In this article, I will discuss a collective research project that I designed for my History of Mathematics course. My students, who are by and large pre-service teachers, explored online, digital versions of 18th-century British almanacs that contained question-and-answer sections for mathematics. In a multi-stage research process, they explored…

This article describes the Digital Life History Project, a 10-week "lab" linked to a course on aging, in which students and community-dwelling elders work together to create a short digital story honoring the elder's life. After two interview sessions, the pair works together to produce a 3- to 5-minute digital life story narrated by the elder.…

This article suggests placemaking as a framework to more deeply understand how teaching and learning can take into account young children's cultural histories. Placemaking, a form of analysis commonly found in land development literature, critically interprets the relationship between power, politics and the production of place. In this article,…

This paper describes a successful writing project with generation 1.5 college freshmen enrolled in a writing class. Generation 1.5 students may experience difficulties at universities when, despite being multilingual, the language they bring with them to college is often framed as a deficit. Students engaged in writing life histories experienced…

As an alternative to studying Washington and Lincoln during February, the author's sixth-grade class chose to research the life and times of another president, William Henry Harrison, who was born on February 9. (SJL)

Provides a rationale for including biography projects in various secondary content areas. Describes a biography project assignment in a teacher education secondary content area literacy course. Provides examples of preservice teachers' work; makes connections to research about literacy and equity; and offers student comments about the assignment.…

Suggests activities that school library media specialists can use to encourage students to think of history as fun and relevant and to want to read history books. Discusses heroism in poems and songs; writing poems based on historical figures; biographies; limericks; and publishing student writings on parchment paper. (LRW)

Presents an oral history project for high school students who are asked to select a non-related person to interview about a period or event in U.S. history, write a biography, and give a final public presentation on the interview. Includes a copy of the rubric in the appendix. (CMK)

Describes the "Women of Accomplishment" program, designed to teach a sixth-grade language-arts class about significant women from history. Students read about their subjects in books and used HyperStudio to create stacks that included pictures; they then presented their projects to parents. Discusses lessons learned and future plans.…

Cross-age projects allow elementary and secondary school students to break out of their traditional roles and explore what it means to listen, collaborate, and lead. The 4 projects described include story and guidebook writing, interviewing senior citizens in person and through telecommunications and writing biographies, and elementary school…

Presents instructional activities that bring "real world" content to the study of World War II by elementary students. Includes experiential activities such as interviews, guest speakers, visits to war memorials, and reading fiction and biographies. Includes an "All-American Matching Exercise" emphasizing cultural pluralism. (CFR)

Contends that students enjoy social studies instruction more when new information can be personalized and reshaped into original material. Reports on the content and teaching methods used in an ancient middle east unit designed for the sixth grade. Includes three charts and one table that illustrate the instructional strategies. (CFR)

Outlines and describes a fifth-grade unit of study examining issues of freedom and oppression. Students began with a biography and a presentation on an individual who had experienced discrimination. They then interviewed local people who had experienced significant freedom or oppression. Culminating activities included writing one-act plays. (MJP)