Sam Pullan explains how a chance encounter has helped him to improve his introduction to the modern themes and founding documents of US politics. Working with a professional historian whom he met, by chance, over dinner, he was able to produce lessons at the cutting edge of subject knowledge to grab the attention of his Year 11 pupils. This…

Access to primary sources is one of the cornerstones of historical research. Until the arrival of the Internet and digitization, many primary sources were available only in large research libraries and archives, and students and scholars had to travel to the institutions holding these sources in order to do research. This situation has changed…

Oral histories are a powerful pedagogical tool in developing historical understanding and important learning skills simultaneously. Teachers use firsthand accounts of historical time periods and/or events to help develop students' sense of history. In addition to gaining historical understanding, students are able to bring history alive by…

Newcomers are a special subgroup of the student population designated as English Language Learners (ELLs). The research project described in this article investigates how a teacher integrated language and content in a single subject area, social studies, in a high school newcomer classroom. Three extended lessons were presented to newcomer…

On October 5, 1957, the headline on the front page of the "Baltimore News-Post" proclaimed "Russ "Moon" Circling Earth." The "Russ" Moon was Sputnik I, launched by the Soviet Union a day earlier. The launch had far-reaching and unexpected outcomes for the United States. Almost immediately, President Dwight…

Provides background information on the presidio, a frontier palace or garrison. Offers a lesson to help students understand the chronological context of events in presidial California in relation to developments in the English colonies and Europe. Includes four handouts. (CMK)

During the Viet Nam war, U.S. military helicopters dropped "Chieu Hoi" (safe conduct) passes over suspected enemy locations to encourage enemy soldiers to surrender. This article presents a classroom activity that encourages students to examine a "Chieu Hoi" pass as a primary historical document, identify its various elements,…

The Treaty of Guadalupe Hidalgo, which brought an official end to the Mexican American War (1846-1848) was signed on February 2, 1848. Nicholas Trist, chief clerk of the U.S. Statement Department at the time, negotiated the peace treaty in defiance of 1845-1849 President James K. Polk. Trist believed that Mexico must surrender fully, including…

Planning for "Operation Overlord" had been under way for about a year when General Dwight Eisenhower, commander of all the Allied forces in Europe, was ordered in February 1944 to invade the continent. Thousands of troops from the United States, Great Britain, France, Canada, and other nations were assembled in southern England and…

After World War II ended in 1945, the United States and the Soviet Union (USSR) emerged as the two dominant countries in the post-war world. An arms race began, and this constant pursuit for respect and supremacy was called the Cold War. On October 4, 1957, the USSR launched the world's first intercontinental ballistic missile, with the first…

Described how a group of third, fourth and fifth graders learned about the United States, Ghana, Mexico and China as they looked in 1776, 1976 and 2176. (Author/RK)

This publication opens with a statement by the 2001-2002 National Council for the Social Studies (NCSS) President Adrian Davis on the horrific events of September 11, 2001. Davis said that social studies educators need to reinforce the ideals of tolerance, equity, and social justice against a backlash of antidemocratic sentiments and hostile…

This lesson is based on the National Register of Historic Places registration file, "Pioneer Square Historic District," and other sources about Seattle (Washington) and the Klondike Gold Rush. The lesson helps students understand how Seattle exemplified the prosperity of the Klondike Gold Rush after 1897 when news of a gold strike in…

This document consists of six pages of course description accompanied by over 200 pages of reproduced material including the complete constitutions of Bulgaria, Romania, and the United States, respectively. This unit allows students to analyze primary and secondary sources, think critically about the documents, and reflect on whether a country's…

This lesson describes and discusses the submerged remains of the battleship USS Arizona which rests on the silt of Pearl Harbor (Hawaii), just as it had settled on December 7, 1941, the day Japan attacked the U.S. fleet and began the Pacific battles of World War II. The lesson is based on the National Register of Historic Places registration file,…