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Southern United States folk music is rich in not only sound, but in voices of the past. Folk songs were created by working class individuals who described aspects of their life in connection with societal issues and events. Folk songs, now digitally archived, can serve as primary historical sources that can be used to enhance the secondary social studies U.S. history curriculum. The vast offerings of folk songs can allow students to listen, read, and analyze the lyrics to gain a deeper understanding of the U.S. South, shed the hillbilly stereotype that Southerners have been historically subjected to, understand why and how Southerners spoke out against injustices through song, and analyze the lyrics that portray the history of southern folklife. Based on the National Council for the Social Studies' Themes of Social Studies and integrating folk songs from such online sites as the Library of Congress and Smithsonian Institute, curriculum implications are presented for students to reflect on the Southerners' settings, perspectives of events and issues, and methods of protest. Modern technology's preservation of folk songs that would otherwise be absent from history not only has the power to educate, but also to keep southern folk music alive. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Engaging historiography and interpreting secondary sources represent essential elements of historians' work that have been largely ignored in favor of primary source reading in high school history classrooms in the United States. To understand whether and how students apply their historical reasoning skills to secondary sources, we asked twenty-four high school sophomores to think aloud about a historiographic problem. Students were divided into three conditions receiving either the historiographical documents without scaffolding, the documents with explicit written framing, or the documents with explicit written framing and oral instruction. We found that all students sourced, corroborated, and contextualized, but students who received explicit framing with dialogic instruction were significantly more likely to engage in complex evidence evaluation than students in the other two conditions. The results suggest that fuller models of historians' disciplinary practices may be needed in history education. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

This mixed-methods study explored the factors secondary history teachers use to determine historical content for their classrooms and the degree of perceived control in decision-making. Through a survey (N = 260) and follow-up interviews (n = 23), we found that secondary history teachers in the United States ranked historical significance most highly in their curricular decision-making, but the extent to which teachers felt they were able to exert control over curricular decisions was influenced by required assessments and other contextual factors. Nevertheless, many teachers also prioritized student interest and relevance when choosing historical content. Interviews revealed complexity in teachers' thinking and additional context-specific (dis)incentives (e.g., fear of controversy) regarding curricular choices. Implications for teacher education and policy are emphasized. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

This article addresses the teaching of disability history, specifically concerning the historical figure of Franklin Delano Roosevelt (FDR). Drawing upon literature from multicultural education, disability history and disability studies in education (DSE), the authors discuss historical content and teaching ideas for instruction about FDR. The authors present findings from a content analysis of six middle level and secondary United States history textbooks, noting unanimous coverage of FDR's disability resulting from polio. These textbooks noted how he overcame his disability and strengthened his character, referenced his decision to conceal his disability, and quoted FDR directly regarding his disability. The authors follow this analysis with discussion of several middle and high school teaching ideas that might augment textbook coverage and representation about FDR. This article explores how teachers of United States history might further develop their teaching of history through the inclusion of disability history within the context of a famous historical figure. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

This article focuses on the study which examines the anomaly on the history of racism in the U.S. The condemnable racialism made an eager acceptance of white people from the slave South and the free labor North. Furthermore, the defensive measurement of being paternalistic on Christian slavery presents a complicated relation between race and under harsh condition than it was previously studied. In addition, anthropologist who studies ethnology provides a strong defense on the state of being controlled as opposed to the biblical servitude.

The federal report A Nation at Risk, edited by the federal government of the United States of America (1983), alarmed the country by pointing out a education deep crisis. That document pointed to many problems in state curricula and programs, therefore accused of becoming too generalist, uninstructive. Among scholars and politicians, became powerful the idea of designing national standards for all of the school subjects of the USA, which should be seen as guidelines for teachers and students towards excellence. So, the present article analyzes the attempts to design national History curricula in the United States of America between the 1980s and 1990s, such as Building a History Curriculum (1988) and National Standards for History (1996), emphasizing the way the political discourses engendered in the United States of America had crucial impacts on the recommendations in regards to the teaching of history -- from patriotism to multiculturalism, as in a pendulum movement. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

In this article, the author examines equality in U.S. history. Particular focus is given to how the topic relates to relevant historical figures, or, "great persons," literacy and historical evidence. Additional topics discussed include a lesson plan examining historical figures through a public forum, how issues of equality have pervaded American history traditionally and insights on U.S. history following the Civil War.

