History teachers should be less concerned with having students try to re-experience the past and more concerned with teaching them how to learn from the study of it. Keeping this in mind, teachers should integrate more critical film and television analysis into their history classes, but not in place of reading or at the expense of traditional approaches. Teachers must show students how to engage, rather than suspend, their critical faculties when the projector or television monitor is turned on. The first major section of this book, "Analyzing a Moving Image as a Historical Document," discusses the two stages in the analysis of a moving image document: (1) a general analysis of content, production, and reception; and (2) the study of the moving image document as a representation of history, as evidence for social and cultural history, as evidence for historical fact, or as evidence for the history of film and television. Strategies for the classroom are also discussed. The second major section, "Visual Language," is an introduction to visual language meant to serve as a general and selective guide for history teachers new to the critical use of moving-image media in the classroom. Discussions of various aspects of film history and film techniques help to illustrate the possible use of films and television as historical documents and show how film history is a manifestation of the same socio-cultural forces that shape the larger history of society. A 103-item bibliography and a sample class assignment are included. (JB)

People and places in American history are highlighted by re-enactments at actual historical sites in the U.S.

The premise of the Teaching American History (TAH) project—a discretionary grant program funded under the U.S. Department of Education’s Elementary and Secondary Education Act— is that in order to teach history better, teachers need to know more history. Unique among professional development programs in emphasizing specific content to be taught over a particular pedagogical approach, TAH grants assist schools in implementing scientifically-based research methods for improving the quality of instruction, professional development, and teacher education in American history. Illustrating the diversity of these programs as they have been implemented in local education agencies throughout the nation, this collection of essays and research reports from TAH participants provides models for historians, teachers, teacher educators, and others interested in the teaching and learning of American History, and presents examples of lessons learned from a cross-section of TAH projects. Each chapter presents a narrative of innovation, documenting collaboration between classroom, community, and the academy that gives immediate and obvious relevance to the teaching and learning process of American history. By sharing these narratives, this book expands the impact of emerging practices from individual TAH projects to reach a larger audience across the nation.

Criticizes the way history is presented in current textbooks, and suggests a more accurate approach to teaching American history.

How ed tech was born: Twentieth-century teaching machines--from Sidney Pressey's mechanized test-giver to B. F. Skinner's behaviorist bell-ringing box. Contrary to popular belief, ed tech did not begin with videos on the internet. The idea of technology that would allow students to "go at their own pace" did not originate in Silicon Valley. In Teaching Machines, education writer Audrey Watters offers a lively history of predigital educational technology, from Sidney Pressey's mechanized positive-reinforcement provider to B. F. Skinner's behaviorist bell-ringing box. Watters shows that these machines and the pedagogy that accompanied them sprang from ideas--bite-sized content, individualized instruction--that had legs and were later picked up by textbook publishers and early advocates for computerized learning. Watters pays particular attention to the role of the media--newspapers, magazines, television, and film--in shaping people's perceptions of teaching machines as well as the psychological theories underpinning them. She considers these machines in the context of education reform, the political reverberations of Sputnik, and the rise of the testing and textbook industries. She chronicles Skinner's attempts to bring his teaching machines to market, culminating in the famous behaviorist's efforts to launch Didak 101, the "pre-verbal" machine that taught spelling. (Alternate names proposed by Skinner include "Autodidak," "Instructomat," and "Autostructor.") Telling these somewhat cautionary tales, Watters challenges what she calls "the teleology of ed tech"--the idea that not only is computerized education inevitable, but technological progress is the sole driver of events.

Includes Part 1, Number 1: Books and Pamphlets, Including Serials and Contributions to Periodicals (January - June)