The most common activity in a social studies classroom should be the analysis of primary sources. Students are intrigued and engaged by edited and unedited documents, written statements, transcribed speeches, photographs, pictures, charts, graphs, cartoons, and even material objects. Ideally, the goal of social studies teachers is to prepare…

This document presents the proceedings of the 19th Annual Research Forum held June 26, 2014, at Wake Forest University in Winston-Salem, North Carolina. Included are the following 17 action research papers: (1) Using Voices to Change Minds: Oral Performance and Poetry in the English Classroom (Erika Bunpermkoon), (2) Imagining Audiences: The Use…

The history of the United States includes myriad examples of courage and selflessness as well as instances of prejudice and discrimination. Many students believe that prejudice and discrimination are limited to individuals and do not realize that these can form part of government or national policy. In this article, the authors highlight the…

Decision making is one of the essential skills advocated by the National Council for the Social Studies for effective citizenship in a democratic society. Leaders in any society make decisions that influence many lives. In a democratic society, we expect that deductive and inductive reasoning guide decisions made for the common good. However, what…

Preparing to teach a course outside one's field of specialty or even continental comfort zone provides a unique if somewhat daunting opportunity. With Western Civilization classes as the author's teaching experience for entry-level college courses, she approached teaching "The United States Since Reconstruction" with some trepidation. However,…

For much of American history, political leaders have stood by a principle that "politics stops at the water's edge." While political disagreements about domestic policies are seen as inevitable and even healthy, there has been a tradition of trying to avoid partisan disagreements over foreign policy. As a result, intense disagreements…

December 10, 1988, marks the 40th anniversary of the adoption by the United Nations of the Universal Declaration of Human Rights. The Declaration represents the first comprehensive, global statement on basic human rights, embracing many of the values long held by U.S. citizens; and it urges all peoples and all nations to promote respect for the…

This article features a list of websites for primary sources and civics education. The World Wide Web has become an excellent source for facsimiles, images, and transcriptions of primary sources. As it would be impossible to provide a comprehensive list of all the sites, this annotated list highlights selective sites that provide access to…

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…

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 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…

The theme for 2004's National History Day is "Exploration, Encounter, Exchange in History." This is a broad theme, so topics should be carefully selected and developed in ways that best reflect student talents and abilities. Studies should include an investigation into available primary and secondary sources, analysis of the evidence,…

The Fall 2003 Idea Book features: "Save Our History Study Guide: Our Documents"; "History International Study Guide: Pyramids"; "The History Channel Study Guide: Lewis and Clark" (Ideas from Our Teachers Contest Rules; Ideas from Our Teachers Context Winners); "A&E Classroom Study Guide: Post…

This book focuses on social studies web sites, provides the tools for teachers to incorporate the Internet into the existing curriculum framework, explains how to get started using the Internet, and annotates a large collection of useful resources. The resources are wide ranging and challenging to allow students to think, analyze, and create.…

A desire to make historical source documents central to the exposition of basic themes in a two-semester class on European and U.S. history since 1500 led to the development of a pilot course at Assumption College, Worcester, Massachusetts. One of the three weekly class meetings was devoted to a discussion of the source materials. In order to…