The History Matters Podcast

In this engaging discussion, film director Sarah Botstein and historian David Schmidt, co-directors of The American Revolution series, dive into the art of storytelling in history. They emphasize the importance of chronology over themes to depict the complexity of narratives. Trusting young learners' capabilities to grasp these nuanced tales, they showcase characters like George Washington and young Betsy Ambler, bringing the past to life. Their method intertwines personal stories with broader historical narratives, fostering empathy through authentic sources.

In Thermopolis, Wyoming, second-grade students love learning about the War of 1812, from the swashbuckling sea battles off the coast of Louisiana to the bombardment at Maryland’s Fort McHenry that inspired the “Star-Spangled Banner”—engaging lessons that build knowledge alongside literary and historical thinking skills.This type of learning is powered by a strong, coherent curriculum that ensures learning connects from unit to unit and year to year, says teacher Laura Stam, a 2024–25 Goyen Literacy Fellow who writes about the sciences of reading and learning on her Substack, The Knowledge Exchange. “As soon as we start teaching it, teachers talk about how excited their students are,” she says.In this final episode of the first season of the History Matters Podcast, Stam also explains that such curriculum helps bridge gaps in elementary teachers’ historical content knowledge. In elementary classrooms, building content expertise is a challenge because “we’re teaching all of the subjects,” she says. Strong curriculum is a sound starting point for teachers to build the knowledge they need to confidently teach history. And rather than curating content, teachers can focus on delivering instruction and connecting history lessons to art and culture.“A really good curriculum brings in not just that history, but brings in all of the cultural pieces attached to it, the art and the poetry and the music that really enrich that knowledge,” she says. “If a really good curriculum has all those pieces built in for you, you just get to be the expert and deliver that, be the artist that delivers that for your students without having to curate it all yourself.”Stam also describes how her students’ curiosity about historical topics extends beyond classroom instruction. Parents have shared stories of students connecting family vacations to history lessons about the Underground Railroad, for example, and Stam has overheard young students debating the relative merits of living in modern times versus the ancient Indus Valley Civilization while watching a local basketball game.“They’ll go home and they want to explore their own interests,” she says. “They are getting books and looking on the Internet and finding out more information on their own topics that may not necessarily be what we learned in school. It’s interesting. It’s inspiring to know that they can learn about these things on their own. That’s the end goal, right? We want to teach them to be their own learners.”This podcast is produced by the Knowledge Matters Campaign and StandardsWork, on behalf of the History Matters Campaign. Follow the History Matters Campaign on Instagram, Facebook and Twitter/X. Search #historymatters to join the conversation.Production by Tressa Versteeg. Original music and sound engineering by Aidan Shea.

Jonathan Bassett and Gary Shiffman, co-founders of the Four Question Method for history instruction, discuss innovative ways to teach history. They emphasize the importance of storytelling in understanding historical events. Bassett shares insights on the first question, 'What happened?', while Shiffman dives into the second question, 'What were they thinking?', fostering empathy in students. The duo also explains how context and comparative cases deepen understanding and judgment in history, ultimately advocating for a narrative-first approach to engage students.

What do teachers need to successfully teach high-quality history lessons in elementary school?A strong curriculum is a great start, but teachers also need aligned professional learning and time to dig in and build the content knowledge that supports confident instruction, says guest Courtney Dumas. In this episode, she explains how her organization, Edu20/20, is supporting Louisiana educators as they implement the state’s content-rich Bayou Bridges elementary social studies curriculum.Effective professional learning for social studies instruction is rooted in curriculum, but it doesn’t just cover how the curriculum works, she says. Dumas and Edu20/20 discuss specific content in detail and then lead model lessons where teachers pretend to be fifth graders, which allows them to experience the curriculum as their students will.“Professional learning in social studies is different because the No. 1 thing is the content,” she says. “In Ouachita, we talked about their grade level, their specific content, their specific units, their specific assessments. And then we had them experience a lesson as a student. And that was kind of where the magic happens.”Dumas also stresses the importance of giving teachers time to study history content together. Many elementary teachers are generalists, so building historical content knowledge is an important aspect of effective professional learning in social studies, she notes.“We set lots of high expectations for curriculum, but sometimes we don’t give teachers the time and space to meet those expectations,” she says. “You’d be surprised how many people don’t know basic history. . . It is so important that we give teachers the time and space to interact with that content.”Dumas sees a bright future for elementary history instruction, because “people are understanding the importance of it and how it complements literacy,” she says. “We think that by giving more time to ELA, that’s going to be the answer. But really, social studies is ELA,” she says. “It’s going to make them better writers, better readers, better citizens. That’s what we want.”This podcast is produced by the Knowledge Matters Campaign and StandardsWork, on behalf of the History Matters Campaign. Follow the History Matters Campaign on Instagram, Facebook and Twitter/X. Search #historymatters to join the conversation.Production by Tressa Versteeg. Original music and sound engineering by Aidan Shea.

