The History Matters Podcast

Thirteen colonies rose up, rebelled against an Empire, and won their independence. These unlikely victors built a new nation on democratic principles that inspired similar movements around the world. How should we tell the story of our nation’s founding? Guests Sarah Botstein and David Schmidt , who co-directed The American Revolution with Ken Burns, explain how chronology and characters shape the...

In Thermopolis, Wyoming, second-grade students love learning about the War of 1812, from the swashbuckling sea battles off the coast of Louisiana to the bombardment at Maryland’s Fort McHenry that inspired the “Star-Spangled Banner”—engaging lessons that build knowledge alongside literary and historical thinking skills. This type of learning is powered by a strong, coherent curriculum that ensures...

Many teachers build history lessons on primary sources like letters and legal documents. But without context and historical thinking skills, students can’t make much meaning from them, say guests Jon Bassett and Gary Shiffman , co-founders of the Four Question Method for history instruction. “Primary sources, for us, are ways to practice doing what historians do. 8th graders aren't historians...

What do teachers need to successfully teach high-quality history lessons in elementary school? A strong curriculum is a great start, but teachers also need aligned professional learning and time to dig in and build the content knowledge that supports confident instruction, says guest Courtney Dumas . In this episode, she explains how her organization, Edu20/20 , is supporting Louisiana educators a...

In Medford, Massachusetts, “social studies is a subject to be valued,” fifth-grade teacher Jennifer Lindsey explains in this episode. “It’s the place to teach kids how to talk to each other and negotiate conversations and digest information and form an opinion—but also listen to others’ opinions and back that up with evidence,” she says. This content-rich, inquiry-based learning is powered by Inve...

In the typical American high school, 9th-grade history students are expected to dive into the historical content, grapple with complex ideas, and engage in deep inquiry. But teenage students often lack the historical knowledge such tasks require. If you haven’t learned much about the Civil War, for example, you won’t be ready to discuss whether the Compromise of 1877 was a fair deal. That’s one of...

The more history young students know, the more they want to know. That’s one of the joyful discoveries that elementary teachers are making in Ouachita Parish , Louisiana. In this episode, guests Angela Barfoot and Lauren Cascio describe the rewards of using Bayou Bridges, a content-rich, knowledge-building social studies curriculum, in combination with a high-quality ELA curriculum, Louisiana Guid...

Teaching history involves balance: too many facts and it’s boring, too few and students don’t have enough information to make sense of what they’ve learned. In this episode, host Barbara Davidson speaks with Sean Dimond , a former middle-school teacher and Louisiana state social studies director who is now senior social studies editor at the Core Knowledge Foundation. Dimond notes that in elementa...

Elementary schools spend almost no time teaching history. How did we get here, and how can we reprioritize this crucial foundation for literacy and knowledge? Host Barbara Davidson begins the eight-part “History Matters” podcast with a reflective and forward-looking conversation with guest Robert Pondiscio , an author and former fifth-grade teacher who founded the Knowledge Matters Campaign. Pondi...

Welcome to the brand-new History Matters Podcast. I’m your host, Barbara Davidson, President of StandardsWork and Executive Director of the Knowledge Matters Campaign.  This podcast was born out of a vision—one I believe all educators have—of inspiring our students to ask big questions, develop their love of learning through reading, and feel empowered to go out and explore their community and the...