Significance: which stories should be told in the new IB DP History course?
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Which stories should be told? This is the key question linked to the concept of “significance” in the new IB DP History Subject Guide.
Nearly 40 years ago, Emily Jane Style posed a similar question to elementary school reading teachers when she introduced the phrase “windows and mirrors.”
Curricular windows invite us to see the experiences of others, while curricular mirrors ensure we see ourselves. In 1990, Rudine Sims Bishop expanded the metaphor to include “sliding glass doors” – those brief opportunities when we enter and engage with other cultures. These terms are now ubiquitous among elementary teachers cultivating empathy and widening perspectives among younger learners.
IBDP teachers might call these indicators of global mindedness.
Pedagogy that cultivates global mindedness
Global mindedness is an important value of the IB DP.
E. Jane Hett’s succinct definition remains among the most helpful. She described “a worldview in which one sees oneself as connected to the world community and feels a sense of responsibility for its members.” It values us as interconnected members of humanity with a duty to care for one another and solve problems together. IB DP requirements for Creativity - Activity - Service (CAS) acknowledge the importance of these ideals. IB History course content should too!
Two speeches by leading North American officials earlier this year underscore the importance of our students being able to solve problems collaboratively amid rapid change.
Canadian prime minister Mark Carney spoke in Davos, Switzerland, about “a rupture in the world order.” The prime minister called for countries “to build a new order that encompasses our values, such as respect for human rights, sustainable development, solidarity, sovereignty, and territorial integrity of various states.”
Soon after, United States Secretary of State Marco Rubio expressed some agreement during the Munich Security Conference. Rubio said, “The world is changing very fast, right in front of us: the old world is gone, frankly, the world I grew up in, and we live in a new era in geopolitics, and it’s going to require all of us to sort of re-examine what that looks like and what our role is going to be.”
Two very different politicians agree that we must adapt to a changing world. An IB education – including a well-designed IB History course – helps our students do just that.
A 2021 study found that IB students’ global mindedness levels were between 3% and 15% higher than peers in country-level benchmark samples. This does not happen by accident.
Global mindedness is a result of intentional pedagogy.
Creating windows, mirrors, and sliding glass doors
Which stories should be told is a key question IB DP History teachers must ask when determining their topics of study for Paper 1, 2, and 3.
Windows, mirrors, and sliding glass doors are helpful tools that invite us to design a course to best develop global mindedness among students in our unique school contexts.
- Windows: How do I help students look outward to see the world beyond their own experiences?
- Mirrors: How do I help students see their own history represented in topics we study?
- Sliding glass doors: How do I ensure students engage in cultures and paradigms different from their own?
Like you, I am still considering which topics and case studies to teach.
The new Paper 1 topic – Independence and Identity comparing Haiti and Kenya – offers an interesting opportunity for my students at the International School of Kenya in Nairobi. Designing a historical inquiry around these topics provides a mirror in which my Kenyan students can see themselves. The topic also creates a mirror for American, Brazilian, and Caribbean students who connect with Pan-Africanism, the African Diaspora, and complex identities shaped by migration, language, race, and ethnicity. Classmates from Australia, Denmark, Germany, and Vietnam could engage with this same topic as a window and at times even as a sliding glass door.
This map from Pearson’s Independence and Identity text illustrates ways French trade routes influenced the development of identity in Haiti.
Context matters.
The Kenya and Haiti case studies would not have the same impact if I were still teaching in Appalachian Maryland. There, I might achieve similar goals through a study of Conflict (Paper 2) including an inquiry cycle that draws on inter-generational connections related to the rural community’s rich history of military service. Gen Z students could encounter a sliding glass door that invites them to see the world from the perspective of their grandparents, an aunt or uncle, or neighbor.
Pearson’s textbook Conflict (from 750 CE Onwards) is a valuable resource for schools teaching this Paper 2 topic.
Course redesign is an opportunity to revisit “significance” – which stories do we tell? Intentional planning means we as teachers must ask ourselves: (1) why this story, (2) why this topic in this school context?
Between now and August, professional networks, retraining workshops, and blogs like this one offer chances to rethink legacy units in order to ensure window, mirrors, and sliding glass doors for all students.
