Designed to accompany an audiovisual filmstrip series devoted to presenting a visual history of life in America, this guide contains an elementary social studies (grades 2-6) unit on the American city over the last century. Using authentic visuals including paintings, posters, advertising, documentary photography, and cartoons, the guide offers students a look at the American city and its impact on American society over the last 100 years. Beginning with the cliff dwellings of early Indians in Colorado, the guide traces the development of American cities while focusing on problems of cities of the past and present. It also presents an introduction to material covered in the filmstrip, suggestions for classroom use (e.g., preliminary discussion, vocabulary pre-teaching, pre-teaching for visual appreciation, and a pre-teaching map check and history review), the script, reproductions of filmstrip frames, follow-up points for discussion, follow-up student projects, notes on the visuals, a glossary of unfamiliar terms, a list of 23 recommended references, and notes on past series. (LH)