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| © Anderson Ross/Blend Images/Corbis |
As a student, history was always one of my favorite subjects, but I know that is not always the case for most students. Over the course of my education at UCF, I have learned that students learn much better when they believe the content to be meaningful and relevant to their lives. They learn better when teaching strategies and assessment tools are engaging and interesting. Unfortunately, most secondary classes, particularly history classes, are pretty much considered the opposite of engaging or interesting. My roommate is a 10th grade World History teacher, and she says that students have a difficult time relating to historical events and figures, especially given how these subjects are typically taught in our current school system. Students read the textbook and then are usually given a quiz or a test to gauge their retention of the information.
In this day and age, every teacher should be incorporating technology and digital media into the classroom, regardless of the subject. When utilized effectively and properly, these tools and resources can greatly change and positively impact how we teach history. We should be encouraging our students to take an active and participant role in the historical research process, building upon their inquiry and critical thinking skills, and engaging them in the process of DOING history. The use of and incorporation of technology and digital media within a historical context can be referred to as digital history.
History teachers have no greater tool at their disposal than primary sources, which serve as windows in to the past for students who often struggle with being able to relate to the content. A few decades ago, incorporating primary sources into the classroom would have proven to be extremely difficult, if not downright impossible. Teachers would either have to buy sources themselves, which could be very costly, or physically take their students on field trips to museums or archives that house historical primary source documents, which is once again, not very feasible, and very costly. Luckily, in this day and age, we have access to DIGITAL primary sources - electronically reproduced or scanned versions of primary source texts, images, and artifacts, as well as constructed historical narratives, accounts, and presentations. Teachers and students can explore primary sources from the comfort of their own classrooms - all they need is a computer and access to the Internet! A plethora of primary sources are available to educators through digital archives and digital museums that are developed by universities, libraries, and historical sites.
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| © Corbis |
UCF professor Dr. Waring states:
When learning with primary sources, students will hone their inquiry and analysis skills - instead of glancing at a document in a textbook, they can utilize analysis sheets to really explore the purpose and meaning behind a document or text, asking questions about the historical meaning and significance. The National Archives and Record Administration has an analysis sheet for pretty much any primary source that helps guide students through the analysis and inquiry process, asking students questions about the author's purpose and presence of potential bias, etc.
Digital primary sources mostly exist within digital archives, like the Library of Congress' American Memory, the Digital Vaults, and the "Valley of the Shadow" Civil War Digital Library. These web sites display collections of numerical data, texts, written documents, images, maps and even audio clips, usually about a specific subject or time period. What is great about digital archives and museums, is that students can actively participate in their own learning as they explore a particular topic. This kind of exploration and discovery is non-linear, unlike textbook/direct instruction, and students cultivate research and inquiry skills that are necessary for an in-depth understanding of history.
Digital primary sources can also include video clips from the time period as well, and thanks to websites like PBS, The History Channel, and even YouTube, we have a plethora of resources at our fingertips to utilize as supplemental add-ons during a lessons. For example, YouTube user NuclearVault has over 1500 videos on their channel, most of which are news reels and vintage films that were produced all throughout the 20th century. Because these videos were produced and made at the time of the event, they are considered primary sources. Check out this video about what to do during a gas attack - created during 1942, WWII era.
Digital primary sources can be used to incorporate authentic learning and and project-based assessments into the classroom as well. Document Based Questions (DBQs) are very popular in secondary classrooms and build upon a student's critical thinking and inquiry skills - thanks to digital archives, educators can create their own DBQ projects and cater them specifically to their class. Having students create their own digital or physical primary source museums is a good way to use digital primary sources, too, and helps students build connections and see relationships between historical events and figures within a certain time period.
Unfortunately, I think some teachers and administrators are quick to blame the students for their lack of interest and label them unfairly as lazy, impatient, slaves to the Internet. Too many teachers and schools are not properly adapting to the new generation of digital natives in their classroom and are instead viewing their behavior or disinterest as obstacles or deficiencies. Maybe we need to stop viewing them as deficient and accept them for what they are - different. Beautifully, creatively, and independently different. Maybe there is nothing wrong with the way our students think or learn these days, and maybe we are the ones who need to start adjusting our expectations and our teaching styles to better fit this new generation. Today's students do not learn best in the factory-model education system we have set up for them and they are so so different than their predecessors of even ten years ago. I believe in a student-centered education system, and as such, it is our responsibility to adapt to their learning styles, rather than insisting that they adapt to our teaching styles. Embracing technology, digital media, and other 21st century skills and weaving them throughout each and every subject area is the key to making sure our students leave our schools as active, critical-thinking, and successful participants of our society.
