This method replaces the traditional lectures and memorizing with real life events and research. This type of learning which involves a lot of teamwork also helps students interpersonal, communication and social skills. Problem based learning is a more interesting, motivating, and enjoyable learning method and influences everyday life.

Imagine waking up one morning to find out that you have no memory! You are not able to remember who you are or what happened in your life, yesterday or the day before that. You are unable to tell your children from total strangers, you cannot communicate with people because you no longer know how to greet them, or understand their conversation. You don't remember what "the election," "war," or "the movies" mean.

Lack of historical memory is parallel to this loss of individual memory. The link on which we depend every day between the past and present would be lost if we had no memory of our history. And we would miss a great source of enjoyment that comes from piecing together the story of our past.

Today American educators are working to promote the study of history in the schools and at home. Knowledge of our history enables us to understand our nation's traditions, its conflicts, and its central ideas and values. Knowledge of world history enables us to understand other cultures.

We hope to encourage children to love history and to enjoy learning about it. This booklet is a tool you can use to stimulate your children's active involvement in the history that surrounds them every day. It includes:

• Basic information about history, and approaches to enjoying history with your children, aged 4-11;
• History activities that you and your children can do--at home, in your community, and out of town--for no or little cost; and
• History resources in your community and nationally, in bookstores, and libraries.

Education Begins at Home

As parents we are in the best position to encourage our children's natural interest in history. It is to us they address their first historical questions: "Where did I come from?" and "Was I always here?" These two questions contain the two main meanings of "history": it is the story of people and events, and it is the record of times past.

Now is the time to bring out the historical evidence and to share family stories with your child. Birth and adoption certificates, immunization records, first pieces of your child's writing and art, as well as photographs all count as historical sources that tell the story of your child.

The stories you tell and read to your children, or make up with them, are part of their cultural heritage and reinforce the two basic parts of history: "Once upon a time, and long ago."

Parents Make a Difference

Your child is born into history. She has no memory of it, yet she finds herself in the middle of a story that began before she became one of its characters. She also wants to have a place in it.

As parents we can prepare our children to achieve the lifelong task of finding their place in history by helping them to learn what shaped the world into which they were born. Without information about their history, children don't "get" a lot of what they hear and see around them.

Your attitude about history can also make a difference for your child. Showing your interest in history--your belief that knowing history makes a difference for your life--encourages your child's own interest.

Many parents say they love history. If you are one of them you can share your particular interests in history with your children as well as help them develop their own.

Many other parents say they find history boring. If you are among these, try one of the following: start writing your own life story; read the diary of Anne Frank, or the autobiography of Frederick Douglass; read the Declaration of Independence, or rent a video about the Civil War. As you rediscover history your children may be inspired by your interest.

Good Study Habits

Habits are activities we do on a regular basis. We acquire habits by choosing to make them a part of our life. It is worth the time and effort to develop good habits because they enhance our well-being. We suggest the following history habits to enrich your life experience and your children's.

Share family history with your children, particularly your memories. Help your own parents and other relatives know your children and talk with them about family stories.

Participate in your community by voting and helping to make changes in areas that interest you. Encourage your children to vote in school elections, to present themselves as candidates, and gain knowledge of history and the values and behaviors that are the basis of their citizenship.

Read newspapers and news magazines, and watch television news programs to maintain an informed judgment about the world. Talk about current events and your ideas about them with your children and other adults, and explore different points of view. Check the encyclopedia or your local library for additional historical information.

Watch television programs about important historical topics with your family, and encourage conversation about the program as you watch. Get library books on the same topic and learn more about it. Check to see if the books and television programs agree on significant issues, and discuss their differences.

Read with your children about people and events that have made a difference in the world, and discuss the readings together. The list of publications at the end of this book serves as a support to you for choosing materials.

Help children know that the makers of history are real people like themselves, who have ideas, work hard, and experience failure and success. Introduce them to local community leaders in person if possible, and national and world leaders via the media and biographies.

Make globes, maps, and encyclopedias available and use every opportunity to refer to them. A reference to Africa in a child's favorite story, or the red, white, and green stripes on a box of spaghetti can be opportunities to learn more about the world.

Have a collection of great speeches and written documents to read from time to time with your child.

Your own involvement in history, in any of the forms referred to in this book, is a good habit you can pass on to your children.

Enjoying Learning with your Child

We have intentions of good fun as we plan any activity with our children. We also want them to learn something from most activities. They probably would say they want to have fun and learn something new too. But sometimes the difference in abilities between us and them, or the demands of time, end up leaving us disappointed. Keeping the following in mind can help keep your time together fun and productive:

You don't have to know all the facts or fully understand history to help your children learn. Your willingness to learn with them--to read, to ask questions, to search, and to make mistakes--is the most important gift you can bring to the process. By viewing their mistakes as sources of information for future efforts, your children gain confidence to continue learning.

