Discusses general problems of educational pluralism in the nations of central and eastern Europe. Asserts that, contrary to many western Europeans, the nations of central and eastern Europe are very different from one another in politics, economics, and education. Reviews developments in Bulgaria, Czechoslovakia, and Hungary. (CFR)

Describes a classroom study of 20 self-selected, college-bound, U.S. history students in which the students created a story, poem, painting, or other art form after studying a unit on immigration. Includes several examples and descriptions of students' poetry, writing, and other creative projects. (CFR)

Contends that all genuine learning is active, not passive. Asserts that three educational principles are the foundation of effective social studies instruction: (1) active learning; (2) integration of language arts; and (3) appeal to multiple intelligences. Provides a history lesson plan based on these principles. (CFR)

Includes three brief essays responding to the current controversy over the National Standards for United States History. James F. Adomanis defends the standards and decries the media circus. Brian Boland casts a skeptical eye towards trendy educational reforms. Philip Reed Rulon finds the standards arbitrary and restrictive. (MJP)

Describes the activities of a high school class that discovered the joy of history through experiential learning. Students learned traditional military tactics for their unit on the French and Indian Wars, and tried to apply them to a nearby woods. Includes similar activities for other historic periods. (MJP)

Investigates the situations surrounding, and events involved in, the United States's massive western land acquisition from Mexico in 1845 and 1848. Presents a challenging, thorough, and insightful lesson plan that includes numerous background materials, learning activities, maps, and handouts. (MJP)

The personal aspect of knowledge--the everyday concepts--is located in the life setting of a person. These personal concepts are the foundation for the child's appropriation of subject matter concepts that qualify the child's personal concept so they can function as theoretical concepts. However, subject matter concepts are not universal, they are…

If history teachers' aim is to teach students how to think, why not ask: What forms of thought do historians use, and what specific techniques will inculcate these forms? In this article, the author proposes a fundamental shift, from courses with a focus on the mastery of data to courses with a priority on learning the historian's craft. The…

This article tells the story of the author's discovery of thinking skills, how this has affected her teaching, and how these ideas have now spread to other curriculum areas in her school. In November 2001 the author began to carry out a research project on thinking skills, introducing new activities into lessons to encourage pupils to think and…

This article is about a small-scale research project which investigated changing the authors' classroom practice at General Certificate of Secondary Education (GCSE) level and how that change impacts on both teachers and students. This project emerged out of earlier classroom research funded and supported by the National Union of Teachers and…

This study aimed to find out how and on what level the students of two separate secondary schools shared and constructed knowledge on imperialism by interacting through historical role characters in a Web-based environment. Furthermore, the study aimed to find out how social and contextual features affected the nature of knowledge sharing and…

The chapters in this volume illustrate how teachers are bringing creativity, higher-order thinking, and meaningful learning activities into particular school settings despite pressures of standards and testing. The editors chose the word wise for the title of this book, and they use it frequently to describe the pedagogical practices they have…

The Fannie Lou Hamer National Institute on Citizenship and Democracy is a coalition of friends who share a vision of the potential of education. Founded in 1997 at a National Endowment for the Humanities Summer Seminar for College Teachers, the Hamer Institute conducts seminars and workshops for K-12 teachers and students that feature the role…

Although schools contain many material artifacts, studies in classrooms have tended to focus on discourse and quality of social interaction even when artifacts are being used. Responding to Engstrom's (1999) invitation to take artifacts seriously, three studies are described in which a material object was essential to a classroom activity. The…

In this article the authors focus on how features of a computer-supported collaborative learning (CSCL) environment can elicit and support domain-specific reasoning and more specifically historical reasoning. The CSCL environment enables students to collaborate on a historical inquiry task and in writing an argumentative essay. In order to support…