Educational Programs

For Educators

The Wachman Center

FPRI's Wachman Center is dedicated to improving international and civic literacy by providing enrichment for high school teachers. It focuses its activities in four core areas: Teaching Innovation, Teaching Military History, Teaching the Middle East and 9/11, and Teaching Asia. [read more about the Wachman Center]

History Institute for Teachers

In 1996, the Wachman Fund inaugurated a series of weekend History Institutes for secondary school teachers, chaired by Pulitzer Prize-winning historian Walter McDougall and FPRI Senior Fellow David Eisenhower. In addition to papers and audio/video from past conferences, a selection of classroom lessons submitted by participants is available. [read more about the History Institute for Teachers]

Footnotes

Footnotes is an FPRI bulletin intended for educators. It seeks to “teach the teachers” drawing both upon the work of FPRI research staff and scholars as well as lectures, papers, and talks presented at FPRI forums and special events. [go to Footnotes archive]

Books for Middle and Secondary Schools

Since 2002, FPRI has partnered with Mason Crest Publishers on three book series for middle school and high school students:

• The World of Islam
• Making of the Middle East
• Modern Middle East Nations
• The Growth and Rise of Islam in Asia

The Mason Crest volumes are beautifully designed, including numerous maps and photos, and the content, while accessible to students, is neither "dumbed down” nor subject to the “political correctness” characteristic of college campuses. They are sophisticated enough that adults profit from reading them. The School Library Journal wrote that the Modern Middle East Nations volumes, particularly the volumes on Israel and the Palestinians, were “the best introductions to the political conflict currently in print for this age group.” And one reviewer wrote of Alan Luxenberg’s more recent The Palestine Mandate and the Creation of Israel, part of the Making of the Middle East series:

The reader will be treated to a clarity of writing rarely seen in social studies series books for pre-college age students. S/he will also meet with a striving for objectivity that is the hallmark of the discipline of historical writing. From the Ottoman background to World War II’s aftermath, from modern Zionism’s origins to the development of Arab nationalism, the author chronicles the attempts, successes, and setbacks in the effort to satisfy the nationalistic drives of the two nations—Arab and Jewish—of Palestine. Trivia is excluded while the essentials of the historical record are told; the glossary and timeline entries are concise and devoid of propaganda…. This imprint has succeeded in setting a standard that puts to shame the amateurish, error-ridden, biased work one too often finds in other publishers’ social studies series. Includes an index, glossary, timeline, short bibliography and list of Internet resources plus maps and archival photographs. (Association of Jewish Libraries Newsletter, May-June 2008)

For the complete review of these books and other books in the series, visit www.ottnpublishing.com/mideast.htm.

Currently under development or discussion are joint FPRI-Mason Crest series of volumes on Islam and terrorism, as is an update of the Modern Middle East Nations series.

For Students

Webcasts

Special webcasts for students are conducted several times a year. Students can participate live either online or in person, and submit additional questions to the presenters. Video of the webcasts is made available on FPRI’s website.

Upcoming

• What Students Should Know about 9/11
  Two Webcasts Designed for Secondary School Students
  September 8, 2011

Past Programs

• Webcast on War, 2/25/2009
• Webcast on Innovation and Entrepreneurship, 11/18/2008
• Webcast: What Students Should Know About 9/11 and the War on Terrorism, 9/11/2007 and 9/11/2008

• Answers to Students’ Questions from “Webcast on Innovation and Entrepreneurship”, 11/18/2008
• Answers to Students’ Questions from “What Students Should Know About 9/11 and the War on Terrorism,” 9/11/2008

Essay Contest

In 2009 FPRI sponsored an Innovation Essay Contest on “The top 5 innovations developed in the U.S. since 1945, ranked from #1 to #5.” The winners will be announced March 1, 2009 and the winning essays posted on this website.

Other events

FPRI also sponsors periodic events at high schools. Past events have included

• lectures on the premises of La Salle College High School, Saint Hubert Catholic High School, Germantown Academy, and Cherry Hill High School West (occasionally, we’ve hosted entire classes from Lower Merion High School and Neshaminy High School)
• internships for students at Akiba Hebrew Academy, The Shipley School, Olney High School, GermantownAcademy, Bodine High School, St. Joseph’s Academy
• a teach-in on U.S. Policy Toward Russia, the 1998-99 National High School Debate Topic, co-sponsored by La Salle College High School.

For the Public

Lectures

FPRI regularly sponsors lectures for the general public covering a variety of topics in world affairs, as well as special forums and lectures for members.

Visit our Events section for a calendar of upcoming lectures, or e-mail fpri@fpri.org for more information.

For Members

For members, FPRI offers impromptu briefings on events in the news, and, for sponsors, FPRI convenes Sponsor Forums that typically feature an FPRI scholar reporting on a recent trip abroad.

• Become an FPRI member