Back to School

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

Learning about Language: An In-Class Activity

Maria Rovito October 10, 2025 A scholar of the medical humanities shares ideas for helping students discover how language shaped past cultural attitudes—and still shapes them in the present.

Lies, Damn Lies, and…Primary Sources?

Nicole Donawho July 15, 2025 An instructor shares her approach for teaching students how to evaluate historical materials and claims of veracity made by their originators.

The Case for Aesthetic Education

Marco Elvis Joven Domínguez August 5, 2026 Why Friedrich Schiller believed art belongs at the heart of education—and why it matters for equal opportunity today.

Doing Math with Intellectual Humility

The Editors 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

Pallas Catenella Riedler 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

Sara Rzeszutek 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

Nicole Donawho 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

Tim Johnson 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?

Amanda Parrish Morgan 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

Katie Gilbert 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

Liza Featherstone 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

Livia Gershon 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?

Amanda Woytus 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

Nicole Donawho 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

Jess Romeo 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

Livia Gershon 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

Livia Gershon 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?

Livia Gershon 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

Livia Gershon 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

Nicole Donawho 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

Livia Gershon May 29, 2020 Really, kids, there was a time when lots of grownups thought homework was bad for you.

Reading Lists and Syllabi

Rights of Nature: A Reading List

Sam Firman January 13, 2026 What would it mean for rivers, forests, and animals to have legal rights? A global movement is rethinking law’s relationship to nature.

Perspectives on Public Space: A Reading List

Jesse McLaughlin November 13, 2025 This list introduces some of the main debates about public space, from park politics to political protest, public expressions of sexuality to safety and security.

Speculative Fiction: A Reading List

Camille Tinnin September 10, 2025 Speculative fiction, from Afrofuturism to Star Wars, offers students tools and methods for analyzing social movements, power structures, and utopian thinking.

Voting in American Politics: A Syllabus

The Editors September 18, 2024 From battles to expand the franchise to the mysteries of turnout, voting is one of the most important things to understand about US politics.

Building Classroom Discussions around JSTOR Daily Syllabi

Nicole Donawho May 15, 2024 Help students develop discussion skills using JSTOR Daily syllabi and roundups as catalysts for classroom conversations.

Chicanx Studies: A Foundational Reading List

Michael Aguilar 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

Jenny Noyce 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

Ashley Domingo Hendricks August 11, 2022 So you want to teachThe Sandman? Or William Blake? Or Art Spiegelman’s Maus? A guide to using comics and graphic novels in the classroom.

Security Studies: A Syllabus

The Editors 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

The Editors 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

Allison C. Meier April 10, 2024 What began as a defiant exhibition of rejected artists became one of the most influential movements in modern art.

The History of Reproductive Rights: A Syllabus

The Editors 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

The Editors November 9, 2021 A selection of stories to foster dialogue among students both inside and outside of the classroom.

A True Crime Syllabus

Nicole Donawho 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

Eric Schewe 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

Benjamin Linzy 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

The Editors 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

Andrew McKevitt 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

The Editors 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

Sindy Lopez 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

Morgan Godvin 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

Livia Gershon 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

Livia Gershon 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

Ashawnta Jackson 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

Liza Featherstone 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

Livia Gershon 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

H.M.A. Leow 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

Livia Gershon 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

Enchanting Imposters

Sara Ivry October 15, 2025 Johns Hopkins University’sBibliotheca Fictiva Collection of Literary and Historical Forgery shows that humans have been creating fan fiction and fake news for millennia.

How Libraries Stand the Test of Time

Maria Papadouris August 21, 2025 The digital era builds upon millennia of librarianship as humans strive to preserve our cultural heritage.

Nella Larsen’s Lessons in Library School

H.M.A. Leow 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

Ashawnta Jackson 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

Livia Gershon March 27, 2022 The Kern County, CA Board of Supervisors got a lesson in the Streisand Effect back in 1939, when they bannedThe Grapes of Wrath from their libraries and schools.

How American Librarians Helped Defeat the Nazis

Katie McBride Moench 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

Olivia Box 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

Jess Romeo 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

Livia Gershon 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?”

Livia Gershon 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

Matthew Wills 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?

Livia Gershon 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

Livia Gershon November 5, 2021 A clash of library enthusiasts ended with a sexual harassment scandal.

Libraries and Pandemics: Past and Present

Julia Skinner 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?

Alex Nunes 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

Race, Fertility, and the Science of Slavery in Antebellum America

Matthew Wills April 6, 2026 Pseudoscience about mixed-race women’s fertility helped justify slavery in nineteenth-century America.

How America Racialized the Robot

Matthew Wills April 21, 2026 Early robots in the US evolved from symbols of revolt into racialized figures tied to labor and the legacy of slavery.

Inside the First Indigenous Sorority

Julia Métraux 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

Livia Gershon 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

Matthew Wills 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

Livia Gershon 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

Allison C. Meier 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

Charlotte West and John Corley 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

Eboni Nelson April 3, 2019 Minority students in racially isolated schools have drastically less access to critical educational resources.

What Makes a Fair College Admissions Process?

Julie J. Park , Christine R. Yano and Nadirah Farah Foley 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

Matthew Wills 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

Matthew Wills 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

The Urgency of Indigenous Values

Tim Brinkhof April 22, 2026 As global crises mount, religion scholar Philip P. Arnold argues the Haudenosaunee’s Great Law of Peace offers a way out of the West’s self-destructive path.

The Oral Histories of the AIDS Crisis

Liz Tracey June 3, 2026 The voices of artists and activists illuminate the human experience behind the AIDS epidemic.

Dark Academia’s Roots Lie in the Campus Novel

Aida Amoako 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

Julia Métraux 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

Erin Blakemore 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

Matthew Wills 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

Jess Romeo 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

Erin Blakemore 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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