Early in the semester, during a seemingly benign math lesson over money, one of the students in my second and third grade blended classroom halted the instruction to ask "Wait! Why are there no women on money? Is there any money with women on it?" Never one to miss an opportunity to get my students thinking critically, we took some time…

During the Viet Nam war, U.S. military helicopters dropped "Chieu Hoi" (safe conduct) passes over suspected enemy locations to encourage enemy soldiers to surrender. This article presents a classroom activity that encourages students to examine a "Chieu Hoi" pass as a primary historical document, identify its various elements,…

A scope and sequence for teaching elementary and secondary social studies is provided in a subject-by-subject format. Designed to meet the requirements of North Carolina's competency-based curriculum, materials may also be useful to other states and localities. Following a foreword and acknowledgments, material is divided into three main sections.…

This teaching unit represents a specific "dramatic moment" in history that can allow students to delve into the deeper meanings of selected landmark events and explore their wider context in the great historical narrative. Studying a crucial turning point in history helps students realize that history is an ongoing, open-ended process,…

Read-alouds boost listening and reading comprehension skills and bring subjects to life in a way that textbooks cannot. This article presents three literature-based social studies units, which offer some fresh choices to invigorate lessons. For each unit, a recently published novel is highlighted as a read-aloud or group reading selection and…

This document consists of a high school level study unit on decisions that faced the United States with respect to the Soviet Union following World War II. In applying the choices approach to the problem solving, the unit calls upon students to become active participants in the history-making process. To enhance authenticity, the lessons rely on…

This 4-week curriculum is designed to help 11th and 12th grade students reach an understanding of the history and culture of Vietnam and the roots of U.S. military involvement there, and also to draw lessons from U.S. actions during the war in Vietnam. Students are encouraged to engage in critical thinking, evaluation, drawing conclusions, taking…

This curriculum outline, designed for use in U.S. history, world history, or English courses, presents information about Adolf Hitler and the Holocaust. Part 1 provides a rationale for teaching about this subject, while part 2 presents an outline of historical information from 1887 to 1934 concerning Hitler's life and the rise of the Nazi Party.…

Six units focusing on the effects of spatial change on women are designed to supplement college introductory courses in geography and the social sciences. Unit 1, Woman and Agricultural Landscapes, focuses on how women contributed to landscape change in prehistory, women's impact on the environment, and the hypothesis that women developed…

This unit of study explores the experiences and the role of women during World War II. The unit can serve as an introduction or supplement to commonly taught topics such as Nazism in Germany, the Holocaust, the "home front," the USSR's Great Patriotic War, and the struggle between Nationalists and Communists in China. It begins with an…

This packet of learning materials includes the April, 1986 issue of "Population Education Interchange"; a learning module entitled "Women in the World: The Women's Decade and Beyond"; "The World's Women: A Profile"; and two reproducible activity sheets. The purpose of the reading, activities, and resource materials is…

Describes activities to help students in grades 7-9 learn about American food production and distribution. Students learn about the American diet over the centuries; the production of American Corn; the meaning of the term hunger; and the need for protein. (CS)

This unit presents five distinct options designed to allow high school students to explore a range of alternatives for U.S. policy toward the Arab-Israeli conflict. The unit includes a 10-day and a 5-day lesson plan. Both plans follow a similar sequence, first introducing the historical background of the conflict and presenting Arab and Israeli…

A social studies unit and student workbook explore changes in land use that have occurred in the Fenlands of England since the time it was first inhabited. Fens are lowlying land which is partially or completely covered with water. The English Fens are located on the eastern side of the British Isles and cover a total area of about 2,000 square…