Focuses on the career of Ken Burns, creator of historical documentaries for television and a popular historian. Examines his technique in creating documentaries, such as his use of style and the incorporation of biography. Discusses the differences between professional and popular history. (CMK)

Presents an excerpt from the book entitled "Lonely Hearts of the Cosmos." Provides narration of behind-the-scenes events in the lives, the scientific debates, and the intellectual triumphs of the two physicists responsible for inventing the concept of the black hole. (JJK)

Describes a class activity designed to play up the blurred boundary between fiction and nonfiction. Notes that students filled out Internal Revenue Service tax forms for people who might exist and that other students created biographies and autobiographies from the fictitious tax forms. (RS)

Provides a rationale for including biography projects that represent diverse contributors to science and mathematics. Describes a biography-project assignment used in a methods course for secondary teacher preparation, discusses preservice teachers' comments about the assignment, and makes connections to current research on equitable instruction.…

Claudio Sanchez, education correspondent for National Public Radio, grew up in two cultures, saw his parents' marriage dissolve, and watched his mother toil to keep family together and get her children educated. Sanchez spends working hours searching for stories illustrating that kind of travail. Focusing on issues of abandonment and neglect, he…

Provides a chronology of Edward Kennedy "Duke" Ellington's career divided into four periods (Sound and Style, Creative Explosion, Beyond Jazz, and The Last Decade). Offers a synopsis of his musical development, listing compositions written during each phase. Includes a list of resources and a sample lesson for "Koko" by Duke Ellington. (CMK)

This book presents illustrated profiles of 76 individuals and 2 notable vehicles (the winner of the first around-the-world car race in 1908 and the first steam locomotive in the United States). It includes such recognized innovators as Alexander Graham Bell (inventor of the telephone), George Washington Carver (agricultural products innovator),…

A junior high level social studies unit designed to determine the characteristics of a real and fictionalized "great" person is described. (DE)

The persona Robert Frost communicated to most of his wide, diverse, and often non-academic audience was that of a rather isolated New England farmer, who--because of his limited experience with city folk and urban living--was untouched and thereby uncorrupted by the ways of the world. In teaching Frost, as in teaching any poet, some sort of…

Books classified as biography in the school media collection for grade levels primary through senior high school are included in this advisory list. Selections were made from books which publishers submitted for evaluation; only those which were favorably reviewed by educators are listed. An unannotated list of books receiving favorable notices in…

Secondary teachers and librarians will find the bibliography a helpful tool for identifying women's biographies. Biographies are valuable for building reading skills, background of a subject, or personal development. These biographies are appealing to young people on the basis of subject interest, reading level, depth of detail, and writing style.…

This biography explores poet Robert Frost's techniques as a teacher from the early days of teaching at Pinkerton Academy in Derry, New Hampshire, to his acceptance of a chair at Harvard University and his subsequent associations with numerous other schools. Also examined are his educational practices and philosophy--particularly his life-long…

One of a series of works aimed at presenting contemporary critical opinion on major authors, this collection includes essays by Dorothy Van Ghent, Marvin Mudrick, Mark Schorer, Harry T. Moore, Julian Moynahan, Monroe Engel, Graham Hough, Mark Spilka, W. D. Snodgrass, V. de S. Pinto, Arthur E. Waterman, Richard Foster, and Raymond Williams--all…

The outline of a course in the investigation of literature (both fiction and nonfiction) which concerns youth facing and overcoming problems of life, with stress upon the novel and biography, is presented. The student is expected, through reading selected literary works, to (1) examine the problems confronted by youth, (2) examine youth's needs…

Suggests that character and personality profiles can heighten student interest in history. Provides an outline for writing a report on an historical personality and recommends activities which involve students in simulation and creative writing. (Author/DB)