After having reviewed one of the modules in Historical Thinking Matters, respond to the Class Blog by answering how Historical Thinking Matters facilitates and inspires student learning and creativity (first NETS standard).
Historical Thinking Matters uses a variety of tools to engage the student in the critical analysis of historical events. The module for the Spanish-American War begins with a short video of the events leading up to the war that begs valuable and relevent questions. Further along in the lesson, images of the New York Journal are presented with a background of W.R. Hearst. This lesson plan revolves around looking at ways in which the influence of the media could sway public opinion and facilitate certain desires of a government. The plan is an inquiry-based discussion providing various examples of headlines stated in different styles and what each of them implies. Such a powerful discussion for students and something that they can apply to the media to this day! -Richard
'Historical Thinking Matters' is a great site that encourages students to learn in an engaging, current way. By using video clips, sound bites, old advertisements, photos, etc., this site allows students to be involved in a multi-sensory learning at one location. It virtually eliminates the need for an antiquated textbook and provides the learner with up-to-date material that is relevant with modern technology. Students can be creative with their lesson by choosing which materials to review first, but their imaginations are also probed by the delivery of authentic sound and video recordings – prompting them to imagine themselves as an active part of that history. Truly, 'Historical Thinking Matters' brings history to life. -Carrie.
Historical Thinking Matters is a fantastic education tool for both students and teachers. While exploring the Rosa Parks module, I felt as though I was on a field trip in Montgomery. The website offers people to listen to, letters to read, even a police report and court affidavit with photographs and diagrams. I was impressed as I thought about the multiple intelligences and how this educating tool was able to target different styles of learning.
I felt as though the website was a textbook brought to life. It gives students independence to roam the website freely in order to find which aspects of the module they are interested in, while asking questions to force the student to analyze the material they are exploring. I would definitely have enjoyed studying Rosa Parks through this interactive website more than through the typical classroom textbook.
“Historical Thinking Matters” facilitates student learning and creativity by empowering the student to navigate, explore and understand various components of historical events. The site allows students to progress at their own speed and access a variety of medians surrounding one event. For the Rosa Parks module, students have access to articles, an affidavit, letters, movies, sound clips and more to get a well-rounded foundation of what occurred in Montgomery. The lesson plan focuses on the students’ ability to use critical thinking skills to explore various accounts of the same event and practice their ability to agree or contest them. The page layout online makes the lesson more of an interactive piece and one that encourages exploration in contrast to a typical textbook which can often look dull, long and be one sided.
"Historical Thinking Matters" does an excellent job of facilitating student learning because students are able to investigate primary documents before being asked to answer questions or draw conclusions. This differs from my own experience with History classes in which the author of a textbook or a teacher simply told me why certain historical events were important or why they had significant consequences. By having to make connections between different historical events themselves, I think students gain a much better understanding and are more likely to remember facts about these events in the future. I also really liked the many different mediums used on the website, such as video and audio recordings as well as written documents. This site also addresses the issue of bias within historical accounts by asking students to pay attention to the authors of primary documents. Deeply analyzing sources and recognizing their possible agenda is an important life skill, espeically with the incredible amount of information available on the web, and I appreciate that students are able to practice this through this site.
I think this website is very creative and interesting and well put together. I like how all the information is included within the web page and you don't have to stray too far to find all the information needed to complete the assignment. I think that is really important for students because then they won't get as off topic or find themselves navigated to a whole different page entirely. I think this layout limits distractions while providing excellent resources to students. Being able to hear clips of historians or professors speak on these historical events legitimizes the information being taught because students are able to read about it as well as hear well educated individuals speak on the matter.
I like how you can read about the issue from multiple perspectives and that unfamiliar vocabulary is defined in a column on the page. The teacher resources seem really helpful in planning and organizing lessons because they provide you with a step by step lesson for multiple days. I think for a new teacher or someone who needs inspiration this could be a great site to get them started.
I really like Historical Thinking Matters for a couple of reasons. For one, I think critical thinking skills have not historically been taught in our public schools and I think history lends itself as an easy first attempt at thinking for yourself, at least it did for me. The module I looked at was Social Security and I think by presenting a variety of views, you (the student) would immediately start considering all the data together and coming up with your own conclusions.
The second reason I really liked this site is that I think most students consider clicking around on a computer as free time or messing around. I could see doing this assignment in the computer lab at school and having all the kids interested, reading, and clicking different links on subjects and not even realizing they were studying (gasp!).
