Through the use of case studies, the classroom teacher can integrate environmental history into the social studies course, emphasizing the historical nature of environmental problems. Students can then apply the resulting knowledge, sensitivity, and awareness to developing attitudes and strengthening concerns for present and future ecological…

The failure of history textbooks to teach about ordinary people and events is examined, and what teachers can do to overcome this shortcoming of texts is discussed. History texts emphasize political history, wars, battles, and chronicles of great persons and events of the past. Scant attention is paid to the lives of ordinary men and women. This…

This publication contains 44 suggestions for projects which actively involve elementary and secondary students in an individual quest for a personal heritage within the topical frameworks of community, ethnic, and family history. The projects are intended to awaken students to the realization that history is all around them. The projects utilize…

This handbook, prepared through the Anthropology Curriculum Study Project in Chicago, Illinois, is designed to accompany the secondary level textbook, "The Emergence of Civilization" (SO 012 148) written in 1964. The textbook emphasizes the comparison of the patterns of culture change which resulted in complex societies (civilizations)…

Teachers of history in high school should use historical research as a teaching device. Advantages are that it permits teachers and students to learn together through discovery, integrates national and local history, and encourages students to develop respect for history and historians. (Author/DB)

Comments upon objective test items which evaluate history students' analytical and interpretive skills. Concludes that properly constructed multiple choice test items go beyond testing for rote memorization of content. (Author/DB)

States that children's literature is an excellent resource for presenting a deeper perspective of the lifestyle of blacks before the Civil Rights era. Discusses four specific books that can be used to teach a unit of instruction on this topic. Includes suggestions for class activities. (AEM)

Describes how 4 historical, popular, culture mediums may be used to help stimulate student curiosity about the past and provide practice in using and understanding the historical method. Highlighting the slave experience, the mediums are: (1) the antislave almanac; (2) the dime novel; (3) the moving panorama; and (4) the propaganda play.…

History Teacher Institutes of New York (HTI), designed to revitalize individual teachers and provide an institutional basis for the informal networks and collaboration integral to lasting educational reform, are described. Benefits of the program are described and two lessons are provided. (LP)

In this learning activity, which is used in an 11th-grade ancient history course in Canada, students are asked to assume that they are archaeologists of the far-distant future. They are given a box of artifacts that they must analyze to determine what the future society is like. (RM)

A study was conducted to determine the effectiveness of student learning contracts in a Southeastern, open-admissions, public community college history course. The contracts specified final grade goals and point-earning activities (e.g., tests, book reports, term paper). A control group (N=72) using the learning contracts was compared with a…

This teaching unit, "Creek Indian War," is the first of a series of 10 units about Alabama state history, part of a project designed to help teachers integrate the use of primary source materials into their classrooms. Although the units are designed to augment the study of Alabama, they are useful in the study of U.S. history, world…

In this contributed collection, 23 teachers explain their successful strategies for teaching the social studies disciplines in a whole language context. The collection covers contemporary subjects, traditional topics, well-known projects, social studies in the community, and multicultural matters. It can be used at elementary through middle and…

This teaching unit represents a specific "dramatic moment" in history that can allow students to delve into the deeper meanings of selected landmark events and explore their wider context in the great historical narrative. Studying a crucial turning point in history helps students realize that history is an ongoing, open-ended process,…

Discusses the methodology and benefits of using a city as an instrument for examining American history and social dynamics. (JB)