Teaching Critically About Lewis and Clark

Challenging Dominant Narratives in K–12 Curriculum

Leilani Sabzalian author Jeff Edmundson author Alison Schmitke author

Format:Paperback

Publisher:Teachers' College Press

Published:3rd Apr '20

Currently unavailable, and unfortunately no date known when it will be back

Teaching Critically About Lewis and Clark cover

The Lewis and Clark Corps of Discovery is often presented as an exciting adventure story of discovery, friendship, and patriotism. However, this same period in U.S. history can be understood quite differently when viewed through an anticolonial lens and the Doctrine of Discovery. How might educators critically interrogate the assumptions that underlie this adventure story through their teaching? This book challenges dominant narratives and packaged curriculum about Lewis and Clark to support more responsible social studies instruction. The authors provide a conceptual framework, ready-to-use lesson plans, and teaching resources to address oversimplified versions of the Lewis and Clark expedition. Indigenous perspectives, along with contemporary issues, are embedded in each lesson to encourage active and critical engagement with history and the legacies of conquest those living in what is now called the United States have inherited.

Book Features:

  • A new look at social studies curriculum about the Corps of Discovery—and Manifest Destiny—through the Doctrine of Discovery.
  • Examples of how Indigenous peoples have long engaged in philosophical, legal, and political challenges to the principles of the Doctrine.
  • Social studies lesson plans for elementary and secondary classrooms.
  • Useful curriculum materials to help teachers present a deeper examination of this topic.
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“Not only are the lessons presented in this text practical and relevant to today’s teacher, but the text offers additional teacher resources that truly challenge the dominant narrative surrounding Lewis and Clark. The text supports teachers in understanding the multiple perspectives and vast history surrounding the Doctrine of Discovery. In addition, the resources offer voices other than those of Lewis, Clark, Jefferson, and other prominent white males, instead offering counternarratives. Inherently, the lesson plans and resources push students to dive deeper into the content at hand. Thus, they become active, engaged participants in their learning, leading to their evaluation and challenging of the dominant curriculum.”

Teachers College Record


“The authors’ efforts to empower students, as both scholars and citizens, to learn and then reconceptualize dominant narratives of exploration and discovery will undoubtedly make the book an invaluable and controversial contribution to contemporary battles over history education.”

Teaching History: A Journal of Methods

ISBN: 9780807763704

Dimensions: 279mm x 216mm x 11mm

Weight: 306g

216 pages