HISTORY UNBOXED

Bring the past to life through hands-on and minds-engaged learning experiences that go beyond traditional instruction. This approach is grounded in the belief that students learn best when they are actively constructing knowledge—with their hands, hearts, and minds fully engaged.

Rather than just reading about history, students can unbox it—quite literally or figuratively—by interacting with sources, artifacts, and manipulatives. These experiences help students build historical empathy, content mastery, and critical thinking skills. Students engage in the types of exploration, problem-solving, and analysis that historians use in the field.

CLASSROOM ACTIVITIES & LESSONS

5 Strategies for Student Engagement

Design learning experiences to deepen students’ understanding of history and sharpen their critical thinking skills. These strategies promote inquiry, relevance, and active participation in historical thinking:

1. Current Connections: Reverse Chronology Units
Begin a unit with a pressing current event or issue that students can relate to. Then work backward through history to uncover the roots of the issue. This reverse chronology approach helps students understand the historical context behind modern problems and builds relevance from day one.

2. Fire-ups—Hotter than Warm-ups!
Ditch the dull daily warm-up! Begin each class with a provocative question, controversial issue, or bold historical claim. These “Fire-ups” are designed to ignite student curiosity, spark debate, and create urgency for learning the day's content.

3. Historiography for the Secondary Classroom
Introduce students to the idea that history is not just facts, but interpretation. Use competing historical accounts, textbook comparisons, or shifts in historical narrative over time to help students critically analyze how and why interpretations of the past change. This approach fosters metacognition and deeper historical empathy.

HISTORY MANIPULATIVES

Manipulatives aren't just for math class! History manipulatives are interactive tools that help students learn and understand historical concepts in a hands-on and engaging way.

Concept Connection Hexagons - Use visual tiles for exploring historical concepts, and help students make connections between different events and ideas.
Source Cards - Sort, organize, and analyze primary source visuals—artifacts, paintings, photographs, posters and more.
Maps - Annotate, connect, and compare places and global issues with desk and wall maps.
Timelines - Build skills in chronological thinking and causation with annotated physical timelines.

Students actively explore and process their understanding of historical events, people, and ideas.

PROFESSIONAL DEVELOPMENT

History Connected PD provides an immersive and collaborative experience for our signature pedagogy. We host a variety of learning opportunities.

Webinars - One-hour demos and presentations on best practices in history education.
Workshops - Dig deeper into key ideas through activities, reflection, and discussion.
Online Courses - Build and sustain capacity through module-based learning.