This author is an avid consumer of history and has a desire to open students to the endless supply of the riveting stories of men and women struggling to cope with a changing world. The fascination toward the people of the past is enthralling history, and students need to feel that same sense of wonder and love of history. To accomplish this goal,…

For The past two years, Siena College and Loyola International College for Diversity and Sustainability (LCDS), formerly Loyola International College, have jointly taught a comparative Canadian/ U.S. history class. Concordia University, an English language university, has more than 46,000 students and offers 433 undergraduate and graduate…

History Professors and instructors have a lot to do. They are supposed to "cover content," introducing students to the main events in history. They also need to teach skills, such as historical thinking, source evaluation, argument construction, and research techniques. Particular "student learning outcomes" or assessments are…

This study emphasizes an often overlooked avenue of inquiry in the increasingly escalating textbook debate: What is the relationship between the instructor, the students, and the assigned text? And correspondingly, how does one go about analyzing this crucial relationship? Over the past two years, Ryan Swanson gathered data from 549 students in…

For most students in the introductory World Civilization I course that Courtney Luckhardt teaches online, this is likely their first (and perhaps only) university history course. Persuading students that history is valuable, even just for the skills they need in critical reading and writing, is a difficult task. It is harder still when they view…

Taking introductory history courses and writing analytical essays are not the favorite activities of most first-year university students. Undergraduates, seemingly, would rather enroll in classes that pertain only to their majors or job-preparation regimen. If forced to take General Education Program (GEP) courses, students typically favor those…

The author of this essay argues that historians should join their colleagues in the sciences in creating supportive environments for undergraduate research. Despite the apparent hurdles to overcome, historians can devise effective undergraduate research experiences that mimic those occurring in the chemistry, biology, and psychology labs across…

While whiteness studies at most institutions aims to expose the persistence of white supremacy to a disbelieving audience, whiteness studies within the College of Ethnic Studies (COES) at San Francisco State University (SFSU) begins with the assumption that racism still exists. The course then traces how whiteness is constructed and fortified to…

In this article, the author discusses the collaboration between university professors and classroom teachers to improve history teaching over the past twenty-five years, and explores the nature of these partnerships from the perspectives of the university participants. She highlights the salient themes that emerged from the interviews. In a…

Given California's role in the Pacific economy, its historic Asian heritage, and the strong and growing presence of Asian communities and businesses in the state, it is imperative that students statewide understand the history of Asia. Unfortunately, the California state curricular framework and standards in history and social science limit the…

The importance of content-focused professional development for high school teachers has been widely recognized by educators and legislators. Professionals in education at all levels have long argued for more contacts between secondary and post-secondary instructors as one important way to improve subject matter mastery. In response to this call,…

Many history professors have been reluctant to authorize students to use Wikipedia in their classwork because they do not fully trust the open source encyclopedia. But as increasing numbers of scholars and teachers work with Wikipedia, its influence becomes undeniable. In this article, the author describes how Wikipedia works and how she made…

In this article, the author shares his experience in teaching a course called "American Political Theory" at Nanjing University in Nanjing, People's Republic of China. The course the author designed was intended to explore the philosophical background of what drove the North American colonists to declare their independence; what ideas informed the…

In recent years, the use of primary sources in the history and social studies classroom has been increasingly promoted as a necessary and welcome practice, one designed to improve the quality of history education and to encourage student interest and engagement. Although some K-12 educators have been wary of adopting the use of primary sources,…

When his department chair asked him a few years ago to take over as faculty advisor to their university's chapter of the Phi Alpha Theta history honor society, the author readily accepted. Not only would it provide a great opportunity to get to know some of their best students better, it would also help a junior faculty member like himself fulfill…