"Historically Thinking Matters" was eye opening and displayed what technology has to offer in the realm of learning. While history was one of my favorite topics in school, many of my classmates struggled to find it interesting or to piece together why events were important. I think that a site such as "Historically Thinking Matters" would have been beneficial to these students in that it would have provided them with a interactive way of learning history.
I looked into the Spanish-American War Module and was amazed at all of the sources, videos, and opinions that can be crammed into one lesson. I think students often do not know how to properly look for sources or to get different points of view, so having a lesson like this is quite beneficial.
After looking through the teacher's section for the Spanish-American War, I don't think that a teacher could honestly say that they don't have any clue as to how to teach a lesson on a history subject. The internet has provided educators with a tool to expand their knowledge and to learn from their peers. It is a shame that teachers do not attempt to continue learning how to best reach their students!
I was inspired by "Historical Thinking Matters" in their variety of resources available to teach and learn pivotal events and topics in history. It is a well-organized site, easily accessible by both teacher and student. Standards-based and grounded in teaching critical thinking, the units were highly adaptable to both the needs of teacher and student. Multiple perspectives on issues are presented with primary source documents. The questions presented by the site serve as guideposts for the reader to slow down and ask questions of the text. Vocabulary resources can ease the student to not get stopped by difficult words when trying to comprehend a passage. Moving through the documents builds up a cache of questions and inquiry, culminating in an essay prompt with resources embedded on the page. Lesson plans are readily available with enough resources to last up to a week. As a student, I would enjoy a class with this model and would appreciate the historical event with more thought.
Historical Thinking Matters provides an impressive set of resources for teachers and students. I reviewed the Scopes Trial Investigation and found it enlightening, even though I had studied the court case in numerous history and government classes in high school and college. I think the difference between this curriculum and the curriculum used in my former classes is the rich diversity of resources that are scaffolded and contextualized with short audio clips from professors and historians. Having students review primary source documents allows them to form their own opinion based on the multiple perspectives that are presented by each document. As a student in high school, I was always looking for the “right” answer in order to get an A and impress my teacher with regurgitated facts and information. With all of the data that is presented in HTM investigations, students must think for themselves because there is no “right” answer hidden in the textbook.
I do have two complaints about the HTM website: One, it took me a little while to get used to the organization and figure out the flow of the investigation (where do I click next??). And two: I thought that the introduction video for both the Scopes Trial and Social Security investigations had distractingly loud background music and sounds. I had a hard time hearing the voiceover.
As for positives, I enjoyed looking at the “Why Historical Thinking Matters” section and particularly enjoyed the videos and audio files that tell you how historians review documents. I think this would definitely be a useful section to have students review before starting one of the investigations.
"History Thinking Matters" is valuable as almost 'tricking' students into reading a textbook. A traditional textbook utilizes some of the same content to inspire students, but while textbooks will try to catch a students interest by putting footnotes in the margins and labelled photographs, HIstory Thinking Matters uses video clips, voice recordings and picture media. Beyond learning from the content of the websites, us as teacher can recognize the importance of using today's kid's interest as outreach of our subject matter. In other words, what do kids like? TV, internet, and video games. So we should all reflect, how do we use forums that already have our student's attention as learning mechanisms?
I would however, love to see something that the students could actively do on this website like, drag and drop these events into chronological order. Having students practice their technological skills while thinking cognitively about the subject matter.
The Historical Thinking Matters site facilitates and inspires student learning and creativity by responding to their need for visual and technological stimulation. Because students of all ages are so used to being stimulated from a variety of sources, it is imperative that we as educators find ways to tap into this to engage our students. Historical Thinking Matters is a way to do just that. Students are surrounded by such a wide array of technology from television, to internet, to even the handheld 3D games they play, even the type of music they listen to such as dubstep, is so incredibly dense in terms of electronic and technological influences. If we do not find a way to make our lessons similar to these we will not be able to hook them. History can be pretty dry, and it is really refreshing to see a site that makes it interesting. I really appreciate the way that one can review their textbook and even have an option to begin with a warm-up activity or the inquiry itself. My only concern is that for some of the students that this type of learning would most benefit, internet and computers are unfortunately not available. So how do we allow for this type of technological stimulation in our lessons, if our students are unable to use computers and school and at home?
