INTRODUCTION

The material devoted to history has been divided into several parts.
The first one deals with a general outline of various approaches to teaching history.
I believe that such an outlook will give you a deeper insight into the study matter
and may inspire you while brainstorming your own tasks and project ideas.
The second part deals with historical thinking. I do encourage you to visit
www.teachinghistory.org and see the video entitled "What is Historical
Thinking?". This site is an invaluable source of materials and ideas.

VARIOUS APPROACHES TO TEACHING HISTORY
One of the first theories was the Great Man Theory. It probably originated in the
ancient times. It was very popular in the 19
th
and 20
th
c. Its advocates say that
history can be explained by the impact of great men: highly influential
individuals, who, due to their personal wisdom utilized their power in a way that
had a decisive historical impact. Some historians claim that such great men are the
products of their societies, and their actions would be impossible without the
conditions built before their lifetimes.
There are many interesting educational sites devoted to famous people and their
biographies. One of them is http://www.biography.com/tv/classroom . BIO
Classroom provides free educational materials designed to encourage the use of
biography in the classroom and to help students explore the lives of those who have
made an impact on the world. The site features a Bio of the Month lesson plan
and special teacher's guides.
In the 1960s, 70s and 80s more attention moved towards teaching the world history,
social history and preparing students for life in a globalized economy. The teaching
of history was influenced by the Neuvelle histoire. The main assumptions of this
movement were:
1. Teachers should provide historic documents and promote active
methods which would give students the immense happiness of discovery.
2. The rejection of memorization of names and dates that characterized
teaching and left students bored.
3. Students should learn about historians approaches as well as the history
itself (At Stanford University, for example, Sam Winburg and Abby
Reisman developed a high school history curriculum that is literacy-rich and
document based. It focuses on core content, critical thinking and improving
reading comprehension.
4. Pupils should learn about the history of ordinary people and their
strategies of coping with life. This field of history is called Social History.
Its French version, promulgated by the Annales School, influenced much of
Europe and both Americas.
There are several subfields of the Social History:
- demographic history (the study of population, demographic processes
analyzing local registers of births, marriages, deaths),
- African-American history (especially popular in the USA, please have a
look at that website),
- ethnic history (the history of ethnic groups),
- labour history (the social history of workers, labour unions etc.),
- womens history (the role of women played in the history, womens
rights, the history of feminism). If you are interested in this thematic field,
you can visit the site on the womens history.
- history of the family (with close ties to anthropology and sociology.
Some historians link it with Genealogy, others dont and even claim that
these two disciplines should be separated),
- history of childhood (it is a rapidly growing field at present),
- history of education (for example: educational institutions, major
reforms),
- urban history (it seeks to understand the city as a process and learn
more about the inarticulate masses in the cities, as opposed to mayors and
elites),
- rural history (similarly to the urban history).
After 1990 social history was increasingly challenged by cultural history (see the
film on Cultural History on the left), which emphasizes language and the
importance of beliefs and assumptions and their casual role in group behaviour.
Cultural history records and interprets past events involving human beings through
the social, cultural and political milieu of or relating to the arts and manners that a
group favours (once I encountered a truly intriguing topic: history of emotions J).
Most often the focus is on the phenomena shared by non-elite groups in a society,
such as:
- carnival, festival and public rituals,
- performance traditions of tales, epic and other verbal forms,
- cultural evolutions in human relations (ideas, sciences, arts, techniques),
- cultural expressions of social movements (for example nationalism),
- examining main historical concepts ( for example power, ideology,
culture, cultural identity, attitude, race, mass media).
In the 21
st
c. in Europe, the emphasis is put on human rights, understanding of
democracy, progress, peace, tolerance and Europeanness.
When you decide to include elements of history into your project, Digital History.
A Guide to Gathering, Preserving and Presenting the Past on the Web may be of
great help. This book provides an introduction to the web for teachers and students
who wish to produce online historical work. It begins with an overview of the
different genres of history websites, surveying a range of digital history work that
has been created since the beginning of the web. The book then takes the reader
step-by-step through planning a project, understanding the technologies involved
and how to choose the appropriate ones, designing a site that is both easy-to-use
and scholarly, digitizing materials in a way that makes them web-friendly while
preserving their historical integrity, and how to reach and respond to an intended
audience effectively. It also explores the repercussions of copyright law and fair
use for scholars in a digital age, and examines more cutting-edge web techniques
involving interactivity, such as sites that use the medium to solicit and collect
historical artifacts. Finally, the book provides basic guidance on insuring that the
digital history the reader creates will not disappear in a few years.
If you found Digital History an interesting phenomenon, you can also read a
thought-provoking article by Douglas Seefeldt and William Thomas on the site of
the American Historical Association.

