Reviews ten ERIC documents, produced since 1983, which provide activities, lesson plans, and curriculum guides for teaching elementary through secondary students about democratic government. Emphasis is on citizen responsibility and participation. (JDH)

Discusses the use of George Orwell's "1984" in a college-level course on communism and totalitarianism. Draws from personal experiences during a year's graduate study in Moscow to examine Orwell's perceptions of the Soviet Union. (AYC)

A naturalistic inquiry study of sixth grader's response to literature-based history was influenced by their "need to know," their desire to explore broader areas of human experience, the emotional impact of the historical narratives used and by the teacher's ability to encourage a critical analysis of multiple data sources in seeking historical…

Carl Becker's contribution to the philosophy of historical relativism is presented. Three ideas central to historical relativism are: 1) the subjectivity of historical facts, 2) history as a product of the historian's imagination, and 3) the influence of the contemporary "climate of opinion" in shaping the historian's view of the past.…

Clifford Sifton stands out in most Canadian history texts as the architect of the immigration policy that settled the prairies West and shaped the development of modern Canada. Background information on Sifton is provided. Letters Sifton wrote regarding immigration policy are analyzed. (RM)

Describes cultural and temporal problems in learning about contemporary China. Provides an introduction to the other articles on China in this issue of the journal. (JDH)

Presents three theories or "perspectives" for studying recent changes in China: the modernization perspective which views changes as a form of evolutionary development, the cyclical perspective which interprets changes as the ebb and flow of normal phases, and the dialectical perspective which assumes changes stem from unresolved…

Presents one elementary, one middle school, and two high school lesson plans designed to teach about changes which have occurred in China. (JDH)

Materials should be provided in history classes to allow students to draw their own insights regarding individual character traits of famous historical figures. Excerpts from historical works containing observations concerning Elizabeth I of England and how she felt regarding marriage are provided as an example of such an approach. (RM)

Advocates the reading of historical novels to encourage awareness of European history and provides summaries of several such works. (KS)

The author, professor of politics at Rutgers University, takes issue with Henry Ford's and Ambrose Bierce's view of the value of history as "bunk" and "unimportant". He suggests reasons for the need for qualified historians and for students to develop a more thorough historical awareness. (RK)

After examining the drawbacks of some of the currently popular teaching methods, the author proposes an approach to the teaching of high school history focusing on the matter of history -- the lives of men and ideas of the past. (SM)

A description of locations that the National Capital Parks Service has redone and provided with live reenactments of the events that made them important in history. (JA)

A view of Jacksonian America is given in this outline of conditions in Chautauqua County, New York, between the years 1833 and 1836. (JB)