Teaching World History as Mystery

by Jack Zevin, David Gerwin

Offering a philosophy, methodology, and examples for history instruction that are active, imaginative, and provocative, this text presents a fully developed pedagogy based on problem-solving methods that promote reasoning and judgment and restore a sense of imagination and participation to classroom learning. It is designed to draw readers into the detective process that characterizes the work of professional historians and social scientists ─ sharing raw data, defining terms, building interpretations, and testing competing theories. An inquiry framework drives both the pedagogy and the choice of historical materials, with selections favoring the unsolved, controversial, and fragmented rather than the neatly wrapped up analysis of past events.

Teaching World History as Mystery:

Provides a balanced combination of interestingly arranged historical content, and clearly explained instructional strategies

Features case studies of commonly and not so commonly taught topics within a typical world/global history curriculum using combinations of primary and secondary documents



Discusses ways of dealing with ethical and moral issues in world history classrooms, drawing students into persisting questions of historical truth, bias, and judgment

256 pages, Paperback

First published August 15, 2009

Reviews

[Aaron · Rating 4 out of 5]

This book has some great ideas, and I love the approach it takes to teaching history. I really appreciate the mystery packets and how they provide the short primary sources for comparison. I've read other recommendations for teaching history this way, but they don't always provide the sources for you. So that's nice. The only thing they could do to improve would be to provide it in a more ready to use format for teachers and students. Though perhaps that's an entirely different purchase all together. Anyway, it's definitely worth the read.

[Andúril · Rating 4 out of 5]

Una aproximación muy interesante a la enseñanza de la historia mundial. Como es lógico, continuamente hace referencias al sistema de enseñanza estadounidense, pero las ideas y las perspectivas que ofrecen pueden aplicarse en cualquier parte del mundo. Ha sido una lectura muy refrescante :)