Teaching history should not be reciting an endless list of dead men, entombed between the covers of a textbook. Instead, "Breaking Away from the Textbook" offers a fascinating journey through world history. Not a comprehensive, theory-heavy guide, this book focuses on active classroom activities, methods for students to grapple with humanity's…

As anyone in the classroom knows, connecting historical learning to a real situation magnifies that learning tremendously. Helping students understand that they can indeed play a role in policymaking is invaluable. In this article, the author invites young students to consider weighing the importance of different historical figures--and possibly…

The article discusses the National Standard in History and its impact on teaching and learning history in Russian schools. It reviews the changes in the content of history education in schools, learning activities and assessment tasks employed.

Cross-curricular teaching and learning can be an approach that not only looks to amalgamate subjects together for the sake of greater understanding of each individual subject, but also to make meaningful connections between subjects based on disciplinary similarities. This involves a deeper understanding of each subject's specific characteristics…

In 1998, the Smithsonian's National Museum of American History, Kenneth E. Behring Center launched OurStory: History through Children's Literature, a history and literacy program series for family visitors to the Museum that was designed to help children and adults enjoy exploring history together. Ten years later, to reach a broader, national…

As a graduate instructor for HIST 152: United States Since 1877, the author structures the entire course around the motif of the newspaper. She models her curriculum after the newspaper both visually and symbolically and uses it as a theme throughout the class. The newspaper is not a gimmick or cliche, but rather a recurring stylistic theme, an…

In this article, the authors describe three specific activities in which they have integrated mini-camcorders in their units on the American Revolution, Civil War, and Post-Reconstruction and Progressive eras that they believe provide outlets for creative middle school students and engage students in authentic intellectual work. The three…

Background: History learning requires that students understand historical phenomena, abstract concepts and the relations between them. Students have problems grasping, using and relating complex historical developments and structures. Aims: A study was conducted to determine the effects of tasks with abstract and/or concrete visualizations on the…

Given California's role in the Pacific economy, its historic Asian heritage, and the strong and growing presence of Asian communities and businesses in the state, it is imperative that students statewide understand the history of Asia. Unfortunately, the California state curricular framework and standards in history and social science limit the…

Teaching history should not simply be an endless recitation of irrelevant facts, entombed between the covers of a textbook. Instead, "Breaking Away from the Textbook" offers a fascinating journey through world history. Not a comprehensive, theory-heavy guide, this book instead focuses on exciting classroom activities, methods for students to…

During spring semester 2010, a long-standing upper-division lecture course, Medieval Cities of Europe, 500-1500 CE, underwent a course transformation. The goal was to address specific challenges with student engagement that the authors had experienced in the course in the past; their overarching strategy was to introduce technology into the course…

This paper reports on a case study that was undertaken to discover not only the belief and intent behind the everyday opportunities that four exemplary teachers offered their high performing students but what activities they incorporated into their everyday lessons in an attempt to make sense of how aesthetic experiences may enhance learning. The…

In this article, the author talks about the updated National Council for the Social Studies (NCSS) Standards that are directed toward those meaningful units and engaging lessons. The revised standards set guiding questions and provide strategies and "Snapshots of Practice" which can be used to combine extensive use of content with suggestions for…

This paper makes the claim that student teachers' learning depends a great deal on the individual school department where they are working, its social practices and the relationships of the teachers involved in initial teacher education (ITE). The paper considers how using a Cultural Historical Activity Theory (CHAT) lens to view data generated on…

Despite the growing number of books designed to radically reconsider the educational value of video games as powerful learning tools, there are very few practical guidelines conveniently available for prospective history and social studies teachers who actually want to use these teaching and learning tools in their classes. As the games and…