Rise to the Challenge of Historical Analysis
Through the RISE method, students learn to analyze primary sources by reading closely, interpreting meaning, situating sources in context, and evaluating the value. This structured approach helps them uncover how historical understanding is built from traces of the past.​
Historiography—Remixing History
These learning activities guide students in exploring how historians interpret and reinterpret the past, and why understanding historiography is essential for informed civic engagement today.
Bad Takes on American American History — Correcting the Narratives that Shaped American Memory
Bad Takes on American History focuses on identifying, analyzing, and correcting bad narratives—interpretations that distort evidence, perpetuate myths, or reflect prejudice rather than sound historical reasoning.
Historiography Puzzles —Connecting Historical Perspectives, Schools, and Evidence
​In Historiography Puzzles, students read historical narrative excerpts from historians and match them to the corresponding school of historiography. They then connect each narrative to the primary sources that support it.
Picture This — Crafting Historical Narratives through Images
​​Students act as historian-editors, choosing images from a collection that they believe best represent a historical era. They decide who and what to include and write captions that communicate the message they want to convey.
Historical Fiction over Time — Writing the Past, Reflecting the Present
Students explore historical fiction on a shared topic written in different time periods. By investigating the era in which the authors created their works, they gain insight into how contemporary viewpoints and social contexts shape the construction of historical narratives.
History vs. Hollywood — Reading the Reels
​​By analyzing historical films, students uncover how filmmakers’ choices are shaped by the social, cultural, and political climate of their own time. Films create stories that reflect both the past and the moment in which the movie was made.
Commemorating the Past — Monuments, Memory and Meaning
​Students situate historical markers and monuments in context by investigating when they were created and who sponsored them. Students explore how markers shape public memory and the way communities commemorate the past.