What can history and archaeology teach us about how human societies interact with each other and with the environment? How can investigating the past help us understand modern identities and ask better questions about our own futures as we now face shifts in our climate and environment? Investigating Angkor is a working group for middle and high school teachers that will engage with these questions through a sustained study of the Khmer kingdom of Angkor.
Climate change is visibly affecting earth's natural systems and these changes are beginning to have wide-ranging impacts at the local, national, and global levels. This week-long program explores the causes, effects, and potential responses to climate change through the lens of economics. Participants will learn about these topics by exploring theory and case-studies.
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
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.
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 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.
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...
