On 26 April the Cold War Coasts team organized a workshop for school teachers. It took place at KTH Royal Institute of Technology in conjunction with the Swedish National Agency for Education’s “Lärarlyftet” (“Boost for Teachers”) initiative, a professional development programme aimed at strengthening licensed teachers’ knowledge and capabilities. 15 teachers from different parts of Sweden, all of whom are active in grades 7-9, participated in the workshop. The workshop covered one day of intense activities, included lectures, discussions, and exercises.
The purpose of the workshop was to stimulate new ways of teaching Cold War history, including its technological aspects and the environmental impact of (hot and cold) warfare, in schools. The relevance of integrating such material aspects of the Cold War in teaching has become even more obvious following the recent and ongoing radical military and geopolitical developments in Europe; what happens in our part of the world these days cannot be grasped in political or economic terms only, and in trying to incorporate the technological and material dimension into the analysis there is much to be gained from a deeper historical understanding of East-West conflicts.
Cold War Coasts 