NCSS+journal+articles

=Post your article by content area:=


 * Add one valuable article from NCSS journal online site
 * Hyperlink the address to the title of the article
 * include publication info
 * briefly describe the content and what is good about the article
 * Post this to the class wiki page titled NCSS.
 * One article is due each Thursday for the remainder of the semester.
 * Be prepared to tell the class about what you've found each week.

=October 28th:=


 * =====[|Rapping the 27 Amendments to the Constitution]=====
 * =====November/December 2009, Volume 76, Number 7, pg. 342-344=====
 * =====This article is about how one social studies teacher's project about memorizing the 27 amendments turned into a fun, interactive project for his students. The original project was not this extensive or involved, but a group of students asked if they could make a rap to memorize all 27 amendments to the Constitution, and spent 4 hours after school putting it all together. After it was completed, it was presented to the class the next day and a new project for future classes was created. This is an interesting article because it gives students a chance to make a project that is unique only to their group. In addition, it also involves the use of technology if students wish to record their rap to a beat on the computer. Also, this idea is not limited to the amendments, it can be used for any topic of social studies if students are required to memorize specific information.=====
 * =====Teaching About Ethnicities in China=====
 * =====January/February 2010, Volume 74, No.1,pg45-48=====
 * =====This article deals with how to teach students about China's ethnic background while also teaching them about the recent events in western China. It details main points that students need to understand at the end of the lesson, 7 in total, and major sections that teachers should concentrate on, diversity, history, and power and authority. This article is a good one because it outlines easily how a lesson could be set up and the essential points that need to be covered.=====
 * =====Introducing www.DocsTeach.org, a New Online Tool for Teaching with Documents =====
 * =====September 2010, Volume 74, Number 4, pgs. 170-172=====
 * =====This article informs teachers about how students can often learn from examining the original historical documents. Obviously, this is not always a possibility. Many teachers in York, PA take for granted our accessibility to Philadelphia and Washington, D.C. However, for students in Montana or North Dakota, taking a road trip to these cities is not a practical or realistic option for teachers. Therefore, having documents like the Gettysburg Address and the Declaration of Independence online allows the students to observe the materials without every leaving their classroom. Documents are organized based upon their subject matter, authors, etc. This would be a great asset to every Social Studies teacher's classroom=====
 * =====[|Researching, Producing, Presenting: Students' Use of Technology for Global Advocacy in the Social Studies]=====
 * =====March/April 2010, Volume 74 (2), pp 105-106.=====
 * =====This article gives an intriguing idea for a class project - to make students develop solutions to global issues, and use their technological resources to distribute that information via the internet. Students could use Skype or iMovie, any other technological means of video production, and then they would post their product to YouTube, and often times Facebook and Myspace as well. The project was broken into three roles or stages: researching, producing, and presenting. In their research they were required to use online databases for newspapers and magazines and conduct interviews view voice over phones or Skype, when they produced they had to create a 10-15 minute digital story composed in some type of video processing program (like iMovie), and when they presented they had to post the video to YouTube. The class, and even general public, made comments and asked questions that the creator of the video had to respond to. I really liked this article because not only is it asking students to delve into realms of higher thinking by researching and assimilating their information, but it is in an avenue that students like to explore anyway. Students like to create, and they like technology. This project made use of all of the senses, required them to make an engaging presentation that people would want to watch, and yet they also learned a great deal about a global issue and accessed the highest levels of Bloom's Taxonomy by posing their own solutions to the problems.=====
