Teaching and Learning the Difficult Past: Comparative Perspectives

Building upon the theoretical foundations for the teaching and learning of difficult histories in social studies classrooms, this edited collection offers diverse perspectives on school practices, curriculum development, and experiences of teaching about traumatic events. Considering the relationship between memory, history, and education, this volume advances the discussion of classroom-based practices for teaching and learning difficult histories and investigates the role that history education plays in creating and sustaining national and collective identities.

Table of Contents:
Foreword Simone Schweber Introduction Magdalena H. Gross and Luke Terra Part I Theorizing the teaching and learning of difficult histories Teaching difficult histories: The need for a dynamic research tradition Keith Barton Contextual Gatekeeping: Teacher decision-making in multiple and overlapping milieus Thomas Misco Sublime Understanding: Cultivating the Emotional Past Cam Scribner Part II Teaching difficult histories 4. An Inquiry-Based Curriculum Design for Difficult History Bradley Fogo and Joel Breakstone Ethical Judgments about the Difficult Past: Observations from the Classroom Lindsay Gibson When Past and Present Collide: Dilemmas in Teaching the History of the Israeli-Palestinian Conflict Sivan Zakai Warts, Polyps, Blisters and All? Problems in Learning to Teach a Provocative Past in a Troubling Way Bruce VanSledright and Sebastian Burkholdt Güeras, Indigenas, y Negros: A Framework for Teaching Mexican American Racial/Ethnic Histories Maribel Santiago Betrayal, Conversion, and Complicity in the Middle East Classroom Taymiya R. Zaman Part III Learning difficult histories Soft or Hard Biculturalism and Beyond: How New Zealand Adolescents Construct Contemporary Significance of the Nation’s Founding Document Terrie Epstein and Michael Harcourt History Education, National Identity, and the Road to Brexit Eleni Karayianni and Stuart Foster "I need to hear a good ending":How students cope with historical violence. Jeremy Jimenez The Myth of "Black Confederates": Beliefs of Students and Implications for History Educators Gabriel A. Reich and Amy Corning "We’ve Been Screwed": French Québecers and Their Past Jocelyn Létourneau Student Motivation to Confront Difficult Local History Rob Lucas Learning History Through Culture: The Krakow Jewish Festival Ari Y. Kelman "Still Racist, Just Less Outward About It:" Secondary Students Narrate Connections Between Slavery and Racism Justine Lee Sweetening the Past: Selling Heritage at Knott’s Berry Farm Harper Keenan Afterword Sam Wineburg Appendices

About the Author :
Magdalena H. Gross is a Senior Research Associate at the Center to Support Excellence in Teaching (CSET) at Stanford University, USA. Luke Terra is Director of Community Engaged Learning and Research at Stanford University, USA.