Respond to the class Blog by addressing how the web site, "Historical Thinking Matters," facilitates and inspires student learning and creativity (The first National Educational Technology Standard).
The website Historical Thinking Matters is very interesting because of the very structured support it gives students so they can critically read primary sources online and critique and construct historical narratives. Coincidentally, today I met with my BTSA mentor who gave me ideas for giving structured support to students to assist them with solving math problems, and to assist them with critiquing their tests. Having reflected on that meeting and on this website, I see similarities between the two. I would not expect my students to be able to solve math problems in a new content area without some instruction from me. I have found that when I ask them to reflect, without guidance from me, on some work or test they have done, the reflection does not usually lead them to set learning goals. If I ask leading questions, and guide them to reflect and set learning goals, the time spent is much more productive. The necessity to guide students to appropriate and accurate sites is further driven home by the New York Times article on Teaching Civil War History. Why should we expect students to be able to conduct quality online research without guidance? The Historical Thinking Matters website guides students in their research and writing. I really liked the model of the website. I would love to see something similar for math, where students would be guided to appropriate resources, and where standards for deliverables would be defined. Maybe I need to create such a site! Noirin Foy
After looking over the "Rosa Parks" module, I couldn't help but to wish that my history classes were this interesting and informative. Utilizing this site will make the history class to be more than just pure memorization of dates and events which have happened in the past. By guiding the students to be historian themselves, each lesson engages the students to the topic at hand. I believe this is especially important for 2 reasons; one, history textbooks can be wrong, as we have found out for last class homework and two, history can sometimes be viewed as written by those who won the battle, meaning it may not be as objective as we believe it to be. Asking the students what they know about the issue before starting the lesson helps to assess how much the students know and the source of their knowledge. By providing various sources for students to gain knowledge from, the students not only learn historical facts, but also build on their deducing skills. The questions posed to the students make them think more and question all the facts they had originally believed to be true. They learn to differentiate between which sources are objective and which are influenced by person biases. In addition, by working in groups with fellow classmates, the students learn how to cooperate and learn from each other. What I like the most is that even though the topic at hand is “traditional”, but the method of teaching is refreshing; since the teaching method is different, the result is just as creative. I understand that having an extensive module such as this for every lesson is time consuming and may not even be a possibility, but it is a great idea to have this for few key points that students must learn for each subject, following the education guideline set by the school board.
I was quite encouraged by the resources at the "Historical Thinking Matters" website. I looked at the Snopes trial module specifically and it looked like there were plenty of opportunities both for reflection and for creativity. However, the two main thoughts that I came away with were 1) students still need a teacher to guide them through the unit (even if that teacher acts more as a coach) and 2) I think this will become better organized as an app or through an 'interactive textbook.' As an English teacher, it seemed to me that there were less opportunities for real reading. Everything seemed to be bits and pieces and the videos were so tiny that they weren't really worth watching. Even though I don't teach history, when I learned about the idea of "teaching like a historian" in my credential classes, I found the concept to be really inspirational. I think you get some of that here, but I think this website would serve better as something to point to than to guide the unit. I think there is a possibility for more rigour than the module offers and perhaps more importantly, more reading, which our kids really need. I'd be interested to see how history teachers feel about it.
Many students are bored by the details of history. Relevance to the present is often lost in the sterile, emotionally flat passages of aging textbooks. History is dead in their well-worn pages. The site Historical Thinking Matters works to counter the traditional approach to the study of history by using a multimedia design in the presentation and study of past events. This does much to facilitate and inspire student learning and creativity.
First, the use of a brief introductory video helps capture student interest. Instead of a tidy textbook conclusion, the video ends by posing a question, thereby putting the student in the role of the historian, and revealing to the student that history is indeed alive and open to interpretation. By not drawing conclusions, the student becomes historian and is directed to a series of sources, mostly primary documents, for further investigation. Through the process of analysis, the student is encouraged to arrive at his/her own conclusion about the events in question.
Each module also provides vocabulary help, historian think aloud videos, and historian audio to allow students to hear and view historians modeling historical inquiry. These components facilitate student learning by providing necessary scaffolding and addressing different learning styles.
