The Cold War History Blueprint: The Scholar-Teacher Collaboration

Beth Slutsky (History Ph.D., UC Davis lecturer, Coordinator at California History-Social Science Project) will address the ways in which the Blueprint strengthens connections between the academy and the K-12 schools, as she explores the process of collaborating with teachers from the academic perspective.  Beth will also discuss the process of the Cold War unit development, particularly Blueprint’s efforts to compose analytical assessments.  Led by Beth, a team of university historians and teacher leaders wrote the Cold War Blueprint unit, which combine lesson plans, primary sources, digital media, strategies to teach historical analysis and develop academic language, assessments and online support.   At the outset, historians frame the units with historiographical arguments, posing historical investigation questions in language which is appropriate for younger students, but challenges them to think historically.  Rather than teaching discrete facts, teachers thus focus their instruction around arguments which reflect current academic developments.  In addition, History Blueprint professors and teachers write assessments designed to gather information before, during and after each unit about students’ historical knowledge and analytical ability, while technical team members develop the technological capacity to convey information on the assessments to parents.  Beth intends to explain the overall Blueprint program, the Cold War unit and structure, and provide a sample of one of the seven world and U.S. history lessons to audience members.