Problems in the interpretation of the term empathy, and the value of the development of empathy in the teaching of history are discussed. Although the definitions here are presented in the context of history, they are relevant to the teaching of other subjects where an empathetic response is sought. (Editor/KC)

Explores some of the threats to accuracy in biographies for children. Illustrates how carelessness and oversimplification, inadequate data, unreliable sources, and social mores and taboos can lead to inaccuracies in this genre. (SR)

A new generation of history textbooks, produced since the 1994 release of controversial national history standards, is now being reviewed by key states. These textbooks appear at a time when educational publishing is increasingly concentrated in the hands of a few huge media corporations. Discusses the business of educational publishing, which is…

Discusses the impact of literary retellings of historical events (specifically the use of informational storybooks to teach social studies) on children's understanding of social studies. Argues that, unless mediated by additional reading and focused discussion, informational storybooks can create a host of problems for social studies teachers. (SR)

Responds to an article in the same journal which argues that the use of informational storybooks creates a host of problems for social studies teachers. Argues that historical fiction must be considered differently than informational storybooks on science topics, and that a detailed examination of historical fiction is necessary before dismissing…

Describes how a Barnard history professor's effort to engage students in key texts through role-playing is catching on at other colleges. (EV)

In this article, the authors speak of an encounter they had in which they discovered some forgotten and unused historical resources hidden in a storage closet at the Cherokee County Georgia Historical Society. From these resources, they were able to weave an intriguing narrative encompassing people and events in history. They hope their story will…

A debate over a New York state commission formed to study how slavery was portrayed in schools showed that after more than a decade of adding multicultural curricula, educators there were still at odds over how the distinctive experiences of racial and ethnic groups should be taught, and who should decide. While some educators and observers in the…

Online genealogy tools is an unexpected resource as these tools not only serve valuable for genealogy research, but also can be used by students to learn about their country's past and learn to use primary materials to draw conclusions. Some of these Online sources like the 1880 census available at www.ancestry.com, www.thepastwhispers.com, which…

Social studies and history have taken a back seat to other subjects in recent years, but the author argues that there is far too much at stake to allow these important fields to become irrelevant. To drive home the point, in this article, he shares a story about the 9/11 Commission, that made headlines in 2004.

History education lends itself to considering historical problems from the perspective of people of that time and exploring their thinking or "predictions" about the problems' possible effects. Building lessons around the use of prediction-making humanizes history because it allows students to investigate historical events and understand…

This article examines the ideologically-articulated shifts, and the images of transformation, and nation-building process presented in the new generation of school history textbooks in Russia. The article analyses the new content of post-Soviet history textbooks used in Russian secondary schools that represent various transformations from…

In this article, the author describes the first lesson for his Chicago History Workshop, a course designed to take students beyond the Gradgrind memorization of facts approach and to introduce them, through a series of critical reading exercises, to the ways that historians actually work. In this lesson, the students begin to see that history is…

This article profiles Harvard professor Stephen Greenblatt's new course, "Travel and Transformation in the Early 17th Century." The product of an intense, months-long collaboration between computing specialists, graduate students, librarians, and scholars, the course makes innovative use of all the tools and technical know-how a major university…

Because of its enormous significance to American history, the author wants her students to gain a rich understanding of the Battle at Gettysburg. She also would like them to make a strong emotional connection to it. She wants her students to engage with the Battle of Gettysburg on many levels--to become tangled up with the past. Her goal is to…