While dealing with history, its essential to say a few words about historical
thinking. A lot of interesting material can be found on
http://historicalthinkingmatters.org/why.html (see the video on that site and another
one on the left). They address some big issuess and attempt to answer some
important questions:
Why does historical thinking matter?
Are there open questions in history?
What questions do historians ask about the past?
How do we determine what happened?
How do historians approach documents?
Having examined the document, what's the next step?
Are there any other questions that should be asked while analysing
documents?
What do the conclusions we draw mean for us today?

http://historicalthinkingmatters.org is designed to teach students how to critically
read primary sources and how to critique and construct historical narratives. It is
divided into three key sections:
- Why Historical Thinking Matters (a flash movie),
- Student Investigations,
- Teacher Materials and Strategies (lessons, worksheets etc.).
To get some new ideas concerning Historical Thinking, visit
http://www.teachinghistory.org/. This site was funded by the U.S. Department of
Education and it is designed to help K12 history teachers access resources and
materials to improve history education in the classroom.
Teachinghistory.org, funded through the Office of Innovation and Improvements
Teaching American History program, builds on and disseminates the valuable
lessons learned by more than 1,000 projects designed to raise student achievement
by improving teachers knowledge and understanding of traditional U.S. history.
The main goal of Teachinghistory.org is to place history content, teaching
strategies, current research and issues, community building, and easy access to
resources at center stage.
The creators of Teachinghistory.org aim to bring together the many communities
involved in improving history education and professional development for history
teachers, allowing practitioners, historians, administrators, and history educators to
present multiple perspectives, debate current issues, and work together to improve
history teaching in classrooms throughout the United States.
I browsed through the site and must say its incredible J

Here are two additional ideas concerning history projects ( I believe that connecting
a project with your family, local community or the region where you live is a great
idea. Such projects are truly motivating, especially for younger students):
- Oral History is the systematic collection of living peoples testimony
about their own experiences. Oral history is not folklore, gossip or rumour.
Oral historians attempt to verify their findings, analyze them, and place them
in an accurate historical context. Oral historians are also concerned with
storage of their findings for use by later scholars. (See A Guide to Oral
History and the videos on the left)
- Creative tasks: Build a Time Capsule, Hands on History: Dig and Turn
Back Time (have a look at the presentation on the left).

Some useful sites:
http://teachinghistory.org/digital-classroom/tech-for-teachers 65 web tools to be
used in history projects

www.besthistorysites.net Best of History Web Sites aims to provide quick,
convenient and reliable access to the best history-oriented resources online in a
wide range of categories and has been designed to benefit history teachers and their
students. With links to over 1200 history-related sites that have been reviewed for
quality, accuracy and usefulness, the site also includes links to K-12 history lesson
plans, teacher guides, activities, games and quizes.

www.thwt.org Teaching History with Technology aims to help K-12 history and
social studies teachers incorporate technology effectively into their courses. THWT
provides a multitude of free online resources as well as workshops and consultation
services.

www.britishpathe.com British Pathe, the world's leading multimedia resource with
a history stretching back over a century. The finest and most comprehensive
archive of fabulous (Categories: Entertainment & Humour, Fashion & Music,
Historical Figures & Celebrities, Lifestyle & Culture, Religion & Politics, Science
& Technology, Sport & Leisure, Trade & Industry, Travel & Exploration, War &
Revolution).

www.digitalhistory.uh.edu This site helps use new technologies to enhance
teaching and research. It is devoted to American history.


Tasks 2-4


Task 2
Which elements/ideas presented in the material devoted to history do you find
useful? How could you implement them in your project work and/or everyday
teaching? Are they appropriate for your students? Or, can they be somehow
modified to adapt them to your pupils? (To do this task, go to the Debate Zone).

Task 3
See the tutorial devoted to the work with the timeline tool http://www.dipity.com.
Think of an important event from your life, describe it and add to the timeline (You
can also add a photo or a video. To add your entry follow the link here.
At the very beginning you need to create your own account. Comment on the
entries presented by the other participants. To do this task, click on one's entry and
find the "Comment" button. You can also comment on the whole timeline by
finding the Comment section below the timeline.

Task 4
What topics could you discuss with your students using the timeline tool?
Comment on the ideas presented by the other participants. (To do this task, go to
the Debate Zone)