What are the "history wars," and what are their implications for technology use in history?
The history wars are essentially the disagreements between various arbiters of history. They disagree about whether social studies curriculum should include strictly a timeline of historical events and civics lessons, or whether a broader version of social studies including cultures and cultural differences should be encompassed.
With students' ready access to information on the Internet, what might be the concerns of social studies teachers?
Most students are not prepared to pass judgment on the quality of the web sites that they access. They need to have lessons about how to locate and select sources, how to recognize bias, how to give proper credit to the sources they use and whether a web site is current in its information. Students also need a fair amount of supervision while working on the Internet, as many of them will drift off task if not monitored. Internet access can also lead to plagiarism. Whole papers and works can be copied much more easily than in previous eras.
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What is your stand on the History Wars? How does technology impact these two composing views of how to teach history? I believe cultures and cultural differences should be taught. I also believe that we need to have more of a focus on humanity and how we are all alike. We need to respect differences and respect the human race as a whole.
ReplyDeleteI agree that students need to be critical users of the information they read on the internet. It is also our responsibility as educators to teach teachers how to properly cite web sources. Thus, we must know how to cite them ourselves. Monitoring is a huge key to student success in utilizing the internet to gather information, this is a challenge in the area of time.
The disagreement about the history will always continue. It’s almost like the argument in math if it is important to show your work or is it important to get the correct answer. I agree with you that students need to be instructed on how to surf the web. I think that’s a skill that needs to be introduced in middle school and taught in high school. That skill is very important to possess not only for students but as well as adults. Using the intranet is a privilege not a right. Gathering information is not the only thing that needs to happen, taking that information and creating your own thought is very important.
ReplyDeleteDorothy,
ReplyDeleteI agree with you that students need to be taught how to filter the information they receive from the Internet. I also agree with you that students will require supervision when using the internet, with so much information at their fingertips, they are bound to get into something. As for the plagiarizing, I can imagine it would be an issue with students. I know the temptation may be great, but there are programs available to teachers which allow the paper (if submitted electronically) to be run through a database, ensuring that students did not plagiarize. I bet these programs are costly, and I know they require a fair amount or processing time, but they are available.
I totally agree with you about how the internet can help with plagiarism. If the students do not know how to figure out what good sources are then they will most likely have trouble when trying to do research. While doing research people have to find quotes to write their papers, and they must know how to accurately site those sources. This is a concept that must be taught to them because it is difficult to site things correctly. This can make the paper look like it is all stolen from others.
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