At the conclusion of the module, the student responds to the original question in essay form based on their analysis of the sources. The clean design of the site and a clear process further promotes student engagement with the documents by capturing their responses as they go and allowing them to return to each document and their responses when they engage in the writing process.
Helping students realize the relevance of history to modern life is often challenging. Historical Thinking Matters has made significant attempt to begin to meet this challenge.
The way that the Historial Thinking Matters site has organized historical information is refreshing. Various styles of media and combined in an attempt to paint a fuller picture of the topic at hand. The format of posing an initial question to "research" in order to be able to dig deeper into follow up questions utilized digital media as an exciting tool to promote student engagement. Specifically, I really liked the notebook feature visible next to the primary sources for each section. Asking students to take notes as part of the investigative process will undoubtable help with their comprehension of the new material. I looked specifically at the Scopes trial page, and was interested in the way that the project became somewhat interdisciplinary combining history with studies of evolution.
Beyond the initial goals laid out in the project about the Scopes trial, this module also acts as a great model into the process of researching and informally citing primary sources. This can be a hard concept to grasp at first, and by providing students with a prior experience where suitable sources were included, they can begin to experience and recognize what is required in order to be successful in their own research.
Wow. I was amazed by the learning modules presented in this site. Also I was wondering if this is a common way to approach History in high schools in the United States. If so, I am jealous!! If I had taken this kind of class when I was in high school, I would be able to remember the events in the 4 modules in this site. Without various resources and active critical thinking, just memorizing the historical facts by time sequence did not last for a long. Also I was taught history by a mandatory text book when I was in a high school in Korea. Nowadays, each school chooses textbooks among many different publishers but still students may encounter only one-sided view. I believe this may cause students to have a tunnel vision on issues.
At this point, I 100% agree with the words in the site “understanding and reconstructing ‘the past’ requires ways of thinking, reading, and questioning much more engaging and challenging than mere memorization.” Especially, the issues on the subject of ‘History’ may be understood differently depends on aspects and perspectives. The contents written by only historians would not be enough to stimulate learners. The various resources in diverse forms provided in this site can let students be more engaged in investigating the subject and develop understanding the past. Although lots of work would be required for this type of module, it will be a great benefit for learners. I hope there are more of these types of modules released so learners and teachers can utilize them on many subjects.
I looked at the Scopes trial module and I think that this should be the model for the way that history is taught in schools. I liked how the method is based on inquiry and critical analysis of multiple perspectives on a given subject or event. This approach teaches students to see the world through multiple lenses and gain a sense of perspective. This directly inspires learning because the lesson is asking students to read and understand different perspectives on a controversial topic. This is not only relevant to the time period but it is relevant to all modern political discourse. This also presents a historical event as a complex interaction between many different actors with unique perspectives. History is too often portrayed from one perspective and as a verifiable, indisputable fact. There is no thought process attached to its presentation; "this is what happened and here's what came next." The process used in historical thinking matters brings a variety of points of view into the narrative and tasks the students to use a process of inquiry to better understand the complexity of human interaction. Like the module states at its beginning, the Scopes trial was about more than just Catholicism vs Evolution and the module does an excellent job guiding students to an understanding of that. I think that it is imperative for students to learn that there are multiple perspectives of, causes of, and reasons for events that go beyond the simplicity of black or white or even black, white, and grey.
Learning to understand a different perspective from your own expands the mind and raises awareness. Learning how to analyze a text and ask questions is important. I think that this process inevitably expands creativity simply because it is exercising the brain and expanding consciousness.
I do think, however, that this material may prove very difficult for plenty of students who do not have any prior experience with this type of learning. I would draw the comparison of asking a non-athlete to run a marathon without any preparation. In my experience with the population that I have worked with in a San Francisco public school, this material would be very difficult without at least a week of learning the basics of primary source analysis and historical inquiry. I'm not saying that it's imposible for students to do this sort of work, but it is important for teachers to first figure out where their students are at in their abilities before presenting them with this sort of material. That being said, I still think that this should be the standard for how history is taught.
