Making Sense of Maps offers a place for students and teachers to begin working with maps as historical evidence. Written by David Stephens, this guide offers an overview of the history of maps and how historians use them, a breakdown of the elements of a map, tips on what questions to ask when analyzing maps, an annotated bibliography, and a guide to finding and using maps online.
Making Sense of Oral History offers a place for students and teachers to begin working with oral history interviews as historical evidence. Written by Linda Shopes, this guide presents an overview of oral history and ways historians use it; tips on what questions to ask when reading or listening to oral-history interviews; a sample interpretation of an interview; an annotated bibliography; and a guide to finding and using oral history online. Linda Shopes is a historian at the Pennsylvania Historical and Museum Commission.
End-of-year standardized tests play a significant role in shaping what gets taught in the classroom. Supporters of such tests in history make the case that the best exams support not only the acquisition of content knowledge, but also the development of historical habits of mind. This study by Gabriel Reich of Virginia Commonwealth University, however, reveals that the reality of the situation may be more complicated.
Looking at the New York Regents exam in Global History and Geography, Reich sought to understand the kinds of skills necessary for answering multiple choice items correctly. He worked with 13 urban 10th graders at a racially mixed high school, and engaged them in “think alouds” in which students talked through the process of answering 15 questions.
What he found was that these multiple-choice questions did not call for knowledge or skill in the historical thinking that was prescribed by the standards. They did, on the other hand, elicit knowledge in three domains:
- history content
- literacy
- test-wiseness
Knowledge of the content material was, obviously, quite important in determining a student’s ability to answer multiple-choice questions correctly. Less obvious was the importance of literacy, which Reich defined as “command of relevant vocabulary and the ability to read, and manipulate the ideas presented in printed text.” If students were hazy on content—and in some cases, if they did not remember the content at all—they often fell back on their literacy skills for help in deciphering answers. Similarly, test-wiseness also factored into student success. Defined by Reich as “sensitivity to the explanatory, or narrative frameworks underlying each question,” test-wiseness allowed students to make good guesses when faced with several answer choices.
Working with—and in some cases, around—standardized tests, teachers can help students improve their scores without sacrificing key knowledge and skills.
Question: The purpose of the Marshall Plan was to—
a. restore Japanese economic development
b. provide military aid to Middle Eastem allies
c. assure nationalist success in the Chinese civil war
d. provide for economic recovery in Western Europe
Student think-aloud:
"I have no clue. I should go to the next one."
Student returns to item after completing the test:
"Number five, ‘the purpose of the Marshall Plan was to…’ the Marshall Plan, oh yeah ‘restore Japan,’ so ‘Japanese economic development.’ Or…‘Provide for economic recovery in Western Europe.’
"It’s between those two, because the Marshall Plan was something related to like what Stalin I think did, the Five Year Plan? So ‘restore Japanese economic development,’ ‘provide for economic recovery in Western Europe.’ I would say one of those is what the Marshall Plan was for."
The Roundtable on "The Role of Multiple Choice Assessments in History Courses" offers multiple perspectives on this issue.
For another research brief regarding testing, see "The History Classroom: Connections Between Instruction and Assessment".
Reich, Gabriel. “Testing Historical Knowledge: Standards, Multiple-choice Questions and Student Reasoning.” Theory and Research in Social Education 37(3) (2009): 325360.
As part of The National Research Council's How People Learn series, Bob Bain (now a professor of History Education at the University of Michigan's School of Education) described a classroom in which legitimate historical questions were at the center. Through this particular investigation, Bain's students learned about 15th-century Europe, Columbus's voyage, and the nature of history and historical accounts.
Rather than presenting a story of Columbus's journey to his students, Bain first elicited student ideas about the voyage and its context. "What do you know about Columbus sailing the ocean blue in 1492? What do you know about the people of Europe on the eve of Columbus's voyages?" After hearing students recall the standard flat-earth story about Columbus, Bain asked them how they knew what they supposedly knew. What evidence did they have for their Columbus stories?