 * =====[|The Guide on the Stage: In Defense of Good Lecturing in the History Classroom]=====
 * =====October 2009, Vol. 73, No. 6, p275-8=====
 * =====This article presents an argument that amidst the movement towards cooperative teaching methods lecturing still holds a value within education. Jason Stacy notes that an interactive lecture which follows the 10:2 rule (10 minutes of new material directed by the teacher followed by 2 minutes of discussion based on open ended questions) has proven to engage students and improve their comprehension. The process of the 10:2 rule allows teachers to assess their students grasp of the new material by having the analyze and synthesize the new material. Lectures which are problem-centered or comparative are more effective than traditional lectures which were sequential. The thesis driven lecture provides the essential framework to analyzing history. It demands that students actively engage in the material.=====
 * =====[|Teaching About Comparative Government]=====
 * =====September 2009, Vol. 73, No. 5, p217-218=====
 * =====This article makes the case that students should learn about comparative government. With international relations becoming increasingly important in today's world, this knowledge is essential. What I found in the article that was good was how he went about telling teachers to teach it, he did not give a specific way. Instead he listed 9 different websites that he found to be effective and wrote a brief description of how each one of the sites can be used. The sites range from slide shows by teachers, to the Library of Congress, to Wikipedia. He emphasizes his point that if citizenship is a goal of social studies teachers, comparative government must be a part of our curriculums. (sc)=====
 * =====With Reason and Rhetoric Building the Case for Literature-Social Studies Connection=====
 * =====April/May 1996, Vol. 60, No. 4=====
 * =====This article makes the case that traditional textbooks have perceived shortcomings. Their case studies of classrooms revealed that teachers rarely make literature selections with social studies goals and concepts in mind. They choose books for their literary quality and appeal. Consequently, literature-based teaching too often misses significant aspects of a topic that are essential for promoting civic competence. This article suggests that teachers need to=====
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 * =====November/ December 2008=====
 * =====A Living History Classroom: Using Re-Enactment to Enhance Learning=====
 * =====May/June 2010, Volume 74, Number 3=====
 * =====The linked article explains how to effectively engage students through role-play and re-enactment. The article explains that today there is a drive to always use technology but sometimes simple props can be more affective than high tech teaching techniques. The article is good because it gives practical tips of how re-enactment is most useful. It also points out that this technique can be used across many curricula, not just history.=====
 * =====What Can Forrest Gump Tell us about Student's historical understanding? =====
 * =====January/February 2001, Volume 65, Number 1=====
 * =====The article above takes a look at the effects that television and movies have on a students historical perspective. Students camp out in front of the TV and absorb, often unknowingly, an unending barrage of historical images. By the time children have celebrated a decade of Thanksgivings and Martin Luther King Days, they are already seasoned students of American culture and history. In the article it examines the research that was conducted in which a case study took place. In this case study, the researchers followed students from 3 different schools. They were trying to figure out the difference between lived history and learned history. The current textbooks and curricula make no mention of everyday notions of historical knowing. By investigating the history students bring with them to school, we can consider anew the role of the classroom. This article is interesting in that it gives us a new perspective as to which we can view history from and teaching history within the classroom. It gives teachers things to ponder, are the textbooks that we are using really benefiting the students or detracting from the history?=====

