrialization and its impact, work choices, the role of work in a community, and the family as an economic unit. (AV)

Describes a workshop in which doorknobs were introduced as one set of physical objects which could help both teachers and students develop a better understanding of social history and the past. Teachers examined decoration, design, function, and technical developments and learned the historical significance of a formerly insignificant object. (KC)

Discusses an elementary teacher's use of educational skits in history instruction. Describes the preparation of skit scripts. Observes that children who grow up passively watching television need encouragement to become actively involved in learning. Suggests that rehearsing the past may be the best way to prepare for the future. (SG)

Teachers of history in high school should use historical research as a teaching device. Advantages are that it permits teachers and students to learn together through discovery, integrates national and local history, and encourages students to develop respect for history and historians. (Author/DB)

History Teacher Institutes of New York (HTI), designed to revitalize individual teachers and provide an institutional basis for the informal networks and collaboration integral to lasting educational reform, are described. Benefits of the program are described and two lessons are provided. (LP)

Discusses a study of teacher conceptions of the meaning of history. Concludes that history teachers tend fall into five broad categories: (1) storyteller; (2) scientific historian; (3) relativist/reformer; (4) cosmic philosopher; and (5) eclectic. Suggests that teaching should be grounded in an explicit educational philosophy that is developed in…

The underlying problems which should guide the revision of the secondary social studies curriculum in New York state are examined. Educational principles are discussed; explanatory statements regarding social science disciplines, history, social studies, and concept teaching are provided; and teacher education and student evaluation are…

Reviews various movements since 1960 to alter the social studies syllabus for New York State and suggests that an effective way to meet student needs today in the areas of social studies and basic skills would be to restructure the seventh- and eighth-grade curriculum into a two-year American history program. (DB)

Critically assesses current reformist views on teaching social studies. Warns that these educators and the American Federation of Teachers (AFT) position is anti-intellectual, contradicting the ideals of education and democracy. Encourages healthy debate about social studies and supports the virtues of humanism, skepticism, and pluralism. (NL)