LAH in the Media
The Lebanese Association for History, with the support of the Embassy of the Netherlands, launched a new project for educational development entitled “Developing the Capacity of History Teachers to Develop Historical Thinking” organized by the LAH in cooperation with the Center for Applied Research in Education at Notre Dame University and the Center for Lebanese Studies. The program, which extends throughout the academic year, provides intensive training to a group of history teachers, dealing with theories and methods of teaching history as a field of knowledge, and enabling them to apply them in the classroom and adapt them to suit the Lebanese situation. The program introduces a new approach to history pedagogy in Lebanon by refocusing history education on historical thinking by organizing the content of the curriculum around the concepts of historical thinking. It provides teachers with the opportunity to adopt and experience them in the classroom. “The program focuses on building the capacities of teachers and enabling them to be able to develop new methods and strategies for teaching history, centered on historical concepts and critical thinking,” said Project Director Nayla Hamadeh. While the president of the Lebanese Association for History, Dr. Maha Shuayb, said that the project focuses on “enhancing historical thinking among learners, so that they approach topics with a historical scientific methodology and open themselves to many points of view.” The Dutch Embassy Counselor and Deputy Ambassador, Joshua Bush, pointed out the importance of this project in building peace and democracy in Lebanon The Director of the Center for Applied Research in Education at Notre Dame University, Dr. Bassel Akar, presented previous attempts to develop a curriculum for history and to issue a unified book, as stipulated in the Taif Agreement. The educational development program included 12 days of training in workshops facilitated by two distinguished experts in this field, namely Dr. Arthur Chapman from the Institute of Education at the University of London and Christine Council from the University of Cambridge in Britain, and they work closely with specialists from the The Lebanese association for History, which in turn handles the counseling and meditation sessions and the continuous support for the teachers. Chapman said, “The difficulties Lebanon faces in developing a history curriculum is not limited to it. There is an open global dialogue on history.” History education specialist Christine Council linked the reality of history education in Lebanon to the experiences of other countries.