Teaching American History

Turning Points in the History of American Foreign Policy

From 2002-2006, the Choices Program led a Teaching American History initiative that engaged teachers at the secondary level in eleven districts in eight states in professional development focused on increasing the international content in the core U.S. history curriculum.

This initiative brought groundbreaking research into secondary classrooms using a methodology that has been shown to engage all students in consideration of the ambiguities of history and the lessons for the future. The project focused on significant turning points in our nation's relationship to the world around us, from the triangle trade of the 18th century to the U.S. role in the world today.

  

Turning Points in the History of American Foreign Policy engaged teachers in participating districts with leading scholars in the field and assisted them as they incorporated intellectually rigorous curricular resources and a proven pedagogical approach into the curriculum in their districts. Using a multi-leveled professional development approach, teacher-leaders from each district or region came to Brown University for residential summer institutes and then drew on this experience as they provided professional development to peers in their schools and districts. Regional and district level professional development ranged from one-week institutes to shorter workshops.

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During the summer institutes at Brown University, teachers developed Online Teaching Resources. These online resources are now available to teachers anywhere.
 

See the U.S. History Series for information on titles published by the Choices Program focused on turning points in the history of American foreign policy.
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See Professional Development Activities for an annotated list of professional development activities taking place under this grant. Activities include residential summer institutes and district-based professional development.

A series of Newsletters describing the work of this program is also available.

"Turning Points in the History of American Foreign Policy" is a collaboration among the Choices Program at Brown University's Watson Institute for International Studies and participating district partners.

Choices Program Collaborations with Teaching American History Programs This page provides a summary of the Choices Program's work with Teaching American History grants. Districts interested in collaborating with the Choices Program should contact us at choices@brown.edu or 401-863-3155.