The materials in this curriculum book provide examples of strategies and resources that can be used to initiate or enhance existing lessons and units in history and social studies. The material can be adapted or modified. The lessons are designed to encourage students to think critically about frontiers in history, conduct research, interpret…

This lesson is based on the National Historic Landmark files, "Madame C. J. Walker Building" and "J. C. Penney Historic District," as well as other relevant sources. The lesson first discusses the Indianapolis (Indiana) site of Madame Walker's cosmetics business. The building is a 4-story brick structure completed in 1927.…

This lesson offers students experience in making historical meaning from eyewitness accounts that present a range of different perspectives. Students begin with a case study in working with alternative reports of a single event: the Great Chicago Fire of 1871. First, they compare two newspaper reports on the fire, then two memoirs of the fire…

By the early 1900s, many Americans were calling child labor child slavery and were demanding an end to it. Lewis Hine, a New York City schoolteacher and photographer, believed that a picture could tell a powerful story. He felt so strongly about the abuse of children as workers that he quit his teaching job and became an investigative photographer…

Twenty-four year old Jens Jensen came to the United States, settled in Chicago (Illinois), and promptly fell in love with the Midwest's prairie landscape. Although some thought that prairie was boring, monotonous, and ordinary, Jensen saw great beauty in the tree-filled groves, long winding rivers, natural rock formations and waterfalls, and the…

This study assesses funding differences, and the sources of those differences, between charter schools and traditional districts in Texas. The need for this research stems from conflicting reports on charter school revenues and growing concern over the quality of charter school financial data reported through Texas' Public Education Information…

Reviews Canadian business history books published since 1972 as well as reprints of useful older works. Topics dealt with are the fish, timber, and wheat industry, transportation, entrepreneurs and entrepreneurship, Canadian economy during World War I, the development of natural resources, and the lives of the rich and the powerful. (KC)

Defines oral history as the act of talking to another person about the past. By obtaining the common man's view, a more complete interpretation of the past results. Outlines an oral history unit on the depression. Activities include tape recorded interviews and use of letters, pictures, diaries, newspapers, films, music, and books. (KC)

Examines how much and what kind of knowledge of prior research is needed and wanted by those conducting research, whether it is best acquired by the use of the original reports of prior research, and what the implications are for libraries in light of these questions. (Author/CWM)

Defends the use and placement of footnotes as being central to the considerations of proof and evidential claims that are essential for historical writing. Notes the differences between history and other social studies that preclude or limit the use of in-text attribution. Answers many standard objections to footnotes. (MJP)

Uses the author's experience writing, "Harriet Beecher Stowe: A Life," as a centerpiece for an examination of the art and craft of biography. Discusses some of the pitfalls and problems, not only in research and representation, but also in the critical reception and intended audience of a biography. (MJP)

Considers problems encountered in researching and writing historical geography (geography focused on some particular time or period in the past). Examines research topics and discusses the problems associated with making geographical interpretations from historical sources. Recommends a continuing dialog between historical and contemporary…

Encourages geography teachers to use biographies to reveal a sense of place and life in a given geographical context. Highlights the life of John Mullett, a surveyor during the settlement of Michigan as a model for using biography in geography instruction appropriate for grades 6-12. Includes surveyor maps and sources of additional biographies.…

Recounts the events of the Battle of Little Bighorn through U.S. cavalry reports, interviews given by Indian warriors present at the battle, and maps (tracings) made of the battle. Gives teaching suggestions for map analysis and includes a map with instructions and a reading list. (GG)

Integrates readings from primary sources into introductory psychology courses by means of short writing assignments. Uses content-oriented feedback to focus and facilitate conceptual mastery of primary sources. Includes tables of student responses and notes positive evaluations endorsing writing as a means to introduce original sources. (Author/NL)