Resources for Educators & Students
K–12 Education
The AHA strives to ensure that every K–12 student has access to high quality history instruction. We create resources for the classroom, advise on state and federal policy, and advocate for the vital importance of history in public education.
American Lesson Plan: Teaching US History in Secondary Schools
The AHA’s 2024 report shares findings from the most comprehensive study of secondary US history education undertaken in the 21st century. The report provides empirical evidence and rigorous analysis to inform current debates over how history is taught in our schools.
Undergraduate Education
Teaching and learning are at the foundation of the AHA’s mission to promote historical thinking in public life. What do students learn in undergraduate history courses? How and why are history majors so successful in a variety of careers?
Core Learning Outcomes in History
What do students learn in history courses? The AHA’s Tuning Project (2012-16) asked historians to clarify and demystify the core goals and the key skills pursued in our discipline.
Graduate Education
Many historians will pursue graduate training at some stage in their career. To meet the needs of both students and graduate programs, the AHA creates resources, provides platforms, and convenes conversations about student success from application to completion.
For Academic Departments
The AHA provides resources and hosts a variety of events and opportunities to benefit department chairs and build community, including webinars, sessions at the annual meeting, and an in-person workshop.
Why Study History
History informs our understanding of everything, and historians' voices are essential in conversations about current events. The AHA provides resources on the importance of historical thinking in public life.
Teaching & Learning at the AHA Annual Meeting
Join Us in New York!
We hope to see you at the 138th annual meeting of the AHA, which will take place from Friday to Monday, January 3–6, 2025, in New York City. At the nation’s largest gathering of historians, we hone our professional skills and connect with historians working across numerous fields and professions. Whatever your career stage or path, there is a place for you at our annual meeting.
AHA25 Teaching & Learning Guide
The AHA annual meeting offers dozens of professional development opportunities for educators. Use this guide, organized by event type, to navigate the full spread of teaching and learning events taking place at AHA25.
AHA25 K–16 Content Cohort
The AHA will convene a cohort of 25 educators working in a range of different institutions focused around the theme of “Resilience in the History Classroom.” This program provides a structured experience to help educators navigate the largest annual history conference in the world and delve into the potential implications of new research for the history classroom.
Free Registration for New York City Public K–12 Teachers
Current K–12 teachers at public schools in New York City are eligible to receive free annual meeting registration. Email annualmeeting@historians.org from your school address to receive the discount code.
AHA Resource Library
Resources for the Discipline
The AHA’s Resource Library includes hundreds of resources developed or vetted by the AHA and our partners. Our resources range from classroom syllabi, to archival documents from the Civil War, to standards and guidelines for the discipline, and much more.
Vetted Resources
Vetted Resources compiles in a central location materials and tools that have been professionally vetted by historians, offering instructors access to high-quality materials that meet professional standards.
AHA Historical Collections
The AHA has made primary sources available for research purposes, along with AHA archival reports and documents.
#AHRSyllabus
The #AHRSyllabus is a collaborative project designed to help teachers and students look "under the hood" at how historians in the early 21st century do the work of history. Each contribution to the syllabus features a practical hands-on teaching module that foregrounds innovative uses of historical method in the classroom.
Standards & Guidelines for the Discipline
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Teaching Things: Material Culture in the History Classroom
Teaching Things: Material Culture in the History Classroom is a new, National Endowment for the Humanities–funded project at the American Historical Association. The digital Object Library helps teachers identify material culture sources for classroom use and includes ready-made resources and materials that teachers can use to craft lesson plans to fit their curriculum. Teaching Toolkits offer plug-and-play resources featuring object-based lessons across fields, time periods, and geographic spaces.
Current Events in Historical Context
History, the Past, and Public Culture: Results from a National Survey
This project aspired to take America’s historical pulse by assessing public perceptions of, and engagement with, the discipline of history and the past. The AHA partnered with Fairleigh Dickinson University to develop and implement a national survey that explored the public’s definition of the term “history," where audiences access history, which sources of history are perceived to be reliable, and more.
A Bibliography of Historians' Responses to COVID-19
In 2020-21, the AHA compiled a professionally vetted bibliography of historians’ responses to COVID-19 as a resource for the public, teachers, and scholars seeking historical perspectives on the current crisis and its local and global impacts. The bibliography includes commentary and publications by historians in both scholarly and popular periodical literature; recorded lectures and webcasts; and digitized primary source materials from past epidemics and pandemics.
The History of Racism and Racist Violence
In response to ongoing racist violence in the United States, we have compiled a list of AHA resources on the history of racism and racist violence. Teachers can use them in classrooms to help students understand the history of the present; journalists can draw on them to provide historical context for current events; researchers can draw on them to inform future scholarship.
The Assault on the Capitol in Historical Perspective: Resources for Educators
We know teaching the events of January 6, 2021—which are not a “moment,” but the product of a long history—presents a familiar, yet unusually urgent, challenge: how can students use historical knowledge and thinking to understand current crises? Here are some resources that might help, published by the AHA on January 7, 2021.
AHA Events
History Behind the Headlines
History Behind the Headlines events feature prominent historians discussing the history behind current events. Open to the public and free of charge, events in this series are generously sponsored by AHA member Jared Brubaker.
Regional Conferences on Introductory History Courses
Our regional conferences endeavor to strengthen the community of practice focused on introductory history courses, both in secondary and higher education.
AHA Learn
Are you interested in the latest conversations about teaching and learning? Join us for our regular series of online programs that are free and open to the public.