A long-running School of Education study examining how educators teach about the events of September 11, 2001 was featured recently in the Wisconsin State Journal. 

The study, led by faculty member Jeremy Stoddard and Dean Emerita Diana Hess, began in 2002. The study looks into how the events of 9/11 and the global war on terror are integrated into secondary-level classrooms and curricula in the United States.

Stoddard, a professor in the Department of Curriculum and Instruction, told the State Journal that he and Hess are taking on new questions in the study, including how teaching about the event has evolved over the past 24 years. 

The article notes the analysis found that the number of states that include the 9/11 attacks in their social studies standards increased from 26 in 2017 to 33 this year.

“What we’ve seen is more of an inclusion of different aspects of the war on terror, I would call it,” Stoddard said.

Stoddard also noted many states have unique approaches to teaching about 9/11 and related events. 

“Depending on the state, you’re getting radically different perspectives on what they want students to know,” he said.