Compared to other groups of color, Asian Americans and their perspectives have rarely been given attention in curriculum studies. This article seeks to address the gap in the literature. It uses AsianCrit, a branch of critical race theory, as a theoretical lens to analyze and explicate common patterns across various states’ scripting of Asian American experience in their U.S. history standards. Informed by AsianCrit, the article describes and troubles invisibility and consequent messages about Asian Americans and their experience in the story of the United States told from state U.S. history standards. The study suggests the benefit of AsianCrit as a theoretical, methodological tool to read and disrupt racism embedded in curriculum scripting of U.S. history. The study also adds a new knowledge to the long-held scholarship on inclusion and representation of historically marginalized groups in official school knowledge. [ABSTRACT FROM PUBLISHER]

The article offers the author's insights on the common practices and assumptions to holocaust education in the universities of U.S. Topics discussed include the significance of holocaust teaching through historical approaches that will teach basic moral values, the connection of teaching holocaust to the history of U.S. such as American slavery, and the complexity of the holocaust courses.

The article discusses the use of the environmental history of Pennsylvania as a tool to enhance the study of Pennsylvania history and U.S. history. The article discusses the history of Pennsylvania's reliance upon and use of natural resources, the impact of the Industrial Revolution upon Pennsylvania's economy and ecology, and the development of U.S. capitalism to which Pennsylvania contributed. It discusses the use of Pennsylvania's reserves of natural gas. The article also discusses the impact of environmental change upon Pennsylvania wildlife.

Metacom's War, also known as King Phillip's War, sets a pattern of national expansion through displacement of native people that echoes throughout American history. Helping students further understand this war through the examination of Mary Rowlandson's primary document provides educators and students with an opportunity to delve deeper into the complexities surrounding the convergence of cultures in colonial America. In this article, I provide an overview of the context that led to the conflict between the native populations and the European settlers. Additionally, I highlight passages from Rowlandson's narrative that are relevant to upper-elementary students. The passages are accompanied by questions to assist students as they examine the primary source for a deeper understanding of the people who strove to survive in seventeenth-century Massachusetts. Examining primary sources is one piece of the multifaceted process of historical understanding. In this article, educators learn the historical content of the period and a structured process for their students to examine the primary source. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

This article details a professional development program focused on the use of essential questions in reframing U.S. history learning experiences in elementary, middle, and high schools. Teachers identified four problems in designing and teaching engaging, relevant, and challenging U.S. history lessons. Each problem was addressed through the teachers' use of essential questions. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Examining trends in research publications can yield an appreciation of where a discipline is moving and of its core intellectual orientations, specific and general subject interests, and disciplinary contours. This discussion considers the major contours of academic history publication as reviewed by the flagship generalist journal American Historical Review (AHR). The AHR's topical indexes for the years 2000-2009 were used to gather essential data from which salient disciplinary features could be examined in order to situate academic history's scholarly preoccupations. Various constellations of specialization, focused emphases, and general contours of intellectual activity emerged. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

This paper examines US Korean youth's perspectives on US history and the impact of their sociocultural backgrounds, particularly their migration status, on their historical interpretations. Based on in-depth interviews with 42 US Korean high school students, the study opens up the question of diversity within an ethnic group, while it also begins to address both the lack of research on Asian American students' historical perspectives and the relative inattention to global migration patterns as a key factor in students' historical understandings. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

This study examines nine secondary American history textbooks' treatment of 9/11 and related events. Through the use of content analysis, the study centers on the knowledge omitted from textbook portrayals of 9/11. Findings indicate that when authors omit particular information, these exclusions limit the perspectives that students can consider, which shapes understandings of American history and the world. Recommendations are provided for ways teachers can develop students' critical thinking, provide them with multiple perspectives, and increase their historical understandings. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Increasingly, high school classrooms have access to the Internet. The Avalon Project Internet webpage enables high school students to access primary sources on a variety of American History topics. Literacy strategies are a promising method to help students organize the information they access when they are reading primary sources online. In particular, graphic organizers help students to make sense out of complex issues presented in primary sources. The author describes how his high school history students used the Avalon Project Internet webpage and graphic organizers to comprehend the primary sources with which they were working. Suggestions are given to help history teachers implement this activity in the classroom. Background information on literacy strategies is provided with specific examples of graphic organizers to help guide teachers who are interested in utilizing the strategy with their students. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

The article responds to a preceding essay by Thomas W. Zeiler on the state of U.S. diplomatic history as a field, and its re-entry into the mainstream of historical study through an increased focus on international history, or the study of the United States in the global context. The author finds Zeiler overly optimistic about these developments and discusses three potential risks that they raise: the return of a belief in American exceptionalism among U.S. diplomatic historians; methodological difficulties raised by trends in transnational research; and related difficulties in producing genuine historical syntheses.

