During the Viet Nam war, U.S. military helicopters dropped "Chieu Hoi" (safe conduct) passes over suspected enemy locations to encourage enemy soldiers to surrender. This article presents a classroom activity that encourages students to examine a "Chieu Hoi" pass as a primary historical document, identify its various elements,…

Fourth grade students "know about" Pocahontas, but is this knowledge based on historical fact, or on information from the media, specifically the Disney movies "Pocahontas" and "Pocahontas II"? To address this question within the context of the New York State Social Studies curriculum and the New York State English…

Exposes the sources of anti-Jewish education in Zionist thought and praxis by examining an unsuccessful attempt to educate for sensitivity to the suffering of others in Israel. Argues that this form of education conflicts with themes of Jewish tradition leading to oppressions of the Palestinian "other." (CMK)

Economists and historians have struggled for almost 80 years to account for the American Great Depression, which began in 1929 and lasted until the early years of World War II. In this article, the authors discuss three major schools of thought on the causes of the Great Depression and the long failure of the American economy to return to full…

During the Vietnam War, and the years following the conflict, history teachers were often hesitant to examine the war in the classroom for a variety of reasons. This article explores some of the factors that prohibited the effective teaching of the Vietnam War. Implications regarding how these inhibiting factors might affect teaching about the…

In this study, we explore the instructional decision making of Charlotte, a graduate of an intensive social studies teacher education program. Charlotte articulated a sophisticated conception of historical thinking and appeared to possess exemplary pedagogical content knowledge. Her classroom practice did not incorporate the approaches to…

Considering what it means to be a citizen, this book examines the effects of greater ethnic awareness on U.S. education. The book agrees that the upsurge in ethnic awareness has had some healthy consequences, but fears that concentrating too much on the differences among people poses the danger of fragmenting society. Instead of a transformative…

The World Wide Web (WWW) has become a major presence on the Internet, and teachers are just beginning to discover many valuable applications the Web can have in their classrooms. This study explored use of WWW as a research and publication tool in a fifth grade class project on the formation of the United States. Students were given instruction in…

This paper reports on the current progress of the CHATA Project (Concepts of History and Teaching Approaches, 7 to 14), funded by the Economic and Social Sciences Research Council (ESRC) as part of its program, "Innovation and Change: The Quality of Teaching and Learning." The project is set in the context of changes within history…

This paper attempts to clarify: (1) the need to educate citizens to cope with contemporary global challenges and (2) the purpose of history and to examine the way to organize history in the global age. The document suggests that the purpose of world history and national history is to enable students to develop a global perspective and that world…

This set of lessons accompanies a series of 30-minute films for teaching about Germany. Available to educators throughout the United States upon request, the 17 films and accompanying instructional activities focus on culture, politics, economics, society, and sports and are appropriate for middle and high school students. Permission is granted to…

This document, from the lesson plan series, "Teaching with Historic Places," examines the Scandanavian (particularly Finnish) origins of the log cabins that early U.S. settlers occupied. Following an introductory section, the document sets out student objectives, teaching activities, readings, and illustrations. The teaching activity…

This booklet contains 12 lessons about the history of Ohio correlated to the proficiency outcomes of the "Grade 4 Proficiency Test Outcomes in Ohio." Lessons include: (1) "Emigrating to Ohio"; (2) "The Era of Expansion"; (3) "Finding Out about Ohio"; (4) "Emigrating to Ohio"; (5) "Settling in…

This book offers more serious consideration of content in the social studies curriculum by including content-specific chapters written by discipline experts. Interwoven with content coverage are numerous teaching-learning activities. The book is divided into three parts and an introductory chapter by James C. Schott and Laurel R. Singleton. Part…

These guidelines are designed to help teachers and school districts answer questions related to the national history standards as they develop their own local curriculum. The work is built upon the original guidelines from the Bradley Commission on History in the Schools. This booklet is divided into two parts: (1) "Introduction"; and…