PIHNet has recently received a $550,000 grant from the US Department of Education’s Fund to Improve Post-Secondary Education (FIPSE). These funds will allow the project to develop the PIH Laboratory for Virtual Field Experience (or PIH-LVFE). The PIH-LVFE will combine an ever-increasing database of video cases of authentic classroom practices with multiple resources and tools to enable pre-service social studies teachers to become better teachers: teaching resources (lesson plans, assessment tools, activity materials) associated with the videos; pre- and post-interviews with classroom teachers; reflections of teaching practices by history and social studies educators; and online tools that allow faculty and pre-service teachers using the video database to annotate specific video segments, discuss teaching practices with peers and mentors, and integrate database resources into university classroom activities.

The PIH-LVFE will continue the strong collaboration between Dr. Brush at Indiana University and Dr. Saye at Auburn University. In addition, the PIH-LVFE will partner with the Indiana University Social Studies Development Center, and numerous K-12 institutions across the United States.

For more information, visit the FIPSE website.