The project identified several principles, conveyed in the lessons. When you customize the lesson, try to apply the same principles.
Primary sources, multiple formats
Lessons place less emphasis on “authoritative” textbook-like content. Instead, they try to bring together multiple sources. Whenever possible, they incorporate primary materials, including non-textual sources such as images, sound recordings, art and architecture
Multiple perspectives
Especially when dealing with contentious issues, lessons refrain from a winner-loser narrative. Instead, they emphasize instead competing claims, interests, and contexts. Relatedly, students do not need to agree with all viewpoints or interpretations, but teachers should cultivate students’ ability to empathize—even when not in agreement with—different positions. Along the same vein, students should be able to understand where each historical actor was coming from, and to grasp the chains of events that had led to such positions.
Regional / multi-national scope
All units bring a sub-regional or intercultural perspective. As much as possible, the units and lessons use examples from diverse geographic or cultural areas. They aim to highlight commonalities, such as common experiences, without glossing over differences.
The lessons emphasize the value of unity in diversity, or cultural diversity. They expose students to multi-dimensional relationships beyond antagonisms between states or peoples, as has often been the case in the teaching of war histories. Instead, materials show other aspects of relationships, such as co-operations, trade, negotiations, and co-existence, between peoples, states, and different cultures.
When appropriate, they highlight relationships that reached beyond modern state borders and do not impose current geopolitical borders onto past geopolitics.
Balance ground-up and top-down perspectives
Whenever possible, units’ content go beyond state-to-state or elites-to-elites framework, but instead pay equal, if not more, attention to everyday life, to “people’s history,” or “history from below.” This includes materials that might not be “historical” in the strictest sense (that is, with textual record), but knowledge and “histories” passed down through, or embedded in rituals, oral histories, myths, stories, traditions, etc. However, when used, these sources need to be used with care and contextualized properly.
Involvement of parents and community
Some lessons suggest activities that involve students’ community as well as parents, either as in-class activity or more often as part of extension work. Everyday interactions with people in the community is a great way to enhance students’ experience and creativity, as well as broaden parents’ perspectives on history.
Engaging topics, content, and learning experiences
As much as possible, the historical materials should be vivid and relatable to students, not just a list of facts and dates. The lessons suggest a variety of active learning pedagogies that encourage students to analyze and express their opinion rather than memorize dates.
