Primary materials, namely ads about the sale of slaves and the capture of runaways, offer students insights into the nature of American slavery and valid evidence of its dehumanizing nature. (SM)

Describes how the educational museum Clarke Hall provides a stimulus to language use by involving children in the daily life of the seventeenth century. (DD)

Presents instructional activities for classroom teachers to use in educating students about democracy and offers a definition of democracy. Includes information on how to teach about democracy, democratic deliberation, the issues of fairness and justice, social responsibility, and the history of democracy. (CMK)

Looks at criticism of the Expanding Environments Model in the elementary school social studies curriculum. Cites recent reports that recommend a history-centered elementary curriculum. States that teaching methods may be the cause of historical, civic, and geographic illiteracy rather than the Expanding Environments Model. (LS)

This teaching guide provides across-the-curriculum hands-on activities, reproducibles, and resources for elementary teachers and students. The material teaches about Columbus's journey with sensitivity and respect for different points of view, offering opportunities to teach basic skills and lessons on how to interpret history. (SM)

Argues that the challenge of making history vibrant for students is one of placing their concerns at the center of the conversation. Describes a unit that uses a nonfiction book about plagues to help students to understand how historians think, and to use the past to better understand their present. (DSK)

Develops a unit of study depicting grandparent/grandchildren interactions and shows how social studies content and an exploration of grandparents around the world can be encountered through literature depicting such interactions. Includes goals and related National Council for the Social Studies (NCSS) standards, themes, activities for different…

Contends that teachers must help students overcome their dislike of history by utilizing strategies that focus on children's interest in stories as a means for encouraging their students to connect with history. Discusses dramatization, children's literature, and storytelling, and provides a bibliography of children's literature. (CMK)

After participating in an eight-week project-based, technology-supported investigation about westward expansion, gains in knowledge and understanding of historical content for 28 students with learning disabilities were not as large as those of peers (n=59), but both groups showed comparable gains in self-efficacy as learners and their…

An elementary level teaching unit that explores immigration helps boost students' thinking skills, command of history, and appreciation of the nation's diversity. The unit focuses on reasons for emigrating to America, understanding the past, immigration today, and bridging the past and present. Three reproducibles are included. (SM)

Presents three art projects that can bring to life the study of ancient Egypt for elementary students. After researching Egypt's history and culture, students can create King Tut masks, make Cleopatra headdresses, and craft cartouche pendants. The article describes the materials needed and steps required to complete each project. (SM)

Presents a lesson that combines economics, geography, history, archaeology, and inquiry to investigate the creation of the Cahokia trading empire that existed around 1000 A.D. Employs Standards 5 and 6 of the "Voluntary National Content Standards in Economics" and Theme 7 of the National Council for the Social Studies Standards. (CMK)

This article presents a portrait of practice of one social studies methods professor engaged in teaching his course and analyzes the choices the professor makes during the semester. These choices are linked to his philosophy of social studies education with particular attention paid to his passionate belief in the American story as the core of…

The "ISSS Annual Conference Proceedings" is a peer-reviewed professional publication published once a year following the annual conference. The following papers are included in the 2013 proceedings: (1) Teaching About Asia in a Social Science Education Program (Cyndi Mottola Poole and Joshua L. Kenna); (2) Teaching Students about…

In the first part of this article, the authors introduced the living history program. This yearly, weeklong program features living portrayals of famous people, which becomes a catalyst for teaching curricular standards, as well as providing the spark for inquiry. Successful implementation of this program requires providing teachers with…