The article responds to the preceding essay by Thomas W. Zeiler on the state of U.S. diplomatic history as a field, and its re-entry into the mainstream of historical study through an increased focus on international history, or the study of the United States in the global context. The author argues for not allowing the field to go out of balance in the opposite direction, through too much focus on international politics at the expense of U.S. domestic affairs. He argues for the importance of U.S. policy and politics, using the history of the Vietnam War as an example.

This article examines the state of civics education, history and social studies in U.S. schools. These disciplines have not been made an educational priority for various political and cultural reasons but the author believes this trend is changing. The bicentennial of former U.S. President Abraham Lincoln has stimulated a flood of books and discussion that can be incorporated into the classroom. Several biographies are discussed such as "The Many Rides of Paul Revere," by James Cross Giblin and "Seven Miles to Freedom: The Robert Smalls Story," by Janet Halfmann.

In this article, the author describes her use of direct instruction to introduce the skill of determining source reliability in a fifth-grade unit on immigration in American history. She structures instruction to help students establish a thinking-skill strategy that results in not only an understanding of immigration in the late 1800s to early 1900s, but also a skill that can be used in their daily lives. This step-by-step example of direct skill instruction presents samples of student and teacher dialogue, sample historical sources, a thinking-strategy map, graphic organizers, and a written assessment. The author concludes by describing a brief student summary of what students learned about immigration and the skill, and she notes where additional scaffolded skill instruction and practice should be used in subsequent units of the course. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Human history is often shaped by the outcomes of arguments, not only in the sense of disputes between people or governments, but in the sense of the more rational pursuit of trying to convince others to accept or do certain things by offering reasons that are presented as compelling for so doing. Yet history teachers have done little to help students learn how to identify arguments in this sense, figure out what the arguments being offered are, and evaluate them. This article shows how a generic instructional technique—infusing direct instruction in skillful thinking into content instruction—can be used in the teaching of American history in ways that help students develop and use these thinking skills and that enhance their deep content understanding of the history being taught. The context is a secondary school classroom studying American history. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Through an examination of one undergraduate American history course at a large university in the southeastern United States via interview, observation and content analysis, we attempted to discern if the pedagogical methodology was relating to the students in such a way as to foster students' ability to construct meaning beyond simply knowledge-based content. After a review of relevant literature regarding historical thinking methodology, we then sought to observe the class, interview some of the students and analyze the content presented. Our findings indicate that this particular instructor favored lecture as her presentation method, which discouraged students from seeking meaning beyond the content as it was presented. In interviews, students indicated little prior experience or prior knowledge employed in this class resulting in a feeling of disconnectedness from the content. Most students however, still expressed an interest in history despite how it was taught in this course, and others they had experienced, but lamented the neglect of their prior knowledge and experiences with historical content in the classroom. The lecture style employed by this teacher was not conducive to any deep examination of the content presented, and therefore provided students little opportunity to engage in the material presented. Insofar as this teaching method prevails in secondary and post-secondary history classrooms, this study reveals the lack of engagement students feel when asked to become passive listeners required only to memorize factual knowledge for later assessment. The students interviewed for this research demonstrated the desire many students have to become more actively involved in learning history. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

This essay explores the ways in which historians in Britain developed American history, focusing on attitudes towards the founding of the American republic. With reference to such historians as Goldwin Smith, Lord Acton, Winston Churchill, and Denis Brogan, the essay traces how they helped legitimate the United States as a subject of serious study, and the ways in which their work informed the creation of American Studies in Britain. Historians and students in Britain came to respect the ideals on which the American republic had been founded: against the backdrop of international fascism and communism the United States represented freedom and political progress. More recently, however, British ideas about American exceptionalism have faded, as international organizations have developed alternative protectors of democracy and liberty. The erosion of an American ideal once held dear by British historians symbolizes the end of a particular kind of American history in Britain. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

This essay reflects on the developments in the field of Native American history. The author provides a historical overview of the rise of Native American history as a specialized field of study within American history beginning in the late 1960s. He also tackles the development of several Native American studies programs and departments that also began in late 1960s. Moreover, he discusses the efforts to unite scholars in Native American studies program and traditional academic departments in United States.

The article focuses on using works of art as primary sources in history classes in the U.S. According to the author, works of art by their very nature offer students a window into the creative process. Works of art, accordingly, provide students with the opportunity to become proficient in the analysis and interpretation of that process and to articulate the diverse perspectives and emotional response that come from such analysis.

