Elementary and secondary school teachers certainly know that assessment is like a mirror. What their students learn reflects back on them. However, there is often a disconnect between student and faculty assessment in higher education. While all professors take responsibility for creating and disseminating knowledge, most do not like to be held…

This chapter addresses the logistical considerations for the use of collaborative learning in the Decoding the Disciplines model and presents twelve principles for successfully using teamwork in the classroom and several assessments of the efficacy of the group process. (Contains 2 figures.)

This article describes the author's experiences as a student participating in a general education program called "Reacting to the Past," in which college students play elaborate games set at pivotal moments in the past, their roles informed by great texts. She found that the experience of reenacting pivotal historical moments produced an intensely…

Educational reform literature is filled with criticism of the omniscient tone that teachers and textbooks assume in history classrooms. Such widely acknowledged criticism often accompanies calls for more ambitious pedagogy. The focus on teachers and texts essentially ignores the ritualized and traditional deference that students afford to the…

Twenty years ago, John Goodlad (1984) produced a troubling image of the social studies classroom. The primary activities for students in those classes included "listening, reading textbooks, completing workbooks and worksheets, and taking quizzes" (213). Despite many endeavors over the years to uplift the teaching of history, including the writing…

One of the major challenges of teaching whole class lessons in heterogeneous classrooms rests in finding ways to engage all participants in the conversation. Intellectual role taking, an approach developed and studied in the teaching of elementary science and history lessons, provides one possibility for handling this perennial pedagogical…

During the Fall term, 2001, the author taught a new course intended to develop a diversity of close reading skills among his students. An integral component of the course involved the exploration of memory and history. As the fate of the syllabus would have it, right after the September attacks he taught Sarah Farmer's "Martyred Village:…

The folk songs and ballads of early America describe life as experienced by the common people. They were sung within the family, by neighbors and at gatherings of larger communities. The stories told were carried in the memories of those who heard them. Once a strictly aural and oral tradition, the words came to be written down, and the surviving…

In this article, the authors offer social studies educators two student-centered, inquiry-based techniques to help students learn about the contributions of historical figures. Both strategies were classroom tested and proved effective at helping students learn about historical figures in a challenging and enjoyable way. Although techniques in…

This article, the first of a two-part series, introduces the living history program. This yearly, weeklong program features living portrayals of famous people, which becomes a catalyst for teaching curricular standards, as well as providing the spark for inquiry. Here, the authors describe how the yearly living history program was implemented and…

This paper asserts that an Irish dimension within the English History curriculum since c.1970 reflects approaches towards diversity. An Irish dimension is explored within the context of Multicultural Britain, debates over ways in which the past has been constructed and changes in the history curriculum. It is argued that that there is a…

This article profiles Eric Langhorst, an eighth-grade history teacher at South Valley Junior High School in Liberty, Missouri, who has immersed himself in technology. There is a regular series of podcasts called "Speaking of History," which Langhorst records and posts on his blog (speakingofhistory.blogspot.com). That is in addition to…

Despite enormous growth in the study of learners' cognitive processes, relatively little is known about how learners reason about social phenomena and issues involved in disciplines, such as history. Yet, according to scholars the process could hardly be more important, and it demands redress and scientific explanation. To contribute to the…

Across the country, numerous efforts are currently underway to provide struggling adolescent readers with the high-quality interventions, materials, and instruction they need to bring their literacy skills up to grade level expectations. Over the last several years, a strong coalition of educators, researchers, policymakers, professional…

The International Baccalaureate Diploma Programme is a rigorous preuniversity course of study leading to examinations for highly motivated secondary school students between the ages of 16 and 19. The International Baccalaureate Organization (IBO) offers the diploma program for students throughout the world. Recognition of the diploma is slowly…