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This is then the product of unique collaboration. Like a good house, this Activity Book in front of you has been put together over the course of a few years. Over 200 History Educators, including teachers in primary and secondary schools, but also academics from different History Education departments of Turkey and members of the Ministry of Education’s Board of Education, worked together from the spring of 2009 to the end of 2011. Never before in Turkey, did such a large collaboration take place, bringing together the expertise of the researcher as well as the educator and bridging the gaps of theory and practice in school education. The large group of authors and experts worked along the lines of peer-review and feed forward. Project meetings have been observed by History Educators from Azerbaijan, Bulgaria, Cyprus, Georgia, Greece and Morocco. The foundations for the development of the educational material were laid in Antalya (October 2009) when the workshops concentrated on bridging the gap from theory to practice. The first materials were reviewed in Kizilcahamam (March 2010), while further training about Assessment in the learning and teaching of history was provided to the group in July 2010. Moreover, in October 2010, Dr Robert Stradling gave specific training about usage of multiperspectivity in history teaching. Finally, in January of 2011, a meeting in Istanbul was focused on using a diversity of sources in History teaching. This book includes only a selection of activities from the original book which is published in Turkish.
Turkish version have 34 activities and the original book could be downloaded from the website of EUROCLIO. On the website, you could also find the short summaries of all activities in English. Please also note that some activities in the book includes video clips and pictures. They are also provided on the website of EUROCLIO. Over the course of 20 years, EUROCLIO has been able to define and pragmatically refine a methodology building on the practical work it carried. Its approach is process-orientation centred and believes in reinforcing professional talents as fundamental resources for innovation and change. Teaching resources and tools developed during EUROCLIO projects are based on collaborative work, the adoption of an agreed operational framework, and a closely moderated procedure of assessing, reviewing and piloting. Stemming from this well-tried approach, EUROCLIO in parallel to running projects offers consultancy services which include programme management, policy advice and professional development strategies, tailored to specific locations and settings. With this publication now added to the ranks of groundbreaking teaching resources, we can be sure that innovative methods in the learning and teaching of history in Turkey and beyond has received a positive boost. Joke van der Leeuw-Roord