National History Education Clearinghouse Celebrates First Birthday

Teresa DeFlitch

This month, the National History Education Clearinghouse celebrates its first birthday. Funded by the U.S. Department of Education, <http://www.teachinghistory.org/> helps K-12 educators improve American history instruction by bringing historical content, reliable resources, teaching strategies, and current research together in one website. It is quickly becoming the central place online for U.S. history education. For NHEC staff at the Center for History and New Media at George Mason University and the History Education Group at Stanford University, in addition to the American Historical Association and the National History Center, it has been quite a year. New features are being developed as we continue to add content to all six sections: History Content, Best Practices, Teaching Materials, Issues and Research, Teaching American History Grants, and Professional Development.

Tools for Teachers, a section that highlights tools for integrating technology into the classroom, will be enhanced and expanded. Located in History Content, Tools for Teachers includes descriptions of digital tools, such as blogs, Wordle, and Digital Storyteller. In addition, we have already begun updating the descriptions with information on best practices and classroom examples. In the future, we will post short videos that will highlight how to use the tool, why it is useful, and how to start using it in the classroom.

One of the central goals of the NHEC is to create a community of history educators—whether they work in classrooms, universities, or museums. Therefore, we are working to make visible the wonderful resources at museums and historic sites on the NHEC. Soon you will see reviews of museum programming, such as outreach programs, field trips and other initiatives, that will help classroom educators become more familiar with the resources offered at museums and historic sites around the country. Furthermore, other areas of the website will address teaching with material culture, place-based learning, and best practices for field trip visits.

During our first year we presented a Teaching with Textbooks section, which provides educators with ways to use textbooks to engage students and question the presentation of the past. A new feature, titled Beyond the Textbook, will provide ways for teachers to engage students in subjects that may not be adequately covered in textbooks, such as slavery or challenges to New Deal reforms. These essays interrogate the historical narrative presented in textbook entries and state standards, unearth points of controversy and questions of inquiry that are masked in these traditional presentations, and complicate or open up common topics that teachers may not know well or have effective approaches and materials for teaching.

The NHEC is the place to get answers for your questions on U.S. history education. Over the past year, we have received thought-provoking questions through the Ask a Historian and Ask a Master Teacher features. For example, one visitor asked, “How can I find out about the number of home sales per year during the Great Depression?” Another asked, “I am trying to find current, national data on students’ level of understanding and knowledge of American history. Any suggestions or studies that would help me find such data?” Keep an eye out for Ask a Digital Historian. This feature will allow visitors to submit questions on digital resources to experts in digital history.

During the past year, the NHEC also received a facelift, with a new design that we continue to improve. New multimedia will be added to the website—including instructional screencasts on how to use the NHEC, snapshots of TAH educators talking about lessons learned or highlighting exemplary TAH projects, and video of historians modeling the practice of investigating primary sources.

These are just a few changes planned for the NHEC. Please do not hesitate to send us feedback that will help shape the second year. We look forward to hearing your thoughts and suggestions as we continue to grow. We welcome you to email us at <info at teachinghistory dot org> or call 866-539-8381.

Teresa DeFlitch is project manager at the National History Education Clearinghouse <http://www.teachinghistory.org/>. Created by the Center for History and New Media at George Mason University and the History Education Group at Stanford University with funding from the U.S. Department of Education (ED-07-CO-0088), the National History Education Clearinghouse does not necessarily reflect the views or policies of the U.S. Department of Education nor does mention of trade names, commercial products, or organization imply endorsement by the U.S. Government.