=November 4th:=


 * [|Social Studies for English Language Learners]
 * October 2009, Social Education, Volume 73, Number 6, pg. 271-274
 * This article covers how to effectively provide social studies instruction to students who are ELL. It states four methods to use when teaching these kinds of students: vocabulary and language skills development (using language improves the ELLs’ language, give these students the chance to talk in your class), promoting interactive learning between ELLs and English-speaking students (student interaction is one of the best ways students learn, why not use it with ELL? it's important to include ELLs in groups rather than as passive observers), comprehensible (differentiating instruction to help these students, they should include pre-reading activities, modified reading passages, and visual representations of social studies content), and accommodating a variety of learning styles(Just as with English-speaking students, learning styles of ELLs are all different). In addition, when planning ELL instruction for social studies classes, teachers much truly understand what they want students to learn.


 * =====[|The Coverage of the Holocaust in High School History Text Books]=====
 * =====October 2009, Social Education 73(6), pp 298–304=====
 * =====Covering the Holocaust is critical to a high school history course, however, it brings its own sorts of issues with it, primarily being that it's popularity as a topic means students come in with considerable prior knowledge and much of that may be inaccurate. Also, the Holocaust deniers prey on that misinformation and will make any discrepancies in text books out to be proof that it was all fabricated. This article details a study conducted by the author on various textbooks and offers tips as to how to dispel myths and misinformation that may occur in such texts. The first thing teachers should do is present students with an accurate definition for the Holocaust, the author recommends The United States Holocaust Memorial Museum's definition issued in 2001 - many texts do not offer this or only offer portions which cause considerable holes in it's accuracy and full inclusion of information. A lot of texts also seem to take the Holocaust out of the WWII context - they were interwoven and one is critical to understanding the other, ensure that your students know they were simultaneous events but the terms are not synonymous - the Holocaust is best portrayed as a war within a war. Other issues include describing the evolution of antisemitism and ensuring that students have well developed understanding of that topic, discussing key players in the Holocaust but not relegating them simply to that role (adding the term 'perpetrator,' for instance, could lead students to infer implementation and distort that person's role within the tragedy), incorrect use of the word 'race', etc. The author also notes that most texts are obssessed with Hitler, which consequently ignores the role of the men in the army, the average German citizen, and the millions of people who participated in the Holocaust and blames one man for its inception - an inaccurate over-exaggeration. I really liked this article because if it pointed out the inadequacies of a text it told the teacher how best to counter it. It also used charts and graphics illustrating how the various text surveyed measured up in the different areas discussed, it allows you to compare them to one another at a glance.=====
 * =====The Shrinking of Social Studies=====
 * =====September 2003, Volume 67, Number 5=====
 * =====With the growing of standardization within education, the social studies content is being left to die, and for many it is becoming obsolete however, this is one of the most important content areas as the article points out because everything that is important to a student is deeply entwined within some portion of social studies. The article goes forth to examine the more in depth impact that the separate sets of standards have had on education as a whole. The article has a case study revolving around Washington and their new sets of standards. The conclusion is that social studies is in clear and present danger and that teachers should be more active in pushing the idea that it is the most important subject for various reasons. I like this article because it brings to light some of the issues that surrounds the standards system and the fact that it downplays one subject or another. It gives teachers pointers on how to tackle the problem of standards, although it may not be effective at first, it still presents the issues.=====
