Troubling signs about the state of humanities in higher education are not new, but the steady decline in humanities majors is cause for concern. The humanities, however, play a critical role in society and public life, promoting citizenship and public engagement along with valuable skills. There are untapped opportunities for expanding history,…

This article highlights some of the successes the Humanities Out There (HOT) program at the University of California, Irvine had when partnering with progressive institutions, namely with the Chicano/Latino Studies program at the university and with the arts program in a local high school. The first program engaged students in exploring the…

In this essay Robert Davis provides a critical roadmap, which is also a genealogy, for understanding and examining the history of both the humanities and education in them. It relates appraisal of the so-called "crisis" in contemporary teaching of the humanities to a deeper understanding of "crisis" as a condition for periodic…

In several of his works, Alfred North Whitehead (1861-1947) presents mathematics as a way of learning about general ideas that increase our understanding of the universe. The danger is that students get bogged down in its technical operations. He argues that mathematics should be an integral part of a new kind of liberal education, incorporating…

"Popular culture" and "culture studies" have become mainstays of the humanities in higher education. Like most other humanities courses, popular culture courses today mainly serve the usual politically correct program of the existing dominant class in the academy. Nevertheless, such courses can also be a powerful tool for instructors who wish to…

The Lab School of Washington (LSW) uses a unique approach to teaching social studies and humanities content. As part of its arts-driven lower school program, each child spends 40 minutes a day in dedicated rooms that simulate a specific historical time and place. Called "academic clubs," teachers use these spaces to teach thematic, arts-based,…

As 3D digital game-based learning (3D-DGBL) for the teaching of literature and history gradually gains acceptance, important questions will need to be asked regarding its method of design, development, and deployment. This article offers a synthesis of contemporary pedagogical, instructional design, new media, and literary-historical theories to…