Jennifer Lindsey, a fifth-grade teacher from Medway Middle School and a facilitator for the Investigating History curriculum, passionately discusses the value of social studies in fostering critical thinking. She highlights the shift from outdated textbooks to an engaging, inquiry-based curriculum that encourages students to explore diverse perspectives. Lindsey shares how this new approach enhances literacy skills and student enthusiasm, while also preparing educators to navigate complex historical discussions with confidence and clarity.

Ebony McKiver, a curriculum expert and former high-school social studies teacher, discusses the critical need for strong history instruction at the elementary level. She emphasizes that a lack of foundational knowledge hampers high school students' ability to engage in historical inquiry. Ebony highlights how storytelling captivates young learners, making history relevant and enjoyable. She advocates for integrating social studies with English Language Arts to enhance literacy and calls for policy changes to prioritize history in early education.

Angela Barfoot, a second-grade teacher, and Lauren Cascio, a fifth-grade teacher, share their transformative experiences using the Bayou Bridges curriculum in Ouachita Parish, Louisiana. They highlight how content-rich social studies instruction captivates students, making history exciting and relevant. Engaging visuals and virtual field trips, like their visit to the Poverty Point site, bring lessons to life. Additionally, linking social studies to ELA instruction fosters a love for historical texts, sparking enthusiasm and critical thinking among young learners.

Sean Dimond, a former middle-school teacher and now senior social studies editor at the Core Knowledge Foundation, shares insights on creating a high-quality history curriculum in Louisiana. He highlights the pitfalls of vague standards that once hindered learning and how the new Bayou Bridges curriculum offers a coherent, chronological approach. Discussing a captivating Civil War lesson, Dimond emphasizes the importance of narrative in teaching. With positive teacher feedback, he expresses hope for engaging students in meaningful historical learning.

Elementary schools spend almost no time teaching history. How did we get here, and how can we reprioritize this crucial foundation for literacy and knowledge? Host Barbara Davidson begins the eight-part “History Matters” podcast with a reflective and forward-looking conversation with guest Robert Pondiscio, an author and former fifth-grade teacher who founded the Knowledge Matters Campaign.Pondiscio recalls his youthful passion for history, sparked by the nation’s bicentennial celebrations nearly 50 years ago. As a teacher, he found his students had learned very little about the past. Rather than learn facts, administrators wanted students to grapple with “essential questions”—which Pondiscio notes is impossible without the knowledge to understand them. Later, federal accountability rules prompted schools across the country to overwhelmingly focus on tested subjects. But reading is more than decoding—it is comprehension. Without background knowledge, students cannot make sense of what they read. “Everything was reading, reading, reading, math, math, math,” he says. “That’s just not how you build a reader.”Historical knowledge is especially powerful: Pondiscio notes that the nation’s founders recognized that a republic is fragile and needs virtuous, educated citizens to maintain it. Davidson asks: If you had a magic wand, what would you do? Pondiscio sets forth two big changes. First, that every school use knowledge-building curriculum. Second, that representatives from every state and district decide what basic, foundational historical knowledge kids should learn in each elementary grade:“What is it we expect kids to know to be literate, to be competent citizens, to be engaged, to be excited in participating and playing a part in the American experiment? I’d love to see schools take up that challenge.”This podcast is produced by the Knowledge Matters Campaign and StandardsWork, on behalf of the History Matters Campaign. Follow the History Matters Campaign on Instagram, Facebook and Twitter/X. Search #historymatters to join the conversation.Production by Tressa Versteeg. Original music and sound engineering by Aidan Shea.

Welcome to the brand-new History Matters Podcast. I’m your host, Barbara Davidson, President of StandardsWork and Executive Director of the Knowledge Matters Campaign. This podcast was born out of a vision—one I believe all educators have—of inspiring our students to ask big questions, develop their love of learning through reading, and feel empowered to go out and explore their community and the world.We believe great history education can be a spark that causes this to happen. The History Matters Podcast will explore how it’s done.We decided to launch the podcast because, while the national conversation about the science of reading is growing, the role of content knowledge in reading is still woefully understated. We’re also concerned that much of the interest in civics education is ignoring the groundwork that must be laid in the elementary grades.I hope this podcast will show you how history serves both literacy and civic goals, and how some ground-breaking work, and practicing educators, are out there, right now, getting it done!  Welcome to the History Matters Podcast: Season 1.This podcast is produced by the Knowledge Matters Campaign and StandardsWork. Production by Tressa Versteeg. Original music and sound engineering by Aidan Shea.