How do you know what you know was the unifying problem across Bain's entire curriculum and this question forced students to confront the uncertain status of historical accounts. Students initially saw no difference between "history"and "the past" and believed there was a one-to-one correspondence between what happened in the past and the history book sitting on their desks.
Bain explained to his students that the past is never fully retrievable and our histories are accounts of that past rather than its mirrors. To make this distinction concrete for students, Bain used an organizer from the outset of his course, "history-as-event" and "history-as-account," (H(ev) and H(ac)). Columbus's voyage is history-as-event; the story we tell about it is history-as-account. This distinction, which students learned and used as touchstone, introduced the necessity of questioning and comparing different accounts of the past.
At the unit level, examining historical accounts meant posing questions about historical stories. Students believed they knew Columbus's story, but could not summon evidence to support it. Successive sets of documents helped them create a more accurate and complete story about Columbus and his time.
First Bain gave students a set of short accounts consistent with their ideas—in other words he set them up. Then he challenged those ideas with a picture of a classical statue of Atlas holding a round globe and an explanation written by Carl Sagan about how Eratosthenes determined the world's circumference in the 3rd century BCE. Given these sources, students wondered why Columbus got credit for the round earth idea.
The next round of accounts, selections from Daniel Boorstin and Stephen Jay Gould, helped students sharpen the historical problem that subsequently guided their study of 15th-century European exploration. Was there a great interruption in European geographic knowledge? Did people in 1492 generally believe in the flat earth? What historical accounts explain European exploration of the Americas? How have those accounts changed over time?
Bain used history-specific instructional strategies to support and assist students in analyzing and synthesizing historical accounts. Students confronted questions like, When was this written? What other sources support or contest this source? See this example of small, carefully structured, reading and discussion groups.
Through Bain's instruction, students learned that the "flat-earth" story was disseminated by 19th-century writers. Students learned that historical accounts change over time, and that it is the historian's task to sift through evidence and construct a legitimate story warranted by that evidence. At the same time, they learned important content about Columbus's voyage and the context of 15th-century Europe.
Seek out significant historical problems and questions to frame curricular units. Historians and other content experts can be helpful in identifying these.
Make historical reading and thinking strategies explicit. Use frameworks and organizers that allow students repeated practice with these strategies.
Surface student beliefs about what they think they know and challenge these beliefs when incorrect with concrete documentary evidence.
Plan instruction so students can distinguish between history and various accounts of it.
The original article includes several sources that Bain used in this unit.
The first source below represents the popularity of the "flat earth"story in the 19th century. The second shows that knowledge of the round earth preceded Columbus and his voyage. And the third addresses one question generated by these two: Was there a great interruption in European geographic knowledge?
1. Columbus was one of the comparatively few people who at that time believed the earth to be round. The general belief was that it was flat, and that if one should sail too far west on the ocean, he would come to the edge of the world, and fall off. (Eggleston, 1904, p.12)
2. Scholars believe the sculpture, Atlas Farnese (above, left), was made sometime after 150 A.D. Named for the collection of which it is now a part, it was found in Rome in 1575. The globe's representation of the vernal equinox helped scholars date the sculpture.
3. Dramatic to be sure, but entirely fictitious. There never was a period of "flat earth darkness" among scholars (regardless of how many uneducated people may have conceptualized our planet both then and now). Greek knowledge of sphericity never faded, and all major medieval scholars accepted the earth's roundness as an established fact of cosmology . . . Virtually all major medieval scholars affirmed the earth's roundness . . . (Gould, 1995, p. 42)
M. Suzanne Donovan and John D. Bransford, eds., How Students Learn: History in the Classroom, (Washington, D.C.: The National Academies Press, 2005).
Allan Collins, John Seely Brown, and Ann Holum, "Cognitive Apprenticeship: Making Thinking Visible," American Educator. (Winter 1991).
Robert B. Bain, "'They Thought the World Was Flat?' Applying the Principles of How People Learn in Teaching High School History," In How Students Learn: History, in the Classroom, eds. M.S. Donovan and J.D. Bransford (Washington, D.C.: The National Academies Press, 2005).
