Call for Papers: Stevin Conference: Teaching the history of knowledge: purposes, problems, practices (Vrije Universiteit Amsterdam, 20 March 2019; Deadline 20 February 2019)

23 januari 2019

As historians and teachers we firmly believe that history courses provide added value to education in the sciences, humanities, medicine and engineering. Students, program directors and staff do not always recognize this value. How do we bring the message of the relevance of our courses across? And what exactly is our message?

What, for instance, is the added value for medical students of a course in the history of medicine? Which competences do we aim for in our teaching? And how can we optimize our teaching and cater to the needs of several different target groups? How do we deal with the Eurocentrism or the underrepresentation of women, typical of traditional histories of science? Should we integrate historical reflection in disciplinary courses, or perhaps in HPS or STS courses? These questions are central in a one-day conference, organized by the VU Stevin Centre to celebrate its fifth anniversary.

The morning program consists of a round table discussion of the rationale of our teaching: what is it that we have to offer to students in different fields? The afternoon presents “best practices” of history of science teaching and explores innovative ways of teaching: how do we make history attractive and relevant for students and staff? We invite proposals for the afternoon session.

Please submit a brief description of your proposal before 20 February to f.h.van.lunteren@vu.nl or f.j.dijksterhuis@vu.nl.