In the last two decades, the United States has been in the throes of rapid economic change brought by new technologies and the globalization of the economy. One of the best ways to study the effects of change on the U.S. population is through the abundant information available on the website of the United States Bureau of the Census. In addition…

Imagine a classroom where students beam their assignments to the teacher instead of handing them in. Imagine a classroom where technology is ubiquitous yet nearly invisible. Imagine a classroom where all students simultaneously work together using technology. This is the reality for students in the fifth grade classroom of Jan Kelly, an elementary…

The dropping of atomic bombs on Hiroshima and Nagasaki in World War II inaugurated a new era in world history, the atomic age. After the war, the Soviet Union, eager to develop the same military capabilities as those demonstrated by the United States, soon rivaled the U.S. as an atomic and nuclear superpower. Faced by the possibility of…

The war in Iraq and the aftermath are receiving media attention around the globe. A plethora of media reports from many other countries is now available online in English. This article recommends possible approaches to developing comparative media studies and provides URLs to specific sources. The NCSS standards addressed by these lessons include:…

This activity is designed to help teachers engage students in a critical examination of the challenges embedded in balancing economic, environmental, and immigration policy. Students take on the roles of environmental and elderly advocacy groups, both for and against increased immigration. By taking on the personalities and interests of these…

Teachers most interested in a constructivist approach to historical instruction often use new technology to provide realistic, inquiry-based learning situations for their students. Recent research in social studies learning has de-emphasized student memorization of facts and text-based instruction in favor of engaging students in historical…

In this article, the authors speak of an encounter they had in which they discovered some forgotten and unused historical resources hidden in a storage closet at the Cherokee County Georgia Historical Society. From these resources, they were able to weave an intriguing narrative encompassing people and events in history. They hope their story will…

In 1996, the author and fellow-historian John Lutz set about creating a teaching tool for history that would acquaint students with primary documents and take full advantage of the brand-new technology of the World Wide Web. He launched the website, entitled "Who Killed William Robinson? Race, Justice and Settling the Land,"…

The use of digital photography in the social studies classroom offers students an application of technology that can help them develop the skills necessary to access, analyze, and evaluate all forms of information and communication. Students learn to recognize how images represent diverse perspectives, connect disparate pieces of information, and…

Understanding history is a challenge. In order to provide teachers with a tool that can help students acquire the knowledge and skills necessary to interpret primary sources and reconcile various historical accounts, the authors developed the SCIM-C strategy. Grounded in research on teaching and learning history and building upon Riley's layers of…

The Web is mistakenly viewed by too many as the panacea for a teacher's ills. Sending students to the Internet for information has done little to turn the tide in students' perceptions of learning. The problem, though, is not necessarily that the Web is not loaded with excellent learning resources; rather the problem is in sticking to the…

There is a lot of talk these days about thinking historically. Policy makers use the term. So do teachers, curriculum writers, test makers, and administrators. And above all researchers use it--a lot. A number of articles have been published in this very column concerning the topic, many by those who do history-education research. Some might argue…

Biographers have called Walt Whitman "America's most influential and innovative poet" and some have even called him "the greatest of all American poets." But in the winter of 1862-63, even as he was gaining a reputation as a talented poet, Whitman was forty-three years old, volunteering as a nurse in Union hospitals, and…

In the afterword of the re-released biography "Farewell to Manzanar," just months after September 11, 2001, the authors of the book comment that these attacks, seen by some as the Pearl Harbor of the twenty-first century, give Farewell to Manzanar a new timeliness. The authors observe that this is a dramatic change, one clearly in the…

The Nobel Peace Prize is recognized as one of the most prestigious global awards. Each year the Norwegian Nobel Committee, which is appointed by Norway's parliament to select the winner, receives many nominations from around the world. Shirin Ebadi, who is from Iran, became the eleventh female Nobel Peace laureate in 2003. Ebadi is the third…