Using historical thinking for analyzing the teaching and learning of secondary school history, this paper contributes to literature and debates on the pedagogical potential of museums in this endeavor. Despite the existence of museums and expansive literature on their historical significance in various world settings, there has not been much…

There are many factors that affect the perceptions of students enrolled in the classroom teaching programs of education faculties concerning the concept of social studies teaching. The most important of these factors are the instructors they observed in the faculty and their previous educational lives. In this context, this study aimed to…

Holocaust education in the United States began as a grassroots movement during the 1970s. Today, more than 30 states mandate the teaching of the Holocaust; however, far less attention is given in schools to other 20th-century instances of genocide. Totten has suggested that by neglecting "other" genocides (e.g., Darfur, Rwanda, and…

Students often bring considerable prior information about the Holocaust to their study of the event, with much of that knowledge being inaccurate or incomplete. In addition, the Shoah's complexity necessitates that teachers establish a well-defined framework as they introduce the topic to their students. This article outlines an opening lesson for…

Museums are important venues for engaging history students in the habits of free-choice and lifelong learning. Although these sound like the pedagogical buzzwords du jour, both concepts are ones that educators today--including college professors and lecturers--should be adding to their teaching vocabulary. Unfortunately, while literature on these…

This article presents an approach that teachers can use to strengthen students' ability to make sense of the past at museums. Specifically, we propose a photography exercise to help students to learn from museums and to view museums critically, weighing both the objective realities and subjective interpretations offered by museums. To get the most…

This article addresses how far educational institutions have come in designing authentic and meaningful curricula for teaching the Holocaust at the secondary level. Examined in this article are the historical development of Holocaust education in the United States, with a focus on the state of Illinois as a case study, what contributes to the…

Museums, historic sites, and memorials offer opportunities to enhance and build on the history taught in secondary history classrooms. The artifacts they display, narratives they tell, and re-creations of the past they exhibit potentially engage students with content in ways unavailable in a classroom setting or by reading a textbook. The author…

Describes the experience of junior high and high school students as they participate in the "Living History Program" at Fort Stanwix in Rome, New York. Students live as Revolutionary War soldiers for 24 hours after six months of intensive preparation and study. (JDH)

The Colonial Williamsburg Foundation, the nation's largest living history museum, in partnership with the Social Science Education Consortium, scholars, educators, and teachers, has developed engaging learning materials for social studies classrooms. One such program is the Colonial Williamsburg History and Civics Project, which is based on…

This article is the author's reflective analysis of an extended, interdisciplinary unit, which culminated with fifty or so middle school students installing a history museum in their local town hall. He describes the unit, focusing primarily on its planning and implementation and also offer a series of general reflections about the nature of…

Describes how a group of fourth grade teachers culminated their state history instruction with independent and small group projects which became a "mini museum." Includes practical information for securing parental assistance and press coverage. (JDH)

How to use elementary school children as curators of a classroom museum is described. The teacher decides the concept or unit to be showcased in the museum. As curators students are responsible for many tasks including writing descriptive paragraphs for the artifacts and arranging the artifact display. (RM)

Collecting, utilizing, and displaying old or antique items will give elementary children some firsthand experience of how people in the past lived, what they worked with, and the progress of their industrial development. Using brainstorming, interviews with senior citizens, resource people, and classroom demonstrations are suggested techniques.…