Few academic disciplines have undergone the academic scrutiny that history has since the end of the Second World War. A growing consensus among historians has emerged to the effect that, if history is to be revitalized, it will require recognition of the disconnect between popular and professional, as well as an embracing of innovative methods of…

Food is perfectly positioned to link students' lives to the deep and broad historical forces around them. Like everybody else, students procure and consume food on a daily basis, use it to mark special occasions, share it with friends, enjoy or dispute it with families, all perhaps without ever considering its potential for historical analysis.…

The purpose of this article is to discuss the opportunities and challenges of using students' personal narratives of the past as a vehicle and catalyst for learning history. The point of departure is a research project entitled "My Historical Backpack," conducted at Örebro University in Sweden since the fall of 2016. The project is a…

The author discusses their experiences teaching an upper-division seminar course in a traditional face-to-face setting, and re-designing a "long eighteenth century" survey course for delivery online. The article thus explores spatial strategies in both face-to-face and online courses, and suggests ways in which they can be particularly…

Born-digital sources are, in fact, already old enough to fall into the domain of traditional, albeit recent, history. Bulletin Board Systems date from the 1980s. The European Organization for Nuclear Research (CERN) launched the first website and server in 1990. Websites and the new digital media are cultural artefacts. Archivists and librarians…

There are so many aspects to teaching history that are vital to creating well-rounded historical thinkers, but one of the most fundamental and most overlooked elements is the idea of causality. Far too many students do not understand the idea of causation, that there are multiple reasons for why historical events occurred and transpired in the way…

As a graduate instructor for HIST 152: United States Since 1877, the author structures the entire course around the motif of the newspaper. She models her curriculum after the newspaper both visually and symbolically and uses it as a theme throughout the class. The newspaper is not a gimmick or cliche, but rather a recurring stylistic theme, an…

Given California's role in the Pacific economy, its historic Asian heritage, and the strong and growing presence of Asian communities and businesses in the state, it is imperative that students statewide understand the history of Asia. Unfortunately, the California state curricular framework and standards in history and social science limit the…

During spring semester 2010, a long-standing upper-division lecture course, Medieval Cities of Europe, 500-1500 CE, underwent a course transformation. The goal was to address specific challenges with student engagement that the authors had experienced in the course in the past; their overarching strategy was to introduce technology into the course…

Old textbooks are one resource for teaching about the evolution of historical interpretation. Some libraries contain collections of U.S. history textbooks spanning multiple years and some schools even keep older textbooks used in past years. Recently, the author used a book by Kyle Ward entitled "History in the Making: An Absorbing Look at How…

It is not too early to ask what legacy the Teaching American History grants will leave behind. Put another way, when all the money is spent, when all the seminars are done, when all the professional development has ended, what evidence will there be that the program ever existed? Will historians in the future look back at the evidence left behind…

Describes a writing skill improvement project in which graduate students at Berkely graded papers written by undergraduate students in a course on the origins of Chinese civilization. Critical examination of student papers, combined with opportunities to discuss and rewrite the papers, encouraged students to develop a thesis, eliminate irrelevant…

Undergraduate history students can gain insight into the historical process from a short exercise using copies of documents that give conflicting interpretations of the same event. Explains how to lead class discussions based on two letters about lawlessness in Arizona in the 1880s. (Author/AV)

Describes WORDMZ, a computer program which can generate a number or letter maze. History teachers or students can input names, terms, or dates of interest; specify the size of a desired maze; and create different mazes with the same words in each. Concludes that mazes can be effective in motivating students. (AV)