Local history education organizations win $992K curriculum grant to trace history from the time of Lewis and Clark to now.

Bozeman Public School history classes and a consortium of organizations at Montana State University have received a $992,000 grant from the U.S. Department of Education to develop a K-12 history curriculum that traces the American republic from the time of Lewis and Clark to the present.

Carol Schmidt MSU University News

"From the World of Lewis and Clark to the World of Tomorrow" will add both cultural breadth and depth to local history teacher’s lessons on American history, according to Robert Rydell, an MSU history professor who is the grant’s principal investigator. Rydell, chair of the MSU Department of History and Philosophy, will also be working with the Museum of the Rockies, MSU’s Native American Studies Program, the National Council for History Education and the Northwest Regional Educational Laboratories to develop the three-year program that will use summer workshops to enrich teachers’ knowledge and "inspire teachers’ passion for history" so that they, in turn, will enrich the learning of their students.

"From the World of Lewis and Clark to the World of Tomorrow" was developed by Rydell and Jim Bruggeman, principal of Irving Elementary School in Bozeman. Rydell said the three-year program will involve 36 teachers who will participate in a two-week summer institute each year that will be a "lens for widening teachers’ and students’ understanding of how global, national and regional issues converged to shape the formation of the early American Republic." During the three summers teachers will concentrate on different eras of American history: the formation of the American Republic, America’s national expansion in the 19th century, and the development of the United States into a global power.

"I am very pleased to have received the grant," Rydell said. "It provides a catalyst for the university and public schools to work together to improve students’ understanding of the vital themes in American history. This grant has important benefits for social studies teachers across the state and we’re excited to go to work implementing our project."

For more information contact: Robert Rydell (406) 994-4395

http://www.montana.edu/commserv/csnews/nwview.php?article=548