Discusses the discrepancy between traditional history learning and thinking like a historian. Describes two studies in which high school history students read multiple texts on a given historical event. Argues that students need to be taught to evaluate messages and to think critically, and that using multiple texts to teach students to think like…

Although students may learn in many ways, the essential skills and content they learn can remain steady. As demonstrated by three teaching approaches to the study of ancient Rome, students can take different roads to the same destination. Successful differentiation is rooted in student engagement and student understanding. (MLH)

Discusses how the concept of the west developed, circumstances leading to western civilization courses, and how the western European self-conception was received in America around the turn of the century and embodied in high school and college curricula. Limiting studies to the west excludes the rest of humanity. Suggests that situating the west…

Suggests that research on Congressional history is problematic due to the complexity of the institution. Provides a literature review broken down by the era covered in the works, beginning with the colonial roots of Congress and continuing until the present in 50-year spans. Notes sources for historical materials on Congress. (DSK)

Describes a project titled "A Century of Lawmaking for a New Nation: U.S. Congressional Documents and Debates, 1774-1873," by the Law Library of Congress to make the documentary records of Congress available over the World Wide Web. Also, notes other World Wide Web sites related to the Congress. (DSK)

Examines to what extent representative history textbooks used in American high schools encourage development of historical analysis and interpretation, one of five standards issued by the National Center for History in the Schools. Treatment of the Aztec Empire and the Cold War varied widely in the four textbooks studied. All texts failed the new…

Reviews a sample of award-winning and honor books from both the National Council of Teachers of English and the National Council for the Social Studies. Suggests that by using primary source documents, students are allowed not just to read about the past, but to see how the past is constructed as history through such sources. (SG)

Observes that resistant students in the college history classroom need to be intrigued by history through the unexpected. Recommends that educators use the study, preparation, and consumption of food as a means to engaging students in historical discussions about different ideologies, events, and places throughout history. (CMK)

Describes how to use authentic documents and artifacts to make history and literature come to life, describing a fourth grade study of the Pilgrims that involves using an excerpt from a 1622 journal, "Mourt's Relation," published 2 years after the Mayflower sailed. Students translate the excerpt into modern English, then illustrate a…

This Thanksgiving theme unit has students learn about mathematics and history by studying the voyage of the Mayflower. Students can study how many children sailed on the Mayflower, how big the ship was, and how long the voyage was. They can also solve Mayflower word problems and create recipes of food the Pilgrims would have eaten. An instructor…

The difficulties teachers encounter when trying to promote high quality discussion among students undoubtedly contribute to the brevity and rarity of such discussions. Teachers report that discussions fail because only a few students have usually completed the necessary preparatory work for effective participation, because some students…

There is a lot of talk these days about thinking historically. Policy makers use the term. So do teachers, curriculum writers, test makers, and administrators. And above all researchers use it--a lot. A number of articles have been published in this very column concerning the topic, many by those who do history-education research. Some might argue…

In this article, the authors discuss how children can learn from runaway slave advertisements. The advertisements for runaway slaves that masters placed in eighteenth- and nineteenth-century newspapers are among the documentary sources available to teachers for studying the lives of African-American slaves. Such advertisements often describe a…

History frequently is taught as a set of facts that must be memorized to either pass a test or become culturally literate (Whelan 1997). Such an approach to history instruction reduces content to a consumable, socially irrelevant product and strips meaning from the classroom. To alleviate the drudgery of typical history instruction, teachers can…

Teachers who have tried problem-based historical inquiry have often found its demands overwhelming. Both teachers and students need a support structure to assist them with the inquiry process. The Persistent Issues in History (PIH) Network seeks to nurture and support a national community of teachers who engage their students in problem-based…