The later part of the nineteenth century through the early twentieth century has many monikers in U.S. history textbooks, such as the "Gilded Age," the "Progressive Era," and the "Second Industrial Age." What it is rarely called, but should be known as, is the "Nadir of Race Relations." One topic in this…

This study investigates the challenges of teaching history to primary school students and the endeavour to develop a board game, supported by educational apps and augmented reality, to enhance the learning experience. The initiative is in response to the New Zealand Ministry of Education's mandate that New Zealand's history must be taught in all…

Get started with an innovative approach to teaching history that develops literacy and higher-order thinking skills, connects the past to students' lives, and meets state and national standards (grades 7-12). Now in a second edition, this popular book provides an introductory unit to help teachers build a trustful classroom climate; over 70…

During the past decade, interest in chocolate and its history has increased significantly. Following on this trend, a vast number of books dealing with chocolate have appeared in different publishing venues, both academic and nonacademic. Similarly, some instructors have included units that study the commodity or, in some rare instances, have…

Too many history students struggle with the citation practices that are central to the historical method. They document their sources incorrectly--or not at all--and do not know what to do with the footnotes and endnotes they encounter in the scholarly texts they read. This article describes the "Follow the Footnote" exercise, which…

The PairWork mini-unit discussed in this article combines the importance of middle school students learning how to work successfully with another student to accomplish a common goal while incorporating essential principles of social studies curriculum. The mini-unit utilizes six picture books featuring history's Dynamic Duos, or pairs of…

What is environmental history? In the words of Brian Allen Drake, it is "the study of the interactions between humans and nature across time." It includes, but is in no way limited to, the study of the environment. Generally speaking, it is a way to interpret nature as an integral part of the past, as an important "actor." Or,…

The World GeoHistoGram (GHG) is a flexible graphic organizer that can be used to support many different instructional strategies and activities. This visual resource offers teachers and students a way to organize knowledge into a geographic and historical framework. More important, the GHG is one of the first instructional products designed to…

History done well is culturally relevant. In part due to the shifting demographics on college campuses, and in part due to the modern cultural and political climate, history professors have enhanced their approaches to make their once-lecture-heavy survey courses more culturally relevant to their students. In this article, Summer Cherland…

Prior research across disciplines has established the value of dialogic, whole-class discussions. Previous studies have often defined discussions in opposition to the notorious triadic pattern called recitation, or IRE/F, focusing on variations to the teacher's initiating question or evaluative follow-up on students' responses. Recent scholarship…

This study analyzed some student-centered strategies used in three secondary classrooms in a large, urban high school in US. The researcher, who was teaching a graduate methods course at the local university, conducted classroom observations and follow-up interviews with three teachers enrolled in the class. The teachers learned about different…

This paper presents inductive instructional approach, career aspirations and noble values in History. In the 21st century there is still History teachers emphasize the only cognitive aspects of student learning, but still have little to do with everyday life, career aspirations and noble values. This study has developed a review list of learning…

Historians have long appreciated the value of the U.S. Census as a source of statistical data for studying nineteenth- and twentieth-century American history. However, in ways that many other primary source documents do not, the census reflects and addresses social, political, and economic issues on national, state, and community levels…

Between 1870 and 1920, the United States government produced a series of Statistical Atlases, representing the country's first attempts to provide a fully national perspective on its rapidly evolving physical and human geographies. Compiled once every 10 years using data from the U.S. Census and other sources, the Statistical Atlases offer views…

Oral history as a field of research, teaching, archival collection, community building or engagement, truth and reconciliation, and creative practice, emerged with the diffusion of the tape recorder in the 1960s and 1970s. This was a time of enormous social and political upheaval. As a result, oral history was quickly taken up by feminists,…