History in the Present Tense: Engaging Students Through Inquiry and Action

In this practical guidebook, Douglas Selwyn and Jan Maher propose a different way of teaching history - start from today and keep asking questions. As students investigate possible answers, they make connections across miles and centuries. Along the way, they experience that essential insight of the social studies: Point of view has everything to do with how one perceives the world. To this end, each chapter explores projects connecting students' concerns with core content and concepts in history, geography, civics, and economics.

Lessons center on the economics of ordinary objects, understanding current events in historical context, creating readers theater, photodocumentaries and more. While students dig deeply into issues of personal relevance, they also master the content and skills mandated in state and national standards. Students learn about history - and about themselves.