This essay is a critical analysis of elements of the Social Studies Toolkit and related materials developed by the New York State Education Department. It addresses misunderstandings of historical theory and method and the presentation of historical knowledge and information by department staff and affiliates, the consequences of which puts…

Visual texts, such as photographs, paintings, film, political cartoons, maps, charts, and graphs are important resources used for a variety of purposes in the history classroom. Aligning instructional use of visual texts to key developmental skills within the area of historical thinking should be a central concern to teachers of historical…

This book, part of the Touchstones to Local History project of Russell Sage College, is designed for social studies teachers seeking to incorporate local history in their social studies curricula by utilizing local history materials. Ten forms of historical materials are reviewed in terms of their classroom use: published resources, personal…

Treasures await students and researchers on the shelves of libraries and archives across the country, but unfortunately they often remain unknown to the "modern" researcher who limits his/her research to using the Internet. The process of physically going to the library stacks and browsing the shelves in a subject area is on the decline…

This booklet accompanies the New York State Library exhibit of material related to the trial of John Peter Zenger. This 1735 trial established the legal precedent giving juries the power to decide libel suits. Labeled "the germ of American freedom," the trial was an important step in the development of American concepts of free speech…

In this paper, we address the issue of how teachers select primary and secondary texts for classroom use by focusing on two New York state middle school history teachers. Our field studies show that, although they teach diverse groups of students, each teacher chooses a wide variety of sources to develop classroom units and test preparation…

The study guide presents background information, questions and answers, primary source material, and guidelines designed to provide secondary schools with basic sources for observing how the New York state system evolved from the colonial experience and the precedents established by the first state constitution. The documents in the publication…

Audiovisual materials available for a social studies unit based on local, primary sources are listed in this guide, a supplement to the Age of Homespun (ED 018 323). Teachers designed, produced, and tested these instructional aids which are intended to provide a flexible, interdisciplinary unit readily adapted to differing grade levels. Local…