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We are seeking proposals for short articles to appear in the Textbooks and Teaching section of the Journal of American History relating to the theme "Teaching Outside the Box: Virtual and Actual History Field Trips in College Courses." K-12 social studies classes have long included excursions to local museums and historical sites to help make history "come alive" for younger students. At the college level, history students are more often asked to undertake individual research projects using primary sources assembled in academic libraries. The purpose is similar, however: to expose students to artifacts and the "raw materials of history" in order to give them a fuller appreciation of the distinctiveness (and complexity) of the past. Today new pedagogical possibilities are emerging as professional historians rethink how they can best relate their craft to the wider public. This section of the JAH will explore the new relationships between scholarship and students, the new understandings of sources, methods, and significance, the extensions of audience and text, created by envisioning the teaching of history "outside the box."
We are soliciting proposals for articles of approximately 10-15 pages each from historians who teach innovative courses where undergraduates undertake educational experiences outside the traditional classroom and/or library. In such classes, work "outside the box." may provide integral "texts" for classroom instruction, or may reshape the dynamics of the class, or may require students to develop new understanding and skills in the "doing" of history.
We ask participants to address the following questions in their articles:
How their approach and/or pedagogical method extends history teaching beyond its traditional sources and methods;
What is accomplished by the extension: new "texts," new pedagogy, new audiences, new partnerships, etc.; how the extension compares to other possible methods of accomplishing the end sought;
What conditions are necessary to insure the success of the innovation;
How the innovation has been received by students, colleagues, others;
How the innovation clarifies, transforms, or subverts traditional goals of history courses.
Proposal deadline is June 15, with final articles due August 1.
Contact: Carol Lasser and Gary Kornblith, Professors of History, Oberlin College, contributing editors, "Textbooks and Teaching," Journal of American History
email: carol.lasser@oberlin.edu
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