DreamIT Project
The "big idea" that I hope to convey to my students through this project that history is always a construction.
Part 1: The Overview
As the world becomes more interconnected, and access to information is easier to obtain than ever before in our collective history, we can no longer compare educations and determine which is better by simply asking, “Who knows more?” Rather, we should be evaluating the answer to the question “Who knows how to better obtain information and process it?” Taking a critical perspective is highly important for social studies education. If the social studies are the examination of us, then we must be highly aware of what is being said about who, when, and why. If we fail to do this then we run the risk of the spread of prejudice, falsities, ignorance, and an unquestioning complacency with the way the world around us operates.
However, simply telling students to take a critical eye with history is not enough. Students must come to understand that ‘history’, whatever source they get it from, is a construction, and they should understand how that narrative is constructed, and why certain narratives may be told instead of others. In order to accomplish this I would like to have students create their own American History website.
However, simply telling students to take a critical eye with history is not enough. Students must come to understand that ‘history’, whatever source they get it from, is a construction, and they should understand how that narrative is constructed, and why certain narratives may be told instead of others. In order to accomplish this I would like to have students create their own American History website.
Part 2: The Transformation You Hope to See
The biggest transformation that I would like to see in my students is to see them view history as construction of other people’s actions both past and present. By first presenting them with an existing narrative, and then examining other source materials students can begin to acquire the necessary critical thinking skills that will lead them to the next step of constructing and publishing their own historical narrative online.
Of the six facets of understanding, explanation, perspective, and application are foremost in student learning. Students will learn to find, access, and evaluate many different sources, especially through the internet. Interacting with these sources will allow students to explore many different perspectives of events not only from the time period, but from current experts and scholars as well. Grasping that there are many sides to a story, students are then able to deepen their ability to explain not only why events have happened, but how relating these events in a particular manner may be beneficial to one group of people over another. Finally, students will build an ‘online textbook’. Having students work through this application will hopefully turn their knowledge into an understanding of history, while they confront the same problems that real authors of history face all the time such as motive, accuracy, and time constraints.
The beauty of having students construct this website is that it is not a one-time project that they can simply “do” and walk away from. First, this work is being published to the web which means the standards and expectations that students are being held to are not a set that I have arbitrarily constructed. Second, students will be returning to this site again and again-sometimes as authors, sometimes as readers. So the work they produce has them considering their work from many perspectives, many times. In the end, I would know that students had achieved the learning goals that I had set forth, by publishing a website that presents a well written and produced historical narrative that takes into account many different perspectives of historical events, as well as has students reflect upon their own motives for choosing to publish what they did.
Of the six facets of understanding, explanation, perspective, and application are foremost in student learning. Students will learn to find, access, and evaluate many different sources, especially through the internet. Interacting with these sources will allow students to explore many different perspectives of events not only from the time period, but from current experts and scholars as well. Grasping that there are many sides to a story, students are then able to deepen their ability to explain not only why events have happened, but how relating these events in a particular manner may be beneficial to one group of people over another. Finally, students will build an ‘online textbook’. Having students work through this application will hopefully turn their knowledge into an understanding of history, while they confront the same problems that real authors of history face all the time such as motive, accuracy, and time constraints.
The beauty of having students construct this website is that it is not a one-time project that they can simply “do” and walk away from. First, this work is being published to the web which means the standards and expectations that students are being held to are not a set that I have arbitrarily constructed. Second, students will be returning to this site again and again-sometimes as authors, sometimes as readers. So the work they produce has them considering their work from many perspectives, many times. In the end, I would know that students had achieved the learning goals that I had set forth, by publishing a website that presents a well written and produced historical narrative that takes into account many different perspectives of historical events, as well as has students reflect upon their own motives for choosing to publish what they did.
Next: The Total PaCKage
|
Return to Showcase
|