The article highlights events included in the Colonial Williamsburg History and Civics curriculum which demonstrate the organization and unfolding of case studies. The events discussed are the revolutionary resistance from 1765 to 1776, reconstruction from 1865 to 1877, the wave of immigration from 1840 to 1860 and the establishment of the national highway system. The case study approach allows students to dig into the ideas and issues that the U.S. faced as it embarked on a political adventure. Issues covered include the establishment of a democratic republic over a vast landscape, which was accomplished in a dynamic and changing world.

The article discusses the utilization of historical stories of selected individuals involving moral/character conflict in teaching American Revolution to students. Personal stories are useful in engaging contemporary students to reflect upon values. These stories reflect decisions involving truth, honor, integrity, respect, and loyalty, among other traits, and encourage students to analyze the issues and choices made. Such stories help students realize that others before them faced conflicts similar to theirs and that by making the right choices they persevered. The real story of first U.S. President George Washington is presented.

The author talks of his experiences teaching a one semester class in Latina/o American history survey class for undergraduates at the Oberlin College. He starts by admitting his failure in his first attempt to teach such a class in 2000. Not only was it his first class that he planned and taught on his own, but he had no textbook to help organize his lectures. He now teaches his class by dividing the different Latina/o groups and teaching each group's history as a separate "unit." He feels his class challenges previous conceptions about "traditional" American history that were basically a white biased dialogue with a few Indians at the beginning and some prominent Blacks featured towards the end. He includes discussions of sexual politics since he feels this is a major theme of Latina/o studies.

The author talks of her experiences teaching a gay and lesbian American history survey class for undergraduates at the Santa Clara University. Her class "Gays/Lesbians in U.S. History," is an upper level course that meets both the American history and the university's gender/ethnic core requirements. She has found the class appeals equally to both men and women. She defends her role as a teacher of "LGBTQ," or lesbian/gay/bisexual/ transgendered/queer studies, even though she is married and avowedly heterosexual.

The author talks of her experiences teaching a two part African American history survey class for undergraduates at Swarthmore College. Her classes are "African American History, 1500-1865" and "African American History, 1877-Present." She actually uses the end of the first class to open up a discussion about the U.S. Civil War and the end of slavery, as well as the effects of the Reconstruction. She starts her second class with a more detailed discussion of Reconstruction. She uses the classes as a way to teach students about the history and development of racism. Many students take it for granted that racism has always existed.

This article discusses the Atlantic world perspective in teaching American colonial history in South African colleges. The comparative history of American racism and South African apartheid is described as one approach to the study of American history. While American approaches to studying U.S. history from a global perspective, such as "Rethinking American History in a Global Age" edited by Thomas Bender, are lauded, questions about the the imperial heritage of the U.S. remain to be answered.

The article explores whether or not the addition of essay questions in examinations increased the learning of U.S. history survey classes. Essay writing made a difference in the scores of students and their understanding. The study demonstrates that adding essay writing to exams in history survey courses has a positive effect on learning. It also supports the understanding that writing is beneficial for content learning in history. According to historian Lendol Calder, if ever a course demanded inquiry into learning it would be the introductory history survey.

The article discusses the controversy over social studies, its main camps and pattern of social studies wars since the beginning of the 20th century in the U.S., and critical episodes that will put the contemporary controversies in historical perspective. There are five major camps mentioned in the book "The Social Studies Wars: What Should We Teach the Children?" namely traditional historians, social studies advocates, social efficiency educators, social meliorists, and social reconstructionists or critical pedagogues. Lessons for teachers include the options offered by the camps, the need to defend teachers' right, and the power of traditional-based approaches in social studies.

The article explores how the author has radically restructured the most traditional of courses, the U.S. history survey, in light of the scholarship of teaching and learning. But the course is not unique. So much experimentation is going on that one wonders whether historians might not be close to establishing a signature pedagogy for the introductory history course. A signature pedagogy is what beginning students in the professions have but history engineers typically do not: ways of being taught that require them to do, think, and value what practitioners in the field are doing, thinking, and valuing.

Argues that U.S. historians who established courses on Native American history in history departments at the college and university level were influenced mainly by larger societal trends that surfaced off-campus. Number of U.S. historians who established courses on Native American history; Explanation that these historians were rare exceptions; Discussion on the societal forces that influenced these exceptional historians.

Offers insights on the study and teaching of U.S. history. Criticism against the method of teaching history in colleges and universities; Benefits of studying U.S. history; Impact of history on the life and works of mankind.

