Provides classroom procedures for adapting the nineteenth-century-style song slide show to middle school history instruction. Suggests student production of song slide shows as individual or group projects. Argues that the activity can capture the drama of history and stimulate student curiosity about the past. (SG)

Describes a project to collect, organize, and analyze petitions to state legislatures and county courts concerning race, slavery, and free blacks in the South between 1776 and 1867. Presents a lesson plan designed to incorporate these, and similar documents, into middle-, and high-school history classes. Includes a sample document. (DSK)

Argues that a view of First Ladies as "activist political partners" is the rule rather than exception, despite their omission from most textbooks. Suggests that biographies of First Ladies offer a fascinating way to study presidential politics and to illuminate the role of women in U.S. history. Discusses several First Ladies. (DSK)

The topic of immigration is frequently taught in middle school classrooms as part of the history of America, for this country is indeed a "land of immigrants." Special emphasis is usually given to immigration that occurred a century or more ago, but contemporary immigration may prove to be a more compelling way to view this concept.…

The American Civil War, the War between the States, War of the Rebellion, the Second American Revolution, and the War of Southern Independence are all names for the bloodiest conflict in American history. That war of many names has inspired authors to write thousands of books and articles. With the advent of the Internet came a plethora of Web…

In this article, the authors offer social studies educators two student-centered, inquiry-based techniques to help students learn about the contributions of historical figures. Both strategies were classroom tested and proved effective at helping students learn about historical figures in a challenging and enjoyable way. Although techniques in…

The contract system where the student makes his own decision about the grade he desires and then works toward the achievement of that goal is examined. Five pass/fail assignments for a U.S. history course are suggested as possible student tasks. (DE)

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)

The principal goal of history teaching is to train students to become capable of doing new things, creating, discovering, and gathering evidence as "scientifically" as possible. (Author/ND)

Describes a method for making the study of history more interesting. Based on student research and composition, the method involves students in writing both true and false "autobiographies" of famous people. Students then exchange autobiographies and determine which accounts are true and which are false. (AV)

Strategies to strengthen elementary students' perceptions of the past are discussed. These include conducting a personal home furnishings inventory, creating a "then" and "now" class museum, planning an "old objects" with "new uses" survey, organizing a grandpa's garage and granny's attic day, and conducting a neighborhood architectural treasure…

Many ways in which objects can be used to teach history are examined. An activity which requires students to hypothesize about the conditions of poverty and unemployment during the Great Depression and then to test their hypotheses by examining photographs taken in the 1930s is provided. (RM)

Few useful materials are available to teachers who want to introduce women's history into the classroom. Teachers can modify courses by introducing students to relevant materials. A set of tables that can be used in a study of Western Europe during the nineteenth century and teaching suggestions are included. (AM)