Students (and teachers) are returning to school. Whether you’re in front of the classroom or behind a desk, JSTOR Daily has you covered. We pulled together our favorite JSTOR Daily stories to examine effective study habits, why students need not fear the library, and how American public schooling began in the first place. All JSTOR Daily articles, including Syllabi, Reading Lists, and our Pedagogies series, have free links to the supporting academic research. Browse many more JSTOR Daily stories on education, teaching, and learning here.
Pedagogies and Teaching
Doing Math with Intellectual Humility
January 24, 2024
Math class is an opportunity to teach students both how to use conjecture to arrive at knowledge and how to learn from the logic of peers.
Musical Myth-Busting: Teaching Music History with JSTOR Daily
August 22, 2022
Harnessing the power of quirk to engage students and inspire research in an online learning environment.
Teaching US History with JSTOR Daily
January 5, 2021
A survey course may be the only college-level history course a student takes. Here's an easy way to incorporate fascinating scholarship.
Teaching Summary Skills with JSTOR Daily
December 11, 2023
Helping students to summarize scholarly works starts with getting them to ask the right questions about the material and the purpose of the exercise.
The Impact JSTOR in Prison Has Made on Me
June 15, 2024
Tim Johnson, serving a life sentence in North Carolina, shares how access to JSTOR creates opportunities that cultivate change in prison and beyond.
Is It Time to Reexamine Grading?
September 2, 2020
There’s compelling evidence for stronger student work and more meaningful instruction when grades in K-12 education are eliminated or made unrecognizable.
How Homeschooling Evolved from Subversive to Mainstream
September 8, 2021
The pandemic helped establish homeschooling as a fixture among educational options in the US. But it’s been around—and gaining in popularity—for a while.
Paulo Freire’s Pedagogy of the Oppressed at Fifty
September 30, 2020
The Brazilian educator Paulo Freire’s book, first published in English 50 years ago, urges viewing students as interlocutors or partners in the learning process.
The Troubles with Tracking
December 11, 2021
Educators have been debating academic tracking since the early years of the public high school.
Does Virtual Learning Work for Every Student?
October 17, 2020
Given Covid-19, schools have limited options for teaching kids. What’s working and not working in the era of online learning?
Scaffolding a Research Project with JSTOR
May 6, 2024
Use JSTOR resources and this five-step process to help students learn how to complete a scholarly research project.
ADHD: The History of a Diagnosis
July 20, 2021
Attention deficit hyperactivity disorder has been a controversial diagnosis since it was first described, back in the 1940s.
Music Education and the Birth of Motown
November 7, 2020
Music teachers in the Detroit public schools paved the way for the success of future Motown artists like Smokey Robinson and Mary Wilson of the Supremes.
How Not to Teach Grammar
May 18, 2020
When people with opinions and a platform rant about bad grammar, they're not helping, write two English professors.
Why Would Parents Oppose Compulsory Education?
November 15, 2020
In Victorian England, reformers thought all children should go to school. That didn't sit well with everyone—and not just kids.
Three Centuries of Distance Learning
April 13, 2020
We will probably remember 2020 as the time when distance education exploded. But the infrastructure that enabled this expansion was years in the making.
Asking Scholarly Questions with JSTOR Daily
April 22, 2024
Help students develop analytic and scholarly questioning skills using a quick activity built on JSTOR Daily roundups and syllabi.
The Surprising History of Homework Reform
May 29, 2020
Really, kids, there was a time when lots of grownups thought homework was bad for you.
6 Digital Work Habits Every Student (and Adult) Needs
August 23, 2016
These digital study habits are relatively simple and sustainable, and work for students and parents alike.
Reading Lists and Syllabi
Chicanx Studies: A Foundational Reading List
February 26, 2024
The field of Chicanx studies continues to expand, embracing analyses of racialization, gender, sexuality, Indigineity, and trans-ethnic identity.
Motherhood in America: A Reading List
June 28, 2024
The experience and work of motherhood remained understudied for generations, but since the 1970s, scholars have engaged with the topic in diverse ways.
Teaching Comics: A Syllabus
August 11, 2022
So you want to teach The Sandman? Or William Blake? Or Art Spiegelman’s Maus? A guide to using comics and graphic novels in the classroom.
