Discusses four elements essential for successfully using role playing in the history classroom: (1) background knowledge: building on the knowledge that students possess; (2) perspectives: designing the role to maximize involvement and conflict; (3) situation: having a "focal point for debate"; and (4) management: the teacher's management of the…

Focuses on the use of storytelling as a means of teaching history. Explores the ideas presented by Charles McMurry in his handbook "Special Method in History" that addresses the use of stories in teaching. States that McMurry thought history could be interesting and tangible for even the youngest child. (CMK)

Explores the diary of Karl Clark that focuses on his experiences in the Athabasca tar sands. The diary helps decipher the nature of 1920s town life and the pioneering spirit involved in exploring the oil sands. Includes background information on Clark. (CMK)

States that the National Council for History Education (NCHE) promotes interactions among its members and believes that history educators benefit from contact with others. Illustrates the connections between the NCHE and public history identifying workshops, conferences, and other ties having a public history focus. (CMK)

Focuses on the National Park Service's Teaching with Historic Places (TwHP) program that has more than one hundred classroom-ready lesson plans. Describes the standard format of the lesson, the flexibility inherent in the TwHP lesson plans, and the role of the Internet. (CMK)

Provides a lesson that enables students to explore the idea of historic sites as contested symbols and the meanings of liberty. Presents background information on the Lexington Common (or Green) as an historic site that has been utilized as a forum of political expression. Includes three lessons and copies of primary sources. (CMK)

Provides background information on Robert Portner and Jennie Dean focusing on their contributions to the community of Manassas, Virginia, and the events leading up to their legacies at Manassas. Considers the importance of family history as U.S. history and includes an assignment that enabling students to create their own stories derived from…

Provides citations with abstracts from the ERIC database focusing on public history. Includes background information and teaching materials on such topics as museum resources in K-12 social studies, using historic sites to study western women's history, and teaching about the Oregon Trail. (CMK)

Addresses human rights education (HRE) for young learners stressing the centrality of the Universal Declaration of Human Rights and the Convention on the Rights of the Child. Illustrates the use of HRE within history, geography, world cultures, and literature. Believes that HRE begins by creating a human rights community in the classroom. (CMK)

Maintains that historical understanding is possible only by taking the student's positionality, or prior understanding of the past, into consideration when teaching historical concepts and facts. Explains that through the ambitious efforts of the history teacher, such as questioning students on their epistemological positions, a student's…

Discusses how to implement multimedia into the university history classroom and the different functions involved when producing a multimedia lecture and presenting it to the students. Characterizes the benefits of using multimedia through the students' reactions, compiled in course evaluations and an informal survey, and overall student…

Describes the six model lessons created to coincide with the online collections of the Library of Congress that focuses on utilizing technology and primary sources; two of the lessons are for teacher use, while the other four are self-contained lessons. Discusses the basic design principles and constraints for the lessons. (CMK)

Presents the Internet learning guide EDSITEment that provides links to educational sites on the Web in the core humanities subjects. Identifies the process for selecting EDSITEment websites by using the following criteria: intellectual quality, website design, and website impact. Offers the 20 websites for history/social studies and suggestions…

Examines how the voluntary national U.S. history standards contained within the "National Standards for United States History: Exploring the American Experience" were presented in selected U.S. newspapers. Uses ethnographic content and critical discourse analytic methodologies. Indicates that most newspapers presented a fragmented and inflated…

Discusses the use of technology to teach middle school social studies and history. Explores how technology can be used to address experiential learning styles by applying constructivist principles, while Microsoft PowerPoint presentations can enrich teacher-centered approaches and reach verbal, kinesthetic, and visual learning styles. Describes a…