Date of Award

8-2026

Degree Type

Creative Project

Degree Name

Master of Arts (MA)

Department

History

Committee Chair(s)

Mark Damen (Committee Chair)

Committee

Mark Damen

Committee

Susan O. Shapiro

Committee

James Sanders

Abstract

This Plan B project has created a series of inquiry-based lesson plans and activities for World History classrooms that emphasize historical literacy and disciplinary thinking. Rather than producing a traditional research thesis, this project emphasizes applied historical scholarship by translating historical and professional methodology into three classroom ready instructional lesson plans that are aligned with the Utah Core Standards for Social Studies. The project reflects the History MA’s emphasis on disciplinary rigor while addressing the practical needs of public history and education with pedagogical best practices. This project responds to ongoing challenges in World History education, including constrained instructional time, uneven teacher preparation, politicization of the curriculum, and student difficulty with engaging critically with historical sources. By centering inquiry and historical literacy, these lessons are designed to move students beyond surface level content acquisition toward deeper engagement with historical evidence and interpretation. Students are taught to analyze primary and secondary sources, evaluate perspective and reliability, situate evidence within a historical context, and construct evidence-based arguments. These skills are essential not only for understanding history, but also for informed civic participation in a complex media environment. Inquiry-based pedagogy provides a structured means of helping students develop these habits of mind while engaging meaningfully with complex content and questions in the World History curriculum. The following lessons have been created for this project: Lesson Plan #1: The Origins of Athenian Democracy; Lesson Plan #2: The Roman Constitution; Lesson Plan #3: The Lives of Women in Antiquity

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