- Visit the website Historical Thinking Matters
Review the web site thoroughly, noting both student and teacher modules (4)and teacher materials & strategies. Choose one of the modules (The Spanish American War, The Scopes Monkey Trial, Social Security, Rosa Parks)and study it carefully. Be ready to present the module you chose to our class on Feb. 7.
Respond to the class blog by answering how Historical Thinking Matters facilitates and inspires student learning and creativity (first NETS standard).
This is a terrific website. It has a tremendous amount of valuable information for delivering the various lesson plans, of course. However, the most impressive part for me is the emphasis and re-emphasis on a student gaining various techniques for obtaining a critical evaluation of what they are reading. For example, in the section on the Spanish-American War, different newspaper accounts are presented about the sinking of the Maine battleship in Cuba. The way the Hearst newspapers escalated that conflict (re: propaganda) may not be understood much today, and so having a comparison of newspapers is quite revealing for an increased understanding about shaping public opinion. And, selling newspapers! One side note of interest for me would be the four points (student section) used by President McKinley to sell the idea of America’s foreign intervention, and how little that process has actually changed within very recent American wars. The student side also did well to humanize the history of the workers in Cuba, and some of the subsequent conditions that people suffered (“reconcentrados”). A deeper context of the understanding of history was also evident in the Rosa Parks section, for example, where Professor Fred Astren is surprised by a point made Rev. Ralph Abernathy about the Montgomery bus boycott. With regards to the formal organization of the site, the small audio areas (“Using the Think Aloud”) could be easily by-passed by a student, but, they have very important contextual points to be made! Some of the most important ways of approaching how to view the material are almost hidden within these audio playbacks. One last thing, the teachers section had a nice summary of why each area was being investigated: “...students focus on determining cause”; “...encourages students to think about historical context”; “...asks students to draw connections and comparisons”; and, “...focuses on stories we tell about the past”.
ReplyDeleteHistorical Thinking Matters inspires student learning by inviting the student to become an active participant in the exploration of historical issues and events. Rather than becoming the receptacle of rote memorization and facts, students get to approach history like real historians. They explore primary source documents -- that is, they get to read actual documents not someone's interpretation of them -- and come to their own conclusions. They learn to read these documents using the reading strategies historians use: sourcing, contextualizing, close reading and corroboration. In this manner they begin to see and understand that history is not a finished story nor fact, but rather something infinitely muddier, full of nuance and perspective. Understanding the complexity of historical issues and events allows the student to critically engage -- and therefore become creative -- with the subject matter and reach their own conclusions. Finally, and perhaps most importantly, it is exactly these types of thinkers -- the ones that realize they are their own agents -- that society needs. By teaching students to think in this way we are teaching them how to become active, participatory citizens in the world.
ReplyDeleteHistorical Thinking Matters makes me re-think about the History lessons I took in the past. Above all, this is an amazing website to encourage students to think about historical matters on their own. When I learned about the Korean War, my History teacher explained from A to Z about the war and I just memorized when and why it occured and what happened after that.Sometimes I wondered, "Who actually thought and told that this is the reason why the war between South and North Korea occured? Is there really a sole reason? " However, since I was supposed to study only what I read on the textbook in order to pass the exam, I had to stop thinking deeply. And History class became one of the boring class.
ReplyDeleteHowever, by introducing this website to students, I am sure that they won't be inactive learners any more.After watching a short videoclip of Spanish-American War and reading a related song, they will try to learn about the war by searching and thinking. It is also a fantastic idea to provide different types of documents related to the war. While reading those writings and answering the questions on the right menu, the students can be 'active' learners.
There are such many things to talk about this website, but I just left some comments on the best of what I was impressed. I am excited to read other classmates' comments including Patrick's and Katie's above.
Historical Thinking Matters inspires student learning and creativity because it requires students to think and create like historians. It presents historical source material as a puzzle, full of questions and contradictions, and challenges students to search for context and meaning. Students are then required to create historical narratives based on the evidence they've reviewed. Rosa Parks' story, for example, is presented with opposing narratives and students are asked to think critically about the claims on each side of the issue; the Scopes trial involves questions that go beyond the historical record and require students to develop a sense of the context surrounding the case; the Spanish-American War assignment begins with a statement, "The explosion of the U.S.S. Maine caused the United States to invade Cuba in 1898," and asks the student to question this explanation, then cite evidence from the provided documents to support his/her analysis. The site also encourages students to seek information beyond the provided sources; students can broaden or deepen their inquiry by going on a "webquest," where useful guidance is provided to help students identify credible primary documents online.
ReplyDeleteI was given Scopes trial which I knew nothing about this historical event since I have never taken a US history class before. By going through this website, I was learning about the event and why it was important. Knowing the key events surrounding the trials gave me an overview of what the society was like in 1920. The Think Aloud technique is critical skill for students to learn to question about the facts not just accepting them. Reading about the event from different angles including the media, historians etc gave students an overall picture of the trial, not just the trial itself. History is no longer a boring subject. Students are now the investigators to learn about history and draw their own conclusion.
ReplyDeleteHistorical thinking matters website made me think of how history class was taught in Vietnam. We were given only one sided story. Questioning about the authenticity of the history books was not allowed. There was no internet 20 years ago for students to look for information elsewhere beside our textbooks. After I came to the US, I learned about our history from the South Vietnam and the American point of view. Frankly, it was quite shocking experience. Each side told a complete different story. Was it right for the communists invaded the South? Shouldn't the US get involve in the first place? There are still many questions. I think it’s important to look at history with a critical eye to understand and learn from it.
Historical Thinking Matters is an outstanding instructional website that emphasizes critical thinking while constructing historical narratives about post-civil U.S.
ReplyDeletehistory.
