This article reports on a review of research into students' reasoning about social change and causes they attribute to selected historical events. In this review, I distinguish studies into social change and causality as two methodological approaches to historical understanding before relating findings into the ways that students reason about…

This article considers the "myths" and negative images of the French Revolution which were fashioned in the United States by examining interpretations found in nineteenth and twentieth-century American school texts. The texts are part of the Floyd Family Collection at Indiana State University, representing books used in Indiana schools,…

In this article, the author tries to create inspirational experiences for his students through "Backyard Battles," a course he has taught for the last four years through the Institute for Southern Studies at the University of South Carolina. The main purpose of this course is to help students recognize that the primary and secondary sources which…

A fifty million dollar grant program for history education was announced by the United States Department of Education in April 2001. To many in the profession it was almost inconceivable that the study of history would receive such generous funding. While historians were convinced of the merits of improved history education, they had to ask what…

In May 2001, students in the author's Advanced Placement (AP) United States History class were embroiled in a controversy surrounding the AP exam, in particular, having access to the exam's Document Based Question (DBQ) and free response portion prior to the test's administration. Prior to the exam, the College Board had provided a fifty-year time…

Articles about academic honesty seem either to begin with an example of egregious deceit in American schools or to claim that dishonesty is worse than ever. However great may be the forces influencing students to lie or cheat, educators, at all levels and in all settings, must push back by holding students accountable and by teaching about…

As universities and history departments argue over how best to make history "relevant" to students of the twenty-first century, and as professors are increasingly under pressure to integrate technology into their courses, many questions remain unanswered as to the usefulness, reliability, and pedagogical soundness of the new and ever-changing…

Free response question (FRQ) #5 in the 2002 Advanced Placement (AP) European history exam read as follows: "In what ways and to what extent did absolutism affect the power and status of the European nobility in the period 1650 to 1750. Use examples from at least 2 countries." This question, which is aimed at encouraging a comparative…

In his position at Penn State University, this author teaches environmental studies (ES) students in core introductory, mid-level, and upper-level courses. As he teaches the first full batch of graduates in this year's Senior Seminar, the chorus is clear: environmental history has played a distinct role in bringing coherence to their ES curricula.…

In this article, a university researcher and two teacher researchers collaborated in a classroom study of how 26 American fourth graders (9-year-olds) used primary source photographs to evaluate the historical significance of events in their community's past. Interpreting the photographs as historical evidence, students generated ideas and…

History is alive! That is one of the important messages that teacher Barbara Knighton communicates to her students as she develops engaging stories about changes in farming, government, clothing, or transportation, using timelines as her basis. In this article, the authors describe how Knighton constructs social studies units for her first and…

In this article, I offer a reading of the psychoanalytic concept of identification, with specific attention to its meaning in the context of children's historical learning. In educational contexts, it is not identification but historical empathy that teachers and researchers typically regard as holding pedagogical status. Using examples from my…

It has often been said that the Inuit have many words to describe snow because one would be wholly inadequate to capture accurately the variety of frozen precipitation. Like snow, patriotism is a more nuanced idea than is immediately apparent. Political scientists, sociologists, and educators would do well to expand the roster of words used to…

The geographies of Hollywood are multiple, contradictory, ephemeral and tangible. Our preconceived conceptions of space and place play a dynamic role in what elements we tend to focus on when discussing the cultural industry of American cinema. This essay uses Hollywood as a metaphor for the American film production industry and a historical…

During the summer of 1787, when the delegates to the Constitutional Convention met in Philadelphia, the issue of representation in Congress was strongly debated. Delegates from the large states favored the Virginia Plan's proposal for two houses of Congress with representation based on population. Delegates from the small states favored equal…