The article discusses the history of migration in the U.S. Prior to independence attained by the Americans, there were two major streams of migration including that which involves people taken as slaves from western Africa and that of European migrants, particularly the British Isles and German-speaking states. The largest migration to the U.S. during the 19th to the 20th century came from Europe. The use of steam transportation and the expansion of railroad lines make migration easier and cheaper. In the 1910's, the Mexican Revolution triggered migration in the southwestern area. Through the mid-20th century, the shifts in U.S. immigration policies eliminated anti-Asian bias. A study on migration and the concept of transnationalism, which emerged in the 1990's, are presented.

The article narrates the experience of the author about the use of the magazine, "North & South" as a medium in teaching the history of the U.S. Civil War. The author claims that the magazine is ideal since its article are of appropriate length and are written by experts, which include some of the most respected Civil War historians. He also appreciated the presence of discussions on the lives of soldiers, their experiences of battles, which students read through wartime letters, diaries and essays of soldiers that may be found among the issues of the magazine. The students were also asked to read articles on former president Abraham Lincoln and on the role of African Americans in the war.

The article discusses a lesson plan in teaching market revolution in the U.S. The activities included in the lesson are directed towards fulfilling standards in the National Standards for United States History. Student objectives that are involved in the study of market revolution are presented. Large manufacturing experiments were conducted in Lowell, Massachusetts that involved employing young country girls who are at the right age but not yet married. These exercise would let students experience in situations that they may face if they are in antebellum America.

Presents a conversation about the nature and future of graduate education, and the place of public history in it. The increased attention paid to public history by the two leading professional organizations. Initiation of a regular column on public history in 1996, and its task force in 2001, while the OAH launched a Committee on Public History 1981, and a Committee on the National Park Service 1995--constitutes further evidence of changing attitudes within the profession at large. As the AHA and the NCPH continue to review and consider public history education, certain broader trends in public history, and higher education more generally are likely to influence the shape that education takes in the years to come. Faculty members should be encouraged to participate more actively in public history education, whether or not they see themselves as specialists in this area, helping relieving the burden on faculty members too-often identified as sole sources of public history knowledge, and modeling for students the continuum of public history practice within the academy.

Discusses several issues concerning history education in the U.S. Aspects of the historic sense presented by J. Carleton Bell, managing editor of the "Journal of Educational Psychology", and colleague David F. McCollum; Results of a large-scale test of factual knowledge in U.S. history of Texas students from 1915 to 1916; Information on a survey about ignorance in history shown by college freshmen published in the "New York Times" on April 4, 1943.

El artículo presenta un ensayo que enfoca en el desarrollo del sistema curricular de historia y ciencias sociales. El ensayo es una versión revisada de un testimonio escrito de la autora titulado "¿Qué es lo que sus hijos estudian en la escuela? Cómo influyen en la educación los niveles de enseñanza y los libros de texto". El testimonio fue presentado en Washington, D.C. en 2003.

Comments on John Streamas' work in building upon the importance of American studies that addresses the question regarding the absence or presence of Asian Americans in American history. Recognition of the Asian Americans as a pivotal figure in the racialized hierarchy of American society; Factor that motivates Streamas' analysis of the overlapping texts of several American movies; Possible result if Americans will be able to cast off the desire to violently impose divine intuited right way of thinking.

Provides information on the use of The List, a list of coincidences about historical facts, as a valuable opportunity to help others explore relevant facts when evaluating historical data. Roots of the appeal and persistence of The List; Coincidences in the history of U.S. Presidents Millard Fillmore and Harry S. Truman; Relevance of the historical links or coincidences in the teaching of history.

Asserts that even in an era of unprecedented nationalization in historiography, the study of American history is still deeply influenced by the legacies of nationalism and exceptionalism. Resiliency of the nation-centered historical tradition in the United States; Impact of exceptionalism on Frederick Jackson Turner; Paul Kennedy's `Rise and Fall of the Great Powers'; `The Liberal Tradition in America,' by Louis Hartz.

An essay is presented on what and whose history has been taught in the U.S. public schools. It examines what might be learned about racial, ethnic and cultural inclusion, which integrates the views of the people who make up the country. The author found out that the scope of school history has expanded. He cites the general broadening that includes not only European and U.S. history, but also the history of the world.

The article presents a portrait and analysis of the American republic's spirit at the middle of the nineteenth century. This analysis is within the context of its earlier history and ideals and of the new economic, military, technological and international forces which challenged those values. The author does not want to get involved in the question whether history can more properly and accurately be written long after the event or in its immediate aftermath. He simply wishes to point out that to mid-nineteenth-century Americans, the spirit that lay behind an event or a period is crucial to its understanding.