Briefly outlines three major themes of American urban history pertaining to the study of all communities, and describes a program using extensive comparative community field studies which reinforces these themes. Emphasizes readings, discussion, field trips, and a month of field work. (Author/CK)

Discusses the methodology and benefits of using a city as an instrument for examining American history and social dynamics. (JB)

Advocates teaching history through children's fictional and nonfictional literature in elementary social studies. Offers seven criteria for selecting books for elementary history units. Provides activities for teaching about American Indians, communities, and U.S. history based on award-winning children's books. (CH)

Fifty-five trade books that will help second graders increase their understanding and knowledge of the concept of communities are cited in this annotated bibliography. Dates of publication range from the 1940's to the present. The bibliography is organized by three major categories: local communities, national communities, and international…

This volume is designed to supplement materials teachers have chosen to use in teaching Colorado and community history. The materials are not a complete history of Colorado or a complete textbook; instead, teachers are provided with 14 teaching activities for use in elementary and secondary social studies or history classes. The book is divided…

With the growing interest in oral history, this booklet provides guidelines for the development of oral history projects at the secondary level. There are various options for establishing oral history in the school program including an elective semester course, an independent study project, a minicourse, a cocurricular history club project, or an…

A guide to the assembly of local, oral history information for future historical research is provided. Since the relatively new field of oral history is the tape recording of reminiscences about which a narrator can speak from firsthand knowledge, it is necessary for the interviewer to have background knowledge of the subject matter and…

Intended to engage students in a comparative look at local history in two upper Mississippi river towns (Winona, Minnesota and Dubuque, Iowa), this paper describes the computer-assisted component of an upper-level American Studies course. With emphasis on the 19th century, students examine the transition made by the United States from a…

Trends, tips, and resources for teaching local and family history are identified in this state-of-the-art paper. Using the local community as a historical resource can make American history more relevant and meaningful to students and aids in the development of a wide range of skills, including library use skills, writing skills, and skills used…

The creation of an 8th-grade American history course and the training of teachers for the course are the goals of this project. Primarily a course in national history, it uses local (Northampton, Mass.) events and people as a key to understanding the larger national picture. The course objectives were to enable students to analyze, interpret, and…

The booklet describes the local history component of an interdisciplinary high school course on American Studies. The program involves students over a three-year period in collecting, recording, organizing, interpreting, and disseminating the history, culture, and tradition of Scituate, Rhode Island. The booklet is presented in six chapters.…

The booklet describes a multimedia project which introduces secondary students and interested adults to the ethnic history of Westport and Norwalk, Connecticut, from 1900 to 1979. Objectives of the project were to demonstrate ways to explore the past and relate it to the present, forge links between generations, encourage understanding and respect…