Historical Thinking Matters uses a variety of tools to engage the student in the critical analysis of historical events. The module for the Spanish-American War begins with a short video of the events leading up to the war that begs valuable and relevent questions. Further along in the lesson, images of the New York Journal are presented with a background of W.R. Hearst. This lesson plan revolves around looking at ways in which the influence of the media could sway public opinion and facilitate certain desires of a government. The plan is an inquiry-based discussion providing various examples of headlines stated in different styles and what each of them implies. Such a powerful discussion for students and something that they can apply to the media to this day! -Richard
ReplyDelete'Historical Thinking Matters' is a great site that encourages students to learn in an engaging, current way. By using video clips, sound bites, old advertisements, photos, etc., this site allows students to be involved in a multi-sensory learning at one location. It virtually eliminates the need for an antiquated textbook and provides the learner with up-to-date material that is relevant with modern technology. Students can be creative with their lesson by choosing which materials to review first, but their imaginations are also probed by the delivery of authentic sound and video recordings – prompting them to imagine themselves as an active part of that history. Truly, 'Historical Thinking Matters' brings history to life.
ReplyDelete-Carrie.
Historical Thinking Matters is a fantastic education tool for both students and teachers. While exploring the Rosa Parks module, I felt as though I was on a field trip in Montgomery. The website offers people to listen to, letters to read, even a police report and court affidavit with photographs and diagrams. I was impressed as I thought about the multiple intelligences and how this educating tool was able to target different styles of learning.
ReplyDeleteI felt as though the website was a textbook brought to life. It gives students independence to roam the website freely in order to find which aspects of the module they are interested in, while asking questions to force the student to analyze the material they are exploring. I would definitely have enjoyed studying Rosa Parks through this interactive website more than through the typical classroom textbook.
“Historical Thinking Matters” facilitates student learning and
ReplyDeletecreativity by empowering the student to navigate, explore and
understand various components of historical events. The site allows
students to progress at their own speed and access a variety of
medians surrounding one event. For the Rosa Parks module, students
have access to articles, an affidavit, letters, movies, sound clips
and more to get a well-rounded foundation of what occurred in
Montgomery. The lesson plan focuses on the students’ ability to use
critical thinking skills to explore various accounts of the same event
and practice their ability to agree or contest them. The page layout
online makes the lesson more of an interactive piece and one that
encourages exploration in contrast to a typical textbook which can
often look dull, long and be one sided.
"Historical Thinking Matters" does an excellent job of facilitating student learning because students are able to investigate primary documents before being asked to answer questions or draw conclusions. This differs from my own experience with History classes in which the author of a textbook or a teacher simply told me why certain historical events were important or why they had significant consequences. By having to make connections between different historical events themselves, I think students gain a much better understanding and are more likely to remember facts about these events in the future. I also really liked the many different mediums used on the website, such as video and audio recordings as well as written documents. This site also addresses the issue of bias within historical accounts by asking students to pay attention to the authors of primary documents. Deeply analyzing sources and recognizing their possible agenda is an important life skill, espeically with the incredible amount of information available on the web, and I appreciate that students are able to practice this through this site.
ReplyDeleteI think this website is very creative and interesting and well put together. I like how all the information is included within the web page and you don't have to stray too far to find all the information needed to complete the assignment. I think that is really important for students because then they won't get as off topic or find themselves navigated to a whole different page entirely. I think this layout limits distractions while providing excellent resources to students. Being able to hear clips of historians or professors speak on these historical events legitimizes the information being taught because students are able to read about it as well as hear well educated individuals speak on the matter.
ReplyDeleteI like how you can read about the issue from multiple perspectives and that unfamiliar vocabulary is defined in a column on the page. The teacher resources seem really helpful in planning and organizing lessons because they provide you with a step by step lesson for multiple days. I think for a new teacher or someone who needs inspiration this could be a great site to get them started.
I really like Historical Thinking Matters for a couple of reasons. For one, I think critical thinking skills have not historically been taught in our public schools and I think history lends itself as an easy first attempt at thinking for yourself, at least it did for me. The module I looked at was Social Security and I think by presenting a variety of views, you (the student) would immediately start considering all the data together and coming up with your own conclusions.
ReplyDeleteThe second reason I really liked this site is that I think most students consider clicking around on a computer as free time or messing around. I could see doing this assignment in the computer lab at school and having all the kids interested, reading, and clicking different links on subjects and not even realizing they were studying (gasp!).