Security Studies: A Syllabus
July 14, 2022
National security, borders and migration, climate change and global food supplies, war and terrorism. These make up the academic field of security studies.
Intellectual Humility: Foundations and Key Concepts
January 24, 2024
Research about intellectual humility has exploded in the past decade. Psychologist Elizabeth Krumrei-Mancuso offers an annotated bibliography of key texts.
The Art of Impressionism: A Reading List
April 10, 2024
The first exhibition of paintings that would come to be described as Impressionism opened in Paris on April 15, 1874.
The History of Reproductive Rights: A Syllabus
May 3, 2022
A selection of stories on the history of reproductive rights and abortion to foster dialogue inside and outside of the classroom.
Climate Change: A Syllabus
November 9, 2021
A selection of stories to foster dialogue among students both inside and outside of the classroom.
A True Crime Syllabus
December 31, 2023
How did we become so obsessed with “true crime”? This multidisciplinary syllabus shows how we view crime as a whole and how those views have changed over time.
Security Studies: Foundations and Key Concepts
July 14, 2022
Security studies originated in the era of Cold War geopolitics and decolonization. This annotated bibliography introduces readers to scholarship in the field.
From Imperialism to Postcolonialism: Key Concepts
August 8, 2022
An introduction to the histories of imperialism and the writings of those who grappled with its oppressions and legacies in the twentieth century.
Ukraine, Russia, and the West: A Background Reading List
February 26, 2025
Research reports and scholarly articles on the history of the Ukraine–Russia conflicts of the past and possible paths for peace.
Guns in America: Foundations and Key Concepts
July 23, 2021
This non-exhaustive list of readings on the role of guns in US history and society introduces the field as a subject of scholarly inquiry.
Mass Incarceration: A Syllabus
March 17, 2022
This selection of stories focuses on prison and mass incarceration in the US, which has the highest rate of imprisonment in the world.
Affirmative Action: Foundations and Key Concepts
March 28, 2019
This non-exhaustive reading list discusses the origins of affirmative action, the question of race vs. class, and the effects of meritocracy.
Around Campus
Keep Portland Yearbook Photos Weird
October 28, 2023
Across thousands of images, Portland State University's yearbooks captured both society's upheaval and the city's cultural metamorphosis.
When Men Join Cheer
July 7, 2022
What happens when former football players, accustomed to practicing and playing in all-male environments, join gender-integrated cheerleading squads?
When Harvard Students Couldn’t Get Warm
February 11, 2022
The early heating systems of New England kept Harvard students cold until the early twentieth century.
Little Red Riding Hood On Campus: Women & Public Space
September 20, 2021
According to one criminologist, “constructing public space as dangerous to women ... reinforces traditional gender norms which emphasize women as vulnerable."
The Campus Underground Press
January 6, 2021
The 1960s and 70s were a time of activism in the U.S., and therefore a fertile time for campus newspapers and the alternative press.
Creating Communities for Disability Activism
May 31, 2024
In the 1960s, young disabled people found each other at camps and colleges, creating ever-expanding networks for challenging discrimination.
Traditional Dance in the Limelight at Pilipino Culture Night
June 30, 2023
Traditional dance offers Filipino Americans a sense of pride and legitimacy while allowing them to cherish different aspects of this heritage practice.
Ronald Reagan v. UC Berkeley
April 29, 2023
In the late 1960s, gubernatorial candidate Ronald Reagan made political hay by picking a fight with UC Berkeley over student protest and tenured “radicals.”
Literacy, Libraries and (Banned) Books
Nella Larsen’s Lessons in Library School
August 20, 2024
Larsen’s novels were influenced by her training in the New York Public Library system, where she faced rigid ideas about the racial classification of knowledge.
When a Battle to Ban Textbooks Became Violent
September 27, 2021
In 1974, the culture wars came to Kanawha County, West Virginia, inciting protests over school curriculum.
Banning The Grapes of Wrath in 1939 California
March 27, 2022
The Kern County, CA Board of Supervisors got a lesson in the Streisand Effect back in 1939, when they banned The Grapes of Wrath from their libraries and schools.
How American Librarians Helped Defeat the Nazis
November 29, 2023
Recruited to the war effort thanks to their deft research skills and technological know-how, librarians used microforms to gather and share intelligence with Allied forces.
