It is not a secret that people today have shorter attention spans than they used to. This is especially true for today’s youth, who face a never-ending barrage of distractions from their computers, tablets, smartphones, and other electronic gadgets. 

A short attention span can impact their academic performance and learning processes. However, understanding how to identify short attention spans in children and adopting appropriate strategies for improvement can lead to positive outcomes.

Patrick Riccards and the Driving Force Institute have that specific goal in mind. By examining untold stories, bringing inclusive history to students and classrooms, and connecting with teenage audiences, The Driving Force Institute is revolutionizing how American history is taught and learned. They develop and disseminate accurate, fair, and understandable videos about American history at no cost to their audience, two minutes at a time, because they believe that history is a question, not a statement.

In conversation with Patrick Riccards, the founder and CEO of the Driving Force Institute

Q. How did you come up with the idea of the Driving Force Institute? How has the organization grown in influence since its founding?

In 2019, I conducted a national survey of over 43,000 individuals, asking them basic U.S. history questions taken from the practice exams for the U.S. citizenship test. The results were startling. Under 40 percent of Americans could pass, with over 60 percent failing to answer just 12 of 20 questions correctly. And the numbers were even worse for those under the age of 40, where three-quarters of those surveyed failed. That is just unacceptable. We cannot grow and improve as a nation if we don’t understand the history that has brought us to this moment.

My team and I quickly realized that the problem was not that we failed to teach U.S. history in high school, nor was the problem the quality of teachers. The primary problem was that today’s students simply find history boring and irrelevant. They have no interest in learning about the dead white male landowners that dominate the textbooks, not seeing how they fit into their lives and worldview. We sought to show them that history could be exciting, interesting, messy, inclusive, and meaningful. To accomplish that, the Driving Force Institute (DFI) was born.

We set forward with a plan to use video to create new pathways for learning American history. Today, members of Gen Z already spend over two hours a day watching more than 63 unique videos. DFI creates short-form, provocative videos that tell the untold stories of American history — the sorts of tales that make history interesting and relevant to all.

Q. Why is the Driving Force Institute focusing on American history for the average high school junior? Why not help students and teachers with other subjects as well?

DFI began its work by focusing on the average high school student. In virtually every state in the United States, learners need to take American history in the 10^th or 11^th grade. So we started by focusing on those learners. But our video content is designed for a wide range of learners. They are used by universities and museums around the world to reach adult learners. And we’ve begun to develop content specifically for our youngest learners, teaching essential history to kindergarteners and first graders. We needed to start somewhere, so we started in high school. Now we have been able to expand our success to others needing to learn American history but who remain unmotivated to do so.

Q. In what ways is the Driving Force Institute transforming how American history is taught and learned in schools? How are they different from the teaching methods teachers are already using?

We are not the first to use video to teach. But we are using video in a very different way. When I was in school, schools would use video as either a reward after learning a unit or a babysitter to occupy the class for a week. No member of Gen Z wants to sit there and watch four or five hours of a documentary. They are used to consuming short bursts of information in engaging ways. That’s what DFI does. We have produced 500 videos that are provocative and aren’t afraid to tackle controversial moments or people in history. Each video is about two minutes long and ends with a discussion question. All DFI content is meant to spur discussion and dialogue about why American history matters. We all benefit by thinking like historians, asking questions, digging deeper, and pushing back. DFI empowers both educators and learners to do that. 

Q. Why does the Driving Force Institute feel that its Video Initiative is better suited to helping the average high school junior learn history?

The work of DFI is focused on the learner. It is about providing high-quality instructional content in a way that today’s learners consume information: short videos. A two-minute video can launch a class-long discussion or debate on complicated topics such as what the 10^th Amendment means, Jefferson’s complicated relationship with slavery, or the role of the BIPOC community in events we believed to be lily white. Learners today don’t want to read a single history book based on one historian’s perception of what is important. They want a growing library of consumable content that gives them choice, allowing them to go down learning rabbit holes that match their interests and personal stories. 

Q. What is the Driving Force Institute’s “Untold History" series?

Untold History is a 500-video library focused on the people, places, events, and artifacts responsible for making America what it is but often neglected or marginalized in the textbooks. We have partners with brands such as the NY Historical Society, the American Battlefield Trust, the Smithsonian, the American Spy Museum, the Bill of Rights Institute, and others to tell the full story to a generation that needs to hear it. In the process, we have taken great care to focus on the role of women, as well as the African-American, Latino, Asian, Indigenous, and LGBTQ+ communities, in the shaping of our nation.

Q. What are the Driving Force Institute’s plans for the future?

This year, DFI will kick off a new series, Essentials, and produce another 500 films over the next four years. With our nation’s 250^th birthday coming up in 2026, we want to build a comprehensive video curriculum that details all that every learner should know about American history. 

Teaching American history to a newer generation and making it fun

Patrick Riccards is the founder and CEO of the Driving Force Institute, a national effort transforming the teaching and learning of American history through provocative, relevant video content for students and related professional development for teachers. 

Patrick earned his undergraduate degree from the University of Virginia and completed the Non-Profit Leaders Executive Education Program at Stanford University’s Graduate School of Business. He is currently a doctoral student at the University of Southern California’s Rossier School of Education.

“Making American history content interesting, relevant for today's learners.”