Folksongs can be used with all students at all grade levels. Teacher guidelines are provided and three musical themes--whaling in New England, the California Gold Rush, and loggers and lumbering--are used to illustrate how to use folksongs in the classroom. (RM)

This project involves secondary students in selecting and researching an event in U.S. history and writing a poetic ballad, from a first person point of view. Completed works are presented at a school assembly. (RM)

Provides discussion questions, activities, and projects to be used with EJ515083, "The Progressive Era and the World War I Draft." Includes three political cartoons and two World War I-era songs of opposing viewpoints. (JDH)

How the story paper, a popular 19th-century literary form, can be used to teach secondary students about the historical experience of women between 1840 and 1890 is described. The historical background of the story paper is discussed. A student handout explaining how to write a story paper is included. (RM)

Ways to relate wild plants to history are given. Plants discussed are Queen Anne's lace, trailing arbutus (mayflower), ginseng, Joe-Pye weed, witch hazel, common plantain, mullein, yarrow, teasel, pokeweed, blue vervain, and columbine. (MH)

Much of history is interpreted from an adult point of view. But in Karen Hesse's Newbery Award-winning "Out of the Dust," the Great Depression's Dust Bowl is seen through the eyes of a child. By using the novel, this lesson plan gives students the opportunity to identify with the personal experiences of youth in the 1930s. In addition,…

Teaching about the Amistad case provides correlations to the National Standards for History, and Civics and Government. An overview of the events of 1839 is given in this lesson plan. Seven student activities include reading and using primary source documents, writing journal articles, viewing the movie "Amistad," and giving…

This collection of primary source materials from the National Archives and Records Administration (Washington, DC) humanizes history so that it is real and personal to students. Intended for secondary school history teachers, the collection provides primary source documents, reports, maps, photographs, letters, diaries, posters, and recordings…

An instrument was designed for student evaluation of presidential greatness. (VW)

Secondary students learn about history and geography through five stamp activities: (1) Who is this person and why is he/she important?; (2) How is inflation illustrated by stamps?; (3) How have stamps served to disseminate information?; (4) How have science and technology changed?; and (5) Where are these countries? (RM)

Discusses how teachers can use U.S. census data in secondary U.S. history classes. Four census-based activities dealing with the themes of social mobility among Detroit and Alabama Blacks, definition of megalopolis, poverty in Boston, and Irish immigrants in Walpole, Massachusetts, in 1850 are described. (AM)

Scrambled outlines of a reading assignment can be used to teach students in grades 4-8 historical analysis, organizational and conceptual skills, teamwork, and peer cooperation. Illustrated is an assignment on why Europe entered an age of exploration by the 15th century. (RM)

Presents a research activity concerning the "making" of law for secondary U.S. history or government classes. Students select a piece of significant legislation from among 50 completed during President Johnson's administration and write a short essay tracing the legislation's history from its origins through to its final form as law. (AM)

Secondary students complete an application for employment using a person they have studied in their U.S. history, government, or psychology courses. All information has to be historically correct. The teacher reads the application to the class and students guess the name of the applicant. A sample application form is included. (AM)

Describes the interdisciplinary approach used by a language arts teacher and a social studies teacher to teach seventh graders about the Great Depression. Discusses how students prepare interviews, radio plays, and newsreels. (SR)