Says political writings such as "The Federalist" have generated multiple interpretations and the framers assumptions must be deduced. Provides a typology for such interpretations based on the terms, antidemocratic, liberal, republican, and constitutionalist. Recommends students be taught about the lack of consensus among scholars and key…

Discusses the educational benefits of using visual materials as historical sources. Outlines steps for analyzing historical photographs. Applies these steps to two sample lessons about sugar-cane syrup making in Florida and dealing with migrant workers in Florida during the Depression. (RW)

Discusses activities that allow students to explore epochs in time by studying real artifacts, museum replicas, student-created reproductions and dramatizations, and video and computer software. Presents two model lessons of how artifacts can be used to enliven a history lesson. (DB)

Reviews the accomplishments of John Glenn as a pilot, astronaut, senator, and pioneer in relation to his 1998 flight that made him the oldest person to ever travel into space. Includes photographs for students to study, and recommends classroom activities related to Glenn's career. (DSK)

Describes how to develop vertical file resources for school libraries. Discusses the importance of having primary sources that are not available in other formats; sources for obtaining materials, including the Internet and printed sources; how to organize the materials; providing access; and promoting the collection. (LRW)

Reviews the emergence of employment opportunities for women outside the home. Focuses specifically on the Dover Cotton Factory in Dover, New Hampshire. Provides a reproduction of the page from the 1820 Census of Manufactures that contains information about the Dover Cotton Factory. (Contains document based teaching activities.) (CMK)

Provides reproductions of primary documents pertaining to Mary Tape, a Chinese immigrant in San Francisco who fought to have her children admitted to public school, including a letter from Mary Tape to the Board of Education and an article about Mary Tape that appeared in the "Morning Call" (23 November 1892). (CMK)

Relates the use of a period "Life" magazine article to teach students about the internment of Japanese-American citizens during World War II. Recounts how the article about local prejudice prompted students to critically examine the policy of internment. Provides excerpts from the article and subsequent letters to the editors. (DSK)

Presents four lessons focusing on the laws, institutions, programs, and policies affecting students as minors, the shifts in the policies toward children in industrial societies, examining the changing policies using primary and secondary sources, and forming arguments on the policies using historical evidence. Describes an additional comparative…

Explores the diary of Karl Clark that focuses on his experiences in the Athabasca tar sands. The diary helps decipher the nature of 1920s town life and the pioneering spirit involved in exploring the oil sands. Includes background information on Clark. (CMK)

Focuses on the National Park Service's Teaching with Historic Places (TwHP) program that has more than one hundred classroom-ready lesson plans. Describes the standard format of the lesson, the flexibility inherent in the TwHP lesson plans, and the role of the Internet. (CMK)

Provides a lesson that enables students to explore the idea of historic sites as contested symbols and the meanings of liberty. Presents background information on the Lexington Common (or Green) as an historic site that has been utilized as a forum of political expression. Includes three lessons and copies of primary sources. (CMK)

Presents an assignment in which students choose a historical medical document, focusing on bloodletting techniques, tendon repair in the calf, or phrenology, and then convince the doctor or specialist who wrote the document that he was incorrect or did not use the best medical treatment. Provides historical background on phrenology. (CMK)

Provides background information on the arrest of Rosa Parks and the effects this event had on the Civil Rights Movement. Offers a collection of teaching activities in which the students examine the arrest records of Rosa Parks and explains that these activities are designed to accompany a unit on racial segregation. (CMK)

Describes the six model lessons created to coincide with the online collections of the Library of Congress that focuses on utilizing technology and primary sources; two of the lessons are for teacher use, while the other four are self-contained lessons. Discusses the basic design principles and constraints for the lessons. (CMK)