 * =====[|Historicalthinkingmatters.org: Using the Web to Teach Historical Thinking]=====
 * =====April 2008 - Volume 72, Number 3=====
 * =====This valuable article describes the benefits that the Internet can bring into a classroom of the 21st century. The library of Congress has recently updated its collection of archives and has millions upon millions of historical documents that can be examined and downloaded very easily. This is extremely valuable to a social studies classroom. A teacher could very easily capture the students' attention by showing them a photocopy of President Lincoln's letters rather than reading a description within a textbook.=====
 * =====[|Documents Related to the Flu Pandemic of 1918]=====
 * =====November/December 2006, Volume 70 Number 7=====
 * =====This article could be very useful for an American History class. The flu pandemic was a major event in our nation's history and students should be informed of its beginning. The beginning of the article lays out the basic history of the pandemic and how it traveled from one area to the next. Where the article stands out to me, however, is its helpful tips of how to use primary sources in explaining the event. In fact, it gives two specific documents and multiple teaching suggestions. I appreciate how the article is practical for teachers and gives them something tangible to bring into the classroom. It is not simply stating facts or research. It adds the important facet of application.=====
 * [|Teaching][| with Documents: Eyewitness Account of Dr. Robert King Stone]
 * March 2007, Volume 71, Number 2
 * The article briefly discusses the death of President Lincoln. The purpose of the article is to show that students can use documents to learn and provides an example of how to use documents to teach students. This scenario deals with the assassination of Lincoln and provides the document with the testimony of his physician. Then at the end of the article there is an example of how to implement something like this into your own classroom. (sc)
 * [|The Presidential Timeline of the 20th Century]
 * April 2007, **Volume 71 Number 3**
 * This article discusses a fairly new website that has collected information from 12 Presidential Libraries. It has a variety of digitized documents which can be very useful in the classroom. They set up the site in a timeline so you can go through and pick which President and which document based on the month and year. I personally think this could be a valuable resource because it does a lot of the work for you. The article itself goes into the sites various pieces of data.
 * Increasing the Relevance: A Who Done It Mystery
 * May/June 2009, Volume 73, Number 4
 * This article discusses a way in which teachers can differenciate instruction and maximize student participation in the classroom. This lesson was designed to go along with a Government Unit, and particularly emphasize the judicial branch and the court process. The author of this article brings up a valid point that it is not only the students that become bored with the lessons and material, but also the teacher. This lesson plan is designed to involve every student in a murder mystery to learn about the proceedings of a court trial; as well as think from the prospective of a scientist and a lawyer.
 * A Bus Ride across the Mason-Dixion Line during Jim Crow
 * October 2010, Volume 74, Number 5, pg. 266-71
 * This article provides a great interactive simulation for learning about Jim Crow laws during the forties. It is very useful and flexible activity to all age/learning levels. It provides a real experience for students by forcing them to react to a specific event they are apart of. It includes the full lesson plan and simulation for teachers to use in their classrooms.

