History teachers on the secondary level are often so boxed in by heavy schedules and standard curricula that they have little time or incentive to use outside resources. In the light of these concerns, the Education Department at the Hershey Museum initiated The Progressive Industry and Its Legacy project. This article describes the project, which…

Social studies, particularly in the elementary grades, has been pushed to the back burner in schools. Time is the biggest nemesis. Increased attention to math and language arts under the federal No Child Left Behind law is squeezing out social studies. Many states have standards in social studies so teachers are expected to cover the topic, but…

History and literature contain the keys to understanding oneself and others. Studying these subjects helps young people realize how the world they know evolved and how people like them coped with challenges, sometimes successfully, sometimes not. These subjects introduce students to models of achievement and courage, but they also provide…

Gerda Weissmann Klein was 15 years old in September 1939 when Germany invaded the city of Bielitz (present-day Bielsko), Poland. In her memoir, "All But My Life," she recounts the horror of losing family and friends, of life in concentration camps, of the death march and of liberation in 1945 by an American soldier named Kurt Klein, who…

It seems likely that the history research paper at the high school level is now an endangered species. Focus on creative writing, fear of plagiarism, fascination with PowerPoint presentations, and lack of planning time have been joined by a notable absence of concern about term papers in virtually all the work on state standards. As a result, far…

The Victorian period produced a diverse and rich range of historical source materials including census returns, photographs, film, personal reminiscences, music, cartoons, and posters. Recent changes to the history curriculum emphasise the acquisition of enquiry skills alongside developing knowledge and understanding, which necessitates reference…

Whether they are learning about long division, Longfellow or a long-lost civilization, students often want to know how the subjects they are studying will help them in "real life." One of the primary responsibilities of teachers is to prepare students for "real life" as informed, engaged and inquisitive citizens. A great way to cultivate these…

This article discusses the Bureau of Refugees, Freedmen, and Abandoned Lands (Freedmen's Bureau), which was established by the Congress on March 3, 1865, to assist former slaves in acquiring land, securing employment, legalizing marriages, and pursuing education. After the bureau's abolition through an act of Congress approved on June 10, 1872,…

Alternately referred to as historical role-playing, dramatic improvisation, sociodrama, or first-person characterization, role playing is a teaching strategy that often uses official accounts, personal narratives, and diaries to recreate a particular time period, specific event, or breathe life into a character from history. Historical…

This article discusses a problem teachers encounter relating to how to teach the delicate topics of 9/11 and Iraq war. Five years after the September 11 terrorist attacks, and in the midst of intensifying debate over the nation's approach to battling terrorism, teachers around the country are trying to determine how, and when, to teach about…

The author describes the issues raised for him by team-teaching a course on the Shoah that aimed to incorporate familial, historical, and rhetorical perspectives. Considering firsthand testimonies, songs written by camp inmates, renderings of others' stories such as Art Spiegelman's "Maus," and works of fiction and poetry by writers without…

This article contributes to the retrieval of the "lost history" of interwar internationalism that is increasingly receiving attention from historians of education. It traces the involvement of the English Association of Headmistresses (AHM) in a range of organizations that networked women educationists with women's organizations, with…

Changing teaching practices in secondary history classrooms requires teachers to first change their attitudes and views towards teaching history. This was a key finding that emerged from the analysis of changes that took place in the teachers' classrooms during the course of the Teaching American History grant project that was successful in…

This paper examines arguments about the teaching of history in Cyprus, especially as they relate to the cultivation of patriotism. I point out how the narratives of "sacred history" and "dangerous memories" are discursive elements of a pedagogy that aims at maintaining patriotism by preventing subjective and divisive personal…

This study is an action research based both on quantitative and qualitative research techniques carried out with a group of fifth grade students in K"r,ehir during the 2003-2004 education year. In the study, the main purpose was to improve historical time concept and chronology perceptions among fifth grade students. Students' interests, reactions…