NCSS has selected a collection of classroom activities, teaching ideas, and articles from Social Education, Middle Level Learning, and Social Studies and the Young Learner. Browse the collection, or search by historical period and grade level using the search function below.
(Collections on other disciplines are under development.)
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The Course of the Republic: American Responses to Technology in the Nineteenth Century
Submitted by Steven Lapham on Mon, 07/27/2009 - 8:48amMeghan McGlinn Manfra
This overview with teaching activities on the Lowell textile mill and Ralph Waldo Emerson offers creative approaches to studying the political and technological changes of the nineteenth century.
Printer-friendly versionLetter by Stephen Decatur and Painting by Thomas Chambers Related to the War of 1812 (Teaching with Documents)
Submitted by Steven Lapham on Mon, 07/27/2009 - 8:53amLee Ann Potter and Elizabeth K. Eder
This article pairs a textual document with a painting of the related 1812 sea battle, underscoring the value of visual images in fostering new insights about historic events, people, and ideas.
The Constitution In Action (Teaching with Documents)
Submitted by Steven Lapham on Mon, 07/27/2009 - 8:58amBy Lee Ann Potter
Students take on the roles of archivists and researchers when they study primary documents at the Constitution in Action Lab.
(Includes an 1847 credential certificate naming Sam Houston as an elected Senator from Texas.)
9/11 and Terrorism: “The Ultimate Teachable Moment” in Textbooks and Supplemental Curricula
Submitted by Steven Lapham on Mon, 07/27/2009 - 9:01amDiana Hess and Jeremy Stoddard
A survey of curricular materials developed to address 9/11, reveals there is great discrepancy on how the topic should be covered and what students should be learning.
Learning Early Twentieth-Century History through First-Person Interviews
Submitted by Steven Lapham on Mon, 07/27/2009 - 9:04amBy Lisa A. Lark
Carrying out face-to-face interviews with American seniors can make U.S. history more relevant to students, and especially those who are first- and second-generation citizens.
Promoting Historic Preservation in the Classroom
Submitted by Steven Lapham on Mon, 07/27/2009 - 9:07amBy Paul LaRue
High school students learn that there is much more to history than the textbook when they interview World War II veterans and transcribe the stories for the Library of Congress’s Veterans History Project.
October 1957 Memorandum Related to Sputnik (Teaching with Documents)
Submitted by Steven Lapham on Mon, 07/27/2009 - 9:11amBy Missy McNatt and David Traill
This month marks the fiftieth anniversary of the Soviet launch of Sputnik, which fueled American panic that the Soviet Union could fire intercontinental ballistic missiles. The featured document highlights President Eisenhower’s reaction and the government’s response.
Chew Heong v. United States: Chinese Exclusion and the Federal Courts (Looking at the Law)
Submitted by Steven Lapham on Mon, 07/27/2009 - 9:16am_ By Edited by James H. Landman_
A close look at the case of Chew Heong, a Chinese immigrant who challenged the nineteenth-century Chinese exclusion laws, provides important insight into early U.S. efforts to control immigration.
The Great Communicator Files
Submitted by Steven Lapham on Mon, 07/27/2009 - 9:17amBy Mira Cohen
Students will learn a great deal about the process of presidential speechwriting when they study primary documents related to well-known speeches such as President Reagan’s “Omaha Beach Memorial Remarks.”
Researching the Viet Nam War Inside Viet Nam: U.S. Student Teachers Explore War Myths
Submitted by Steven Lapham on Mon, 07/27/2009 - 9:22amBy Robert E. Vadas
Aiming to correct myths about the Viet Nam War, this author regularly leads groups of students to learn about the country firsthand.
