Brunner & Tally: NMLH - Chapter 3

From Eduwiki

Summary of PART 1 by Debbie Jenkins

From Neat History to Messy History "Neat" history is history as we have always been taught it - the same old stories from the textbook in a very linear fashion. This type of history only requires that the student PASSIVEly absorb what they are told. It is also a closed subject - the topics are set.

"Messy" history is based on student inquiries and student research focused on primary sources. This requires ACTIVE participation from the students and is clearly much more open in terms of the topics that will be covered.

Why the Shift to Messy History

  1 - We realized the students don't know history
      When we teach "neat" history, students don't retain it. We want them to not only retain
      it, but gain thinking skills from it that they can apply for the rest of their lives.
  2 - Our view of history is changing
      We now recognize the importance of looking at history from multiple perspectives  
  3 - Our media is changing
      The internet, CD-roms, and flash drives allow for pictures, documents, and videos 
      to be shown in the classroom in ways and numbers that were never before possible.

Media Genres in the History Classroom

Online Historical Archives

- Students can search government and university libraries and museums. These can be difficult 
  for students to navigate, but promote "information literacy."
- Using primary sources makes learning more exciting for students, requires them to put the 
  pieces together, and encourages further research.

  Selecting a Primary Document
  1. Must be something that will be of interest to the students
  2. Must be accessible for the grade level
  3. Must reflect the historical context
  4. Should invite a discussion of the perspective of the creator of the document

  Structuring Students' Encounter with the Visual Document
  A worksheet can help guide students through the experience: 
  1. Observation - what do you see in the picture?
  2. Knowledge - what do you already know about the picture?
  3. Conclusion - what do you think the meaning of the picture is?
  4. Research - what else do you need to know to understand the meaning?

Online Communication

- The internet is an illustration of how broad and varied historical documents and perspectives 
  are.
- The author suggests that teachers NOT pre-select websites for students.
- Students should search for documents that have different perspectives on one topic and 
  present them to the class.
- Lastly, the author suggests that students use the internet to communicate with others, via e-
  mail or online forums.

Summary of PART 2 by Mehmet:

MESSY HISTORY

The goals of the “messy history” include: the ability to link the local and personal with the historical and the national; the ability to interact with community members both as data and audiences; and the ability to integrate narrative understanding with a critical stance toward sources.

There are many different composition tools students can use to visualize historical change, personalize history or document and share local culture.

Visualizing History: Timeline Makers.

Teachers can print custom timelines to fir the period they want at the scale they want using the internet or other available software. /study shows that using a timeline helps students “get the big picture”. Also students can be encourage to make their own timelines. Study shows that students who make their own timelines can go even further steps with their learning. They can see how historical events overlap or recur.

Personalizing History: Genealogy Makers.

Knowing our own family history helps students build a larger and more coherent story of the society and culture of which we are a part of. Genealogy makers are useful tools to help them gather information, plan and present family information. A good program is Family Tree Maker by Broderbund Software. Students can add visuals, text and even video to their information on their family tree. Family trees are not only links of family members but they also tell stories of that family as to what they did for a living and what had happened to different members of the family. Students can even create fictional family trees and create imaginary family at a certain era and age and come up with stories about what might have had experienced at that time by that family.

Documenting and Sharing Local Culture

Students can use video recordings to represent the culture of their community or current events taking place around them. They can use photography and use pictures to represent stores from their neighborhoods or families. Using these technologies students bring authentic pieces of history to the classroom. Today’s students feel much more comfortable with video cameras and use them to express themselves freely.

Video Production as Inquiry: Writing Process Approach

Teachers who are not familiar with video production can use the same analogy from the writing process. At a general level video production corresponds to the broad stages of writing process, including planning (preproduction), writing (production), and revising and editing (postproduction).

Historical Simulations

Simulations put students in the role of real people doing real activities. With this method students can invest only their minds but also their imaginations into the learning activity. Rules are a necessary part of simulations to determine what happens when a particular group or person makes a decision. Dues to these rules of the simulations it is important for students to revisit the simulation and try to understand the assumptions and logic behind these rules that affect the way of life in the simulations. Also some parts of the reality are left out in a simulation and by revisiting and evaluating the simulations students should try to determine what parts of reality were left out r weren’t considered as parts of the simulation.