The site offers 4 topics for investigation: the Spanish American war, the Scopes trial, Social Security, and Rosa Parks.
Each of these topics includes the same 5 elements:
Introduction
Inquiry page with documents and questions
Assignment page
Webquest to extend the information using other resources available on the web
Source Index with bibliography.
With this instructional strategy, learning history is not memorizing names and dates but an exciting investigation. It is therefore about thinking, not memorizing, comparing different histories from primary sourcing and from different perspectives. Contextualizing means that students situate the documents and its event in place and time, close reading of the text with careful considerations of content and form, and contrasting and corroborating information across different sources are the essential components in this learning process.
This flexible and personalized process makes learning history a creative, dynamic, and active process in contrast with the traditional passive rote memorization learning model.
An added bonus to this approach is that students learn not just about U.S. history topics, but also to think critically and build up their own investigations.
The site tries to engage the student by providing many different forms of media. There is video, audio, images, and text. Each section is broken up into subsections so the student is walked through it one module at a time. That is a great strategy to keep the student on track. the module I was assigned to was "The Spanish American War". The module used different newspaper articles to give many different perspectives. Getting different perspectives invites a student to think. When a student is given one point of view, they accept it as fact and no higher thinking takes place. With multiple points of view a student can't help but think about the material. When there are conflicting points of view students wrestle with the information to try to settle what's right and wrong. This way they can conclude what happened. This is a very good strategy to make students think.
ReplyDeleteThe site does a great job in giving a well designed lesson plans to the teachers. They lay everything out in a very organized way that is easy to understand. A teacher could implement this with very little prep time.
Marc Robertson
I really enjoyed looking through Historical Thinking Matters. I could see myself using this website to teach and to evaluate by. The resources seem to be endless. I couldn't see why any student could not do extremely well on their assignments if they were all formatted like this. In the intro of the Spanish American War they had a copy of Awake United States that by reading it you could see how society in the US would have rallied around this song to create a pro war fervor between the sinking of he Maine and the time the United States declared war on Spain. The way this website is set up it would seem to transport a student back in time as if they were reading declarations of war by the President or listening to the recordings of historians discussing reaction of the Spanish to the Cuban insurrection movement. Students would have a great time and learn immeasurably using the Historical Thinking format..
ReplyDeleteWhile I was teaching ESL, I was constantly searching for sites that could make my life easier when it came to preparing for classes. Unfortunately, I could not really find one exact site that was helpful on the long run.
ReplyDeleteI really liked this site though. I think it is a great example for how very simple tasks can be used in an effective way with the help of technology. Using authentic sources when teaching history is not a new idea, but how it is implemented and put into practice on this site reflects how technology helps not only engage students, but ensures a much deeper understanding. With the help of the glossary, students can acquire the right terminology related to this topic, they can also easily read all the sources, jumping from one to the other. With the help of the warm up video, they can imagine what buses were like at that time, what it was like for black people not to be allowed to sit wherever they wanted to. It is attention grabbing and evokes students' interest (I think the signs about what black people are not allowed to do are really shocking). Also the tasks student have to complete are thought provoking, and make sure that the students understand the issue.
All in all, I think this site is really helpful for teachers and students as well. It would be great if not only a couple of topics were discussed there, but much more. I believe that this is the way how teachers should be helped and supported, supporting them with material that can be easily used in class and that does not require the technical background knowledge of an expert.
Zsofi Goreczky
Historical Thinking Matters, and educational resources for both students and educators, offers a thorough exploration and examination of several major events in United States history and society. For students, the website provides several forms of media that allow students to engage, interact, interpret, and respond.
ReplyDeleteWhat I really find to be most beneficial is the availability of primary sources for students to interpret and utilize for themselves. As I examined the Social Security module it was engaging and motivating to find such varied first hand sources as posters, letters to editors, pamphlets, newspaper articles, etc. available and verified as suitable and authentic. The layout of the site is fairly easy for both students and educators to navigate, and is void of those sometimes colorful bubbles and blurbs that some sites use to “engage.”
The only concern I had for student use was what is at the core of the site: providing students with all the appropriate and meaningful resources. At their finger tips students are offered a comprehensive and detailed list of resources, both primary and secondary. I must admit that in the end I had to ask myself if, we making it too easy for students to find such information in one place. I did see an underlining attempt on the website to review and examine the sources first hand (inquiry questions section), but it seems not enough. While I fully acknowledge that this site is probably geared towards middle and high school students, who are just beginning such intensive research, it is still important that they gain some exposure to independently validating resources. Either before or after students engage with such a website, I think it’s important that they learn how to decipher what are and are not credible sources of information. All in all it’s a fantastic site and resource for all, I just don’t want my students to think that researching information is so easy.
Historical Thinking Matters arouses student learning and discovery by fascinating the student in an active acquaintance and exploration of historical issues and topics. I enjoyed the web site and think history teachers would enjoy this valuable resource.
ReplyDeleteHow was the Scopes trial more complicated than a simple debate between evolutionists and creationists? Well in the 1920s social patterns were changing. Traditionalists worried that everything valuable was ending. Younger modernists no longer asked whether society would approve of their behavior, only whether their behavior met the approval of their intellect.
Intellectual experimentation was flourishing. The people were listening to Jazz and they were showing a great deal of contempt for the alcoholic prohibition. In a response to these new social patterns, a wave of revivalism developed, becoming especially strong in the American South. Journalists were looking for a showdown, and they found one in a Tennessee courtroom. There a jury was to decide the fate of John Scopes, a fellow biology teacher just covering the truth about evolution with his students, just as I do everyday in class. What is different is that John Scopes was charged with illegally teaching the theory of evolution. Three-time Democratic candidate for President, William Bryan, led a Fundamentalist crusade to banish the theory of evolution from American classrooms.
Ray Cinti