June 1, 2004

Boise State Grant Funds Education Of U.S. History Teachers

American history teachers from more than 25 schools in the Vallivue, Caldwell and Nampa school districts will work with Boise State University through the Canyon County Teaching American History project. The project is sponsored jointly by Boise State University’s Department of Political Science in the College of Social Sciences and Public Affairs and the Center for School Improvement and Policy Studies in the College of Education. A series of three summer institutes will kick off June 21-24 at the Boise Centre on the Grove. This first seminar concerns the American presidency and the Constitution. The other two seminars, both held in the Boise State Student Union Building, are June 28-July 1 (the origins and meaning of the Civil War) and Aug. 2-5 (race and the American regime). The program is funded by a nearly $900,000 Teaching American History grant from the U.S. Department of Education. The purpose of the grant is to improve the history knowledge of elementary, middle and secondary school American history teachers. Nationally-recognized guest scholars will instruct district teachers in reading primary documents, generating and testing historical hypotheses and tracing ideas of liberty and equality through American history. The project also supports teachers by forming Instructional Learning Teams in each school building. The teams are groups of teachers using the Japanese lesson study method to change instruction practices in their classrooms. “Ultimately, it is our hope that by imparting substantive knowledge to these teachers, students will better understand how the people, events and ideas of the past shape the world we live in,” said Scott Yenor, an assistant professor of political science at Boise State University and academic director of the program. “We also hope that teachers’ practices in the classrooms will change as a result of their greater confidence in teaching American history.” -30- Contact Scott Yenor Political Science Department 208 426-2388 Media Contact Kathleen Craven communications and marketing