History Even Happens Here? Infusing Local Connections into Your US History Curriculum (2025)

Explore place-based education (Greenwood, 2008, 2012; Gruenewald, 2003; Sobel, 2004) through local history. Do your students think “nothing ever happens here?” History happens everywhere! The presenter, a former K-12 educator who is now an Instructor in SUNY Potsdam’s Department of Teacher Education, uses a place-based framework for her research on high-poverty rural school communities in Appalachia. These real-life examples are woven throughout five actionable steps: personal curiosity, incorporation into class, invitation to students, stakeholder identification, and applied learning. These techniques can connect students to their hometown while reinvigorating the community. These proven strategies are appropriate to enhance student learning, even in our current educational climate of assessment and accountability.