Teaching & Learning

A group of people in a library around table with a map on it

The AHA's broad-based teaching mission includes making resources available to educators at all levels and at public history venues, introducing and integrating historians into the discipline, providing ongoing education for historians at every stage of their careers—through topical and professional sessions at the annual meeting, and by way of both innovative web resources and distinguished print publications.

Historians are equally concerned with learning—their own ongoing research and other activities that expand their mission to bring history into public life. The AHA provides resources to historians in all fields and career paths, and advocates for the profession as a whole.

2016 Tuning Core Document

The Tuning Project's History Discipline Core is a statement of the central habits of mind, skills, and understanding that students achieve when they major in history. The document reflects the iterative nature of the tuning process. The most recent version was published in November 2016.

2016 History Discipline Core

Teaching Resources

The American Historical Association has a long-standing commitment to teaching and history education at all levels, and supports teaching in a wide variety of ways. The AHA has developed resources for classroom teaching through the years, and the AHA Teaching Division is actively working on advancing conversations about teaching history. Find resources for use in your own teaching in our new Teaching Resources section, recently redesigned for greater easy of use.

Explore the Resources

AHA Teaching Prizes

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The Eugene Asher Award for distinguished postsecondary history teaching

The Beveridge Family Teaching Prize for distinguished K-12 history teaching

The William and Edwyna Gilbert Award for outstanding contributions to the teaching of history through the publication of journal articles

The Nancy Lyman Roelker Mentorship Award for teachers of history who taught, guided, and inspired their students in a way that changed their lives

AHA Online Teacher Institute in World History

Teacher Institute logo

To commemorate the 10th anniversary of its involvement in the creation of the C3 Framework, the AHA will convene a weeklong professional development institute via Zoom for K-12 teachers of world history (including dual-enrollment courses). The five sessions in this week-long program will explore how teachers can channel one of the most pressing questions in global current events to engage students in the world history classroom.  Participants will join five two-hour sessions in Zoom over five days between July 31 and August 4.

AHA Online Teacher Institute in World History

Online Teaching Resources

From the AHA History Gateways launch in 2019

As institutions transitioned to online instruction in the face of COVID-19, many historians were faced with the challenge of what it means to teach history online. The AHA developed resources to assist historians and teachers with online teaching, many of which can also be used for developing in-person courses. From assessing assignments, to supporting your faculty and students, to promoting student engagement, the AHA is here to help.

Online Teaching Resources

The Decision to Secede and Establish the Confederacy: A Selection of Primary Sources

The American Historical Association encourages continued public debate about monuments to Confederate leaders and about the public spaces and buildings named after those individuals, as well as the role of Confederate flags in public culture. Historians’ recent experiences in media interviews have suggested that too few participants in these conversations have read the essential primary sources that clearly articulate the reasons for secession and the establishment of a new nation. This page links to a limited set of documents with a singular focus: why did state governments decide to secede and form a new nation?

Explore the Documents

Future of the African American Past

Future of the African American Past conference logo

On May 19-21, 2016, the AHA and the National Museum of African American History and Culture co-hosted The Future of the African American Past. The conference was held at the National Museum of the American Indian and the National Museum of American History. More than 60 scholars gathered together to celebrate the upcoming opening of the NMAAHC and consider the future of the study of African American history. All sessions were recorded, and noted historians blogged on the sessions in the following days. Participants tweeted to #FutureAAPast.

Learn more, watch sessions, and read the blog!