Local historical investigation can make history more relevant and allow national trends to be understood as they were reflected in local incidents. Research-based historical reenactment is growing in popularity throughout North America but has had limited use in classrooms because of overreliance on textbooks and teacher concerns about curriculum…

Presents background information and suggestions for teaching activities utilizing archival copies of the Report of the Chief Inspector of schools for Alberta. These historical documents provide a wealth of information concerning the geography, working conditions, pedagogical issues, and facilities of education throughout Canada's history. (MJP)

Offers activities for high school and middle school classrooms. First activity deals with war crimes by projecting fictitious Soviet fighting in Afghanistan into the story of William Calley in Vietnam. Second activity uses the Underground Railroad during the U.S. Civil War in an interdisciplinary approach. Third activity is a self-discovery…

Among the first of the Model Cities programs, Dayton's program was directed by African American community activists, who instituted important school and neighborhood reforms but blocked efforts to racially desegregate the public schools. The story of Dayton's Model Cities Demonstration Project raises important questions about whether urban renewal…

Describes a classroom project in which elementary students bake homemade bread to learn about the settlement period in Canadian history and the early history of the students' community. Maintains that students learn to compare the lifestyle of the past with the present. (CFR)

Describes the use of primary source documents and maps in a seventh-grade geography class. Maintains that 90 separate topics were divided into 6 main categories for student research. Asserts that the use of primary documents encouraged the development of the students' critical thinking skills. (CFR)

Presents three articles that describe the use of storytelling and oral histories in junior and senior high schools: (1) a project that emphasizes family and community history using storytellers; (2) using tape recorders to gather oral histories and write a book; and (3) storytelling ideas for librarians to use in a variety of classes. (seven…

Presents a lesson plan that uses the five themes of geography (location, movement, place, region, and human-environment interactions) to ascertain the physical and cultural geographic elements of a school site. The lesson involves small groups working cooperatively and can be adapted for any grade level. (MJP)

Several brief articles examine how library and information workers in Australia, along with community historians, are meeting the challenge of finding, cataloging, preserving, and communicating local history to their clients and the world beyond. Describes cooperative initiatives by state, local, and regional libraries; discusses how technology…

Describes one experience of teaching students advanced research methods by participating in the collection of oral histories and historical documents about the eviction of residents from Shenandoah National Park. Asserts that community college students are capable of doing serious research with the proper guidance and if they become engaged in a…

A preservice teacher education program takes small teams of preservice teachers and their students into a rural Nebraska community to foster an appreciation of the local community, localize the curriculum, and give future teachers experience in planning and conducting field trips. Experiences from the field trips are shared and expanded upon in…

Describes 12 German-American projects designed for high school students of German, including a biography of a German-American; video presentation on German immigration; oral report on German ancestors; Amish, Pennsylvania Dutch, and Mennonites; German inscriptions on cemetery headstones; interview with a German-speaking immigrant; immigration…

This article concerns eight decades (1920-2000) of community organization in the American Indian community in Chicago. While the trends discussed may be particular to that community or time frame, the authors expect that there are parallels in other urban Indian communities. The Chicago American Indian Center was the first urban Indian center in…

This book documents the story of Alice Lloyd, a Massachusetts woman who founded Caney Creek Community Center and Caney Junior College (now Alice Lloyd College) in eastern Kentucky during the early 20th century. For the past 70 years, the college has enabled thousands of students from Appalachia to obtain a college education at little or no cost.…

Each chapter of this document describes a different project and approach for introducing students (elementary to high school) to oral history and folk arts. All chapters use a standard format in which a general overview of the project, describing themes, philosophies, and methods are followed by sample lesson plans, teacher guidelines, and student…