The Best of Both Worlds: Blending History and Geography in the K-12 Curriculum

This report shows how the study of U.S. history can be enriched by blending geography into the curriculum. Because the fields of history and geography have not been melded together in terms of curricula, often history is not taught in relation to geography and geography has tended to be taught primarily as location/place information. The report summarizes the results of a project designed to address this problem through the development of a high school U.S. history curriculum framework that offers teachers the opportunity to teach a traditional U.S. history course enriched by a consistent injection of the geographical aspects of the interaction of people, events, and ideas. It notes that the elements of the framework serve as suggestions for lessons that are rich in content drawn from both disciplines. The report is divided into four sections: (1) "Foreword"; (2) "Why History and Geography Should Be Taught Together"; (3) "How to Use This Framework"; and (4) "U.S. History and Geography Curriculum Framework" (Period 1. Setting the Stage: Before 1492; Period 2. Discovery and Exploration: 1492 to 1607; Period 3. Colonial Period: 1607 to 1763; Period 4. Revolutionary America: 1763 to 1789; Period 5. Early Republic: 1789 to 1820; Period 6. Economic Growth and Expansion: 1820 to 1861; Period 7. The Union in Crisis: 1861 to 1877; Period 8. Emergence of Modern America: 1877 to 1890; Period 9. Rise of America as World Power and World War I: 1890 to 1920; Period 10. Time between the Wars: 1920 to 1939; Period 11. World War II and American Global Preeminence: 1939 to 1957; Period 12. Technological Advances, Vietnam, and Social Upheaval: 1957 to 1973; Period 13: Cold War Climax and New World Order: 1973 to Present). Related papers are appended. (BT)