Using Case Studies to Teach History

Kenneth R. Bain, Director of the Searle Center for Teaching Excellence Northwestern University

What does it mean for undergraduates to learn history? As a specialist in diplomatic history, Ken Bain will discuss how we should define the learning of history for undergraduates and demonstrate effective ways to teach history using case studies.

Ken Bain concentrates his research and writing on the development of US foreign policy in the Middle East. The author of a 1985 guide to the teaching of history, he is currently completing his third book on US foreign policy in the Middle East, The Last Journey Home: Franklin Roosevelt and the Middle East, and writing about his 12-year study of outstanding college and university teachers. He has won four major teaching awards.

Sponsored by the University Teaching Fellows Program, Department of History, and Department of Government & Foreign Affairs.