Best Practices
Engage students and encourage historical thinking in K-12 American history classrooms.
In this series of videos, historian David Jaffee examines life in 19th century America from a unique perspective. Watch as he analyzes three ordinary objects and reveals their significance as symbols of economic, cultural, and social change. FIND OUT MORE »
Read and Learn
Examples of Historical Thinking
Scholars, students, and teachers model historical thinking
A student demonstrates thinking aloud reading two documents. [...] »
Historian Rosemarie Zagarri reads the Declaration of Independence closely, [...] »
Is reading a piece of historic literature once enough? Not if you want to get [...] »
Analyzing a source requires context for a more complete understanding. [...] »
Letters from U.S. soldiers during the Philippine-American War reveal [...] »
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Teaching in Action
Teachers demonstrate promising teaching practices
A 3rd-grade teacher leads her students through analysis of child labor [...] »
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Using Primary Sources
Strategies for analyzing primary sources
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Teaching with Textbooks
Techniques for promoting historical inquiry
Allow students to see that history as we know it is interpretation, perspective [...] »
The language of history textbooks challenges English language learners and [...] »
Turn your textbook into a conversation by scanning its language for biases. [...] »
Class discussion and personal inquiry builds an interactive relationship [...] »
