A teaching unit to help students explore daily life during the Middle Ages is presented. Techniques for teaching about the medieval social structure, feudal rights and objectives, living arrangements, agricultural practices, and suggestions for building a replica of a medieval village are included. (PP)

Recommended activities include: (1) etymology exercises for elementary school students; (2) a search for information about Alexander the Great; (3) monthly inspections of the school yard to observe environmental changes; and (4) an art history unit on Cro-Magnon cave drawings. An interdisciplinary unit on transportation is included. (PP)

The two-part essay explores problems of developing history curricula and provides a specification for building history curricula that confronts problems about the nature and value of history. Propositions which underlie the specification are also presented. (KC)

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)

Suggests activities that school library media specialists can use to encourage students to think of history as fun and relevant and to want to read history books. Discusses heroism in poems and songs; writing poems based on historical figures; biographies; limericks; and publishing student writings on parchment paper. (LRW)

Buchenwald offers an omnipresent reminder that future success of political and economic reunification is related to slow, but necessary, healing of national wounds over dual legacies of Hitler and the Cold War. In midst of painful transitions, the living memorial of Buchenwald holds promise as a place where German youth might continue arduous…

Eschewing Little Mermaid and Ninja Turtle costumes, students at a Washington Montessori school celebrate Halloween dressed as John Adams, Clara Barton, and other historical figures. U.S. Department of Education recently recognized eight schools for using interdisciplinary approaches, devoting adequate instructional time to history, and addressing…

Suggests that teachers can enliven their world history classroom through debates, plays, improvisations, readings, and drama. Describes how to use drama to enhance the study of the ordinary citizen of the Napoleonic era. (DB)

Presents a student research project in which students discover the history behind everyday kitchen inventions and popular food items. Pupils achieve the following objectives: (1) distinguish fact from opinion; (2) evaluate relevant information; (3) compare and contrast events; (4) locate and verify conflicting information; and (5) organize,…

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)

States that two primary sources of historical information about the Great Irish Famine are newspaper articles and diaries. Provides six newspaper accounts about the Irish Famine from 1845 to 1848 and journal entries by Elizabeth Smith (a landowner's wife in Ireland) describing the conditions in Ireland in 1847. Includes questions. (CMK)

Late in 2007 New Visions for Public Schools, a New York City reform organization, received a grant from the C.S. Mott Foundation to organize select high schools and community partners into delivery systems that could improve student achievement. New Visions asked Policy Studies Associates, Inc. to provide research support for this effort in the…

This publication is intended for teachers bringing a class to visit the National Archives in Washington, D.C., for a workshop on primary documents. The National Archives serves as the repository for all federal records of enduring value. Primary sources are vital teaching tools because they actively engage the student's imagination so that he or…

This publication is intended for teachers bringing a class to visit the National Archives in Washington, D.C., for a workshop on primary documents. The National Archives serves as the repository for all federal records of enduring value. Primary sources are vital teaching tools because they actively engage the student's imagination so that he or…

Suitable for students in the intermediate grades, the calendar provides teachers and students with a source of topics dealing with U.S. history and its cultural heritage. Following each calendar page is a day-by-day list of related questions to be used with students working independently, in groups, or in whole class discussions. This document is…