Encourages a symbiotic relationship between secondary school library media specialists and teachers to promote the goals of Advanced Placement programs. Advanced Placement courses are explained, and recommended materials and support needed from the library media program are described for the curriculum areas of English, history, and mathematics.…

To nurture diversity in the German classroom, information is needed to stimulate intellectual curiosity of minority group students who fail to see its relevance. This article reviews African and German interaction in Germany between 1500 and 1992 and offers a brief bibliography of related source material. (40 references) (Author/LB)

Discusses using educational and popular films and television for history instruction. Argues that students need training to see the bias built into film making through the editing process. Urges that critical thinking must be developed in students to make use of mass media coverage of historical and current events as teaching tools. (DK)

Discusses historian Henry Adams' disillusionment with the educational system and with his own teaching. Suggests improving history instruction by involving students more actively in learning. Proposes incorporating interactive learning strategies including (1) interactive lectures; (2) questioning; (3) small groups; (4) critical thinking and…

Discusses "Liberal Learning and the History Major," a report on the state of history education by the American Historical Association that cited a need for curricular structure in and continuity among history departments. Includes an overview of recommendations on curriculum, active learning, and emphasis on research and writing skills.…

Proposes to return narrative to a more central place in historical writing. Answers critics who complain that history texts do not properly emphasize democracy and citizenship. Suggests using narrative to tell stories students will remember while including a major theme or conclusion. Warns against overuse, wordiness, and sacrifice of human…

Maintains that the social studies reform movement includes a call for the de-emphasis of rote memory and more attention to the development of higher-order thinking skills. Discusses the "thinking tasks" concept derived from the work of Hilda Taba and asserts that the tasks can be used with almost any social studies topic. (CFR)

Asserts that increasing numbers of history teachers design courses to have students use historical research and processing skills. Reports on a study of 120 middle school students about their perceptions of what historians do. Concludes that the study provided teachers a means of assessing student understanding of historians. (CFR)

Asserts that one way to make the study of history more interesting to students is for teachers to help them understand how historians recreate the past. Maintains that students who engage in historical investigations utilize primary sources, develop thinking skills, and draw conclusions on their own. (CFR)

Evaluates the suitability of commercially produced historical simulation software for college-level history instruction. Provides a software evaluation template. Sees gains at all levels in constructing sequence structures for teaching cause and effect. Recommends that future designers create simulation exercises dedicated to the methodological…

Discusses the development of public history as a field. Presents results of a survey of members of the National Council on Public History describing employment opportunities and career choices available. Suggests conferences, videos, and books to be used in teaching students about public history. Urges recognition of public historians'…

Presents a program for making oral history real to elementary children by sponsoring a senior citizens' tea. Describes the experiences of the children in preparing and giving the tea. Discusses the program's benefits of enhancing the store of information about community history and oral history and promoting student use of language in many forms.…

Provides a lesson plan using historical photographs to teach local history in elementary school social studies classes. Suggests sources and copying procedures. Employs cooperative learning strategies in which students title photographs and describe what they see, then compare their findings with those of other groups and with historical…

Provides secondary school U.S. history teachers with a beginning bibliography for incorporating agricultural history into their classes. Annotates books covering the social, economic, and political aspects of agricultural history. Identifies works dealing with topical matters such as land settlement, slavery, agricultural policy, and the Dust…

Presents two activities as a literature supplement to a history lesson to provide students with materials well suited to their reading levels. Describes a biography book wheel project to be used as an alternate to the standard book report. Proposes choral reading of historical poetry to enrich the social studies experience. (DK)