Describes a collection of materials on Czechoslovakia that can be ordered as teaching aides to connect history lessons on democracy to the present situation in Europe. Contains the following materials: (1) a biographical profile of Vaclav Havel; (2) maps; (3) literature; (4) photos; (5) readings; and (6) teaching activities. (JS)

Describes an undergraduate interdisciplinary program at Cornell University (New York) in the history and philosophy of science and technology. Serving as a meeting ground for the two cultures of science and the humanities, the concentration encourages students to examine the nature and place of science and technology in the modern world. (LS)

Examines the role of literature in the California's History-Social Science Framework (1988). Surveys the goals of incorporating literature into the Framework and identifies types of literary works used to enhance content learning at each level. Presents criteria for evaluating and selecting instructional materials and lists major purposes for…

Uses Frederick Douglass' efforts to preserve the memory of the Civil War to illustrate the issue of memory in U.S. history. Illustrates the dangers of collective forgetting while giving deference to the healing function of forgetting on the personal level. (KO)

Discusses the traditional, revisionist, and post-revisionist approaches to the study of the U.S. Reconstruction Era. Offers the author's book, "Reconstruction: America's Unfinished Revolution, as presenting a coherent account of the Reconstruction. Notes that the book stresses the centrality of the Black experience while placing the southern story…

Recommends that teachers be skilled and respectful in helping students identify the functions of religion. The "Simulated Garbage" technique urges students to consider the qualities that give a religion coherence and meaning, without relation to external criteria of seeming rightness. (RAE)

Presents the reader with three interpretations of the historical significance of the urban political boss. Identifies one group which condemns the practitioners of machine politics, another which emphasizes the function of bossism, and that group whose members point out the complex relationships involved in the operation of city government. (KO)

Examines increased interest in Latin American studies initiated by Cuban Revolution of Fidel Castro. Identifies and compares older historiography which evolved in Latin America and newer efforts which have emanated from the United States. Suggests that a changing political and economic climate and different emphasis in methodology are affecting…

Traces the history of the Plessy v. Ferguson case. Includes copies of the U.S. Supreme Court mandate to the Louisiana Supreme Court denying Plessy's request to overturn the Jim Crow law and ordering him to bear the court costs. Provides teaching suggestions for interpreting the document and highlights related topics and questions for research and…

Mikhail Gorbachev's "glasnost" seeks to transform a large, multiethnic nation ruled for decades by an aging, entrenched, and stagnant bureaucracy. Educators will be challenged to provide students with accurate, objective information about the Soviet Union and to emphasize U.S.-U.S.S.R. similarities without minimizing differences.…

Highlights seven resources for teaching history with computers. Titles include "Technology and the Social Studies: A Vision"; "Using Databases in History Teaching"; "Computers and Database Management in the History Curriculum"; "Social Studies. Microsoft Courseware Evaluations"; "Teaching Comparative…

A one-day program of the Ventura, California, school system attempts to develop leadership, organizational, resourcefulness, and communication skills in gifted students by solving problems in a primitive setting possibly faced by the original Jamestown settlers. (DB)

One educator presents maritime history to students using technologies available to ancient seafarers. Techniques include dead reckoning, the sandglass, the magnetic compass, celestial navigation, and various navigation techniques of precontact Polynesia that depended upon oral transmission of knowledge. The paper notes differences between…

Each year, fifth graders at Kamehameha Elementary School produce a play about American history. Students do research, write scripts and songs, design costumes and the stage sets, act, and promote the event. The article explains how the students accomplished this over several months and notes how the activity tied into their schoolwork. (SM)

Describes how a fifth-grade social studies class used poems by Langston Hughes and integrated literature, drama, music, and dance to make history more human and meaningful for students. (SR)