Service-learning projects help students make connections to their community and help them to think about civic participation. The projects can range from very simple short-term philanthropy to very complex direct involvement by the students across multiple years. Students learn both social problem-solving skills and academic knowledge through…

Provides suggestions for turning the search for local history materials into a coherent package for the classroom. Teachers should choose a project that teaches skills and helps shape student values. A thematic approach (for example, transportation) contributes to selectivity and is useful for producing a sourcebook. (KC)

Describes a local history project in which high school students located valuable historic photographs on the local community and reproduced them on 35mm slides. An historic photo archive consisting of the slides accompanied by documentary materials was created. Procedures for creating and suggestions for using a photo archive are included. (KC)

Briefly discusses projects in local history from elementary to graduate level. Suggests that projects can serve as a springboard for broader study and a building block for an appreciation of United States History and western civilization. (Author/KC)

This publication contains 44 suggestions for projects which actively involve elementary and secondary students in an individual quest for a personal heritage within the topical frameworks of community, ethnic, and family history. The projects are intended to awaken students to the realization that history is all around them. The projects utilize…

Traces the history of Arthurdale, West Virginia, a homestead community established by the U.S. Department of the Interior's Division of Subsistence Homesteads in 1933. Includes Arthurdale's community projects, activities, and schools. (RW)

Describes a year-long community research project used for the last seven years with the author's senior English class, part of the web-based student research collaboration project called "The Kansas Collaborative Research Network" (KanCRN). Describes teaching students how to research their community; four on-line research tutorials; structure of…

This booklet describes how students and other researchers can use historical resources in their community to explore the history of their school and to determine how that history relates to community-wide and statewide developments. Although the manual is written primarily from the perspective of the public schools, the underlying theme of the…

Topics and guidelines for stimulating interest in the study of local history at the elementary and secondary levels are described. The paper lists roles and responsibilities of teachers and students engaged in historical research, suggests projects for elementary and secondary teachers, and lists five basic reference books for teachers who are…

Seven authors contributed to a bulletin about using community studies to teach about the interrelationship of the local community with larger economic and social systems. "Young People and Community" (R. Beery and Mark C. Schug) addresses the need for the social studies curriculum to consider the local community, an area which is rarely covered…

Describes a history program at the Suzanne Middle School, Walnut, California, in which students create, design, and promote local history activities. Emphasizes the accomplishments of the program, including a rise in the school's state test scores from the twenty-second percentile to the ninety-fourth percentile. (RW)

Community-related activities, such as interviewing long-time residents, checking primary sources, identifying and mapping historical sites, studying local artists and craftspeople, writing a community profile, using different media, and organizing a school/community week can help establish greater relevance and meaning for rural students. (MH)

This guide contains activity ideas to help elementary and secondary students celebrate Iowa History Month, October, 1985. There are four major sections. The first section contains an historic calendar for the month of October. Each day focuses on a significant occurrence in Iowa history and provides specific suggestions for discussing the events.…

Reports that students from fourth and fifth grades, along with middle and advanced history students acting as mentors, planned and executed a five-month historical research field project. Student research teams carried out at a local site a two-week archaeological dig uncovering artifacts and discovering how their predecessors lived. (NL)

This guide is designed to provide a process for identifying and developing understanding of the many ways that the law touches the individual at the community level. A study done by 7th grade students at Wellwood Middle School in the Fayetteville-Manlius School District in New York is described. A geographic feature in the community known as the…