It's not unusual for lawmakers to debate aspects of the American political system, but a recent discussion in Utah's House of Representatives wasn't merely theoretical. The bill under consideration, since signed into law, requires public schools to teach that the United States is a "compound constitutional republic." The curriculum also…

Analogies for teaching about causation abound. Rick Rogers is alert, however, to the risks inherent in drawing on everyday ideas to explain historical processes. What most often gets lost is the importance of the chronological dimension; both the length of time during which some contributory causes may have been present, and the ways in which they…

Eleanor Roosevelt's support of African American rights was one of the highlights of her activities as first lady. Her fearless advocacy for justice pulled her into political controversies that were unprecedented for the wife of a president. The first lady's initiatives in support of the rights of African Americans offer students an excellent…

This article takes up the question of world history teachers' pedagogical content knowledge by reporting on two separate but related projects. In the first, we briefly discuss an empirical investigation one of the authors conducted into the ways that pre- and in-service world history teachers think about, organize, and make meaning of separate and…

Metacom's War, also known as King Phillip's War, sets a pattern of national expansion through displacement of native people that echoes throughout American history. Helping students further understand this war through the examination of Mary Rowlandson's primary document provides educators and students with an opportunity to delve deeper into the…

For The past two years, Siena College and Loyola International College for Diversity and Sustainability (LCDS), formerly Loyola International College, have jointly taught a comparative Canadian/ U.S. history class. Concordia University, an English language university, has more than 46,000 students and offers 433 undergraduate and graduate…

The latest round in Canada's History Wars was set off by reports on May 2, 2013, that the Standing Committee on Canadian Heritage was going to "undertake a thorough and comprehensive review of significant aspects in Canadian history." As details of the Heritage Committee's review emerged, controversy erupted as politicians, historians,…

In the new millennium model of low definition curriculum, teachers have professional latitude to deliver prescribed disciplinary content through a range of pedagogical and assessment orientations. The rhetoric is that with carefully crafted practice, the goal of high quality/high equity learning outcomes can be achieved for all students. This…

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 article details the work of third grade teacher, co-author Kim Heckart, as she engaged her students in making historical documentaries: a project that succeeded in reaching all of her third-grade students. For the last five years, Kim has required students to make historical documentaries. As her students produced these works, Kim conversed…

What do you do with the student who says she hates history, yet watches The History Channel every night? What do you do with the student who is underachieving in social science but has visited every battlefield in Virginia? Our curriculum frameworks and pacing guides suggest a chronological, fact-based approach to teaching and learning history,…

This paper reports on a study exploring teacher learning of subject content knowledge (SCK) and pedagogical content knowledge (PCK) in four subject departments of secondary schools in England. The research design employed interview and observation. This paper focuses on characterising the cultures of the subject departments from the participants'…

Since the early 20th century, there has been a push to strengthen the connections between schools, colleges, and departments of education and the rest of the university, specifically the faculty from the arts and sciences (A&S). Due to various institutional and organizational barriers, the call for strong collaboration between A&S…

Visual texts, such as photographs, paintings, film, political cartoons, maps, charts, and graphs are important resources used for a variety of purposes in the history classroom. Aligning instructional use of visual texts to key developmental skills within the area of historical thinking should be a central concern to teachers of historical…

This research was designed with the primary purpose of identifying the dimensions of principal support perceived by public high school teachers in Virginia and identifying the relationship between principal support and organizational citizenship behaviors. In addition, this study also examined the relationship between principal support and student…