"Historically Thinking Matters" was eye opening and displayed what technology has to offer in the realm of learning. While history was one of my favorite topics in school, many of my classmates struggled to find it interesting or to piece together why events were important. I think that a site such as "Historically Thinking Matters" would have been beneficial to these students in that it would have provided them with a interactive way of learning history.
ReplyDeleteI looked into the Spanish-American War Module and was amazed at all of the sources, videos, and opinions that can be crammed into one lesson. I think students often do not know how to properly look for sources or to get different points of view, so having a lesson like this is quite beneficial.
After looking through the teacher's section for the Spanish-American War, I don't think that a teacher could honestly say that they don't have any clue as to how to teach a lesson on a history subject. The internet has provided educators with a tool to expand their knowledge and to learn from their peers. It is a shame that teachers do not attempt to continue learning how to best reach their students!
I was inspired by "Historical Thinking Matters" in their variety of resources available to teach and learn pivotal events and topics in history. It is a well-organized site, easily accessible by both teacher and student. Standards-based and grounded in teaching critical thinking, the units were highly adaptable to both the needs of teacher and student. Multiple perspectives on issues are presented with primary source documents. The questions presented by the site serve as guideposts for the reader to slow down and ask questions of the text. Vocabulary resources can ease the student to not get stopped by difficult words when trying to comprehend a passage. Moving through the documents builds up a cache of questions and inquiry, culminating in an essay prompt with resources embedded on the page. Lesson plans are readily available with enough resources to last up to a week. As a student, I would enjoy a class with this model and would appreciate the historical event with more thought.
ReplyDeleteHistorical Thinking Matters provides an impressive set of resources for teachers and students. I reviewed the Scopes Trial Investigation and found it enlightening, even though I had studied the court case in numerous history and government classes in high school and college. I think the difference between this curriculum and the curriculum used in my former classes is the rich diversity of resources that are scaffolded and contextualized with short audio clips from professors and historians. Having students review primary source documents allows them to form their own opinion based on the multiple perspectives that are presented by each document. As a student in high school, I was always looking for the “right” answer in order to get an A and impress my teacher with regurgitated facts and information. With all of the data that is presented in HTM investigations, students must think for themselves because there is no “right” answer hidden in the textbook.
ReplyDeleteI do have two complaints about the HTM website: One, it took me a little while to get used to the organization and figure out the flow of the investigation (where do I click next??). And two: I thought that the introduction video for both the Scopes Trial and Social Security investigations had distractingly loud background music and sounds. I had a hard time hearing the voiceover.
As for positives, I enjoyed looking at the “Why Historical Thinking Matters” section and particularly enjoyed the videos and audio files that tell you how historians review documents. I think this would definitely be a useful section to have students review before starting one of the investigations.
"History Thinking Matters" is valuable as almost 'tricking' students into reading a textbook. A traditional textbook utilizes some of the same content to inspire students, but while textbooks will try to catch a students interest by putting footnotes in the margins and labelled photographs, HIstory Thinking Matters uses video clips, voice recordings and picture media. Beyond learning from the content of the websites, us as teacher can recognize the importance of using today's kid's interest as outreach of our subject matter. In other words, what do kids like? TV, internet, and video games. So we should all reflect, how do we use forums that already have our student's attention as learning mechanisms?
ReplyDeleteI would however, love to see something that the students could actively do on this website like, drag and drop these events into chronological order. Having students practice their technological skills while thinking cognitively about the subject matter.
The Historical Thinking Matters site facilitates and inspires student learning and creativity by responding to their need for visual and technological stimulation. Because students of all ages are so used to being stimulated from a variety of sources, it is imperative that we as educators find ways to tap into this to engage our students. Historical Thinking Matters is a way to do just that. Students are surrounded by such a wide array of technology from television, to internet, to even the handheld 3D games they play, even the type of music they listen to such as dubstep, is so incredibly dense in terms of electronic and technological influences. If we do not find a way to make our lessons similar to these we will not be able to hook them. History can be pretty dry, and it is really refreshing to see a site that makes it interesting. I really appreciate the way that one can review their textbook and even have an option to begin with a warm-up activity or the inquiry itself.
ReplyDeleteMy only concern is that for some of the students that this type of learning would most benefit, internet and computers are unfortunately not available. So how do we allow for this type of technological stimulation in our lessons, if our students are unable to use computers and school and at home?