Engagement Based Learning for History Students

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Engagement Based Learning for History
Students 
Jill Colyer Marc Keirstead
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The stereotypical history teacher

• Ferris Bueller clip

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Not Us

• Of course not.
• But our kids arent as excited by our history
  courses as we want them to be.
• We still make them read too much.
• We still make them memorize too much.

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What If...

• We had them do history, rather than receive
  historical information?
• We had them memorize less, and spend more time
  thinking critically about historical issues?
• We presented historical issues and events in the
  complex, problematic way they were lived?

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Maybe then...

• Theyd love history as much as we do.
• Theyd realize that people in the past suffered,
  wondered, and triumphed.
• Theyd realize that history isnt a set of
  fixed events.
• Theyd want to take more history courses.

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We agree with...

• Sam Wineburg who said that...
• The role of history as a tool for changing how
  we think, for promoting a literacy not of names
  and dates but of discernment, judgment, and
  caution, does not receive prime billing in the
  public sphere.
• And we think it should.

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And we agree with Peter Seixas when he said...

• Memorizing discrete and unconnected names, dates
  and places is the least useful, most tedious,
  most-likely-to-alienate approach to history. It
  may be good for Jeopardy! and an occasional
  crossword puzzle, but it's not much use for
  anything else.

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That is why we do believe...

• That we need to help our students think
  critically about historical issues and events,
  rather than ask them to memorize dates and events
  in a particular chronology.

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And that is why...

• We want to spend some time exploring the
  conceptual framework for historical understanding
  developed by Peter Seixas.
• Professor Seixas has developed six interrelated
  concepts central to students ability to think
  about history.
• We will briefly introduce the six concepts and
  then suggest how teachers might use a selection
  of these competencies in our history classrooms.

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The Historical Thinking Competencies

• 1. Historical Significance
• Historians can not include all that has happened
  in the past.
• How do we decide whether an historical event is
  significant event for everybody or just some
  people?
• 2. Evidence
• How do we know what happened? Which version of
  events should we believe?
• Issues of evidence invite students to explore the
  role of sources in constructing accounts of the
  past.

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The Historical Thinking Competencies

• 3. Continuity and Change
• Two historical stereotypes exist either nothing
  really changes over time or events that occurred
  long ago must be completely unlike modern times.
• Students need to discern what has changed or
  stayed the same over periods of time, and to
  realize the subtleties of change and continuity
  are difficult to discern.

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The Historical Thinking Competencies

• 4. Cause and Consequences
• These dimensions focus on the contributing
  influences in history.
• Understanding these influences makes it possible
  for students to see the factors that shape their
  world.

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The Historical Thinking Competencies

• 5. Historical Perspective
• Historical perspective requires understanding the
  social, cultural, intellectual, and emotional
  contexts that shaped peoples lives and actions.
• Without this perspective, students will remain
  trapped in a simplistic view of the past, seeing
  events through present experiences and values.

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The Historical Thinking Competencies

• 6. Moral Judgment
• Students must learn to consider the complexities
  and dangers associated with passing judgment on
  historical events and people.

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Can we use the HTCs to change the way we teach
history?

• Yes, we think we can.

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• Use the HTCs to Launch your course
•  
• Why study history? 
• Our answer
• ? the past is crucial to understanding the
  present
• ? if we dont explore the past we are doomed to
  repeat our mistakes
• ? history is relevant to your lives -- you are
  living through history today

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• It might be interesting to ask the question
• Why study history? at the end
• of our introductory lessons, at the
• end of the first unit, or at the end
• of the course, rather than the beginning.

http//lhs.loswego.k12.or.us/z-hoppesk/Top/Cartoon
20-20Why20Study20History.jpg
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• Historical Significance and Canadas Civil
  Marriage Act (2005)
•  
• Question for students To what degree was the
  passage of same-sex marriage legislation in
  Canada in 2005 historically significant?
•  
• Have to define, or unpack, the term
• significance
•  
• Teaching strategy ? Ask students how the could
  determine short- or long-term impact? How can
  they determine the scope? What information would
  they have to locate?  

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• Dimensions of Historical
• Significance
•  
• 1. Significance depends on perspective.
•  
•  
• ? Canadas same-sex marriage legislation will
  likely be seen as more significant to members of
  the gay and lesbian community, and people with
  conservative social values, than to others.

