Terrie Epstein

Dr. Epstein uses critical and sociocultural theories to examine how teachers’ and young people’s identities influence their teaching and learning of history and citizenship in urban contexts. She has served as an advisor or committee member on 50 doctoral dissertations at a range of universities and before coming to Hunter, she taught at the University of Denver, Boston College and University of Michigan. She has been a Visiting Scholar at Ulster University in Northern Ireland (2017), a Fulbright Specialist in Goias, Brazil (2017), a Fulbright Senior Scholar in Wellington, New Zealand (2013) and a Visiting Associate Professor at NYU from 2004-2006.

Ed.D. Harvard Graduate School of Education
Ed.M, Harvard Graduate School of Education
M.A. in History, Brandeis University
B.A. in History, Brandeis University

I teach courses in childhood and adolescent social studies, with a focus on how urban teachers’ and students’ political and cultural identities can be reflected, respected and buit upon in learning about the world in the past and present.

Using critical and sociocultural theories, my research has focused on how children, adolescents and adults interpret their nation’s past and present, as well as how schools can align their social studies curriculum and teaching to create more responsive and creative classroom pedagogies.

Books

• Epstein, T. & Peck, C. (Eds.) (2017). Teaching and learning difficult histories in international contexts :A critical sociocultural perspective. New York: Routledge Press.
• Chong, E. K., Davies, I., Epstein, T., Peck, C., Peterson, A., Ross, A. Schmidt, M. & Sonu, D., (2015). Education, globalization, and the nation. Basingstroke, England: Palgrave Macmillan.
• Epstein, T. (2009). Interpreting national history: Race, identity and pedagogy in classrooms and communities. New York: Routledge Press.
• Turk, D., Mattson, R., Epstein, T., & Cohen, R. (Eds.) (2009). Teaching United States history: Dialogues between historians and teachers. New York: Routledge Press.

Recent Articles/Chapters

• Ortuño Molina, J., Bellatti, I. & Epstein, T. (in press). Ensenanza y aprendizaje de la historia. Justificaciones para un enfoque sociocultural critico. In J. Pratis (Ed.). Ciences sociales, ciudadanía y sociedad digital: Reflexiones desde la educación. Gijón, Espana: TREA.
• Bermudez, A. & Epstein, T. (2020). Learning about the violent past in memorial museums: Ethical reflection and history education. Journal of Research on Development and Education, 12, 1- 22.
• Epstein, T. (2019). Learning from and with Dolinha: History education in and beyond Brazil. In R. Martins (Ed.). Using the present to explore the past: Essays in honor of Maria Auxiadarola Schmidt. (pp. 55-71). Brasilia: University of Brasilia Press.
• Epstein, T. & Harcourt, M. (2019). How the past informs the present: Historical consciousness among New Zealand adolescents. (pp.61-90). In M. Gross (Ed). Teaching the difficult past: National and international perspectives. New York: Routledge Press.
• Epstein, T. & Harcourt, M. (in press). How the past informs the present: Historical consciousness among New Zealand adolescents. In M. Gross (Ed). Teaching the difficult past: National and international perspectives. New York: Routledge Press.
• Epstein, T. & Salinas, C. S. (2018). Research methodologies in history education. In A. Metzger & L. Harris (Eds.). International handbook of history teaching and learning (pp. 31-62). New York: Palgrave Macmillan.
• Sheehan, M., Epstein, T. & Harcourt, M. (2017). “People are still grieving”: Maori and Pakeha adolescents’ perspectives on the Treaty of Waitangi. In T. Epstein & C. Peck, Research on teaching and learning difficult histories in international contexts A critical sociocultural approach (pp. 109-122). New York: Routledge.
• Epstein, T. & Peck C. (2017). A critical sociocultural approach to research in history education. In T. Epstein & C. Peck, Research on teaching and learning difficult histories in international contexts A Critical sociocultural approach (pp. 1-15).. New York: Routledge.
• Epstein, T. (2017). Turning a moment into a movement: Responding to racism in the classroom. Critical Education, 8 (2), 41-47.
• Epstein, T. (2016). The relationship between narrative construction and identity in history education: Implications for teaching and learning. Educar em Revista, 60, 121-131.
• Davis, J. & Epstein, T. (2015). Civic Meanings Reconsidered: A response to “Civic Meanings: Understanding the Constellations of Democratic and Civic Beliefs of Educators.” Democracy and Education, 23 (1): 1-3.
• Polleck, J. & Epstein, T. (2015). Affirmation, analysis and agency: Book clubs as critical spaces for young women of color. Reading Horizons: A Journal of Literacy and Language Arts, 54 (1): 78-107.
• Epstein, T. & Gist, C. (2015). Teaching racial literacy in secondary humanities classrooms: Challenging students’ of color concepts of race and racism. Race, Ethnicity and Education, 18 (1): 40- 60.

• 2020 (Spring): Advanced Research Collaborative Fellowship, CUNY Graduate Center, for “Blurring the boundaries: Representations of historical violence in formal and informal educational settings.”
• Racial Literacy in the History Classroom: Creating Equitable Educational Experiences, $50,000.00 from the Spencer Foundation Research Conference Grant scheduled for June 2019
• Teaching and Learning Difficult Histories In International Contexts, for $35,000.00 from American Educational Research Association Research Conference Grant, 2015