=November 11th:=


 * =====[|Asking the Right Questions: Developing Thinking Skills Through Wisconsin's Grade Level Foundations]=====
 * =====November/December 2008, Social Education 72(7), pp 392–395=====
 * =====This article emphasizes the importance of developing analytical and critical thinking skills. This article sings the praises of the 21st Century Skills Framework (www.21stcenturyskills.org). Essentially the argument is that content knowledge is important, however, what may be more important is the development of skills used to analyze such content information. Kids won't need to recite important historical dates at job interviews, but they will use the skills they built in that subject area to answer questions or solve problems that may land them that job. The state of Wisconsin has adopted a backward design method in their social studies courses that delineates end goals for different subjects in the department for grades k-12. The plan basically coins itself as a tool to help more effectively implement standards. They focus on the development of 5 main areas: knowledge acquisition skills, information and communication skills, inquiry, critical thinking and problem solving skills, interpersonal and self directional skills, and reflection. They also assert that how teachers ask questions is critical - the 'what are the causes' or 'why did...' are insufficient - we need to reach higher levels of thinking and cover the 5 aforementioned areas. I liked this article because they tell the teachers how they feel focus questions should be implemented, but then also offer sample focus questions for various grade levels. There's also a pretty cool graphic, it's a full page kind of jig saw picture and in the center it says 'How to Think Like..." and then the four areas are An Economist, A Geographer, A Historian, A Political Scientist. They then have other sample questions that can get the students on task and thinking within that role.=====
 * =====Low Expectations and Less Learning=====
 * =====September 2003, Volume 67, Number 5=====
 * =====The article examines the effects that No Child Left Behind has had on education. The main point that the article makes is that although this act is good in theory, when it is actually. The fate of many schools and students are placed on the ever important standardized tests which fails to bring out the good in education and to place the emphasis where it is actually needed. Although it is a good act in theory, the way in which it has been implemented has had negative and detrimental effects on the educational system and in the end has actually decreased the quality of the education in the United States. The law could be improved in many ways, one being taking away the punishment system for poor grades and standards and that congress should be continuously working with states in giving them better options. The article is good in that it examines the issues in an analytical manner and also points out the good parts of the act as well as outlining the negative portions.=====
 * Advocating for Abolition: Staging an Abolition Society Convention
 * September 2010, Volume 74, Number 4, pg. 178-183
 * This article provides a great and engaging simulation for abolition. The article provides lesson plans and the activity allows students to "do history." Instead of simply learning the names of certain abolitionists student can research and reenact their contribution to the fight for equal rights. It allows students to own their own learning by developing alliances for an open abolitionist convention they will role play. Students will be able to develop and practice good communication skills while learning the content. The article also provides great diagrams and other resource material to help students successfully enter into the shoes of their abolitionist.
 * [|Defending Academic Freedom: Special iSSue on academic Freedom Advice for Teachers]
 * November/December 2010, Volume 74, Number 6, Pg. 310-315
 * This article covers teachers rights regarding academics. It goes over the history of specific cases and how teachers have lost much of their academic freedom. It goes over specific ways teachers can express themselves and what they can bring up. It also brings up parents rights and what they can sue for.
 * Maps and Map Learning in Social Studies
 * November/December 2006, Volume 70 Number 7
 * This article gives teachers new ideas and techniques on how to use maps in the classroom, both inside and outside the geography subject. It also gives good advice on how to teach students to use maps properly. The article refers to this as teaching with maps rather than teaching about maps. It says that by teaching with maps the teacher is having the students learn how to analyze and interpret maps by using them hands on rather than simply being lectured about them. The article also states that in order for students to really gain a good understanding of maps and how to use them effectively, you must begin teaching students at a young age to use them, continue to teach students throughout their education, and keep re-evaluating students' skills at interpretation.
 * The Cherokee Response to Removal
 * November/December 2004, Volume 68 Number 7
 * This article provides teachers with a lesson plan full of insight on the Cherokee experience during the native's group 19th century relocation by force of the federal government. This became known as the "Trail of Tears". This lesson plan uses primary sources as well as a poem to connect students to the event. It also presents various responses to the removal along with research on related events and historical figures. This lesson plan is broken down into segments which even include teacher background knowledge.
 * [|Sounds Good To Me: Using Digital Audio In The Social Studies Classroom]
 * April 2007, Volume 71 Number 3
 * This article delves into the importance of using technology in the classroom. Too many teachers in today's education are not willing to adhere to the new landscape of the classroom. Using audio is especially useful in social studies. Some useful examples are speeches, interviews, songs, eyewitness accounts, and other historical artifacts. Audio is easy to use and little technology is actually needed. Also book resources are not able to express the human element of historical events. Podcasts are another form of audio that can be implemented in the class. Curricul and current events can often be found in a podcast. Educators must start using audio to enhance lessons. Print resources alone do not capture the full potential of learning.
 * [|Teaching about South Asian Women: Getting Beyone the Stereotypes]
 * Jan/Feb 2003, Vol 67, No 1
 * The article looks at how Americans portray South Asain women. There are stereotypes that should not be addressed. The article encourages teaching about their context in history and geography of the regions religion and culture as well as the progress they have made over the years. The article states that we should encourage the acceptance of diversity and not accept stereotypes as true. It is our job to enrich our students midns and eliminate this primitive thought process. (sc)

=November 18th:=
 * [|Revisiting Academic Freedom in Social Studies: A Special Issue on the Freedom to Teach and to Learn]


