This article examines how recent history textbooks from the United States, Japan, China, and South Korea present the Korean War. The comparative analysis focuses on four areas: the causes of the Korean War, American involvement in the war, Chinese involvement in the war, and the results of the war. Analysis of the central story lines reveals that…

This paper reports the results of a sub-study in which middle school students were asked to provide their perspectives and understandings of World War II during a study unit and final project. An investigation was undertaken to determine how students' perspective-taking skills were influenced by the use of a variety of teaching methods regarding…

In U.S. middle school social studies and history classrooms the prevalent modes of instruction continue to be the traditional large group, teacher dominated and controlled recitation and lecture based primarily on the textbook. Many researchers, however, criticize the reliance on textbook-based teaching in classrooms, since they consider social…

This study investigated how the use of various teaching methods influenced perspective taking skills of sixth grade middle school students during a unit of instruction on World War II. Three questions directed the study: (1) What do students know about World War II prior to a unit of study on World War II; (2) What do students know about World War…