Past ORIAS programs

Weekend workshops, monthly discussion groups, etc.

The Other Europe

Teacher-created lessons about Eastern Europe and Russia. World History textbooks and courses often focus on Western European events and perspectives in historical narratives about Europe. This hinders student understanding of major historical processes: the end of the Roman Empire, the Protestant Reformation, the rise of liberalism, imperialism, and the Cold War, just to name a few. And, as we see now, it means students are missing necessary background to contextualize and make sense of current developments like Russia's invasion of Ukraine. See the Lessons

Teacher participants in The...

How To Read an Object

Teach students how to analyze artifacts.

Where does the information in social studies textbooks come from? And how can educators introduce students to the inquiry-based skills that produce our understandings of the past? How to Read an Object was a set of workshops focused on how researchers investigate the past through the analysis of physical artifacts. Participants learned a method for introducing students to this sort of inquiry while increasing their knowledge of a particular time and place in World History.

See below for an exercise called ...

Global Views of COVID 19

Recorded Presentations about COVID in Different Parts of the World

ORIAS created the Global Views of COVID 19 webinar series to help teachers deepen their understanding of the unfolding pandemic. We know that even as educators are grappling with the personal and professional effects of the current situation, they are also fielding questions from students about COVID 19. What can we expect in the coming weeks as the COVID 19 pandemic unfolds? And how does regional context affect the spread of the virus, political responses to the pandemic, and economic...

Lessons from Morocco

Lessons about Jewish-Muslim Coexistence in Morocco

In the summer of 2017, the UC Berkeley Center for Middle East Studies led a group of 15 California teachers on a Fulbright-Hays Group Projects Abroad study program in Morocco. Participants learned about the history and current cultures of Morocco, with a special emphasis on the history of interactions between Jews and Muslims in the region. Teachers constructed lessons upon their return, drawing on the knowledge and resources they developed through participation in thei Fulbright-Hays program.

How to Read a Film

Resources from Film Workshops at BAMPFA

Consider the importance of moving images in the lives of today's students. Between TV, film, and social media, the moving image is an indispensible part of learning and communicating information (and mis-information). How do film-makers convey their ideas and generate particular responses in film-viewers? What strategies can educators use to teach skills of critical film viewing and analysis? How to Read a Film introduced educators to techniques for the interpretation and analysis of film. Participants were exposed to...