Decades of research into which instructional strategies are successful in K-12 history and social studies conclude that having students write is extremely important. Effective writing assignments--whether a 3- to 5-paragraph essay, a longer term-paper-style assignment, or even a fictional short story based on a historical period or event--require…

This simulation allows students to role play workers and consumers in businesses they create. Students become involved in learning about communities by taking study trips within their real community and by reading literature related to neighborhoods and communities. Through the simulation, daily activities are introduced to students as daily…

This simulation allows students to pretend to go to a one-room schoolhouse in the last half of the 19th century. Students work to earn points in order to graduate from Apple Valley School. A sense of history is developed as students learn about a "school of long ago" and compare it to today's schools. Role play, writing activities, and critical…

Presents "C.U.B.E.: Creating Understanding of the Built Environment," a unit focusing on a community's built environment. Discusses the interdisciplinary goals of the unit. Provides four samples of activities from within the unit. (CFR)

Describes a classroom project in which elementary students bake homemade bread to learn about the settlement period in Canadian history and the early history of the students' community. Maintains that students learn to compare the lifestyle of the past with the present. (CFR)

Presents a classroom lesson in which students interpret historical cause and effect through the analysis of U.S. census data. Recommends the use of local historical census data to help students learn about their community's experience. Includes a map and charts of census data. (CFR)

Maintains that, as students develop, they can begin to acquire the skills of historians by investigating not only the facts of history but the human motivations the why of history. Provides recommended resources for helping student construct historical meaning, local historical and community resources, and for family history. (CFR)

Discusses the importance of architecture in Thomas Jefferson's life. Presents a lesson plan based on Jefferson's Monticello and designed to encourage students to identify and understand elements of classical architecture in their local area. Includes a photograph of Monticello and six architectural illustrations. (CFR)