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The Internet allows high school students to access primary and secondary sources in the classroom. History teachers should consider different teaching and learning strategies to fully utilize these sources in the classroom. Problem-based learning offers an exciting alternative to the traditional history classroom where the lecture and the textbook are used daily. The author describes how he used problem-based learning and the Internet in his high school history classroom to motivate students to learn about the Great Migration. Background information on problem-based learning is given and suggestions are provided by the author to guide teachers step-by-step through this unique approach. Examples of WebPages on the Great Migration are provided which the author highly suggests using. In addition, the author provides detailed information on the causes and effects of the Great Migration to help the classroom teacher.

As more social studies classrooms gain access to the Internet each year, teachers are frequently exploring ways to maximize the use of this technology in their respective learning environments. This paper discusses the need to generate – and the subsequent benefits of facilitating – discussion when using the Internet in social studies settings, especially as it relates to learning about the Supreme Court. The author provides examples of how the Supreme Court webpage can be used in the high school Civics classroom; using the authentic intellectual work framework to provide the necessary structure for the lesson and background information on specific Supreme Court cases to help teachers implement the lesson with their students.

Increasingly, high school classrooms have access to the Internet. The Avalon Project Internet webpage enables high school students to access primary sources on a variety of American History topics. Literacy strategies are a promising method to help students organize the information they access when they are reading primary sources online. In particular, graphic organizers help students to make sense out of complex issues presented in primary sources. The author describes how his high school history students used the Avalon Project Internet webpage and graphic organizers to comprehend the primary sources with which they were working. Suggestions are given to help history teachers implement this activity in the classroom. Background information on literacy strategies is provided with specific examples of graphic organizers to help guide teachers who are interested in utilizing the strategy with their students.

Authors frequently discuss and provide examples of doing history in the social studies classroom. Few focus, however, on allowing students to predict the outcome of historical events before learning what actually happened. In this article, I describe an activity allowing students to make their own predictions informing their understanding of the historical events related to Articles of Confederation. I developed this strategy based on my evolving understanding of how to bring historical thinking into the classroom. I discuss adding the concept of prediction to a previously published lesson plan and how, during my subsequent year in the classroom, I enriched the lesson to elicit student empathy. Finally, the article offers suggestions for teachers developing their own lessons incorporating student predictions.