For Immediate Release

January 10, 2005

CONTACT: Pam Joseph at (419) 995-8284

History In the Heartland teachers head to Armstrong museum for Cold War unit

The teachers participating in Ohio State’s History in the Heartland program will be at the Neil Armstrong Air and Space Museum in Wapakoneta from 9 a.m.-3 p.m., Tuesday, Jan. 11, 2005, for the unit on The Cold War: America’s Long Race for Security and Predominance.

Dr. Allison B. Gilmore, associate professor of History and faculty liaison for the History in the Heartland program at Ohio State Lima, will lead the afternoon discussion beginning at 12:30 p.m. She is a noted military historian.

The History in the Heartland program brings history teachers from the four areas surrounding Ohio State University’s regional campuses together with faculty from Ohio State’s history department, the Ohio Historical Society and local historical societies. It is funded by a three-year, $1 million grant from the U.S. Department of Education’s Teaching American History program. The project is designed to improve the quality of training and instruction of history teachers from 60 school districts in 12 Ohio counties. During each of the three years of the grant, 40 teachers will participate in the program.

Teachers were chosen through a competitive process that gave priority to those currently teaching American history in middle and high school. More than 75 teachers applied for the 40 slots available this year. The project will establish an ongoing professional development program to increase teachers’ knowledge, understanding and appreciation of traditional American history. It will also focus on the issues and themes that are included in the social studies content standards for the State of Ohio.

Participating teachers will attend four school-year seminars at the Ohio Historical Society in Columbus and summer institutes in local history and have access to a web-based resource center with primary and secondary teaching materials. They can earn up to five hours of graduate credit at no cost to the teachers or the school district.

The schedule for the school-year seminars and corresponding visits to local history sites follow:

Of Campaigns and Conventions: American Political History

Saturday, Dec. 4, 2004, at the Ohio Historical Center, Columbus

Tuesday, Dec. 7, 2004, at the Warren G. Harding home, Marion

The Cold War: America’s Long Race for Security and Predominance

Saturday, Jan. 8, 2005, at the Ohio Historical Center, Columbus

Tuesday, Jan. 11, 2005, at the Armstrong Air and Space Museum, Wapakoneta

Histories of the West: Native American and Borderlands History

Saturday, April 16, 2005, at the Ohio Historical Center

Tuesday, April 19, 2005, at the Newark Earthworks

The Country and the City: Nature and Neighborhood as Themes in American Life

Saturday, May 7, 2005, at the Ohio Historical Center

Tuesday, May 10, 2005, at the Malabar Farm State Park

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