Our social studies classrooms are filled with students from many different backgrounds. This article aims to help middle grades (grades 6-8) social studies teachers consider how trade books that feature the global South can be paired with primary historical texts in order to help students develop perspective consciousness. Social studies educators…

School segregation and inequity are deep-rooted realities in U.S. society. Despite historical efforts at integration, too many schools are de facto segregated, and those serving mostly students of color are routinely under-resourced when compared to those servicing mostly white students. Teachers and students can struggle to talk about this…

Role-play is viewed by scholars as an effective active learning strategy: it encourages participation among passive learners, adds dynamism to the classroom and promotes the retention of material. But what do students think of role-play? This study surveyed 144 students after a role-play activity in a history course and asked them to identify what…

Jane Card has long been fascinated by the power of visual sources to stimulate pupil thought and discussion. In previous articles she has shared insights from her own expert practice, fusing deep subject knowledge with careful planning to generate highly skilful questioning. Here she presents another rich example of classroom practice, carefully…

As a graduate instructor for HIST 152: United States Since 1877, the author structures the entire course around the motif of the newspaper. She models her curriculum after the newspaper both visually and symbolically and uses it as a theme throughout the class. The newspaper is not a gimmick or cliche, but rather a recurring stylistic theme, an…

This study examined an 11th grade high school class as they played the game Civilization III. Over nine class sessions students played the game in support of other activities related to several predetermined and emergent topics in U. S. history. Gameplay was whole-class oriented and involved students taking turns at the computer controlling…

Biography has a proven track record of exciting interest in historical events. Barbara Tuchman used it extensively in her best-selling histories, considering it a "vehicle to carry the larger subject," something that "encompasses the universal in a particular... representative." Others favor biography because it "humanizes history," "personalizes…

Outlines how the author and her fellow history teacher used kamishibai storyboards (a type of folk art common in Japan before World War II) in an integrated unit on Egypt to make textbook reading more meaningful to students. Notes that in order to complete the unit, students had to use multiple literacy skills as they combined textbook reading…

Describes a unit in four steps that meets the challenge of teaching history in a meaningful way by incorporating role-playing with historical investigation. Hopes for each student to breathe life into a person from the past. Discusses the benefits of role-playing biographies. (SG)

Describes how students in a history course for developing college readers assumed the investigatory role of a parliamentary committee to study the impact of industrialization in nineteenth-century Britain. (SR)

Discusses the many benefits of service learning, and offers examples from the author's high school students. Notes literacy and language arts service learning projects; the importance of integrating service learning into a regular program of instruction; programs and resource materials that support service learning at the K-12 level; and students'…

Discusses two resources for helping students understand the Old West in U.S. history. Presents information from a primary source concerning Wild Bill Hickok and a more recent interpretative essay about myths of the Old West. Includes suggestions for classroom activities and topics for student discussion. (CFR)

The high level of prejudice in an average 9th grade world history class was addressed by the implementation of a custom-designed prejudice reduction program. Lessons were drawn from "The Prejudice Book" (Shiman, 1979); "A World of Difference" (Anti-Defamation League of B'nai B'rith, 1986); and "Hands Across the Campus" (Tiara, 1981). Lessons were…

Maintains that most history students realize that primary sources are the cornerstone of written history. Contends that, when students understand that written history reflects the historian's personal insights, biases, and limitations, they discover both the pleasure and peril of studying history. (CFR)

Suggests using humor on the first day of class as a remedy for student apathy and to encourage interest in history. Provides 39 humorous anecdotes about famous individuals in history that can serve to initiate class discussions about women's history, Black history, and politics. (RW)