This curriculum review presents and comments on state and county trends in the curriculum offerings of Oklahoma secondary schools. For comparison, it provides the secondary level curriculum offered by each secondary school in the state. Vocational education offerings are not included. The state mandates four units of English, two of mathematics,…

This unit is one of a series that presents specific moments in history from which students focus on the meanings of landmark events. The lessons included in this unit attempt to make slavery comprehensible to students, showing its oppressiveness and yet explaining how white Southern culture rationalized and sustained it. The unit also explains how…

This unit focuses on a dramatic moment in the Renaissance from about 1420 when Filippo Brunelleschi single handedly created, defined, and engineered a new architecture by building the great dome of the cathedral of Santa Maria del Fiore in Florence. The dome became the symbol of Florence's grandeur during the Renaissance, and a model for great…

This unit is one of a series that represents specific moments in history from which students focus on the meanings of landmark events. By relying on primary sources, this unit explores the Puritans' attempt to create a utopian community in New England, the Massachusetts Bay Colony. The unit is built around 7 objectives: (1) to study historical…

This teacher's guide correlates with the Public Broadcasting Service (PBS) television series "In the Footsteps of Alexander the Great" hosted by historian Michael Wood. The four episodes of the series are entitled: "Son of God"; "Lord of Asia"; "Across the Hindu Kush"; and "To the Ends of the…

This document surveys the changes in the content of history textbooks in Romania from the end of World War II to 1991. Post war Romanian education is examined through the education laws of 1948, 1958, and 1975, and at the syllabi and textbooks used. The textbooks are relevant for such an analysis because they represent the main material support of…

This document compiles lesson plans, classroom activities, and facts from previous Oklahoma state publications about Oklahoma's American Indian peoples. "Oklahoma's Indian People: Images of Yesterday, Today, and Tomorrow" contains brief presentations and related class activities and writing assignments about the histories of…

Offering insights into the effective use of writing to teach students to think like professionals in various fields, this book is the result of a 7-year naturalistic study. The book documents how a writing specialist paired with an experienced professor in another discipline (business, history, psychology, and biology) to study: (1) teachers'…

This investigation is designed to help students learn landmarks and possible dangers for settlers who traveled down the Ohio River in 1789. The document describes a simulation in which the students attempt to survive a flatboat trip from Pittsburgh (Pennsylvania) to Losantiville (Cincinnati, Ohio). Along the trail are points of historical…

Teaching the Vietnam War in high school history courses is a challenge to the instructor, and study that relies only on textbooks may neglect the controversy surrounding the War and the issues that faced the nation. This paper discusses how to use songs about the Vietnam War as an instructional tool to investigate the role of songs during the War…

Part of an international series of amply illustrated, colorful, small size books designed for children ages 5 to 10, this volume talks about Japanese culture, modern life style, geography, music, arts, sports, and traditions. There is a brief description of how Japanese children learn to read and write. Japanese hot baths, school books, the…

This bulletin of student worksheets complements teacher strategies for Theme III entitled, "Changes in Thought and Action Led to the Emergence of the Modern World." The worksheets contain materials corresponding to specific strategies, and the questions which accompany each worksheet are included on the appropriate strategy page. Included are…

Procedures to help intermediate-grade social studies teachers implement a local history unit are provided. Although intended for teachers in Iowa, the guide can easily be used by educators in any state. The procedures are organized around three major generalizations: (1) buildings and artifacts are resources in explaining the history of a…

Designed to supplement an 8th grade history course with the best updated research on the subject of slavery's origins, the lesson plan described in this paper has several objectives: (1) To augment the secondary textbooks, most of which either do not cover the beginnings of slavery, or cover it adequately; (2) To acquaint students with the…

Teachers of culture must know and teach the rationale, the origins of the values and activities, or the problem-solving techniques of the culture being studied. Culture is the totality of the ways in which a group of people solve their basic problems at a given moment in time. As groups of people develop and come in contact with other groups, they…