Be the First to Test Drive CICERO Kids™

CICERO Kids™ is in Beta Version, available for a limited trial

Provide CICERO Kids™ feedback HERE:

https://www.surveymonkey.com/s/MC2Y3RT

CICERO Kids™ is a new, interactive digital resource from the minds behind CICERO: History Beyond the Textbook™. Currently in Beta Version for testing, the creative team is offering an exclusive free trial for feedback. CICERO Kids™ was created by teachers for teacher and student use, specifically designed for the PreK-5^th grade Social Studies, U.S. History and Language Arts classroom.

For your free trial of CICERO Kids™, simply go to www.cicerokids.com and click on the top-right corner button entitled “LOGIN.” This will prompt you to create an account. Once this step is completed, feel free to explore Unit 1 (Explorers & New World Settlements) on the far left of the Main Lobby. Features include the “Learning Table,” “Map Drawer,” “Reader’s Corner,” “Sights and Sounds,” “Work Files,” “Research Center,” and the “Challenge Chest.”

In the main lobby, you’ll find our STEM-based characters, including Simon (Science), Tullia (Technology), Enzo (Engineering), and Megan (Math) along with Arturo (Arts), Mr. Harvey (Reading) and Ms. Livy (Museum Curator). Tullia and Enzo will reappear throughout the museum, giving you the ability to learn interesting historical facts and teach your students about featured artifacts. The STEM focus reaches beyond just the characters, integrated into the lessons and activities provided within each unit. Students are also able to explore the rooms, having the opportunity to learn about the explorers through an interactive map or watch an exciting video on the Native Americans!

After taking a few moments to review CICERO Kids™, please provide us with your feedback via SurveyMonkey:

Provide CICERO Kids™ feedback HERE:

https://www.surveymonkey.com/s/MC2Y3RT

National Heroes Day History Contest Announced

Franklin's Opus, AIHE's sister nonprofit organization, recently announced the second annual Heroes Day History Bowl

www.nationalheroesday.com

What is the Heroes Day Contest?

• It's a fun, friendly  competition between students from schools across the country who love history
• All components of the contest are online and can be completed by one or more member(s) of each team in any order between January 15^th, 2012 and April 5^th, 2012
• Plus, it's FREE!!!!  There are absolutely no charges associated with competing 

Who can compete?

• Teams from across the United States composed of 6 students 
• Sophomores, Juniors and Seniors in public or private high schools
• Each team must have a teacher adviser
• Schools and Teachers may enroll more than one team

How Do I Register?

• Name your team!  Teacher Advisers must create an account on Franklin's Opus History Hub and create a group name for each team
• Once registered in The Hub, you can access the various components of the competition 
• We will use The Hub to send out updates and track the standings in the contest

Where is the contest held?

• The preliminary components of the contest are all online, found in the Franklin's Opus History Hub
• The top 5 teams will win $1000.00 towards their travel costs to the History Bowl Contest at a location to be determined
• The first video and two guided readings are currently on the website, with more to come!

How do I become a finalist?

• Watch and Complete Quizzes on Three (3) Who's My Hero Videos
• Read and Complete Quizzes on Twelve (12) Heroes Readings
• Post One(1) Student-Generated Hero Video, PowerPoint or Multimedia presentation (tiebreaker) on Franklin's Opus History Hub

For questions, please e-mail us at 

info@franklinsopus.org

AIHE, ClickNKids Announce Partnership

ClickNKids products like ClickNRead Phonics and ClickNSpell will perfectly complement AIHE’s newest product, CICERO Kids™

Swedesboro, NJ (January 30, 2011) — The American Institute for History Education (AIHE) is pleased to announce a partnership with ClickNKids, the creator of the best online reading products for the Young Learner on the market today. Its signature product, ClickNRead Phonics, is an interactive reading program with hundreds of lessons for Kingergarten-3^rd Grade students. One of its best functions is the teacher reporting section, which allows teachers to view their individual students’ results broken down into sound, speed and difficulty.

ClickNKids’ mission is to become the foremost provider of engaging and highly interactive software and scientific research-based curriculum available in an online format. All curriculum was created based on the National Reading Panel Research led by Dr. J. Ron Nelson, a nationally recognized early education professor. ClickNKids programs are also correlated to Language Arts Core Curriculum Standards and categorized based on a carefully organized scope and sequence.

ClickNRead Phonics and ClickNSpell will perfectly complement the launch of the STEM-based CICERO Kids™, giving school districts numerous available bundle options for the Young Learner.

For more information on ClickNKids, visit their website at www.clicknkids.com or contact AIHE at solutions@aihe.info. 