 * =====[|Home Grown: Models of Excellence in Teacher-Designed Social Studies Websites]=====
 * =====November/December 2004, 68(7)=====
 * =====This article gives numerous examples of websites made by teachers for student use in their classroom. We've done a lot of discussing this semester about how it's important for us to be aware of the internet sources available to us as teachers and how to best utilize them in our classrooms. This article illustrates how several teachers have done just that and helped their students to find resources, use resource, be aware of class information, post class projects, etc. Some teachers have simply made their website easy to navigate with tabs for students, administrators, teachers, and parents. Others have become more elaborate and post pre-tests, study guides, vocabulary words, syllabus, etc on their site. This really expands the resources of students who may have left a notebook at school or simply didn't write something down. Other teachers have taken steps to make their websites bilingual or visually appealing - they incorporate different learning styles and different kinds of learners even on their class website. One thing I liked was some teachers linked their class assignments to pages with their state teaching standards, they also attached this information to a very specific rubric for the project - this way the students and parents all have the information available to them and the expectations are clear. I liked that they have the links right on the article too so you can visit that site and see exactly what they are referencing.=====
 * =====Window into the White House=====
 * =====April 2008, Volume 72, Number 3=====
 * =====This article examines the advantages that can be found within the paranoia of President Nixon. The White House tapes, which can be found on www.whitehousetapes.org provides great insight into the speeches, personal lives, and other aspects of presidents after Nixon. The content of these tapes is wide ranging and encompasses many time periods within the United States. It provides teachers and students with the opportunity to learn about how presidents have made decisions, and exercised leadership within the United States. Teachers can work these effectively into their lessons by using the resources that have been provided by the site, one including a "Sound Recording Analysis Worksheet". Students will also be able to read the speeches as they are listening to them which helps to fortify the information for them. They are able to examine the speeches and analysis their purpose and their implications toward American History. This article has plenty of items that can assist teachers within the classroom including worksheets and suggestions for incorporating this form of media into your lessons. It also outlines some of the more particular speeches and gives very particular examples of lesson plans to be used.=====
 * Should Social Studies Be Patriotic?
 * November/December 2009, Volume 73, Number 7, pg. 316-20
 * This article helps teachers attempt to answer one of the hardest questions to answer for US history teachers. Most US history teachers are very patriotic and their lessons reflect their patriotism. However, should social studies instill "love for country?" The article identifies two types of patriotism to help teachers tackle the issue: authoritarian or democratic patriotism. Do students learn the context easier if the teacher teaches patriotism in a different way? I think any US history teacher should read this article to make sure they are inform and can better identify their teaching methods in regards to patriotism.
 * [|Virtual Field Trips adn Newsrooms: Integrating Technology into the Classroom]
 * April 2001, Vol 64, No 3
 * These are both interactive group exercises that are easy to incorporate into the class. Virtual field trips are good tools for students they get them involved and allow them to see history interactively over the internet. The article does one on Mt Vernon and provides a worksheet that can be used in the activity. Virtual newsrooms are more involved but allow you to really know that the students know what’s going on with the material. The article provides a step by step process of how to do the project over the course of 10 days using the topic of the Civil Rights Movement. (sc)
 * [|Bringing Latin America to Life with Films in the Classroom]
 * May/June 2007, Volume 71 Number 4
 * Students in general are very ignorant about minority cultures within America. Looking for a way to teach students about Latin America, one teacher has turned to fiml and video. It is a simple way of connecting students to the other culture in a way that interests them. Each film he shows brings a different aspect of the culture. It is the teacher's job to preface the film with background knowledge and important questions to intrigue and prepare the students for the viewing. The article is specifically helpful for teachers because it has a list of 22 useful films that can be used to teach about Latin America.
 * The Art and Science of Diplomacy: A World War I Activity
 * May/June 2005 Vol. 65, No.4
 * This article is one that describes how to do a role-play activity for a World War I unit. This activity puts students into groups and lets them come up with the main points on economics,social, and political information on one of the big powers during World War I. The activity will be done over 5 days and the point of it is to teach students to learn about diplomacy and other political and foreign affairs.

