While incorporating digital technologies into the classroom has offered new ways of teaching and learning into educational processes, it is essential to take a look at how the digital shift impacts teachers, school administration, and curriculum development. "Academic Knowledge Construction and Multimodal Curriculum Development" presents…

This story, written by middle school students and their teacher at Kingsbury School in Michigan, concerns the Ancient Roman Empire and is designed to be used to teach other middle school students. The story depicts a quest to reconstruct the Roman Empire from its beginnings as Ancient Italy, as a republic in the sixth century B.C., to the height…

Describes the "American Families Project," in which students from two or more schools participate in a creative writing, historical research activity, each playing a role in a fictitious family living in 1838 and corresponding with each other. (RS)

This book introduces and guides upper elementary and middle school teachers through the process of using major classroom projects to enable integration of the curriculum through social studies. The book describes the excitement of a classroom when the students are working on Washington, D.C. and Latin America projects. Not only do the students…

This activity plan for fifth graders posits that the student is an agent for the King and Queen and are authorized to make a journey to the New World on behalf of the kingdom. The mission is to claim all land for the monarchy, locate a new trading route across the ocean, look for the Northwest Passage, and bring back gold, silver, spices, new…

Describes a schoolwide project for grades 4-6 in which students combined social studies, library research, art activities, music, and dance to present an international festival. (SJL)

Describes a history unit for middle school students focusing on their own communities. Describes getting organized, introducing the unit, and possible student projects. Adds a note of caution. (SR)

History fairs are an excellent way to recognize student achievement and to generate an interest in history. Described is a History Day fair that encouraged students in grades 6-12 to research and prepare papers, projects, and media presentations on a historical theme and to have them judged by history professionals. (RM)

More than 50 starter ideas for social studies projects and units for the primary and intermediate grades are presented. These help develop children's skills in social studies, reading, handwriting, and language arts, and stir their interest in local history and government. Activities can be used for new projects or to enrich ongoing ones. (PP)

Illustrates how the transformation approach can be used to enhance the social studies curriculum. Describes a project where elementary students analyze primary documents and firsthand accounts of a shared, class experience in order to help them understand the role that cultural perspective plays in the recording of history. (CMK)

This play, intended for middle school and high school students, uses the historical events of the Macartney mission to China from 1792-94 to illustrate the problems that can occur when different cultures interact. The play describes the first major encounter in which government officials representative of the European Enlightenment come face to…

This curriculum packet contains two teacher-developed lesson plans, for use in the upper elementary grades, which focus on urban life. The first lesson plan, "Connecting Downtown" (Michael Gray), studies how engineering and design can make cities more efficient places. It provides a brief discussion on how people travel within large…

Describes a sixth-grade inclusive classroom that uses project-based learning units to examine controversial topics from the social studies curriculum. Students work in heterogeneous cooperative-learning groups composed of students with and without disabilities, to develop a multimedia presentation that demonstrates what they have learned. (CR)

The main purpose of this Master's degree field project was for fourth grade students to create a "good" visual presentation of a Civil War topic using Clarisworks slideshow. Students were in charge of determining what constituted a good project. The components of the slideshow included the following: (1) title page; (2) biography; and (3) Civil…

This curriculum packet contains two lesson plans about cities and architecture intended for use with students in upper elementary grades and middle schools. The first lesson plan, "City People, City Stories" (Jan Ham), states that understanding architecture and cities must begin with an understanding of the people of the city. The children create…