Faculty Scholarly Dissemination Grants

Collaboration and the Future of History Education

Department

History Department

College

College of Liberal Arts and Sciences

Date Range

2014-2015

Disciplines

Arts and Humanities

Abstract

The panelists are currently finishing a book manuscript for Routledge titled Collaboration and the Future of Education: Preserving the Right to Think and Teach Historically. The book focuses on the collaborative work that the authors history education specialists at Western Michigan University (WMU) and Grand Valley State University (GVSU) have engaged in over the past decade with public and alternative high schools in southwest Michigan. The book highlights how collaboration across the K-16 continuum, involving high school teachers, high school students, college professors, and pre-service teachers, and built on long-term relationships and deliberative conversation, can enhance and preserve craft approaches to teaching as well as provide authentic historical instruction. The papers included in the session will focus on key themes from the book. Wilson Warrens paper will highlight some of the major impediments to authentic history instruction by focusing on problems with textbook-driven narratives as well as K-12 teachers lack of preparation and experience in pursuing authentic methods of history instruction. The latter topic will be addressed by summarizing findings from area K-12 teachers participation in TAH-funded summer institutes that Warren directed from 2004 to 2012. Gordon Andrews paper will focus on how collaboration among the WMU and GVSU history educators and their pre-service teachers impacted the high school teachers perspectives on how to teach historiography. The historiography focus is part of a four-year project involving Portage Central High School, WMU, and GVSU. His presentation will summarize how the teachers revised their teaching of historiography and how the high school students interest in historiography changed during the collaborative project. He will also address the role of the Portage Central High School library and librarians in improving history instruction. James Cousins paper will explain how pre-service teachers involved in the K-16 collaborative project prepared for their opportunities to teach historiographical lessons, how they fared in the classroom, and then how they reflected on their experiences. His presentation will also reflect on the value of historiography as part of the preparation that pre-service teachers receive in their methods classes. The session should appeal to K-12 teachers, history educators, and pre-service teachers.

Conference Name

Teaching History: Fostering Historical Thinking Across the K-16 Continuum

Conference Location

University of California Berkeley

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