Modern world and global history surveys are a staple in many educational institutions across the United States. These courses are often offered as options to fulfill general or core curriculum requirements. Although PhD programs in World History have expanded over the past fifteen years, the majority of these courses are still taught by historians trained in specific countries or regions, with expertise that is narrower than the survey itself. Depending on their background, faculty may approach the challenge with enthusiasm or struggle to address large spatial scales and long time periods. Some may follow the advice of preeminent historian of Africa and the world, Patrick Manning, who, in his 2003 book Navigating World History: Historians Create the Global Past, encouraged historians to avoid attempting mastery of the entire world. Instead, he suggested organizing courses around key debates and themes. Others may rely on textbooks to cover the histories of less familiar regions, while some seek supplementary resources to fill gaps in their courses.

This dilemma is not limited to college and university educators: high social studies teachers also take on the challenge of pacing and preparation in their world history survey courses. In 2024, the College Board graded nearly 380,000 written essays from students who chose to take the Advanced Placement (AP) World History exam. This is a significant number, not accounting for students who opted out of the exam or took non-AP world history courses in high school. Furthermore, while the AP curriculum is set, teachers are given considerable flexibility in how they approach the material in the classroom.

Inspired by the American Historical Association's growing focus on panels about teaching, pedagogy, and bridging the gap between secondary and higher education history educators, this panel consists of award-winning scholar-teachers who have effectively integrated their expertise in various subfields into the modern world history survey. Each panelist will share practical, easy-to-adopt strategies for incorporating Africa, Asia, and Latin America into modern world history surveys at both the high school and college levels. Dr. Suzanne Litrel, a former award-winning high school teacher and historian of Latin America will offer teaching strategies on how to focus on Latin American women in imperial entanglements, revolutions, and nation-state formation based on primary sources. Dr. Dan Barish, a historian of China and current member of the AP World History Modern Test Development Committee will share an exercise using primary sources from China, Korea, and Japan to explore the impact the Conference and Treaty had on ideas of national identity, imperialism, and more in East Asia. Finally, Dr. Trevor Getz, a former James Harvey Robinson prize winner and historian of Africa and world history, shares primary sources about the everyday experiences of Africans, which breaks them from the binary roles of victims or agents of transformational change to recover their full humanity.