With STEM education garnering an increasing share of educational budgets and press, humanities teachers should consider how to respond to the growing power of math and science. Should humanists read the writing on the wall and tether themselves to the economic engine of STEM? Or should humanists separate themselves, retreating securely into their…

Recently, makerspaces have captured the imaginations of educators as resources for transforming school-based learning. Aligning informal making practices with the formal aims of the school curriculum, however, can present challenges. In this article, Philip Nichols and Kurt Salisbury show how educators in two very different contexts -- a suburban…

Research on authentic learning has been predominantly focussed on skills-based training: there is a paucity of research on models of authentic learning available for adaptation in the humanities undergraduate classroom. In this article, I will seek to address this gap by proposing that legal trials are ideal models for designing authentic learning…

This article examines the use of silence as a constructive teaching tool in the classroom rather than as a punitive measure. The author offers suggestions for the inclusion of silence to benefit students specifically in a literature high school classroom.

This article describes a unique interdisciplinary course on social media and the self developed and taught by the authors at Southern Illinois University Edwardsville. The article describes challenges facing humanities faculty who wish to teach on topics with high societal currency and student interest. Current research into humanistic approaches…

While the allure of Silicon Valley undoubtedly attracts students, the declining interest in the humanities at both the secondary and postsecondary levels is primarily a self-inflicted wound. Many educators often employ teaching methods that alienate students and make them feel as though the only reason for reading literature or studying history is…

This essay presents the adaptation of Team-Based Learning (TBL) for a course that uses ecofeminist approaches to environmental literature. Developed originally for use in professional programs, TBL's cornerstones are permanent learning teams, preparation, application, and timely assessment (Michaelsen, Knight, & Fink, 2002). I wanted my…

In this article, Joshua Block states that his high school students are creators discovering how to express their ideas and emotions in multiple, complex ways. He teaches students who write their lives through words on pages as they fill journal after journal. There are others who constantly write and create in the form of tweets, photos, videos,…

Writing Center faculty at the Medical University of South Carolina teach humanities courses in which we include literary texts that are not ostensibly "about health care" to introduce to students how unique an illness narrative can be--to challenge, in fact, preconceived notions student may have about what "counts" as a…

Audio-visual learning technologies offer great opportunities in the development of students' analytical and projective abilities. These technologies can be used in classroom activities and for homework. This article discusses the features of audiovisual media texts use in a series of social sciences and humanities in the University curriculum.

Bryant Griffith is a Regents Professor at Texas A&M University-Corpus Christi and Director of the Curriculum and Instruction Doctoral Program. Previously, he was Professor and Director of the School of Education at Acadia University, and Professor and Associate Dean at the University of Calgary. His research interests include situated…

In this article, the author shares how she designs fun and fascinating western humanities courses at a community college in Minnesota. Using the example provided by many excellent past instructors, and through numerous late-night research sessions, she began to develop techniques and exercises that would help her achieve her goals in the…

This article explores the role of the Humanities, Arts, Science, and Technology Advanced Collaboratory (HASTAC) in facilitating and encouraging a collaborative community of junior and senior scholars on issues of technology and humanistic learning. As a result of its emphasis on collaboration and discussion, HASTAC encourages a form of collective…

Humanities teachers in higher education strive to locate and implement pedagogical approaches that allow our students to deepen their inquiry, to make significant intellectual connections, and to carry those questions and insights across the curriculum. Digital storytelling is one of those pedagogical approaches. Digital storytelling can create an…

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,…