The title pages of three books from the Enlightenment provide excellent points of entry for student research into the origins of ideas in the Declaration of Independence, the Constitution, and the Bill of Rights.

After the British torched the Capitol and its library in 1814, Congress purchased Thomas Jefferson’s renowned book collection. The featured letter by Jefferson, written at the conclusion of the transfer, can serve as an introduction to the global context of the War of 1812.

PBS/WETA Civilians worldwide are increasingly the targets of war crimes. This unprecedented series examines the evolution of postwar justice in investigating genocide, ethnic cleansing and other atrocities and in prosecuting the perpetrators.   The full title of the series is "Dead Reckoning: War, Crime, and Justice from World War II to the War on Terror." The episodes are slated to be shown on Monday evenings, December 5-19, 2016, but check local listings. “The General’s Ghost” (12/5/2016) “The Blind Eye” (12/12/2016) “In Our Time” (12/19/2016) Here's a description from a one-page fact sheet…

In Pursuit of Equity: Book Banning and Censorship Book bans in schools and libraries are on the rise. Last school year, more than 850 individual titles were impacted by censorship efforts of local groups and state decision-makers. How can educators and students navigate censorship in their communities? NCHE and NCSS united for a fourth virtual Equity Summit in October 2023 in support of our history and social studies educators and students, with a focus on book-banning and censorship. These are the session recordings from the Summit. 

“Understanding Sacrifice: An ABMC Education Program about World War II in Northern Europe” is a free online collection of classroom activities related to World War II, found online at abmceducation.org. Created by 18 teachers from around the world, each activity was made by researching the life of one fallen American hero from that war who is buried in an American Battle Monuments Commission (ABMC) cemetery in Europe. There are activities for science, art, and history. There is also an entire non-fiction book (a free PDF), “When the Akimotos went to War,” by Matthew Elms, about two young men…

Quinn Rollins, Play Like a Pirate: Engage Students with Toys, Games, and Comics. San Diego, CA: Dave Burgess Consulting, Inc., 2016, Paperback, 164 pp., $24.95. Here’s an informal book review, excerpts from a blog posting  (www.ucss.blog.com), by NCSS member Kaye Rizzuto (who teaches  8th and 9th grade U.S. History as well as AP Human Geography at Elk Ridge Middle School in South Jordan, Utah: “Our own Quinn Rollins, former UCSS [Utah Council for the Social Studies] president, has recently published a book called Play Like a Pirate. I highly recommend the book. It has great ideas for…

The year 2018 marks the 100th anniversary of the Spanish flu epidemic, which killed about one-third of the human population on Earth. We also have, this year, an especially virulent strain of the flue to contend with. How society prepares for, and responds to, infectious diseases is the topic of these teaching resources. Raphael Mazzone and Lee Ann Potter, “Documents Related to the Flu Pandemic of 1918,” Social Education 70, no. 7 (November/December 2006): 393–396. *** As World War I neared its end, a worldwide epidemic claimed more victims than the war itself. The two featured documents…

This inquiry, which explores the current debate on what should be done with Confederate monuments, engages students in historical, geographic and civic skills.

Multimedia and Web 2.0 technologies offer opportunities to successfully engage low achieving students while promoting in-depth thinking and increasing student participation.

Engaging students in an examination of historical segregation in Virginia can ignite an important discussion about the ongoing reality of segregation in the United States today.