Argues that teachers can easily structure social studies lessons to enhance students' thinking skills by using carefully structured focus questions. States that such questions--often beginning with such words as "is,""could,""should," does," and "can,"--go beyond asking for simple recall of facts or shallow explanation, to requesting the solution…

Maintains that U. S. history has produced a vast literature of books and journals covering political, social, and economic history. Presents a bibliographic listing of what the author considers the most authoritative and accessible thematic treatments of U.S. History and scholarship. (CFR)

Contends that contemporary historians are redesigning U.S. history and its boundaries by including traditionally ignored groups. Asserts that history education that redefines boundaries in intellectually exciting ways should be valued. Provides a bibliographic essay on new historical scholarship and interpretations. (CFR)

Describes a sixth grade class in which students examined World War II throughout a school year. Identifies curiosity as the factor that helped children most in learning about the war. Reviews teaching strategies used and kinds of questions students asked. Discusses student problems with the vocabulary of the subject matter. Includes student…

Asserts that public policy analysis has a time-honored tradition in civics education. Provides a four-part teachers' rationale for including the study of child-labor legislation in social studies courses. Includes a five-part classroom format for teaching public policy analysis. (CFR)

Maintains that, if Richard Nixon is to be considered as a significant historical figure, his personality and complexity must be studied. Asserts that Nixon viewed the world as an unremitting struggle and unceasing competition in which an individual could only succeed by his own efforts. (CFR)

Contends that the elementary classroom can be an ideal place for instituting authentic assessment. Provides suggestions for beginning to use authentic assessment approaches in elementary social studies. Includes four sample performance items and suggestions for scoring performance-based tests. (CFR)

Maintains that the expansion of voting rights to African Americans and women is an appropriate topic for Social Studies courses. Discusses suffrage in New York state between 1848 and 1920. Includes a table depicting the women's suffrage campaign in New York state and a list of other resources on the topic. (CFR)

Contends that students enjoy social studies instruction more when new information can be personalized and reshaped into original material. Reports on the content and teaching methods used in an ancient middle east unit designed for the sixth grade. Includes three charts and one table that illustrate the instructional strategies. (CFR)

Maintains that recent developments of local, state, and national exit outcomes call for changes in assessing student performance. Discusses the use of cooperative learning modules in European history and global studies. Asserts that cooperative learning techniques call for much more student-student and teacher-student interaction. (CFR)

Asserts that two forgotten facts in educational reform are that the student is the primary client of all assessment and that testing should be designed to improve performance, not just monitor it. Includes sample portfolio performance tasks on a variety of social studies topics. (CFR)

Contends that oral history is a way to involve students in thinking about and understanding history and the contemporary world. Includes a family history chart, recommendations for creating an oral history questionnaire, sample interview questions, and four student oral history writing models. (CFR)

Reports on a study of instructional strategies and beliefs among 18 middle-school U.S. history teachers and 60 middle-school students. Finds the most widely used strategies involve active learning, group projects, and student participation. Includes a table of the 10 most used strategies and 4 recommendations for instructional design. (CFR)

Asserts that the purpose of New York State's testing program has been to drive instruction, provide a measure of public accountability, and establish and maintain achievement standards. Describes new approaches to student assessment and explains the eight goals of the new statewide assessment program. (CFR)

Reports on efforts to develop "Crossroads," a K-16 articulated, content-based, spiral curriculum in United States history. Discusses the historical framework underlying the curriculum. Presents the curriculum's 12-era chronology and 8 substantive themes. (CFR)