Presents a plan for using melodrama for teaching about the Progressive era. Argues that the melodrama can be a method for historical research. Explains procedures, guidelines on design, and evaluation methods. Includes a sample melodrama, outline handout, observation form, and review form. (SG)

Describes history's curriculum role as it fell from a status of prominence in the 1890s to one of unimportance, submerged in social studies. Notes that history is again becoming an important curriculum area. Suggests that the resurgence of history education is the result of history educators' focus on what to teach and exciting teaching methods.…

Discusses communication in history, the theme for National History Day in 1993. Presents a list of approaches to the theme that could be taken as topics for study. Includes informational media, rhetoric and social change, transmission of cultural values, technology, and miscommunication. Contains a bibliography for each topic. (DK)

Points out the importance of the Tarawa landing in the Gilbert Islands during World War II, and recommends teaching about the event. Provides detailed analysis of the November 21-24, 1943, amphibious assault by U.S. Marines. Examines the rationale for the location, timing, and type of attack. Identifies key personnel. Includes intelligence map of…

Presents a lesson plan exploring social values and historical periods as it is reflected in the sport of baseball. Suggests that teachers start with an overview of the game's history and rules in the nineteenth century. Includes four sets of quotes relating to baseball and race, capitalism, community, and cultural context. (DK)

Presents a method of using the Consumer Price Index to give students an understanding of the meanings of price levels in different historical periods. Demonstrates how to figure the actual price of items in the 1920s and 1930s by converting prices to present value. Argues that consumer goods were not cheaper in the past. (DK)

Suggests a lesson plan in which history students discuss the effects of the Vietnam War on individuals and society. Explains that the students compare their responses before and after hearing a reading of two different works on the war. Includes suggested readings and questions for students to use in interviewing people in the community. (DK)

Presents a secondary lesson for high school students based on a controversial 1892 proposal in Congress to reduce the size of Yosemite National Park. Includes a map and petition signed by John Muir, the first president of the Sierra Club, which was formed to oppose the proposal. The lesson includes class discussion and activity suggestions. (CFR)

Provides a brief introduction to ways functional grammatical concepts can be used to understand the distinctive literacy demands of school science and history texts. Distinguishes this grammar from that of everyday language; examines the characteristic grammatical and discourse forms of content area learning; and discusses developing functional…

Examines adolescents who faced many comprehension challenges when studying diverse history content. Focuses on the challenges that an innovative history chapter with embedded texts presents to middle-grade students and the strategies and stances that student readers use in relation to these challenges. Examines the nature of students' historical…

Presents two experiences of the author as history professor. Finds the teaching-learning of history vitally related to the life of the students, an approach that increases interest and provides the opportunity for shared interest and social interaction. Emphasizes the important role that the Internet can exercise. (BT)

Facts, or skills? Content, or process? Teachers of history and social studies teachers often lock horns over these questions, trying to define the nature of their field and its role in secondary education. Teachers of history often focus on content, presenting the past as a series of important people and events, an accumulated cultural lore that…

This paper discusses plays and companion art pieces suitable for use in the United States history classroom. After a poster from a production of Max Frisch's "Biedermann und die Brandstifter," the paper presents a list of 18 questions ("lenses") for the study of plays with a historical connection; a list of 15 plays for…

Developed through a broad-based national consensus building process, the National History Standards project has involved working toward agreement both on the larger purposes of history in the school curriculum and on the more specific history understandings and thinking processes that all students should have equal opportunity to acquire over 12…

This volume examines the history of the State of Hawaii. The book is organized, as most history books are, chronologically; however, it also is arranged thematically. Four aspects of Hawaiian history are divided into three time periods. Unit 1, "Precontact to 1900," addresses that era from the political, economic, social, and land…