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• Different Perspectives on Same-Sex Marriage
•  
• Marriage is not just any relationship between
  human beings. It was established by the Creator
  with its own nature, essential properties and
  purpose. No ideology can erase from the human
  spirit the certainty that marriage exists solely
  between a man and a woman, who by mutual personal
  gift, proper and exclusive to themselves, tend
  toward the communion of their persons. In this
  way, they mutually perfect each other, in order
  to cooperate with God in the procreation and
  upbringing of new human lives.
•  
• Cardinal Joseph Ratzinger and Angelo Amato,
• Considerations Regarding Proposals to Give
• Legal Recognition to Unions Between
• Homosexual Persons, June 3, 2003
•  

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•  
• "The public recognition and acceptance of
  homosexuals as a couple may be of tremendous
  importance to them and to the society in which
  they live. To deny homosexual couples the right
  to make that choice deprives them of the equal
  benefit of the law."
•  
• Supreme Court of Canada, Egan v. Canada, 1995

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• Certainly, many of us in this House, myself
  included, have a strong faith, and we value that
  faith and its influence on the decisions we make.
  But all of us have been elected to serve here as
  Parliamentarians. And as public legislators, we
  are responsible for serving all Canadians and
  protecting the rights of all Canadians.
• We will be influenced by our faith but we also
  have an obligation to take the widest perspective
  -- to recognize that one of the great strengths
  of Canada is its respect for the rights of each
  and every individual, to understand that we must
  not shrink from the need to reaffirm the rights
  and responsibilities of Canadians in an evolving
  society.
•  
• Address by Prime Minister Paul Martin on Bill
  C-38
• (The Civil Marriage Act), February 16, 2005,
• House of Commons, Canada

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• Teaching strategy ? Ask students to locate quotes
  that reflect three different perspectives on
  Canadas same-sex marriage legislation.
•  

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•  
• 2. Significance is not simply a matter of
  personal reaction.
•  
• When determining significance it is not
  sufficient to rely on an individuals or groups
  felt reactions to an event.
•  
• ? Although significance is influenced by ones
  perspective, events that have the greatest felt
  effects are not necessarily the most significant.
  For example, a student may look upon a recent
  breakup as his most personally significant event.
  But, other events, like moving to a new
  neighbourhood when he was younger, may have had
  more life-altering implications.

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•  
• 3. Significance depends on purpose.
•  
• The significance of an event depends upon its
  role in the larger narrative or story the
  historian is attempting to tell.
•  

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•  
• 4. Significance varies with time.
•  
• The significance of an historical event may not
  be fixed in time but may moderate depending on
  subsequent events and current priorities.

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•  
• 5. Significance depends on context.
•  
• An event that is significant in one context may
  not be as significant in another context. For
  example, the 2005 Civil Marriage Act may not be
  seen as radical when put in context of other
  changes to Canadas marriage laws over the years.

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• Recap
• Instead of beginning our history courses with
  the question Why study history? choose a
  contemporary event in history, that is
  problematic, to explore through the lens of the
  HTCs.
•  
• Have students prepare a response to the question
  To what degree was the passage of same-sex
  marriage legislation in Canada in 2005
  historically significant?

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• Using the HTCs to Develop Entire Units
•  
• The HTCs can be used to provide a framework for
  an entire unit of study, rather than just as a
  way to explore particular issues or events
• The HTC continuity and change, for example, can
  be used to explore a unit on Contemporary
  Canadian History
•  
• Possible unit question To what degree has the
  period 1989 to the present been one of profound
  change?
•  

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• Continuity and Change
•  
• The concepts of continuity and change are the
  basis for exploring how lives and conditions are
  alike over periods of time and how they changed
  from the people and societies that came before or
  after.
•  
• These concepts ask us to consider that
•  
• ? Change and continuity are ongoing and ever
  present
• ? Change can occur at different rates
• ? Change and continuity can be both positive and
  negative
• ? Comparisons can be made between points in
  history and between the past and the present

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• Change and continuity are ongoing and ever
  present
•  
• 2005 - Canada becomes the fourth country in the
  world to give same-sex couples the right to
  legally marry
• 2003 - British Columbia rules in favour of equal
  marriage
• 2002 - court cases in Ontario, Quebec, and
  Manitoba rule that the ban on same-sex marriage
  is unconstitutional
• 1995 - Supreme Court of Canada rules in Egan v.
  Canada that sexual orientation should be
  protected under section 15 of the Charter
• 1989 - Canadian Human Rights Commission defines a
  homosexual couple as a family
•  
• Teaching strategy ? Students can be asked to
  consider whether or not the same-sex marriage
  provision was rapid or not and whether the change
  was ongoing or not.

