Building Successful Collaborations to Enhance History Teaching in Secondary Schools
By Kathleen Anderson Steeves
Preface
One of the most fundamental collaborations among historians is
also the least examined. It is the shared effort of teachers in K–12
schools, community colleges, and four-year colleges and universities
to develop students’ historical understanding and habits of
thinking historically. Traditionally, each segment of the historians’ community
pursues its work within its own institutional setting, with little
April 30, 2007the gaps between
the segments. But important efforts of collaboration have been growing
in the past decade, bringing teachers, history professors, public
historians, history/social studies educators, and school administrators
together within common projects. This essay will first examine the
issues and then identify the leading movements and institutions that
are stimulating important collaborative efforts among educators.
In the process, the essay will set out examples of educational research
and writing that describe the exciting developments in the field
of history.
Last Updated: April 30, 2007