Posts by Dr. Rebecca Koerselman
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Infectious Passion on Display at State History Day Contest
There’s nothing more rewarding than seeing kids excited about history.
This spring, I attended the State History Day competition in Ames, Iowa. As a judge, I had the privilege of hearing middle school and high school students share their passion for history. The judges talk with students about their projects in an interview style. Many students are a bit nervous, but it doesn’t take long to get them to share what interested them about their project. We heard about the history of Pacman and early arcade games, the introduction of premature baby incubators in circus exhibitions, vaccines, and relatively unknown black female civil rights lawyer in Iowa, Gertrude Rush. It was thrilling to hear the students talk about how to find good sources and do research. They always found information that surprised them. One student researched rivers on fire from pollution and it ignited her passion for the environment. The student told us that because of this research she and her friends wanted to spend more time learning about the environment and finding ways to make it safer and cleaner.
There can be a lot of handwringing about the school system in the United States with regard to teachers, students in this generation, and the role of technology. But for me, on a Monday in April, I was able to exult in the joy of seeing students pushed to research and present a topic on Revolution, Reaction, and Reform in US History.
Thank you to all the social studies teachers that cajoled, required, and pushed students to participate in History Day. And thank you to all the students who worked diligently to understand and topic and talk to an interested nerdy historian about it.
About Rebecca:
Rebecca Koerselman is the program director for the Teaching History graduate program and also teaches courses in the undergraduate program on US history, the atomic bomb and nuclear culture, sport in societies, the history of native peoples, the history of religion, the history of gender, public history, and methods of teaching social studies.
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The first ever Iowa History Conference was held in early June at the State Historical Society of Iowa in Des Moines. It was sponsored by the State Historical Society of Iowa and University of Iowa and featured scholars, students, museums, directors, and archivists. There were a wide variety of topics and panels at the conference and I particularly enjoyed the panel on Indigenous history in Iowa, and the history of indigenous agriculture in Iowa.
I presented on a panel entitled "History Education in Iowa," alongside the Social Studies rep from the Iowa Board of Education, Stefanie Wager, and a professor of religious studies at UNI, Mike Graziano. We all shared the various methods and approaches to encourage students to engage with history in general and history in Iowa, specifically. I shared about the role of primary sources and helping students to figure out how to trust sources through active historical inquiry. I also championed the role of local history to connect with history sources outside of the classroom through field trips, oral history projects, local museums, and archives. We had a lively discussion between panelists and the public who attended the panel. I loved the opportunity to engage with more local history ideas and to network with various people connected to history from around the state.
The Iowa History 101 series is a 60 minute online learning series tied to a topic in Iowa History. There is a wonderfully diverse array of topics and people that have been covered in the series, put on by the State Historical Society of Iowa. The webinars are free and open to the public and after a presentation, there are questions and discussion with the audience. I presented on Iowa Summer camps, which is part of my larger scholarly work on the history of evangelical summer camps in the post World War II era. In my research, I am animated by the question, for Christians: how should you pass your faith to next generation in a faith community that requires some sort of personal commitment/conversion experience? I think studying summer camps is a great way to get an answer to that question, and I had a wonderful experience with the team from the State Historical Society and great questions from the audience as well.
- RK
Learn more about the M.Ed. in Teaching History program at Northwestern.
To learn more, click this link for the webinar from State Historical Society of Iowa and the Iowa History 100 Series.
About the author
A Northwestern College graduate, Dr. Koerselman earned a master’s degree in history and political science from Iowa State University and a doctorate in United States history with an emphasis on gender and religion from Michigan State University. Before joining Northwestern's faculty, she was an assistant professor of history at Oklahoma Baptist University.