To what extent do history/social studies teachers use primary sources in their classrooms? What impact has the availability of Web-based primary sources had on their practice?
To find out, David Hicks and Peter Doolittle of Virginia Tech University and John K. Lee of Georgia State University surveyed 158 high school history teachers. Their study revealed that even though most teachers used primary sources, there was no consensus about how to use such documents. Is the purpose of using primary sources to reinforce what is taught in the textbook, or is it to teach historical thinking? Are Web-based primary sources the same as text-based ones? And finally, how can teachers be well prepared to use primary sources?
It is well known that primary sources are important for teaching historical thinking skills. Many teachers find them useful for engaging students in such tasks as historical interpretation. More frequently, however, documents are used to enrich a textbook account or to help students focus on essential facts and concepts. This study sought ways that teachers could work together to devise new approaches to using primary sources, including teaching historical thinking.
Many of the teachers surveyed were unfamiliar with several well-developed and notable digital resource centers. Most teachers, for instance, were unaware of sites like the Library of Congress’s American Memory site, the digital National Security Archive, History Net, and the Census Bureau’s American FactFinder. In addition, most had never used videos or photographs available from internet resources, primarily because they were unsure how to find them. This highlights the need for better dissemination of information to help teachers locate useful (and usable) primary sources.
Most teachers said they needed no additional training on how to use or locate primary sources, or in understanding the unique aspects of Web-based sources. Still, many indicated a desire for assistance in helping students develop historical thinking skills, and some teachers didn't consider the Web to be an organized repository of primary sources. Based on these responses, the study authors wanted to know how administrators could support history/social studies teachers in terms of ongoing training and professional development. When it comes to using primary sources to teach historical thinking and locating primary sources on the web, what specific things might help teachers enhance their skills?
In responding to a question on why teachers didn't use Web-based historical primary sources, the three most frequent answers were:
- "No time to search the web for primary sources."
- "Too many web sites to locate suitable primary sources."
- "Inappropriate preparation to use primary sources."
While the first two call for more resources that can help teachers navigate web-based primary sources, the third answer indicates a need for more professional development using primary sources. Consequently, school leaders and administrators should seek professional growth activities which not only help history/social studies teachers use primary sources effectively, but focus particularly on using Web-based resources.
David Hicks, Peter Doolittle, and John K. Lee, "Social Studies Teachers' Use of Classroom-Based and Web-Based Historical Primary Sources," Theory and Research in Social Education 32, no. 2 (2004), 213-247.
Google Docs is a free, web-based word processing, spreadsheet, and presentation program that allows users to create, share, and collaborate to develop materials. Users can create documents, tables, and other presentations within Google Docs or upload existing files or create materials within the Google Docs program.
The real-time, collaborative feature lends itself to student group projects as well as to faculty and administrative use. Users determine who has access and editing privileges through invitational emails, and files are stored online, safeguarding against hard drive or power outage loss. Usage requires a Google account.
One Teacher's Experience: Megan Fix, Middle School Teacher
As a professional educator Google Docs has enabled me to create a "school to home classroom" that provides students with the opportunity for continued education outside of the typical school day. Google Docs allow students and teachers to be in consistent contact and can even be used for communication over the summer. Students appreciate this tool because it keeps them from having to worry about where they saved an item or if they misplaced a zip drive, as it permits them to store and access documents on a web based server so that they can be reached from any location all over the world.
My students have found Google Docs to be especially helpful for group projects. The application allows students to share file access and therefore, supporting their busy schedules, creates an open forum online for them to contribute to an assignment at a time that is most convenient for them—making group projects much more efficient and considerate of a students' time.
Google Docs supports the fast growing inclusion of technology and web based programs in the classroom for our innovative generation of students. Google Docs is every teachers dream—there is no longer a need for discs or drives! A student is never able to say "I left it at home!"
