Science fiction literature and film are an underappreciated source for the teaching of history. Finding material that can excite a student's curiosity can be a key towards greater student engagement, especially among students who are taking history as a requirement, rather than from interest. The discovery that they can read or watch science…

Using historical thinking for analyzing the teaching and learning of secondary school history, this paper contributes to literature and debates on the pedagogical potential of museums in this endeavor. Despite the existence of museums and expansive literature on their historical significance in various world settings, there has not been much…

"Why do people hate history classes?" That is a common question that the author, like countless other history instructors, poses to his students on the first day of class. From a recent survey of the author's "Introduction to Asian American History" course, which the author has taught at the University of California, Los…

The purpose of this paper is to present a theoretical examination on the importance of writing in history teaching in schools to age groups 7-16 year old. It presents a discussion and an overview of best and meaningful practice in history teaching when using written historical sources as evidence for analyses in the classroom. It also looks at how…

Analysis of primary sources has been recognised to have a significant impact on the development of students' historical thinking. This study explored US history teachers' attitudes and practices to using primary sources by interviewing six history teachers and observing 29 history lessons between August and November 2016 in Indiana and California.…

The methods of teaching history in grades 6-12 have changed over the last few years to be more interactive and collaborative. More and more, teaching and learning revolves around an essential triad of inquiry, primary sources, and literacy in a collaborative classroom environment. "Teaching History Today" is about placing inquiry,…

Building on the established idea that to provide students with a full portrait of Israeli society and history, educators must introduce greater complexity into their Israel curriculum, the following paper explores three recently published graphic novels about Israel and considers how each offers opportunities for considering Israel in more nuanced…

In this article, I consider the use of Asian American digital archives as sources of critical inquiry for the elementary social studies classroom. First, I provide a brief overview of early South Asian American history, focusing on Punjabi and Bengali migrations. Then, I orient educators to two noteworthy community archives, the South Asian…

Having been given some additional curriculum time, Kerry Apps and her department made decisions about what had been missing in the previous curriculum diet. Building on an existing enquiry (already published in "Teaching History 176"), Apps decided to focus on how and when the idea of race in its modern sense developed in early modern…

In this article, the author describes their class, titled "The World in A Year: A Global History of 1948," that was created to give students exposure to a set of events that, when scaffolded strategically, highlighted themes and processes featured in most global history courses: imperialism, environmental change, social hierarchy,…

In this study, I sought to understand the disciplinary nature of an expert third-grade teacher's practice as she apprenticed students into ways of reading, analyzing, and employing historical evidence. Using a case study methodology, I draw on classroom observation data, teacher interviews, and classroom artifacts to identify instances where the…

On a hot July day in 1854, 24-year-old schoolteacher Elizabeth Jennings, accompanied by a friend, attempted to board a horse-drawn trolley to attend Sunday church services in Lower Manhattan. The Irish conductor refused, telling Jennings, who was African American, to await a horsecar for "her people." When Jennings resisted, the…

In recent years, disciplinary literacy has offered a promising approach to history instruction in K-12 schools. Disciplinary literacy in history (hereafter, "historical literacy") entails approaching texts with an awareness of the interpretive nature of the field, reading and analyzing a variety of primary and secondary sources in…

Cisgender women were not permitted to join the armed forces until the Women's Armed Service Integration Act passed in 1984. During the Civil War, some people assigned female at birth enlisted as men. They used "male" names and wore short haircuts, pants, and other traditional "male clothing." Many stories of these soldiers have…

The realities of COVID-19 have clearly revealed the myth of the model minority, a stereotype in which Asian Americans are seen as successful and high achieving in contrast to other Communities of Color. An ever-present, but sometimes seemingly dormant, anti-Asian racism in the United States is reflective of patterns in U.S. immigration history.…