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Editorial

 
    Welcome to the debut of World History Connected in its new incarnation: beginning with this issue, WHC will be published three times a year—in October, February, and June—rather than twice a year. Expanding the number of yearly issues has been a goal of the editorial board since the founding of WHC. We know how much there is that still needs to be written, researched, and reviewed for teachers of world history, and we want to make this material available and accessible with as much frequency as we can. 1
    As in past issues of WHC, the articles, columns, and reviews featured in this issue offer a diverse array of resources that will, we believe, prove invaluable to both the practice and the conceptualization of world history teaching. For example, Patrick Manning offers a comparison between 1789-92 and 1989-92 that can be taken directly into the world history classroom. Indeed, this piece allows students to comprehend the ways in which global and comparative thinking can open up new ways of thinking about connections in the past without abandoning the importance of local and regional context. Are you interested in historical narrative? If so, Kent den Heyer demonstrates here the ways he has used the work of R. Buckminster Fuller to reframe world history narratives in order to make students conscious of the elements that enter into their construction. In a different vein, Tom Laichas' interview with representatives from "Facing History and Ourselves" provides world history teachers both with the background of this important program as well as the tools to use its vast resources for teaching about humanity's darkest episodes. And David Christian has generously allowed WHC to reproduce a lecture, given at the AP World History exam reading in June, that overviews the field of Big History, its overall importance, and its implications for human history.
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    While the above resources were meant to be used in the classroom, several other features in this issue provide teachers of world history with new ways of conceptualizing and defining world history courses. James Palmitessa and Stephen Staggs, for example, offer a fascinating account of their experience designing, teaching, and collaborating on the creation of two world history courses: one taught at the high school level, and the other at the university level. Susanna Calkins, meanwhile, lays out the ways in which world history courses can be structured to help students think beyond commonly-held stereotypes of the world's peoples and to prepare them as members of our increasingly global community. In addition, the noted world history teacher Dixie Grupe (the subject of another interview by Tom Laichas) offers insights about her successes and challenges teaching world history.
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    In addition to all this, this issue features a report from a conference (held in Sydney this last summer) about internationalizing world history, which offers keen observations about recent attempts to collaborate in world history teaching and research beyond geographical barriers. And have you ever wondered how U.S. students are actually scoring on the world history AP exams, and what those scores might mean? Bill Strickland has the answers, complete with graphs and explanations. 4
    As always, the columns featured in this issue offer abundant resources for teaching world history: in this case, they explore 19th century cultural imperialism (Marc Gilbert), gender (Sharon Cohen), visual literacy (Eagan), new scholarship (Deborah Smith Johnston), and family history (Tom Laichas). Finally, a variety of book and multi-media reviews geared toward world history teachers provide important information about what's out there, what world historians are reading and watching, and how such sources can be used. We hope you will find these resources as stimulating and thought-provoking as we have, and that you will continue to let us know how we can help you achieve your goals as teachers of world history.
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Heather Streets, Co-editor

Tom Laichas, Co-editor

Tim Weston, Associate Editor


 

 
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