This article discusses the Bureau of Refugees, Freedmen, and Abandoned Lands (Freedmen's Bureau), which was established by the Congress on March 3, 1865, to assist former slaves in acquiring land, securing employment, legalizing marriages, and pursuing education. After the bureau's abolition through an act of Congress approved on June 10, 1872,…

Knowledge of empirical research has become important for everyone involved in education and special education. Policy, practice, and informed reporting rely on locating and understanding unfiltered, original source material. Although access to vast amounts of research has been greatly facilitated by online databases, such as ERIC and PsychInfo,…

Primary literature is an underutilized learning resource for undergraduate courses in crop science. Reading assignments from scientific journals were utilized in an undergraduate University of Minnesota crop physiology course at Southwest Minnesota State University from 2002 to 2004. The subjects of the articles corresponded to the lecture topics.…

This publication is part of a series of tools and resources on financing and sustaining youth programming. These tools and resources are intended to help policymakers, program developers, and community leaders develop innovative strategies for implementing, financing, and sustaining effective programs and policies. This guide outlines strategies…

Authentic and constructive learning experiences that include analysis of primary source documents are necessary elements of effective social studies teaching (Bailyn, 1994; Leinhardt, Stainton, & Virji, 1994; Wineburg & Wilson, 1991; Young & Leinhardt, 1998). This study examines the abilities of 70 fifth and seventh grade students to complete…

There is increasing concern about cheating in the secondary schools. This article describes the prevalence of dishonesty in testing, motivation for student cheating, new forms of deception using technology tools, initiatives to protect security of tests, methods students use to obtain papers without crediting the original source, tools for…

This booklet provides a practical guide for those interested in contributing material to the Archive of Folk Culture in the American Folklife Center at the Library of Congress. The Archive houses one of the largest collections of ethnographic documentation in the world, protects these materials for the future generations, and makes them available…

This unit, consisting of 12 multi-activity lessons, was designed to accompany a field trip to Walney, a park site near Centreville, Virginia, but may be adapted for independent use. The unit focuses on the task of an archaeologist. Archaeological sites, artifacts, and historical records are examined by students in order to develop an understanding…

This publication is intended for teachers bringing a class to visit the National Archives in Washington, D.C., for a workshop on primary documents. The National Archives serves as the repository for all federal records of enduring value. Primary sources are vital teaching tools because they actively engage the student's imagination so that he or…

This publication is intended for teachers bringing a class to visit the National Archives in Washington, D.C., for a workshop on primary documents. The National Archives serves as the repository for all federal records of enduring value. Primary sources are vital teaching tools because they actively engage the student's imagination so that he or…

This occasional paper discusses and advances the teaching of history in U.S. schools by noted historians. James Billington, the Librarian of Congress, explains the resources available through the Library of Congress' National Digital Library Program designed to bring five million items into digitized format and make them available throughout the…

This occasional paper discusses and examines how well or how poorly history is faring in U.S. schools by noted historians. D. Stephen Elliott of Colonial Williamsburg, describes how focus group discussions improved the delivery of history at Williamsburg. Claudia Hoone, fourth-grade teacher at Public School 58 in Indianapolis, advocates using…

This occasional paper discusses and examines the teaching of history in U.S. schools by noted historians. Byron Hollinshead, vice chair of the National Center for History Education, was moderator for the panel. William H. McNeill, University of Chicago, discussed the problem of pigeonholing or simplifying history into simple equations and how…

This booklet is presented as a guide for students undertaking oral history projects for a class assignment. The students were to search for people attending one-room schools or other early schools in Bartholomew County Indiana from the late 1800s to the 1950s. The suggestions given in the booklet are to help in developing questions and presenting…

This document consists of six pages of course description accompanied by over 200 pages of reproduced material including the complete constitutions of Bulgaria, Romania, and the United States, respectively. This unit allows students to analyze primary and secondary sources, think critically about the documents, and reflect on whether a country's…