=December 2nd:=


 * =====[|Crossing Borders and Building Bridges Using the Internet]=====
 * =====November/December 2007, 71(7)=====
 * =====This article discusses the importance for students to be aware and respectful of differences among people, and yet it also emphasizes the importance that they recognize their similarities to people of other cultures as well as their differences. The internet opens up a world of opportunity for discussing culture by enabling teachers to nearly take their students directly to the source. They can e-mail 'pen pals' or you can set up video conferences with other classrooms from across the country or even around the globe.The author then goes on to list several free websites that have a history of providing good service to teachers who wish to connect their students to students from other cultures. One that I particularly liked was The Teachers Corner School Pen Pals and Key Pals site. Teachers from around the world can post their classroom grade, size, and location and seek to communicate with other classrooms. A great technology tool to use with this would be video conferencing - they could literally see the students, see their classroom, their handwriting, hear them talk, see what they bring to school, see their projects etc. Just because you can't take the students there doesn't mean you can't bring a degree of that culture to them.=====
 * The Meaning of Memory: Establishing the Martin Luther King, Jr., Holiday
 * November/December 2009, Volume 73, Number 7, pg. 332-38
 * This article provides a great primary sources lesson plan that allows student to learning about the legacy of Martin Luther King. However, the lesson also attempt to focus on the process and importance of national holidays. Most Americans are unfamiliar with how holidays are selected and enacted. By using Matin Luther King Jr Day as a case study to answer the question students are able to read primary documents to investigate the past. This allows students to develop and collaborate ideas and answers. The article provides extended assessment questions which could be utilized to test student comprehension and analysis.
 * [|American Memory: Using Library of Congress Online Resources to Enhance History Teaching]
 * March 1998, Vol 62, No 3
 * This article deals with the use of the Library of Congress’ primary documents in class. These documents can be a great tool to utilize in your classroom, however there are problems with it. The Library has been taking steps to make it easier for teachers to incorporate the materials into their curriculums. This article offers example ideas of how to go about using these documents in a classroom setting. (sc)

=December 9th:=
 * [|Teaching about the 2010 Mid-Term Election Using the Internet]
 * October 2010, Volume 74, Number 5
 * The author of this article was very passionate about the mid-term elections of 2010. He believed this election was possibly the biggest the country has ever had. He also believes it is vital to help students understand the significance of the election's issues and flash points. While we know the election is over, I believe we can apply his principles to elections in the future. The author recommended using news sites as resources and full-class projects to engage the students in the election, such as predicting the outcomes. The article also provides specific websites; some were useful for elections in general, while others focused on the 2010 elections.
 * Resources for Latin American Cultural Studies
 * May/June 2002 Volume 66, Number 2
 * This article addressess some of the key issues that can be found when looking for sources to teacher students about Latin American culture. The article outlines some materials that may be used to provide background material when teaching anything on this subject including books with the ISBN numbers. Under each entry it also gives a brief description of the sources so that one does not have to go searching all over for the information which they are seeking. It offers us materials on a wide range of topics including culture, mythology, language, cuisine, family structure, etc. The later parts of the article outline materials from professional journals, publishers and even offers some direction on who to contact if you are still having trouble finding information. For a teacher with lessons on this area, it is a great wealth of information and should be explored further for more resources.
 * Using Online Field Trips and Tours in Social Studies
 * May/June 2010, Volume 74, Number 3, pg. 137-38
 * This article provides great resources for teachers to utilize in their classroom to provide a different set of pace from the everyday activities. In a period where actual field trips are being eliminated form school budgets, the article points out a few great websites that are designed in the same fashion as true field trips. Used in the correct way field trips are extremely beneficial to the learning process. This is a must read for those on a tight budget but wish to have students visualize the content they are learning and to further enrich class instruction.
 * [|Teaching US History Thematically]
 * Apr/May 1997, Vol 61, No 4
 * This article deals with teaching history as themes vs chronologically because it will get students to better grasp the material. The article uses the example of peace and war over 6 weeks for 9 wars using sources other than a textbook. This lets students go past to present more than 10 times, and it changes up so students don’t get bored. It requires more planning but well worth benefits. The article also goes on to list 8 themes. (sc)
 * [|Teaching about Energy Issues and Energy Independence Using the Internet]
 * =====March 2006, Volume 70, Number 2=====
 * The issue of oil dependency and alternative fuels have become a hot topic in courses such as civics, government, and U.S. History. The author has compiled a number of useful internet site related to the issue. Students can use these different websites to conduct research on fuels. Have different students or groups research different concepts or topics and bring the information together as a class. The author has provided us with 9 specific sites that would be useful in planning lesson on oil use and alternative fuels. Many are students friendly and interactive. The article seemed to be useful, as it provides tangible resources to use.