One Teacher's Experience: Julie Nelson, High School Teacher
Three weeks ago, I discovered Google does a lot more than conduct a search. It affords educators with the necessary tools to both plan and incorporate not only technology, but a social media component into their curriculum. Fortunately, my district provides the necessary technological tools; and the implementation has been easier and more rewarding than any other method that I have in my repertoire of teaching tools.
To implement, I researched my state‘s educational standards relating to information and media. After researching, I built a blog, and typed handouts using Google Docs that accompanied links to assignments. In addition, I added bonus opportunities related to video links to contemporary issues.
The weekend prior to launching, I shared with my principal my plan. Fortunately he was a supporter and that day I sent home a letter to parents explaining the curriculum’s purpose and benefits, as well as my expectations of responsible online behaviors. All of the handouts I created using Google Docs. Each document I linked off of Blogger, also a free teaching tool on Google, which afforded my students access to all resources, handouts, and deadlines in one location.
My students are actively collaborating with their peers on assignments. The students are learning about the rise of industry and are completing a collaborative research project using Google Docs‘ presentation creator. In addition, they are completing the section assessment questions with a partner using Google Docs’ document creator.
Due to the fact that Google Docs, Blogger, and Google Calendar are web-based, students are afforded the opportunity to access their assignments anywhere, anytime. They are meeting online to work on material outside of class, which is tracked by time stamping on all contributions. It is an extension of the classroom and every level of learner is benefiting. My students are actually reporting it is “fun.” The digital divide is being bridged between the content and their culture. Students are meeting deadlines, corresponding via Gmail, and demonstrating more interest in learning.
Google offers a tour and how-to of its own program. High school teacher and blogger Richard Byrne put together a 40-page guide on using Google Docs in education, and 4th-grade teacher Meg Griffin describes how she uses Google Docs in our blog. You can also view a 10-minute video of how Google Apps work for the K-12 classroom.
Wikipedia is the best known wiki, but do you have to create an encyclopedia to use this tool? Can you adapt the format to your class and specific lesson modules or use it for professional development and communication? Absolutely!
Wikis are websites that allow you to create and edit any number of interlinked web pages. They're used for collaborative work that can be created and changed online.
Unlike blogs where content comes from a single author supplemented with the comments of others, wikis are open to multiple authors working in tandem. They are recommended for creating, managing, and tracking group projects and activities and building idea and resource exchanges. Wikis—and Wikipedia certainly is the most prominent and largest example—can be limited to only a few contributors or open to unlimited participants. They are an effective platform for team work for students and educators and can be ongoing or project-specific.
As Wikis in Plain English from Common Craft on YouTube explains, the edit-save-link basic features of wikis enable you to plan the simplest project, or "the world's greatest encyclopedia."
You need a computer, an internet connection, and a provider to host your wiki. Wikispaces, one of the most popular in the K-12 world, offers free wikis for educators as well as fee-based services for entire school systems. A screencast demo tour sends you on your way from introductory steps to create your wiki to how to upload files to establishing RSS feeds.
In practice, wikis let you select an edit tab, and add material, topics, and pages, or edit both your material or that of other members of the wiki group—and you can incorporate audiovisual and image files as well. In the classroom, students can collaboratively author texts, keep class notes, and develop projects. For teachers, they can become, among other uses, communication tools for professional development and resource sharing within a department, a school, a region, or nationwide.
The California-based Computer-Using Educators, Inc. (CUE) answers the question, Why wiki? pointing out When students are using wikis they are "learning how to develop and use all sorts of collaborative skills, negotiating with others to agree on correctness, meaning, relevance, and more." (from Will Richardson Blogs, wikis, podcasts, and other powerful web tools for classrooms, 2006)
Deerfield, Illinois, uses a wiki for professional development, supporting technology integration & 21st Century Skills literacy throughout the school district.
Educational Wikis links to examples of a variety of projects, from classroom wikis to curricular subject-oriented wikis.
In this video (20 min. 49 sec.), educator Silvia Tolisano narrates a comprehensive overview of Skype and its use and potential in the classroom.
