This ERIC Digest discusses how, by studying Japan, the larger context of the Asia-Pacific region can be explored and students can be introduced to current realities. The top 5 competitive countries for 1994 were the United States, Singapore, Japan, Hong Kong, and Germany. Because of the increasing interdependence between the United States and…

This unit is one of a series that represents specific moments in history from which students focus on the meanings of landmark events. The events of 1945 are regarded widely as a turning point in 20th century history, a point when the United States unequivocally took its place as a world power, at a time when Americans had a strong but…

This unit is one of a series that represents specific moments in history from which students focus on the meanings of landmark events. By studying primary sources of a crucial turning point in history, students become aware that choices had to be made by real human beings, that those decisions were the result of specific factors, and that they set…

This unit is one of a series that represents specific moments in history from which students focus on the meanings of landmark events. By studying a crucial turning point in history, students become aware that choices had to be made by real human beings, that those decisions were the result of specific factors, and that they set in motion a series…

This collection of four short articles presents teaching strategies to enrich the social studies curriculum and promote students' sense of citizenship. Diana Hess outlines how cooperative learning stimulates the skills necessary for effective participation in a democratic society. By taking an active role in their own education and respecting the…

This anthology of Spanish-language documents is designed to help Mississippi teachers integrate language, literature, history, and culture into their classroom content. Beginning with Columbian voyages to the new world, these documents attempt to help students and teachers to see the various impacts the European encounter left on Mississippi. The…

This military history board game can be used as an extracurricular, extra credit, or classroom incentive project. The game serves to quantify an historical event so that it enriches the study of history for both verbally and mathematically inclined students. Although most suitable for eighth grade and above, the game may be played by some younger…

This document sets out the details of a program of six lesson plans for teaching about Africa and the African diaspora across the world. The program seeks to enable students to: (1) associate classroom instruction with a cultural reality; (2) evaluate the social, political, cultural, and academic concerns among trans-Africans; and (3) increase…

This report is one of a series on how curriculum unit experiences in U.S. history influenced the learning of fifth-grade students. This report focuses on the American Revolution period. Before the unit began, three classes of fifth graders stated what they knew (or thought they knew) about the events leading up to the Revolutionary War, the War…

This study uses a comparative case study of two high school teachers' units about the U.S. civil rights movement to explore the construct of subject-specific pedagogy. The research examines each teacher's views of subject matter and learners as a means of understanding and explaining instructional practices. Through that investigation, a number of…

This book aims to provide elementary and secondary school teachers with an accurate and readable guide to teaching a discipline seldom taught in pre-university curricula, archaeology. It also seeks to allow students the opportunity to join firsthand in the practice of a genuine science and thereby learn to appreciate the variety of skills and the…

This booklet describes the theme for National History Day 1997-1998, "Migration in History." The supplement provides teachers with classroom materials to help students begin thinking about the theme, analyze and think critically about the topic's significance in history in relation to the theme, and to help students conduct research on…

This paper focuses on the "content" standards in history, geography, civics, and social studies and how social studies specialists in six Mid-western states saw the standards being used in their states as of spring 1998. The data gathered came from the use of a Q-sort deck of 21 cards with statements regarding the standards and…

The changing demographics of today's urban schools coupled with the corresponding shortage of bilingual teachers to provide an education for language minority students means that monolingual English teachers will have to carry out content area instruction for students with limited English proficiency (LEP) in the foreseeable future. This paper…

This collection of cartographic projects grew out of a professional development summer institute for teachers conducted in 1995 in the History Department of the University of Illinois at Chicago. Curriculum materials developed during the institute were used in various classrooms during the following school year. The collection contains selected…