Dread is an unfortunate, yet all too common occurrence in the classroom. It often arises when a student has little motivation toward a class or its content. As an instructor of a traditionally "dreaded" class (Design History I), my goal was to seek ways to increase student motivation for the topic of design history and historic…

Outlines the characteristics of a good history program for kindergarten through grade four, analyzing the Massachusetts History and Social Science Curriculum Framework and the Core Knowledge Sequence as they apply to elementary instruction. Also describes and evaluates principles of teaching history to young children. (Author/SLD)

The first Teaching American History (TAH) grants were made available to K-12 schools from the Department of Education in 2002. They provide money to school systems for three-year projects to form partnerships with area organizations with the goal of increasing the American history knowledge of teachers and students. This study focuses on the…

Studied the Heritage Project, a federally sponsored program to develop and implement social studies curricula based on local history and cultural traditions in three rural areas. Results offer insight into educational change initiatives and problems with top-down program implementation. (SLD)