As a U.S. Department of Education National Resource Center for Russia and Eurasia, we support teachers by developing and delivering professional development workshops and cultural programs for K-14 educators and students as well as members of the general public. How can we help bring the rich history and vibrant culture of Russia and Eurasia into your classroom teaching? Let us know!
Teacher Workshops
The Davis Center organizes specific events and programs for K-14 educators, including teacher workshops, lectures, cultural events and more. The goal of our professional development events is to introduce educators to scholars and scholarship that provide new insights and understandings about Russia and Eurasia. Through our workshops we encourage participants to be both learners indulging their own curiosity and teachers doing the difficult work of bringing new understandings and resources into their classroom practice.
During the 2024-2025 academic year, the Davis Center for Russian and Eurasian Studies will offer three in-person workshops for K-14 educators, each focusing on a different aspect of teaching and learning using various types of primary source materials, including maps, interviews, photographs and more. Participants can register for and attend all three workshops or choose to join only those that best meet their needs and interests.
We invite you to join us:
- November 21, 2024: Sources from Ukraine: (Re)structuring Place, Memory, and Nature
- February 7, 2025: History’s Many Voices: Learning How Visual Sources Speak
- May 9, 2025: Using an Analytical Approach to Primary Sources in the Classroom
Global Studies Outreach Committee
While the majority of our event programming is specific to our region, we also collaborate with other Harvard international studies centers through the Global Studies Outreach Committee to develop an annual summer educator workshop devoted to an issue of global significance.
The 2024 summer workshop, "Imagining a Better World: Arts, Activism and Social Justice" took place on Harvard's Cambridge campus July 29-August 1, 2024. Applications for the 2025 summer workshop will be available in the new year.
Classroom Visits
Davis Center staff are always happy to visit directly with students to provide a lecture or facilitate a conversation about the region--and it's even easier to do now using connective technology. Do your students have questions about the ongoing war against Ukraine? The ups and downs of the US/Russia relationship or how the dissolution of the USSR impacted the nations that emerged after the Soviet collapse? Could you use some help covering the role the Soviets played in the Second World War or how Catherine the Great changed the Russian Empire? Be in touch and we'll be glad to prepare a classroom visit that meets the needs of your students.
*The Davis Center's outreach programming is supported by grant funding from the U.S. Department of Education’s Title VI National Resource Center grant. However, the content of these programs does not necessarily represent the policy of the U.S. Department of Education, and one should not assume endorsement by the Federal Government.