Discusses the introduction of Cosmic Education to Montessori elementary school children, focusing on the way the curriculum is structured around five "great stories": Creation, The Coming of Life, The Coming of Humans, and the stories of the development of Language and Mathematics. (JPB)

Discusses the use of student journals when teaching with primary sources. Focuses on an early U.S. history course for sophomore and junior college students. States that the students read a series of primary sources and analyzed them in their journals. Addresses the benefits of using primary sources. (CMK)

Provides a lesson plan that focuses on the 1932, 1936, and 1940 presidential election campaigns. Illustrates the use of the left and right brain 4MAT teaching model that considers individual learning styles associated with right and left hemisphere dominance. Includes a bibliography and eight handouts. (CMK)

Focuses on the importance of teaching critical thinking in history at the college level. Discusses how the author promoted historical thinking in his survey courses through the use of assignments based on a series of paperback books called the Bedford Series in History and Culture. Includes exercises in the appendix. (CMK)

Provides a basic framework for the design and delivery of a U.S. history course that consists of eight topics for the upper middle or secondary school level. Explains that teachers can develop each of the topics thematically in an in-depth manner. Discusses how project-based learning can support this type of thematic instruction. (CMK)

Examines the immigration patterns during the Gilded Age in order to discard the "old-new" dichotomy associated with immigration and prove that continuity and change both prevailed during this period. Provides the "immigrant paradigm" as a list of discussion questions that enables students to organize information about…

Maintains that students will learn history better if it is presented as a historic narrative. Presents an example where the students first are given an advanced organizer on Reconstruction and then two primary documents by David Golightly Harris and Henry Adams. Describes the process of sourcing the document, corroborating evidence, and…

Summarizes the five reasons why the National History Standards will have a minimal effect on history instruction in U.S. schools: (1) the controversy behind the standards; (2) the unrealistic and impractical nature of the standards; (3) competition with local policies; (4) the formulation of widely adopted textbooks; and (5) the nature of history.…

Highlights some guiding principles for developing a website and addresses various topics about software and website needs in the history classroom. Provides suggestions for the content of a college history website: (1) support materials; (2) exchange of ideas; (3) information-transfer and skill-building activities; (4) scholarship resources; and…

Characterizes a history course at Texas A&M University-Kingsville entitled "Methods of Historical Research" that focuses on the philosophy of history, research methods, and computer technology. Reveals how the philosophy of history and research methods aspects are intertwined and discusses the changes in the course due to advances in…

Explains how the experience of discussing family issues in the public arena, especially on radio talk shows, has caused the author to rethink her approach to teaching family history. Discusses two techniques that can assist students in keeping their feelings about their own family experiences from interfering with their understanding of history.…

Provides information on the drafting of fathers during World War II. Discusses how mothers were supposed to keep the fathers present in the lives of their children. Focuses on Kathryn Wisdom and how she informed her husband about their daughter's development through a letter. Includes the letter and discussion questions. (CMK)

Discusses how the students at New Vista High School in Boulder, Colorado, created simulations and embedded them in web pages. The process has helped them better understand social studies content. Considers examples of student projects, addresses the benefits of using computer simulations, and highlights the challenges of using this technology.…

What teachers know about their subject-matter and how to teach it has become increasingly important as states continue to expect more rigorous learning outcomes for K-12 students--even more so when we consider that they must teach this content to an increasingly diverse student population. This article reports the findings from a four-year case…

In United States history, the GAPE or Gilded Age and Progressive Era, roughly the last third of the nineteenth and first two decades of the twentieth centuries, constitutes one of the most formative and complex of periods, a time that historians designate as the birth of the United States. Many high school students and undergraduates find this…