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Guest blogger Dan Carlin illustrates an interesting concept
in his blog “Teaching History Outside the Box.”
Carlin details the well known boring aspect that is associated with
learning history and how students are taught about events, only to likely
forget them when the test is over. In
other words, teaching history has always been more about the curriculum than it
has been about student interest.
Carlin suggests a more radical approach to teaching history
by using its inherent interesting properties to engage students by connecting
to their personal interests. For
example, if a student loves sports, why not encourage that student to research
how sports came to be and early versions of their favorite games? In this way,
teachers would be instilling in students a love of learning history, rather
than a few passing memories of historical events that they have little interest
in. Carlin creates historical podcasts
to engage his students in learning about the past, something they seem to
enjoy.
While I can appreciate Carlin’s enthusiasm for student
interest, I have a hard time “tossing out the curriculum” when it comes to
teaching and learning history, as he suggests.
I do think there is room for improvement on how students are taught and
tested in history, but the idea of the subject being entirely student centered
is a bit radical for my taste. I would
like to see this kind of teaching in action before I’d consider following some
of his points.
Carlin, D. (n.d.). Teaching History Outside the Box.
Edutopia. Retrieved June 3, 2014, from
http://www.edutopia.org/blog/teaching-history-outside-the-box-dan-carlin
I do like his approach to teaching but I am with you about throwing out the curricula. I use this method in my course. There are so many different areas that my students have to know front, back, top and bottom and they have to be able to explain a specific area to a commander, another staff member or co-worker. Basically, I teach the dry old boring information, but then show them how I would explain it using something that I like (in one example, I use my Dodge truck). I tell them to first understand the concept and then find something they can relate the topic too, make it simple and start wowing those around them.
ReplyDeleteGreat concept and I think it would get more students interested in those ho-hum subjects...I know it would have helped me.
I can see this being a something fun the students can do at the end of the school year, but I do not agree that it should take the place of the curriculum. I saw a similar article a couple of weeks ago in Edutopia that focused on using role play to teach history. I thought the idea of students playing out event in history was an awesome way for students to learn. I also saw a teacher integrate Facebook with teaching history, which was also pretty neat. He and another teacher had the students create a profile for a famous person in history. The students were able to post status updates and leave comments on fellow student's pages.
ReplyDeleteI agree in grabbing the student by offering topics that they are interested in. History is a subject that can be fascinating if delivered in a unique way without rote learning. The author recommended history in sports which will reach many more students while achieving the desired outcome. I prefer to offer the curriculum in an interactive approach with technology.
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