The Newsmagazine of the American Historical Association
Making Students into Historians
In a high school historical methods course, students researched, wrote, and edited their own history books.
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Teaching with Ghosts
When AI mass-produces plausible historical narratives and images on demand, how can educators teach students to critically engage with this technology?
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September 2026
Harry Houdini was not a fan of the spiritualism movement. The famous magician worked in his later years to expose the fraud of mediums, psychics, and other spiritualists. This photograph of Houdini speaking to the ghost of Abraham Lincoln was created in the 1920s to debunk spirit photography of the era. Today, people are still seeking to contact historical figures, but instead of communicating with their spirits, they are speaking with chatbots. In “Teaching with Ghosts,” Amy Allen and David Hicks caution against classroom use of AI tools that mislead and (at worst) lie about the past and offer pedagogical tips for evaluating the ghosts students now encounter in the AI era.
Photograph: Library of Congress Prints and Photographs Division, public domain
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Perspectives on History is the newsmagazine of the American Historical Association and is the principal source for news and information about the discipline of history. Since 1962, Perspectives has cultivated the community of historians and promoted our work by publishing articles and commentary on all aspects of the historical discipline. The print magazine and its website showcase work by historians working in various professional settings.
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American Historical Review
The American Historical Review is the official publication of the American Historical Association and has been the journal of record for the historical discipline in the United States since 1895.