Teaching with primary sources provides educators with opportunities to expose students to authentic analysis, critical thinking, and perspective taking. When students are exposed to primary sources in the classroom, they can examine the point of view of the source, what information they can gain from the source, what information is missing, and…

Meaningful source work is at the heart of social studies learning, but often a tall order for elementary-aged students. In this article, the authors describe the construction and implementation of a fifth grade inquiry on the Suffrage Movement using a focused version of the Inquiry Design Model (IDM) Blueprint. Using source analysis scaffolds…

Social studies continues to be marginalized in elementary grades, yet the "C3 Framework" and its Inquiry Arc offer possibilities for high-quality elementary social studies instruction. However, the "C3 Framework" requires that teachers possess an adequate understanding of how to implement inquiry within the various social…

This article examines the experiences of a group of fifth-grade teachers who used lesson study, a teacher-driven form of professional development, to teach history in a project supported by a Teaching American History Grant. The project addressed the following questions: What does a lesson study cycle for history education look like? What…

In this article, the author describes her use of direct instruction to introduce the skill of determining source reliability in a fifth-grade unit on immigration in American history. She structures instruction to help students establish a thinking-skill strategy that results in not only an understanding of immigration in the late 1800s to early…

The author analyzes pedagogical exercises related to Native Americans in thirteen U.S. history textbooks currently used in grades three, four, five, eight, and eleven. The purpose of the research was to determine the extent to which U.S. history textbooks offer, or fail to offer, opportunities for students to engage in and develop higher-order…

Presents a program for making oral history real to elementary children by sponsoring a senior citizens' tea. Describes the experiences of the children in preparing and giving the tea. Discusses the program's benefits of enhancing the store of information about community history and oral history and promoting student use of language in many forms.…

Describes an instructional activity in which fifth graders identified geographic and economic factors that caused a town to become a ghost town. Discusses instructional procedures and materials used in the activity. Includes extension activities, maps, and suggestions for adapting the activity to other geographic regions. (CFR)