I understand all of our excitement surrounding this website. The use of multimedia, primary sources, organizers, authentic inquiry, and formative assessment questions is all encompassing and multiple in its delivery and format.
Two concerns: does this website utilize universal access and does this widen the digital divide?
The website is wonderful in that it is contextualized, but placing history in context requires a great deal of reading the context. Do students who come in at this level (10th grade history) with weaker reading abilities or learning differences suffer and fall behind? Granted, the multimedia are great comprehensible inputs, but are they enough?
Second, access to this great learning technology will be key. I'm trying to see how this will look in a classroom. Do all the students come in, open laptops, and start on the lesson at hand with headphones in ears?
Last, I end with an idea for this website. I wish it was collaborative in that it set up or gave the template or code to this design so that our country's teachers could create a lesson based on this design. I could see a process in which content creation could be crowdsourced, but the publication can be peer edited and then placed side by side with these great lessons. Just an idea.
To answer the questions: I navigated through the Social Security module and I believe the website is can go further in developing the first stand of the NETS-S. The students, rather than just answer what social security tells us about the new deal, the students could be tasked to identify this trend today and to forecast out per 1.d.
1. Creativity and Innovation
Students demonstrate creative thinking, construct knowledge, and develop innovative products and processes using technology. Students:
a. apply existing knowledge to generate new ideas, products, or processes. b. create original works as a means of personal or group expression. c. use models and simulations to explore complex systems and issues. d. identify trends and forecast possibilities.
I enjoyed exploring the Historical Thinking Matters website. As I navigated through the site's content, I couldn't help but wish there was a similar learning tool within my reach when I was in high school. Although I love history and enjoyed learning new things about it, its deliverance was not as great. Instead of listening to boring lectures, the historical content on the HTM website makes the learning of important information enjoyable. Rather than reading content from a textbook or using different outside sources to grasp key ideas, the website utilizes different technological resources and makes them available in one central location. The format of the HTM website is very powerful. The videos, audio, and text are organized in a way to reach the varied learning styles of all students. If I were a history teacher, I would definitely use this website in my classroom.
The website Historical Thinking Matters is very interesting because of the very structured support it gives students so they can critically read primary sources online and critique and construct historical narratives. Coincidentally, today I met with my BTSA mentor who gave me ideas for giving structured support to students to assist them with solving math problems, and to assist them with critiquing their tests. Having reflected on that meeting and on this website, I see similarities between the two. I would not expect my students to be able to solve math problems in a new content area without some instruction from me. I have found that when I ask them to reflect, without guidance from me, on some work or test they have done, the reflection does not usually lead them to set learning goals. If I ask leading questions, and guide them to reflect and set learning goals, the time spent is much more productive. The necessity to guide students to appropriate and accurate sites is further driven home by the New York Times article on Teaching Civil War History. Why should we expect students to be able to conduct quality online research without guidance?
ReplyDeleteThe Historical Thinking Matters website guides students in their research and writing. I really liked the model of the website. I would love to see something similar for math, where students would be guided to appropriate resources, and where standards for deliverables would be defined. Maybe I need to create such a site!
Noirin Foy
After looking over the "Rosa Parks" module, I couldn't help but to wish that my history classes were this interesting and informative. Utilizing this site will make the history class to be more than just pure memorization of dates and events which have happened in the past. By guiding the students to be historian themselves, each lesson engages the students to the topic at hand. I believe this is especially important for 2 reasons; one, history textbooks can be wrong, as we have found out for last class homework and two, history can sometimes be viewed as written by those who won the battle, meaning it may not be as objective as we believe it to be. Asking the students what they know about the issue before starting the lesson helps to assess how much the students know and the source of their knowledge.
ReplyDeleteBy providing various sources for students to gain knowledge from, the students not only learn historical facts, but also build on their deducing skills. The questions posed to the students make them think more and question all the facts they had originally believed to be true. They learn to differentiate between which sources are objective and which are influenced by person biases. In addition, by working in groups with fellow classmates, the students learn how to cooperate and learn from each other. What I like the most is that even though the topic at hand is “traditional”, but the method of teaching is refreshing; since the teaching method is different, the result is just as creative. I understand that having an extensive module such as this for every lesson is time consuming and may not even be a possibility, but it is a great idea to have this for few key points that students must learn for each subject, following the education guideline set by the school board.
