Teaching History Today: Applying the Triad of Inquiry, Primary Sources, and Literacy

The methods of teaching history in grades 6-12 have changed over the last few years to be more interactive and collaborative. More and more, teaching and learning revolves around an essential triad of inquiry, primary sources, and literacy in a collaborative classroom environment. Teaching History Today is about placing inquiry, primary sources, and literacy foundations of history instruction front and center in the education of preservice history teacher candidates and in-service classroom history teachers. By focusing on these major components of teaching and learning, readers can learn how to organize the massive amount of historical content into effective units. They can see how to integrate the learning of content with the development of skills. And they can gain expertise into how and why to engage students collaboratively in the learning process.

Mark Newman is professor of social science education at National College of Education, National Louis University. He has published books and articles on primary sources, visual culture, geography, and visual literacy. He has directed Library of Congress Teaching with Primary Sources and National Endowment for the Humanities grants. Newman won the National Louis Distinguished Teaching Award in 2016.