The question of why students think there are two kinds of American history taught--one in the K-12 system and one in the university system--can be examined critically using Emile Durkheim's (1973) description of the sacred and the profane. The history taught in K-12 classrooms often focuses on idealized accounts of the past that protect the status…

Themes, issues, teaching approaches, and bibliographic references to sources for a course in environmental history, offered with the hope of preparing students to formulate principles to guide our further conduct toward the environment, are described. (JH)

Reports an experiment in individualizing the instruction in a U. S. history survey course at the University of St. Thomas in Houston, Texas, begun during the summer session in 1972 and continued to the present with modifications. (Author/ND)

A short history of the development of women's educational opportunities is provided. (DE)

Demonstrates how the use of rock-era music images of political protest and social criticism can provide teachers with a forceful and entertaining introduction to the examination of controversial issues in U.S. society. Includes chronologically and thematically arranged lists of recordings which represent popular themes in U.S. music between…

How sport history can be taught through two central themes of U.S. history--racial policy and the development of a bureaucratic, highly organized society--is discussed. (RM)

Provides a classroom exercise, known as Synergistic Convergence (SYNCON), in which students are divided into small groups, and then into successively larger groups, until the entire class is involved in one problem. Asks students to develop a list of five heroes and five villains in history. Generates insights into the nature of historical…

Reminds teachers that American Indians played a major role in shaping the modern world. Notes that the indigenous peoples of the Americas introduced European American settlers to a variety of foods and agricultural methods. Argues that American Indians also contributed to U.S. concepts of democracy and federalism. Provides guidelines for teaching…

This article analyzes three incidents in pre-Civil War history; Crispus Attucks and the Boston Massacre, John Brown and the raid on Harpers Ferry, and Abraham Lincoln and the Emancipation Proclamation. The article examines how these incidents have been distorted into myths and stereotypes and offers more correct historical interpretations. (DE)

Discusses how women's history can be incorporated into western civilization/world history and U.S. history survey courses. Four approaches are suggested: biographical; political; historical; and a family/community history approach. An annotated listing of materials with which to teach each approach is provided. (RM)

Recounts a Philadelphia Alliance for Teaching Humanities in the Schools (PATHS) oral history project developed by Pennsylvania State faculty members and elementary school teachers. Delineates the project's objectives. Explains that students from various ethnic and racial backgrounds interviewed family members and created a local history resource…