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• Shifting the Historical Lens
•  
• By placing the event in a larger historical time
  frame, students gain a new perspective on the
  event.
•  
• 2005 - Canada becomes the fourth country in the
  world to give same-sex couples the right to
  legally marry
• 1985 - The Divorce Act was substantially revised
  with the introduction of no fault divorce,
  permitting couples to obtain a divorce simply by
  living separately for one year
• 1983 - Rape within marriage becomes a criminal
  act
• 1978 - Introduction of the Family Law Reform Act,
  extending statutory recognition for the first
  time to heterosexual couples who had been "living
  in sin" or "without benefit of clergy"
• 1968 - The Divorce Act simplified divorce, and
  marital breakdown was included as a ground for
  divorce

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• 1925 - Removal of double standard whereby a
  husband could sue his wife for divorce on the
  grounds of adultery alone, but a wife was
  required to prove that her husband had committed
  adultery coupled with another marital offence in
  order to obtain a divorce
• 1911 - The Saskatchewan Deserted Wives'
  Maintenance Act requires husbands to pay support
  if they deserted their wives or forced them to
  leave
• 1884 - Ontario grants married women the right to
  own property and deal with it or sell it without
  consulting her husband
•  
• Teaching strategies
• ? Students could be asked to consider whether or
  not the same-sex marriage provision was rapid or
  not and whether the change was ongoing or not.
• ? Students could be asked to consider whether or
  not their opinion about the historical
  significance of the legislation has changed
  because of this additional information.
• ? Students could be asked to consider how this
  timeline could affect their response to the unit
  question To what degree has the period 1989 to
  the present been one of profound change?

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• Continuity and change can be both positive and
  negative 
• Change does not necessarily imply progress nor
  does continuity necessarily imply stagnation.
• The assumption underlying many textbooks is one
  of progress. And many students seem to believe if
  something is new it must be better. 
• Teaching strategy ? Have students consider
  whether the same-sex marriage change is positive,
  negative, or both. Point out that change can
  occur in both legislation and attitudes.

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A Psychiatric Problem
http//archives.cbc.ca/politics/rights_freedoms/to
pics/599/
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The More Things Change .

• "It's impossible for prices to go down this
  year.
• Gary Watts Orange County Association of Realtors
  Feb. 13, 2006
• "I think investors will have a good reason to
  come out here and buy again.
• Jeromith Sutton NAR Investment Advisor 2006
• "I have no fear of another comparable decline."
• Arther W. Loasby President Equitable Trust
  Company October 25, 1929
• .despite its severity, we believe that the lump
  in stock prices will prove an intermediate
  movement.." ".and not the precursor of a business
  depression."
• Harvard Economic Society November 2, 1929

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Historical Competencies-Continuity and Change,
and Cause and Consequence

• Cause and consequence, and Change and continuity
  are related
• Are causes and consequences similar between the
  two time periods?
• Are there similarities in the role of individual
  agents as causes that promote change or
  continuity?

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Cause and Consequence

• Key elements
• Key role of individuals as
• causal agents
• Causes are related but are
• distinguishable from motivations
• Causes are layered
• Identification of causes by historians can be
  susceptible to historians frame of reference
• Human cause change but are restricted by the
  natural environment, geography, historical
  legacies
• Actions often have unintended consequences
• Peter Seixas-http//www.edu.gov.mb.ca/k12/cur/socs
  tud/foundation_gr8/tns/tn1.pdf

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Evidence

• Read a source for evidence vs for knowledge
• Identify type of source
• Identify author and possible frame of reference
• Reveals information about purposes of the author
  as well as authors values
• Needs to be read in historical
• context
• Peter Seixas-http//www.edu.gov.mb.ca/k12/cur/socs
  tud/foundation_gr8/tns/tn1.pdf

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http//www.cbc.ca/national/blog/special_feature/ar
chive/canada_votes/stephen_harper_live.html
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History

• Can be helpful it can also be dangerous. It is
  wiser to think of history, not as a pile of dead
  leaves or a collection of dusty artifacts, but as
  a pool, sometimes benign, often sulphurous, which
  lies under the present, silently shaping our
  institutions, our ways of thought, our likes and
  dislikes.
• (Margaret MacMillan. The Uses and Abuses of
  History, 2008, p. x)