"The use of digital primary sources allowed historical events to seem more real to them as they learned about people, places, and events firsthand, even though they were removed from the content they were learning by years, decades, and even centuries." (Waring, 300)
When learning with primary sources, students will hone their inquiry and analysis skills - instead of glancing at a document in a textbook, they can utilize analysis sheets to really explore the purpose and meaning behind a document or text, asking questions about the historical meaning and significance. The National Archives and Record Administration has an analysis sheet for pretty much any primary source that helps guide students through the analysis and inquiry process, asking students questions about the author's purpose and presence of potential bias, etc.
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| Screen cap of DigitalVaults.org |
Digital primary sources mostly exist within digital archives, like the Library of Congress' American Memory, the Digital Vaults, and the "Valley of the Shadow" Civil War Digital Library. These web sites display collections of numerical data, texts, written documents, images, maps and even audio clips, usually about a specific subject or time period. What is great about digital archives and museums, is that students can actively participate in their own learning as they explore a particular topic. This kind of exploration and discovery is non-linear, unlike textbook/direct instruction, and students cultivate research and inquiry skills that are necessary for an in-depth understanding of history.
Digital primary sources can also include video clips from the time period as well, and thanks to websites like PBS, The History Channel, and even YouTube, we have a plethora of resources at our fingertips to utilize as supplemental add-ons during a lessons. For example, YouTube user NuclearVault has over 1500 videos on their channel, most of which are news reels and vintage films that were produced all throughout the 20th century. Because these videos were produced and made at the time of the event, they are considered primary sources. Check out this video about what to do during a gas attack - created during 1942, WWII era.
Unfortunately, I think some teachers and administrators are quick to blame the students for their lack of interest and label them unfairly as lazy, impatient, slaves to the Internet. Too many teachers and schools are not properly adapting to the new generation of digital natives in their classroom and are instead viewing their behavior or disinterest as obstacles or deficiencies. Maybe we need to stop viewing them as deficient and accept them for what they are - different. Beautifully, creatively, and independently different. Maybe there is nothing wrong with the way our students think or learn these days, and maybe we are the ones who need to start adjusting our expectations and our teaching styles to better fit this new generation. Today's students do not learn best in the factory-model education system we have set up for them and they are so so different than their predecessors of even ten years ago. I believe in a student-centered education system, and as such, it is our responsibility to adapt to their learning styles, rather than insisting that they adapt to our teaching styles. Embracing technology, digital media, and other 21st century skills and weaving them throughout each and every subject area is the key to making sure our students leave our schools as active, critical-thinking, and successful participants of our society.
Resources
Waring, Scott M. and Torrez, Cheryl A. Franklin. (2010) Using digital primary sources to teach historical perspective to pre-service teachers. Contemporary Issues in Technology and Teacher Education. 10 (3) 294-308.
Hello Kaitlyn,
ReplyDeleteI was very impressed with your informative blog. I agree that in this day and age every teacher should be incorporating technology into their classrooms. The more we learn how to use technology the better we can effectively utilized these resources. Whether I become a librarian or a biology teacher I know learning how to use digital storytelling media such as PowerPoint and Microsoft Movie maker will help me motivate and engage students in their learning process.
Jodie G
Hi Kaitlyn
ReplyDeleteYou blog is right on target. History is one of those classes very few students like. I have one daughter who loves all history and can tell you facts right off the top of her head. My other daughter says, who cares!. From my own experience, history was something I learned for the test and then I forgot. One college professor took a new twist on history. He made it so that we wanted to learn more. He did not use technology because it was a long time ago and we did not have it. He made History a Mystery. He introduced all these conspiracy theories and possible curses. That made it fun and we wanted more. Today we have the technology to make history interesting to student. When I went to Massachusetts to visit, I was able to see the historical places and it made it real for me. With the technology, student do not have to actually visit these place, they can experience it through you tube or other media. Technology make it real and interesting to them. Great blog!
Thanks for the positive feedback, ladies!
ReplyDeleteAraceli -Speaking of visiting historical places. There's a whole educational movement regarding virtual/digital field trips! I went to a seminar at UCF about it and it was really interesting. It solves the whole funding/time issue that teachers have now when trying to plan real field trips.