Teaching US History as Mystery

Rating:
Summary: History is Mysterious!
Review: In "Teaching US History as Mystery," two distinguished education professors, David Gerwin and Jack Zevin, outline a unique way to teach US history. In their approach, students examine primary sources (much more vivid than textbooks) and, like detectives, follow a set of clues to draw conclusions and make observations.

In addition to being pedagogically sound, this approach is FUN and will capture the attention of students in grades 7-12. As amateur detectives (or professional historians!), the students are compelled to think of history as part of a dialectic, a puzzle that needs to be solved. What fun!

In some ways, "Teaching US History as Mystery," is part toolkit and part methodology. It contains classroom activities and decision-making exercises for easy implementation within the classroom, but also reveals a pedagogical methodology that merits exploration in other realms. As a teacher and corporate executive, I've integrated this approach in a number of creative ways.

Buy this book! It belongs on every teacher's bookshelf.

Rating:
Summary: History is Mysterious!
Review: In "Teaching US History as Mystery," two distinguished education professors, David Gerwin and Jack Zevin, outline a unique way to teach US history. In their approach, students examine primary sources (much more vivid than textbooks) and, like detectives, follow a set of clues to draw conclusions and make observations.

In addition to being pedagogically sound, this approach is FUN and will capture the attention of students in grades 7-12. As amateur detectives (or professional historians!), the students are compelled to think of history as part of a dialectic, a puzzle that needs to be solved. What fun!

In some ways, "Teaching US History as Mystery," is part toolkit and part methodology. It contains classroom activities and decision-making exercises for easy implementation within the classroom, but also reveals a pedagogical methodology that merits exploration in other realms. As a teacher and corporate executive, I've integrated this approach in a number of creative ways.

Buy this book! It belongs on every teacher's bookshelf.