The place of history education in schools has sparked heated debate in Canada. Is history dead? Who killed it? Should history be put in the service of nation? Can any history be truly inclusive? This volume advances the debate by shifting the focus from what should be included in history education to how we should think about and teach the past. In this book historians and educators discuss the state of history education research and its implications for classrooms, museums, virtual environments, and public institutional settings. They develop a comprehensive research agenda both to help students learn about the past and to understand how we construct history from its infinite possibilities.

Penney Clark is a professor in the Department of Curriculum and Pedagogy at the University of British Columbia and the director of the History Education Network/Histoire et éducation en réseau (THEN/ HiER). She was awarded the Killam Teaching Prize in 2005 for her teaching of social studies curriculum and instruction, the history of curriculum, and the politics of curriculum development courses at UBC. She co-authored three Canadian history textbooks and has published articles in the Journal of Canadian Studies, Canadian Journal of Education, American Journal of Education, History of Education Quarterly, and Theory and Research in Social Education. Her most recent publication is the edited volume, New Possibilities for the Past: Shaping History Education in Canada (UBC Press, 2011). For additional information, see edcp.educ.ubc.ca/faculty/penney-clark/.

Penney Clark's profile page

This excellent book contains outstanding contributions on history education, relating not only to Canadian issues but also to educational debates taking place in different continents. Its chapters are without doubt insightful tools for developing a reflective point of view about the role of historical contents in our increasingly globalized and multicultural societies.

Mario Carretero, Professor of Psychology, Autonoma University, Madrid