Beth Krasemann, History Teacher
Carbondale CO
Twitter: @BKrasemann

Although she has taught for 25 years, for educator Beth Krasemann, the last decade stands out. Why? A focus on inquiry. An inquiry-based learning approach in the history classroom promotes the fundamental understanding that history is complicated, nuanced, and sometimes chaotic—and fascinating. In this talk, Beth describes the six-step process she uses to structure her inquiry-based pedagogy and curriculum, using the example of an inquiry that asks why Germany democratically elected Hitler into office. For more of Beth’s work on inquiry, check out her book Teaching the Holocaust by Inquiry (http://www.holocaustbyinquiry.com/).

Beth was born in Portland then studied at Williams and Brown. She has been a history classroom teacher for the last 25 years. She teaches using the inquiry method in her United States, European, World, and Holocaust courses. Her classes center on questions that have no clear answers which invites students to think, read, reason, and write like true historians. She wrote a book about using the inquiry method centered on Holocaust education, entitled Teaching the Holocaust By Inquiry.