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Discovering Quacks, Utopias, and Cemeteries: Modern Lessons from Historical Themes explores two enduring issues – our age-old pursuit of better lives and how the media impacts our choices. Each chapter opens with essential questions asking the reader to consider these issues in historical and modern life. The histories of fake cures or snake oil, imaginary and real utopias, cemeteries, tombstone symbols, and scrapbooks are explored from ancient times through the transformations caused by the Industrial Revolution into the twentieth century.
Quacks, Utopias, and Cemeteries, the third in the daily life series by Cynthia Resor, is an ideal book for history enthusiasts, especially social studies teachers, education or humanities professors, museum educators, and anyone wanting to know about the lives of average people in the past.
Each chapter includes excerpts from key historical/primary source texts, historical images, essential or compelling questions to focus inquiry, and suggestions for learning activities. Critical analysis and media literacy skills are addressed through the suggested primary source excerpts and activities.
This unique approach to teaching history and social studies in the elementary, middle, or secondary classroom supports thematic instruction. Thematic teaching or thematic instruction highlights a theme through a thematic unit, or a course, or a series of courses within the social studies, or across disciplinary lines to make connections to other classes. Thematic teaching of social history themes connects the past to the daily lives of students, creating more interest in the past and encouraging students to more closely analyze their own lives and culture.
Media literacy, the ability to analyze the content and understand the purpose of media, is addressed throughout. Each themed chapter also includes suggestions for extending each theme to current events, the local community through place-based education.
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