"The Lost History of Western Civilization" is a wide-ranging consideration of the academy's role in producing America's contemporary political and cultural divisions. The report traces the ways in which the 1988 controversy over the teaching of Western Civilization at Stanford set the pattern for today's "Cold Civil War." The…

Rachel Foster shows how her own study of cultural history led to a new dimension in her planning. She wanted to show her students not only that historians are interested in many different kinds of topic, but that they ask different kinds of question about those topics. Foster also wanted her students to examine how civic traditions and rituals…

This response discusses the pedagogical and conceptual omissions and other dilemmas of the history project described by Lempert. The intent of the project is ambitious and worthwhile; however, without emphasis on the critical process of sense making through discussion, reflection, and collaborative knowledge construction, the project falls short…

A combination of state-sponsored distortions and the simplified answers required by standardized tests have re-imposed a deadening conformity on the study of history in Russian schools.

Faculty at Bethany College, Kansas found that when engaging with controversial topics like social justice, students needed lower-stakes spaces to think--and history and writing, together, provided these needed spaces. When taught in combination, these two subject areas prompted engagement and self-reflection, and the interdisciplinary synergy…

In this retelling, the student offered his best impression of an African American woman from the South, oblivious to the treacherous historical ground upon which he danced. This student meant no harm. But his anecdote, and the manner in which he delivered it, provide windows onto the racial, historical, and sectional imaginaries of the white…

January 2015 marked the seventieth anniversary of the liberation of Auschwitz-Birkenau by the Soviet Army. In 2014 alone, over one and a half million visitors crossed the same threshold, beneath the infamous words: "Arbeit Macht Frei." Of these visitors, a majority were organised educational groups, particularly high school, college and…

During the interwar period, a number of organisations started to look into education as part of an attempt to understand how nationalism was fuelled through education and to what extent it had forced the outbreak of the Great War. In response to nationalism and a perceived need for reformation of national narratives, the school subjects of history…

This article examines the journey of museum educators at the Chicago History Museum in understanding the Common Core State Standards and implementing them in our work with the school audience. The process raised questions about our teaching philosophy and our responsibility to our audience. Working with colleagues inside and outside of our…

Since the establishment of the State of Israel, the Shaliach has embodied at least one aspect of the tangible expression of the symbiotic relationship between Israel and its Diasporas. This article discusses the educational Shaliach sent from Israel to the Jewish Diaspora in Australia, and is based on a research study carried out between 2006 and…

Using primary sources to teach students about the past helps them to improve crucial analytical skills and gives them an opportunity to evaluate a variety of sources and to construct evidence-based narratives. These are skills that all students need for success throughout their educational process, career, and civic life (NCSS 2013). Examining the…

The relationship between knowledge and literacy is a central concern for all teachers. In his teaching, Palek noted that his students were struggling to understand complex substantive concepts such as "parliament" and decided to explore the relationship between students' understanding of a concept and their wider substantive knowledge…

History is often viewed unfavorably by students. In this article the author asserts that students' disfavor of history may originate from the narrow pedagogical flavor of the history class. The purpose of this article is to describe the three traditions of history education, with their accompanying strengths and weaknesses. Three sample…

The ongoing changes in history education in support of diversity have an effect on Turkey even if on a limited scale. Although the current history curriculum in Turkey promotes the identity transmission instead of respecting different identities, it also has some goals such as "teaching the students about basic values including peace,…

Anna Dickson and her department sought a solution to the challenges posed to their pupils by the expanded curricular scope of the new GCSE. In particular, they wanted to address the difficulties their pupils experienced in understanding the Cold War. Dickson outlines here how she drew on the work of other history teachers theorising about the…