I was quite encouraged by the resources at the "Historical Thinking Matters" website. I looked at the Snopes trial module specifically and it looked like there were plenty of opportunities both for reflection and for creativity. However, the two main thoughts that I came away with were 1) students still need a teacher to guide them through the unit (even if that teacher acts more as a coach) and 2) I think this will become better organized as an app or through an 'interactive textbook.' As an English teacher, it seemed to me that there were less opportunities for real reading. Everything seemed to be bits and pieces and the videos were so tiny that they weren't really worth watching. Even though I don't teach history, when I learned about the idea of "teaching like a historian" in my credential classes, I found the concept to be really inspirational. I think you get some of that here, but I think this website would serve better as something to point to than to guide the unit. I think there is a possibility for more rigour than the module offers and perhaps more importantly, more reading, which our kids really need. I'd be interested to see how history teachers feel about it.
ReplyDeleteMany students are bored by the details of history. Relevance to the present is often lost in the sterile, emotionally flat passages of aging textbooks. History is dead in their well-worn pages. The site Historical Thinking Matters works to counter the traditional approach to the study of history by using a multimedia design in the presentation and study of past events. This does much to facilitate and inspire student learning and creativity.
ReplyDeleteFirst, the use of a brief introductory video helps capture student interest. Instead of a tidy textbook conclusion, the video ends by posing a question, thereby putting the student in the role of the historian, and revealing to the student that history is indeed alive and open to interpretation. By not drawing conclusions, the student becomes historian and is directed to a series of sources, mostly primary documents, for further investigation. Through the process of analysis, the student is encouraged to arrive at his/her own conclusion about the events in question.
Each module also provides vocabulary help, historian think aloud videos, and historian audio to allow students to hear and view historians modeling historical inquiry. These components facilitate student learning by providing necessary scaffolding and addressing different learning styles.
At the conclusion of the module, the student responds to the original question in essay form based on their analysis of the sources. The clean design of the site and a clear process further promotes student engagement with the documents by capturing their responses as they go and allowing them to return to each document and their responses when they engage in the writing process.
Helping students realize the relevance of history to modern life is often challenging. Historical Thinking Matters has made significant attempt to begin to meet this challenge.
The way that the Historial Thinking Matters site has organized historical information is refreshing. Various styles of media and combined in an attempt to paint a fuller picture of the topic at hand. The format of posing an initial question to "research" in order to be able to dig deeper into follow up questions utilized digital media as an exciting tool to promote student engagement. Specifically, I really liked the notebook feature visible next to the primary sources for each section. Asking students to take notes as part of the investigative process will undoubtable help with their comprehension of the new material. I looked specifically at the Scopes trial page, and was interested in the way that the project became somewhat interdisciplinary combining history with studies of evolution.
ReplyDeleteBeyond the initial goals laid out in the project about the Scopes trial, this module also acts as a great model into the process of researching and informally citing primary sources. This can be a hard concept to grasp at first, and by providing students with a prior experience where suitable sources were included, they can begin to experience and recognize what is required in order to be successful in their own research.
Wow. I was amazed by the learning modules presented in this site. Also I was wondering if this is a common way to approach History in high schools in the United States. If so, I am jealous!! If I had taken this kind of class when I was in high school, I would be able to remember the events in the 4 modules in this site. Without various resources and active critical thinking, just memorizing the historical facts by time sequence did not last for a long. Also I was taught history by a mandatory text book when I was in a high school in Korea. Nowadays, each school chooses textbooks among many different publishers but still students may encounter only one-sided view. I believe this may cause students to have a tunnel vision on issues.
ReplyDeleteAt this point, I 100% agree with the words in the site “understanding and reconstructing ‘the past’ requires ways of thinking, reading, and questioning much more engaging and challenging than mere memorization.”
Especially, the issues on the subject of ‘History’ may be understood differently depends on aspects and perspectives. The contents written by only historians would not be enough to stimulate learners. The various resources in diverse forms provided in this site can let students be more engaged in investigating the subject and develop understanding the past. Although lots of work would be required for this type of module, it will be a great benefit for learners.