Significance and sensitive topics
In some cases, the question “Which stories should be told?” becomes “Which stories can be told?”
It isn’t honest to say you can teach anything.
School context doesn’t just shape what might be a window or mirror. Context also shapes restrictions. Sometimes these relate to students’ maturity or immaturity. In other circumstances, perceptions surrounding partisan politics can create restrictions. And, sometimes government regulators may declare a topic forbidden.
One focused study for Paper 1 compares protest movements: feminism in the USA (1960-1979) to revolution in Tunisia (1989-2015). I can imagine circumstances in which a teacher in conservative US communities might avoid this topic. A teacher in a Middle Eastern international school might avoid this same topic for different reasons. Navigating these realities is part of our profession.
I have faced some of these challenges myself. In 2023, I described the dilemmas this way:
“If a topic is too sensitive or not age appropriate for students to engage with critically, it would not be useful illustrative content… These considerations are familiar terrain for humanities teachers, especially when teaching literature or about world religions. Teachers and teaching teams must make determinations based on their context… Even so, historians’ signature pedagogy equips students to research effectively and to think critically when they discover new information and untaught topics—an inevitability since none of us can “cover” all historical events.”
The new IB DP History Subject Guide provides a rich framework to develop students’ critical thinking skills and global mindedness through historical inquiry. The variety of topics for Papers 1, 2, and 3 provide plentiful options to create windows, mirrors, and sliding glass doors no matter your context.
TOK also invites students to consider “which stories should be told?” This can be a helpful framing for teachers struggling with having to avoid certain topics based on their context.
Conclusion
“Which stories should be told?” is a challenging question. It merits serious consideration by IB History teachers redesigning courses for August 2026.
It is also an exciting opportunity to cultivate global mindedness by ensuring all students can access windows, mirrors, and sliding glass doors.
Further reading
Explore our new IB Diploma Programme History course.
Read the first article in this series, New IB DP History Guide: Exciting dilemmas.
Read the second article in this series, Conceptual Learning: an increased emphasis in the new DP History course.
Read the fourth article in this series, IB DP History exam changes: A comprehensive guide to Paper 1, 2 and 3 and the Internal Assessment.
References
Bishop, Rudine Sims. “Mirrors, Windows, and Sliding Glass Doors,” Perspectives: Choosing and Using Books for the Classroom 6:3 (Summer 1990)
Carney, Mark. “Davos 2026: Special Address by Mark Carney, Prime Minister of Canada,” World Economic Forum (January 20, 2026), https://www.weforum.org/stories/2026/01/davos-2026-special-address-by-mark-carney-prime-minister-of-canada/
Gándara, Fernanda, Aimee Reeves, and Drew Schmenner. “Global Mindedness in International Baccalaureate Schools: A benchmark study with young adults’ world values survey data.” School-to-School International (February 2021). https://www.ibo.org/globalassets/new-structure/research/pdfs/global-mindedness-final-report.pdf
Hett, E. Jane. “The development of an instrument to measure global-mindedness.” Ed.D. diss. (University of San Diego, 1993).
Richards, Samuel J. “Archival Research With High School Students and School History: An Example of Signature Pedagogy through Project- and Place-Based Learning”. Teaching History: A Journal of Methods 48:1 (2023):36-54. https://doi.org/10.33043/TH.48.1.36-54.
Rubio, Marco. “Secretary of State Marco Rubio’s Remarks at the Munich Security Conference,” (February 15, 2026), https://ch.usembassy.gov/secretary-of-state-marco-rubios-remarks-at-the-munich-security-conference/
Style, Emily Jane. “Curriculum as Window and Mirror,” Listening for All Voices: Oak Knoll School Monograph (1988), republished in Social Science Record (fall 1996).
Samuel J Richards
Samuel is the Head of Social Sciences at the International School of Kenya in Nairobi. He is an experienced IB History and Global Politics teacher. Samuel has taught and developed curricula for schools in Brazil, China, Kenya, Switzerland, and the US. He holds an MA in History and an MSEd in Curriculum and Instruction..