Teaching social studies with historical maps allows teachers and students not only to examine a historical event or place, but to analyze the story behind the map. Historical maps can provide insight into the people and cultures of earlier times. Studying these historic maps may help students challenge the notion that people of earlier time…

This article features original text passages from the primary source, "Diary of Judge A. N. Ferguson engaged as Civil Engineer with a U.P.R.R. [Union Pacific Rail Road] Surveying Party April 25, 1868 to May 10, 1869." Creative ideas for discussion are provided about topics such as weather, and the dangers the survey team endured as they completed…

The use of diaries helps students increase their understanding of everyday life of past historical persons. Using a diary is recommended as a tool for teaching the Bicentennial. One sample diary is examined. (JR)

This guide presents general sources which can be put together with local information to help explore the past, including books, census and public records, newspapers, maps, diaries, and visuals. (Author/JR)

Presents an annotated bibliography of 1992 notable trade books selected by the the National Council for the Social Studies and the Children's Book Council. Categorizes books by reading level and subject matter. Includes fiction, nonfiction, biographies, songbooks, and reference works. (CFR)

States that two primary sources of historical information about the Great Irish Famine are newspaper articles and diaries. Provides six newspaper accounts about the Irish Famine from 1845 to 1848 and journal entries by Elizabeth Smith (a landowner's wife in Ireland) describing the conditions in Ireland in 1847. Includes questions. (CMK)

Presents reviews of three instructional resources on World War II. Includes a multimedia kit based on newspapers and a videotape, an illustrated book on issues surrounding the bombing of Hiroshima, and a diary of a grade school teacher's experiences in the Women's Army Auxiliary Corps. (CFR)

Teachers most interested in a constructivist approach to historical instruction often use new technology to provide realistic, inquiry-based learning situations for their students. Recent research in social studies learning has de-emphasized student memorization of facts and text-based instruction in favor of engaging students in historical…

Discusses the availability and utility of the various types of documentation that historians and students can use to research the German government's systematic extermination of the Jews, the Gypsies, and the handicapped during the 1930s and 1940s. Available documents include government records, private agency records, trial records, and…

Profiles a series of teaching activities that uses reproductions of entries from President Harry Truman's diary. The activities include content analysis and related research projects. Includes several reproductions of entries describing Truman's frustration with Congress, and his loneliness as his wife and daughter fulfilled other commitments.…

Uses letters of John Kay, a Union Army soldier, to initiate a technology-based project that illustrates reasons for fighting in the Civil War, the daily life of a soldier, and the tragedies families endured. Explains that students learn that history is filled with real people who lived and died for their beliefs. (CMK)

Discusses the significance and circumstances surrounding the Yalta Conference near the end of World War II. Presents diary excerpts written by Anna Roosevelt, President Franklin D. Roosevelt's daughter. Includes four recommended teaching activities and an address list of the presidential libraries. (CFR)

Maintains that teaching about the Civil War can be enhanced by using a wide variety of printed and audiovisual resources. Provides an annotated list of interpretive accounts, secondary sources, and participant accounts of the war. Concludes that student interest can be generated by using such personalized accounts of the period. (CFR)

Presents five brief articles related to middle-level learning. The articles are, "Using Children's Diaries to Teach the Oregon Trail"; "Living the Geography of Joseph and Temperance Brown"; "The ABCs of Small Grant Acquisition for Social Studies"; "Isomo Loruko: The Yoruba Naming Ceremony"; and "Child…