Drawing on the experiences of teaching Beloved in an elite, college preparatory context, the following research paper works towards alternative approaches to teaching trauma and difficult histories. After exploring some of the limitations and applications of the education as séance approach, this paper constructs a framework for teaching difficult…

The contemporary school ethos is marked by an incursion of technological forces. In India, school systems have begun accepting internet technology and gadgets as enabling tools for learning. The technology-driven climate is dramatically transforming the methods of learning history. The adoption of digital technology in Indian school system has…

Some Indonesian teachers have entangled alternative versions in their teachings on the 1965 affair, a controversial vicious and political event in Indonesia, to counterbalance or even contest the communist coup narrative in the history lesson curriculum and school textbooks. Employing the sociological tools of Margaret Somers, this paper dissects…

Tom Bennett begins his article with a tale of a frustrating afternoon with Year 7. We've all been there. In his case, his frustration was caused by his finding a conceptual gap between how well his class wanted to do and the actual quality of their causal thinking. Bennett decided to use counterfactuals to improve their thinking. This article…

In this study the impact of a mobile augmented reality learning environment on motivation, learning effects and cognitive load was tested. Students participated in a two-hour history lesson while using their smartphones to turn static pictures into animations with an Augmented Reality (AR) application. Interest, perceived competence and perceived…

Teaching sensitive and controversial issues (SCIs) is of growing interest in contemporary, increasingly heterogeneous societies. In democracies, different groups and institutions expect their values and worldviews to be conveyed at school. On one hand, there is the expectation that SCIs should be treated neutrally. On the other hand, there are…

Students find it difficult to join up the different things they study into a complex account of the past. Examination specifications do not necessarily help with this because of the way in which history is divided up into different "units", a problem exacerbated by textbooks being designed for particular exam topics. Stacey-Chapman…

For a long time, Advanced Placement and other advanced-level U.S. history courses at the high school level were modeled after the collegiate survey course. However, the last two decades or more have seen some significant changes in the teaching of U.S. history at undergraduate and high school levels. Many of these changes at the high school level…

Assessing students' historical understanding has been a long-standing challenge in history education. One of the widely used tools for accomplishing this task is the large-scale standardized test, the results of which are used as an indicator of student knowledge and skills in the social sciences/history. At the national level, the National…

History teachers are faced with an impossible dilemma. Voices from every corner urge them to use primary sources. Sources, teachers are told, are to history what the laboratory is to science: the place where the subject becomes most vital. At the same time, any teacher who has used sources knows the many obstacles. Using sources to make history…

Being a teacher is a multifaceted process situated in contexts that deeply influence one's experiences and development. History teachers face a number of challenges while simultaneously holding particular goals for history teaching. Drawing on interview data from focus teachers with different levels of teaching experience, this article presents…

This publication features reports by eight Carnegie Scholars who are working to develop a scholarship of teaching and learning that will advance the profession of teaching and improve student learning. Following the Introduction, "Approaching the Scholarship of Teaching and Learning" (Pat Hutchings), the papers are: "Investigating Student Learning…