In 1988 the State Historical Society of Iowa appointed a Blue Ribbon task force composed of 45 Iowans to study the teaching of Iowa history at all levels of the educational system and to make recommendations. The task force formed committees to study in detail four specific areas of concern: (1) comparable studies of other states; (2) curriculum;…

This document presents information on Nigeria for use in the elementary classroom. A basic theme of the text is change. Nigeria is currently in a state of change, as are most developing countries. North American children often have an idea of African people as poor and backward. In this text, Nigerian people are presented as a people with a rich…

This document is part of a series of units in United States history. It is designed for teachers to use in teaching colonial history and the American Revolution in greater depth than that provided in many textbooks. The unit contains 16 chapters, the first of which explains the unit's focus on four kinds of questions of interest to historians.…

The adventures of Ibn Battuta, the Muslim world traveler, provide a mechanism for teaching about the early 14th century. The study of Ibn Battuta helps students to understand what is known about the past and how it is known, in terms of both history and historiography. The unit can be presented in connection with such commonly taught topics as…

The integration of the study of art and history in a broad context of social, cultural, and political meaning cultivates a students' creative, aesthetic, critical and art historical sensibilities. This unit of study explores the time of the Roman Emperor Trajan, the decades from A.D. 98 to 180, a period considered to be the height of civilization.…

The State of New Jersey has established core proficiencies for those courses most high school students take to meet state graduation requirements. The purpose of the core course proficiencies is to assure that students throughout the state taking similar courses are acquiring the same essential knowledge and skills. This document presents the core…

The 17 tests cited in this bibliography are used to assess students' knowledge of world history, western civilization, and Canadian history. United States history is not covered by these tests. Many of the tests measure acquired knowledge of geography, history, government, art, literature, and the customs of different world civilizations. The…

Sixteen participants in the Fulbright-Hays Seminar on the history and culture of Brazil traveled throughout Brazil from June 27 through August 2, 1992. At the end of the seminar 14 participants developed curriculum projects. Presented alphabetically by author, the 14 curricular projects cover aspects of Brazilian life and culture. Riva…

The History of Great Ideas is an interdisciplinary seminar course for sophomore honor students at North Arkansas Community Technical College that teaches the intellectual history of western civilization. Each semester, students study 14 ideas from science, philosophy, history, religion, sociology, and economics to discover how philosophical…

This document contrasts the concept of multiculturalism as it appears in the proposed New York State curriculum guide, "A Curriculum of Inclusion," and as it appears in the California State history/social sciences curriculum. California uses the following approaches to reflect the multiracial, multicultural nature of American society:…

Interviews with fourth graders who had not yet received systematic instruction in U.S. history revealed that these students are interested in the past, concerned about human intentionality and cause-effect relationships, and able to construct coherent narrative accounts of historical events as they understand them. However, they lack an…

In order to give students an opportunity to personalize their learning through writing, two teachers of a high school American civilization class designed a biographical scrapbook project. The project objectives were to have students read about one person significant in the development of United States history and literature of the Revolutionary…

This research paper examines hidden cultural patterns establishing the expression of historical thought in Native Alaskan narratives which describe first contact with Russians. Historical consciousness in oral contact stories is always mythic in form, as well as in content. Native American oral cultures understood new events by…

This document is the record from a U.S. Congress oversight hearing on the Department of Education's refusal to fund a program to teach students about the Holocaust. The program, "Facing History and Ourselves," applied for federal funding to the Department of Education's National Diffusion Network (NDN), an organization intended to…

Part of an international series of amply illustrated, colorful, small size books for children ages 5 to 10, this volume describes various aspects of life in India. Customs, religions, languages, housing, work, food, clothing and festivals of the people of India are presented. A discussion of the 15 main languages in India and the Indian love of…