Teaching History SIG, Apr 13-Apr 16

We are very excited to share with you the 2012 program for the Teaching History SIG! This is one of our largest programs in recent years and we hope that you will be able to come out to support as many SIG sessions as possible. As we are always trying to increase our membership, please feel free to share this message with colleagues and graduate students who are not already members of the Teaching History SIG.

Please note the following SIX information items:

1. The Teaching History SIG program runs from Friday, April 13 - Monday, April 16 and includes 2 Symposia (one co-sponsored with Division C, Section 2), 2 Paper Sessions, and 3 Roundtables. Pleases see item #5 for the complete schedule. You can also search the online program for detailed information on the sessions: http://www.aera.net/  

2. Are you a member of the "Twittersphere"? We invite members to "tweet" about the Teaching History SIG sessions they attend, using the hashtag #TeachingHistorySIG. Let's create a buzz about our great program! 

3. Three exciting events are happening sequentially on Saturday, April 14th. First, the TH SIG Symposium, "Race and Nation in Canadian History Education" is not to be missed (4:05pm - 5:35pm). Then, the Teaching History SIG Business Meeting will begin at 6:15pm, with our guest speaker, Dr. Peter Seixas. After Dr. Seixas' presentation, we will be transitioning immediately to the Reception, hosted by THEN/HiER, CSHC & The Historical Thinking Project, in the same room. (We like to make things easy for you!) As an added bonus, there will be a limited number of beverage tickets (which can be used at the Reception) distributed on a first-come, first-served basis at the Business Meeting!! 

4. Abstract of Dr. Peter Seixas' Business Meeting Presentation:

History: What It Is; What It Does

Peter Seixas, University of British Columbia

Among history educators, there has been considerable controversy about the appropriateness of using historians’ work as a starting point for defining the pedagogical mission of preparing young people for the future.  Aren’t the goals of the academy and the schools too divergent for such a conflation? 

While nobody espouses the training of students as “mini-historians,” many, myself included, see in the discipline’s commitment to open, evidence-based debate (at least in its “noble dream” incarnation) as a practice in which all citizens should be well versed.  We see in the discipline, moreover, the culture’s most powerful tools for seeking truths about the past, defining its meanings for the present, and thereby offering insight in confronting choices about the future.

This paper puts such beliefs to the test through a perhaps idiosyncratic mode of analysis.  A Canadian history education initiative, “The Historical Thinking Project,” has defined historical thinking in terms of six second-order concepts.  Following British research and curriculum innovations, students’ progress in historical thinking is taken as progression in handling these concepts.  What happens when we look for these pedagogically defined concepts in the work of historians themselves?

Six contemporary Canadian historians’ works were chosen on the basis of (at least) passing and (at best) outstanding credentials within the academy, as well as appeal to a readership beyond.  Each is analyzed on the basis of one second-order concept.  This exercise casts light on some pedagogical potential of historians’ work that is frequently overlooked.

Biographical note: 

Peter Seixas is Professor and Canada Research Chair in the Department of Curriculum and Pedagogy at the University of British Columbia, Director of the Centre for the Study of Historical Consciousness, Director of The Historical Thinking Project and a member of the Royal Society of Canada. He taught high school social studies in Vancouver and earned a Ph.D. in history from the University of California at Los Angeles.  He is author of numerous articles on history education, editor of Theorizing Historical Consciousness (Toronto: University of Toronto Press, 2004), and co-editor, with Peter Stearns and Sam Wineburg, of Knowing, Teaching and Learning History: National and International Perspectives (New York: NYU Press, 2000).  In 2009-10, he edited a special series for Journal of Curriculum Studies, entitled “National History and Beyond.”  

5. Teaching History SIG Sessions & Reception AERA 2012 

International Perspectives on History Curricula and Textbooks (Roundtable)

Time: Fri, Apr 13 - 12:00pm - 1:30pm

Place: Vancouver Convention Centre, Second Level - East Room 2&3 

Local and Global Forces That Shape History Curricula and Policy (Roundtable)

Time: Fri, Apr 13 - 2:15pm - 3:45pm

Place: Vancouver Convention Centre, First Level - East Ballroom C 

Diverse Approaches for Developing Historical Literacy With K-12 Students (Paper Session)

Time: Sat, Apr 14 - 12:25pm - 1:55pm

Place: Vancouver Convention Centre, Third Level - West Room 305 

Race and Nation in Canadian History Education (Symposium)

Time: Sat, Apr 14 - 4:05pm - 5:35pm

Place: Vancouver Convention Centre, First Level - West Room 111&112

Descriptors: History, Cultural Issues in Education, Identity 

Teaching History SIG Business Meeting

Time: Sat, Apr 14 - 6:15pm - 7:45pm

Place: Vancouver Convention Centre, Second Level - West Room 205 

THEN/HiER, CSHC & The Historical Thinking Project Reception

Time: Sat, Apr 14 - 7:15pm – 9:15pm

Place: Vancouver Convention Centre, Second Level - West Room 205 

Teachers’ and Students’ Beliefs and Understandings About History: Toward a Critical Engagement With the Past (Paper Session)

Time: Sun, Apr 15 - 8:15am - 9:45am

Place: Vancouver Convention Centre, Third Level - West Room 303

Pedagogical Approaches for Improving Instruction in History Classrooms (Roundtable)

Time: Sun, Apr 15 - 12:25pm - 1:55pm

Place: Vancouver Convention Centre, First Level - East Ballroom C 

When More of the Same Old Story Is Just Not Enough: Possibilities and Challenges of Teaching Students and Their Teachers to Think Historically (Symposium)

Unit: Co-Sponsored with Division C - Learning and Instruction (Humanities, Social Sciences, Fine Arts) 

Time: Mon, Apr 16 - 4:05pm - 6:05pm

Place: Sheraton Wall Centre, Third Level - North Junior Ballroom D

Descriptors: History, Cognitive Processes/Development, Professional Development 

6. A special thank you to all of our dedicated reviewers! Our 2012 conference review panel included 19 reviewers from colleges and universities around the world, and also included graduate students. We couldn't have done our work without you! Many thanks to: 

Laurence Abbott

Keith Barton

Whitney Blakenship

Penney Clark

Samantha Cutrara

Kent den Heyer

Terrie Epstein

Elise Fillpot

Lindsay Gibson

S.G. Grant

Daisy Martin

Chauncey Monte-Sano

Alan Sears

Peter Seixas

Mark Sheehan

Jeremy Stoddard

Jennifer Tupper

Carla Van Boxtel

Stephanie Van Hover