I hope there are more of these types of modules released so learners and teachers can utilize them on many subjects.
I looked at the Scopes trial module and I think that this should be the model for the way that history is taught in schools. I liked how the method is based on inquiry and critical analysis of multiple perspectives on a given subject or event. This approach teaches students to see the world through multiple lenses and gain a sense of perspective. This directly inspires learning because the lesson is asking students to read and understand different perspectives on a controversial topic. This is not only relevant to the time period but it is relevant to all modern political discourse. This also presents a historical event as a complex interaction between many different actors with unique perspectives. History is too often portrayed from one perspective and as a verifiable, indisputable fact. There is no thought process attached to its presentation; "this is what happened and here's what came next." The process used in historical thinking matters brings a variety of points of view into the narrative and tasks the students to use a process of inquiry to better understand the complexity of human interaction. Like the module states at its beginning, the Scopes trial was about more than just Catholicism vs Evolution and the module does an excellent job guiding students to an understanding of that. I think that it is imperative for students to learn that there are multiple perspectives of, causes of, and reasons for events that go beyond the simplicity of black or white or even black, white, and grey.
ReplyDeleteLearning to understand a different perspective from your own expands the mind and raises awareness. Learning how to analyze a text and ask questions is important. I think that this process inevitably expands creativity simply because it is exercising the brain and expanding consciousness.
I do think, however, that this material may prove very difficult for plenty of students who do not have any prior experience with this type of learning. I would draw the comparison of asking a non-athlete to run a marathon without any preparation. In my experience with the population that I have worked with in a San Francisco public school, this material would be very difficult without at least a week of learning the basics of primary source analysis and historical inquiry. I'm not saying that it's imposible for students to do this sort of work, but it is important for teachers to first figure out where their students are at in their abilities before presenting them with this sort of material. That being said, I still think that this should be the standard for how history is taught.
I understand all of our excitement surrounding this website. The use of multimedia, primary sources, organizers, authentic inquiry, and formative assessment questions is all encompassing and multiple in its delivery and format.
ReplyDeleteTwo concerns: does this website utilize universal access and does this widen the digital divide?
The website is wonderful in that it is contextualized, but placing history in context requires a great deal of reading the context. Do students who come in at this level (10th grade history) with weaker reading abilities or learning differences suffer and fall behind? Granted, the multimedia are great comprehensible inputs, but are they enough?
Second, access to this great learning technology will be key. I'm trying to see how this will look in a classroom. Do all the students come in, open laptops, and start on the lesson at hand with headphones in ears?
Last, I end with an idea for this website. I wish it was collaborative in that it set up or gave the template or code to this design so that our country's teachers could create a lesson based on this design. I could see a process in which content creation could be crowdsourced, but the publication can be peer edited and then placed side by side with these great lessons. Just an idea.
Addendum:
DeleteTo answer the questions: I navigated through the Social Security module and I believe the website is can go further in developing the first stand of the NETS-S. The students, rather than just answer what social security tells us about the new deal, the students could be tasked to identify this trend today and to forecast out per 1.d.
1. Creativity and Innovation
Students demonstrate creative thinking, construct knowledge, and develop innovative products and processes using technology. Students:
a. apply existing knowledge to generate new ideas, products, or processes.
b. create original works as a means of personal or group expression.
c. use models and simulations to explore complex systems and issues.
d. identify trends and forecast possibilities.
I enjoyed exploring the Historical Thinking Matters website. As I navigated through the site's content, I couldn't help but wish there was a similar learning tool within my reach when I was in high school. Although I love history and enjoyed learning new things about it, its deliverance was not as great. Instead of listening to boring lectures, the historical content on the HTM website makes the learning of important information enjoyable. Rather than reading content from a textbook or using different outside sources to grasp key ideas, the website utilizes different technological resources and makes them available in one central location. The format of the HTM website is very powerful. The videos, audio, and text are organized in a way to reach the varied learning styles of all students. If I were a history teacher, I would definitely use this website in my classroom.
ReplyDelete