The Choices Program, affiliated with the Department of History, will be hosting a one-week Institute for K-12 educators taking place in summer 2023 called "American Soldiers in American Wars: History and Memory." Instructed by participating Institute Faculty and the Choices Program’s staff, educators from across the country will have the opportunity to engage and learn from a rich model for teaching the history of U.S. military conflicts, and subsequently adapt the model for use in their own classrooms. The model links scholarly debates regarding the causes of American wars, primary source analysis of the experiences of diverse groups of American military personnel, and investigations into both veterans’ personal memories of their service and the politicized nature of Americans’ collective memories of war. The Institute will focus on World War II, the Vietnam War (new curriculum unit forthcoming), and the wars in Iraq and Afghanistan, but teachers will also learn how to apply this unique teaching model to all U.S. military conflicts.
The Choices Program received funding for the one-week Institute as part of the National Endowment for the Humanities (NEH) initiative "Standing Together: The Humanities and the Experience of War." Choices originally applied for the grant in 2020, but funding was repeatedly delayed due to the pandemic. Principal Investigator Naoko Shibusawa, the Faculty Director of Choices at the time of application, has worked diligently to organize the Institute and will lead some of the sessions along with other Brown faculty members. With over 100 applicants, the Program has admitted 25 educators who will be on campus for the Institute July 10th-14th.