American Indian and European Encounters, 1500-1775

William Bauer, University of Nevada – Las Vegas

*To view Professor Bauer’s archived Talking History presentation, CLICK HERE

The meeting between Indigenous North Americans and Europeans in the fifteenth and sixteenth centuries was a momentous event in the world’s history.  For one, it brought together representatives of vastly different cultures and nations.  Sometimes peaceful, often violent, scholars have pondered the meanings of these encounters for centuries.  Additionally, contact altered the globe’s economy.  Natural resources – whether beaver skins, fish, or gold – left North, Central and South America for Europe in exchange for manufactured goods. We have been convinced, however, that the meeting of two continents represented a clash of cultures.  Although this certainly explains some encounters between Indigenous peoples and Europeans, it fails to consider all.  This presentation looks at some theories or interpretations about the cultural encounter and then considers more closely the political and economic relationship between Hurons and the French in 17^th and 18^th century Great Lakes.  I suggest that it might be more profitable to look at areas of Native and European cooperation as much as conflict in early North American history.

There are several ways to interpret the encounter between Indigenous people and Europeans.  The most common explanation was cultural conflict.  Here, American Indians and Europeans possessed vastly different cultural practices and could not any area of compromise.  A good example of cultural conflict is land and land ownership.  Europeans came to North America with and developed practices of private property (land) ownership.  American Indians possessed a more communal pattern of land ownership, where communities and larger political entities owned the land but all people had access to use it.  These two land ownership systems clashed throughout the sixteenth, seventeenth, eighteenth and nineteenth centuries in treaty councils.  Another explanation is cultural accommodation, where American Indians and Europeans found areas of common ground in North America.  We will explore examples of these in more detail in our presentation.  Finally, cultural disagreements occurred throughout North American history.  American Indians and Europeans understood that they had similar experiences, cultures and beliefs, however they dwelled on their cultural differences, not similarities.  In other words, American Indians and Europeans had similar goals in the encounter – diplomatic, economic and social ones.  Yet, rather then looking for the areas that united them, both sides frequently emphasized what made them different.   

In this month’s Talking History, we explored several examples of cultural accommodation in North America.  We also focused on the economic and political relationships between the Huron and their French neighbors in the Great Lakes region in the seventeenth century.  Here, Hurons and the French relied on one another for their economic and political survival.  Moreover, neither side could force one another to do the other’s bidding.  Thus, they had to discover and cultivate areas where they could understand one another and work together in North America.  Furthermore, I suggested that these cultural accommodations were extremely profitable and productive for both sides. 

Further Reading:

Calvin Martin, Keepers of the Game: Indian-Animal Relationships and the Fur Trade (University of California Press, 1977)

Richard White, The Middle Ground: Indians, Empires and Republics in the Great Lakes Region, 1650-1815 (Cambridge University Press, 1991)

James Merrell, The Indians’ New World: Catawbas and Their Neighbors from European Contact to the Age of Removal (University of North Carolina Press, 2009, 1989).

James Merrell, Into the American Woods: Negotiators on the Pennsylvania Frontier (W.W. Norton, 2000).

William Bauer (Wailacki and Concow of the Round Valley Indian Tribes) is an associate professor of history at the University of Nevada – Las Vegas.  He is the author of “We Were All Like Migrant Workers Here”: Labor, Community and Memory on California’s Round Valley Reservation, 1850-1941. 

James Madison Foundation offers $24,000 scholarships to Graduate Students

Scholarships offered to applicants in every state, with the application deadline scheduled for March 1, 2012

Swedesboro, NJ (January 30, 2012) – The American Institute for History Education (AIHE) and the James Madison Memorial Fellowship Foundation (Foundation) are pleased to announce the 2012 Graduate Fellowship competition, offering scholarships to a select group of individuals desiring to become outstanding teachers of the American Constitution. The deadline to apply is March 1, 2012.

The Foundation offers James Madison Fellowships of up to $24,000 to middle and high school teachers (as well as recent college graduates planning a teaching career) seeking to obtain a Masters Degree with an emphasis in constitutional studies.  Fellowship applicants compete only against other applicants from the state of their legal residence. Generally, one Fellowship per state is awarded each year. Detailed application information can be found at http://www.act.org/madison/.

The James Madison Foundation was established by Congress in 1986 for the purpose of improving teaching about the United States Constitution in secondary schools. The Foundation is an independent agency of the Executive Branch of the federal government. Funding for the Foundation’s programs comes from Congress and generous contributions from individuals, foundations and corporations. The Foundation has a Board of Trustees and its daily operations are directed by a president and a small staff. The Foundation’s office is located in Washington, D.C.

For more information, contact the James Madison Foundation at http://www.jamesmadison.gov/.