Conversation gets you past the difficult moments. Keeping open the communication between you and your children, and encouraging continued discussion no matter how off the mark your children may seem, tells them you take them seriously and value their efforts to learn. The ability to have a conversation with your children profoundly affects what and how they learn.

Children have their own ideas and interests. By letting them choose activities accordingly, you let them know their ideas and interests are valuable. Often they will want to teach you as a way to use what they know. Share their interests and encourage them to learn more.

Make the most of everyday opportunities to do history: visits from grandparents, reading books, telling stories, holidays, elections, symbols like the flag, the national anthem before sporting events, pictures in newspapers and magazines, visits to museums. If your child asks about a person in a painting, stop to find out who it is. Keep asking: "What does this mean? How do I know?"

The Meanings of History

If you look for the meaning of "history" in the dictionary you may be surprised to find that history is not simply the past itself. The first meaning of history is "tale, story," and the second meaning is "a chronological record of significant past events." The opening of tales for children--"Once upon a time"--captures both the story and time nature of history.

When we study history we are involved in a branch of knowledge that records and explains past events. Many would say that history is not just one branch of knowledge among others, but that it is the most essential one because it is the complete story of human endeavor. It happens that the word "history" comes from the Greek "to know."

The Story in History

The work of doing history is to consider people and events that are no longer in our presence. Unlike doing science, we do history without being able to observe behavior and its results.

This work is fun when we make the past meaningful. We do this by weaving together various pieces of information about the past. In doing this we create a pattern that gives shape to "just a bunch of facts." Doing history is a way of bringing the past to life, in the best tradition of the storyteller.

But not just any story will do. While there are many possible tales of the same event, good history is based on evidence and several perspectives.

The history with which we are most familiar is political history--the story of wars, peace treaties, and changes of government. But anything that has a past has a history. This includes the history of ideas, for example the concept of freedom, and cultural history, for example the history of music.

The story of history is interesting to us because it tells us about real people who had ideas and beliefs, worked and struggled to put them in action, and shaped the present in which we find ourselves.

Time in History

Human events take place in time, one after the other. It is important to learn the sequence of events in order to trace them, reconstruct them, and weave the stories that tell of their connections. Children need to learn the measures of time, such as year, decade, generation, and century. When they hear "Once upon a time in history" they need to be able to ask "When did that happen?," and to know how to find the answer.

Time in history is a kind of relationship. We can look at several events that all happened at the same time, and that together tell a story about that period. Or we can look at the development of an idea over time, and learn how and why it changed. And we can consider the relationship between the past and the present, or the future and the past (which is today!). The present is the result of choices that people made and the beliefs they held in the past, while the past, in being retold, is in some way remade in the present. The future will be the result of the coming together of several areas developing today.

The main focus of history is the relationship between continuity and change, and it is important that our children understand the difference between them. For example, the population of the United States has changed dramatically over time with each wave of immigration. With the entry of these new groups into American society, bringing their own ideas, beliefs, and cultures, American democracy has continued and grown stronger. It continues to function according to its original purpose of safeguarding our basic values of freedom and equality, even as the meanings and effects of these values change.

A New Look at History

History is now understood to be more than memorizing names and dates. While being able to recall the details of great people and events is important, the enjoyment of history is enhanced by engaging in activities and experiencing history as a "story well told."

Original sources and literature are real experiences. Reading the actual words that changed the course of history, and stories that focus on the details of time and place help children know that history is about real people in real places who made real choices that had some real consequences, and that they could have made different choices.

Less can mean more. "A well-formed mind is better than a well-stuffed mind," says an old proverb. Trying to learn the entire history of the world is not only impossible, it feels too hard and reduces our enthusiasm for history. In-depth study of a few important events gives us a chance to understand the many sides of a story. We can always add new facts.

History is hands-on work. Learning history is best done in the same way we learn to use a new language, or to play basketball: we do it as well as read about it. Doing history means asking questions about historical events and characters; searching our towns for signs of its history; talking with others about current events and issues; writing our own stories about the past.

There is no final word on history. There are good storytellers and less good storytellers. And there are many stories. But very rarely does any one storyteller "get it right," or one story say it all. A good student of history will always look for other points of view, knowing that our understanding of history changes over time.

Your children do well to ask "So what?" Much that we take for granted is not so obvious to our children. We should invite them to clear up doubts they have about the reasons for remembering certain things, getting facts right, and collecting and judging evidence. At each step, asking "so what?" helps to explain what is important and worth knowing, and to take the next step with confidence.

When you are looking for science fair project ideas, one of the biggest obstacles is coming up with a project that uses readily available materials. Science doesn't have to be complicated or expensive or use specialized laboratory equipment. There are great science projects that can be performed using common household items.