Women in Science Textbooks
December 19, 2021
A team of scholars examined the seven most popular ecology textbooks. Guess what they didn't find?
The Hidden History of Biology Textbooks
September 9, 2021
American biology textbooks supposedly became less scientific after the Scopes trial. One scholar argues that this isn't the whole story.
How Black Americans Fought for Literacy
September 5, 2021
From the moment US Army troops arrived in the South, newly freed people sought ways to gain education—particularly to learn to read and write.
Who Decides Which Books Are “Great?”
October 11, 2019
The concept of “Great Books," the historian Tim Lacy explains, developed in the late nineteenth century as an attempt to foster a “democratic culture.”
Out of the Card Catalog Closet
October 14, 2022
Librarians gathered in 1970 to challenge Library of Congress classifications and catalog subject headings that aligned homosexuality with deviance.
Is Fan Fiction a Helpful Literacy Tool?
December 17, 2018
Some teachers are adapting to the internet age by trying to understand the "new literacies" of today's students.
When Melvil Dewey Pursued Andrew Carnegie’s Millions
November 5, 2021
A clash of library enthusiasts ended with a sexual harassment scandal.
Libraries and Pandemics: Past and Present
April 14, 2021
The 1918 influenza pandemic had a profound impact on how librarians do their work, transforming libraries into centers of community care.
Do You Suffer from Library Anxiety?
April 13, 2016
What is library anxiety? Librarians and experts discuss how technology is changing students' attitudes toward libraries and librarians.
Racism and Social Justice
Inside the First Indigenous Sorority
August 16, 2022
Alpha Pi Omega, the first historically Native American sorority, supports Native students and creates cultural space for them on university campuses.
Life in Indigenous Boarding Schools
July 30, 2021
Survivors of schools in the US spoke with scholars about their experiences of cruelty, neglect, and cultural degradation.
How a Southern College Tried to Resist Segregation
August 20, 2021
The founder of Kentucky's Berea College was an abolitionist. While he was alive, the school offered a free education for both Black and white students.
Why Some Black Parents Choose Homeschooling
August 5, 2021
Homeschooling has proved to be a valued alternative to the institutional racism often found in the classroom. But it offers something more, too.
How Black Communities Built Their Own Schools
August 4, 2020
Rosenwald schools, named for a philanthropist, were funded mostly by Black people of the segregated South.
The Last Class, 28 Years Later
June 15, 2022
What happened to the last of the Pell Grant-funded prison higher ed graduates and their paralegal skills? Open Campus's Charlotte West and Angolite associate editor John Corley report.
The Case for Race-Conscious Affirmative Action
April 3, 2019
Minority students in racially isolated schools have drastically less access to critical educational resources.
What Makes a Fair College Admissions Process?
March 27, 2019
In the wake of the college admissions scandal, scholars go back to the drawing board to answer this most central question.
A Progressive College’s Complicated Relationship with Race
September 14, 2018
Oberlin College was founded by religious idealists committed to abolitionism and integration. Then public attitudes began to shift.
Even the Best Jim Crow School…Was Still a Jim Crow School
February 21, 2023
Before Brown v. Board of Education, Black activists split between integrationist and separatist factions, particularly at New Jersey’s Bordentown School.
And More
Dark Academia’s Roots Lie in the Campus Novel
September 8, 2022
Revolving around student life, campus novels present a microcosm of the outside world, staged far from the humdrum of middle-class realities.
Skipping School for Harvest Camp
May 20, 2022
As more young adults joined the military or worked in wartime industries, England turned to children to fill the growing gap in agricultural labor.
The Back-to-School Shopping Tradition in History
August 10, 2021
As more women went to college, department stores catered to them by setting up pop-up "college shops" every September.
Silence in the Face of Intellectual Conflagration
December 10, 2021
Columbia University President Nicholas Murray Butler's actions (and inaction) towards Nazi Germany spoke loudly, while he said nothing.
Annie M. Alexander: Paleontologist and Silent Benefactor
February 7, 2021
An unsung patron of science whose deep pockets and passion for exploring led to the founding of two influential natural history museums.
When Home Ec Classes Borrowed Babies
January 5, 2019
In the early-to-mid 20th century, foster children in Canada and elsewhere were placed in practice homes and cared for by home economics students.
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