Top 5 Daily Questions About History

I need lesson plan ideas for Washington State History. It's a summer school class with three weeks left, three hours per day... and a number of odd and annoying constraints. Suggestions? The kids are generally pretty good, but I have a mixed bag of age and ability. I have some chatty 8th graders who are being allowed to knock out a high school class early. The rest are high schoolers who need the credit. The textbook is decent, but I have only 9 chapters left to go with three of the five weeks of class remaining. I have a couple of random workbooks & textbooks from different editions for additional materials. Nothing really matches. I can't do movies. I showed ONE, and the district assumed that was all I intended to do for the rest of the term. So movies are on a short list. No field trips. Wanted to do Seattle Underground, was told it's just not in the cards. The school library is closed. I'm trying to get into contact with the nearby public library to set up some research time. The school's computer lab is occupied. I can work out time in the room, but not constantly, so sending kids in there for research projects is a little dodgy. Tried loading up "Oregon Trail II" in the computer lab, but apparently my copies aren't all that good. Maybe it's just my CD burner? I have two original copies of the game (purchased), but I'd need like 12 to go around even if I paired everyone up. My building admin has been generally supportive & understanding, but I think they keep getting a new constraint loaded on them from "upstairs" every other day... Any thoughts, Mefites? - 2 days ago

Does America's religious history have a parallel in England? Give me the details. In retrospect, it's pretty clear that fervent religious sentiment was a major influence on American history from times colonial to modern. But what about the parallel history of religiously-minded Englishmen? Those colonists with an unwavering commitment to God presumably left behind church-going brothers and sisters, cousins, and neighbors who adhered to the very same principles. What happened to these communities of faith over the course of 300 years since some of their members came to America? Did the religious fervor eventually die down in the face of the Enlightenment? Was there a specific point in English history where the speeches about hell and damnation, brimstone and fire go completely out of fashion while they continued to thrive on the American continent? Or are there are some hidden corners of England that are still under the sway of 17th century-style zealotry? - 3 days ago

Looking for good books on the history of technologies. Basically, I'm looking for books like The Making of the Atomic Bomb, but about other modern technologies. Long, technically detailed, well-written, and engaging are all positives. I'm not too picky about what the technology is but I'm interested in "big" technologies from the last 100 years - histories of things like rocketry, nuclear power, integrated circuits, etc. are all good. Bonus question: if anyone knows of a book on the history of accelerator design, that would be especially interesting. - 3 days ago

I was wondering if anyone has explored the notions of alternate geological history, i.e. different continents to the ones we know, and the mechanisms by which they might have arisen? I know that alternate histories in a social/literary/historical sense have been pretty well covered by previous questions, but I'm just curious about the geological aspect of such thinking and whether anyone has explored it in either literary or scientific fashion (or both). No Man from Atlantis stuff though please! I'm looking for something a bit more thoughtful if possible! BTW IANAG, just an interested layman so please go easy on the geological jargon too if you can... Thanks! - 6 days ago

HistoryFilter: What popular historical myths are there about Portuguese and English History? My friends (one American and one Portuguese) get very riled when I talk about aspects of their histories that aren't positive. Today, I talked about how America had probably been "discovered" many times before Columbus, since the first people (now called Native Americans) had come here. I also mentioned that I'd heard The Chinese and Arabs may have been the first around the Cape of Good Hope. They told me, in no particular order, that optimistic and/or inspiring history is best to learn as it motivates people, that young people cannot handle grey areas and violence, that poor and uneducated people need to be "protected" from the truth (seriously, they said that), and that these myths were popular because people wanted them to be true. Regardless of my attempts to argue against these points, one thing is clear; I don't know enough about Portuguese popular myths, and would love links to or mentions of information regarding them, if you could please help me out. I have enough info on American myths (Thanksgiving and Plymouth Rock, for example), but to not sound attacking, I feel I should also have some English/British myths (where I'm from) in my arsenal. Please, does anyone have any suggestions? - 7 days ago