Summarizes an action-research project in which elementary teacher candidates enrolled in required multicultural awareness class observed classroom practices and interviewed mentor teachers at Dallas-Fort Worth schools about teaching practices, lesson content, and rationales related to Black History Month. Of the 48 schools studied, only 11 planned…

Discusses the objectives of secondary school history instruction in Lithuania. Presents a comprehensive topic syllabus of world and Lithuanian history as currently taught in all Lithuanian schools. Includes selected titles from the 390 lessons allotted to the topics. (CFR)

Discusses the use of primary texts to introduce students to the period of reconstruction after the Civil War. Shows how texts can be used not only to illustrate the feelings and beliefs of the time, but also to engage students in debates over the correct uses of primary sources. (DSK)

Interviews with and classroom observations of six secondary school teachers of U.S. history examined factors that influenced their approach to teaching history. These influences included teachers' personal beliefs about religion and morality, long-term effects of their college history professors, and teachers' social class and family background.…

Argues that textile arts offer opportunities for students to explore other cultures and to illustrate themes contained in the National Council for the Social Studies Standards. Describes the use of Hmong "paj ntaub" textiles to teach elementary students about the Hmong people of Laos and Hmong immigrants in the United States. (DSK)

Outlines the history of the ideals and enactment of the United Nations' Universal Declaration of Human Rights (UDHR). Includes a discussion of the origins of the concept of human rights, the impact of World War II, the role of nongovernmental organizations, and the process of drafting and adopting the UDHR. (DSK)

Encourages social studies teachers and curriculum coordinators to consider, in their units on the antebellum period, the common school movement. Notes useful classroom strategies and recommends use of short readings from primary sources. Suggests that students will be fascinated by the intellectual and social forces that motivated discussion of…

Explores how two preservice teachers viewed their teacher education courses and how these experiences influenced how each proposed to teach history. Indicates that they were influenced by objectivist epistemologies concerning historical knowledge and didactic teaching approaches, and both had ambitions not to teach from that epistemology or in…

Evaluates a teaching initiative that aimed to teach about the Holocaust through a traveling exhibit on Anne Frank. Data from 10 case study schools show the success of the approach and some ways in which the teaching relevance might have been strengthened. (SLD)

Maintains that today's students have grown up in a time where they have been constantly entertained. Explains that using humor within the history classroom can increase students' interest in history and entertain them simultaneously. Recommends mixing historical facts with amusing stories about or straight from various historical figures. (CMK)

A focus on people--whether community members, students, historical figures, or fictional characters--and their motivations brings excitement to learning. A community's experts on everything from jazz music and Chinese tapestries to building construction can help students move inside history and other subjects. (MLH)

Discusses the power of film and films as teaching tools. Describes how the 1987 French film "Au Revior Les Enfants" can serve these purposes. Discusses its historical context, and ways to show the film in class. Lists numerous topics (on important film themes, and on technical aspects of film) for student projects. (SR)

Notes that there have been no studies of student teachers' learning how to use primary sources to teach history. Generates general characteristics of the task based on discussions among historians and philosophers. Uses these to frame an investigation of difficulties encountered by student teachers while learning to use primary sources. (DSK)

Discusses the use of personal digital assistants, which are hand-held computers, in history and social science classrooms, explaining that they offer possibilities for greater access to technology at a fraction of the cost of desktop or laptop computers. Describes how removed today's social studies classrooms, students, and teachers are from this…

Presents the case for a consensus-driven approach to setting subject matter standards for history education. The author argues that the National History Standard Project, designed to broaden the scope of U.S. and world history education, has carried out the original intent of its funders, rejected one-sidedness, and achieved a compromise that…