Sister disciplines of history can be powerful tools to unlock fresh insights and new perspectives... more Sister disciplines of history can be powerful tools to unlock fresh insights and new perspectives for teaching historical understanding. Herodotus is claimed as both the father of history and the first anthropologist. This article explores the possibilities for teaching historical thinking with Sparta by borrowing (and applying) the anthropological concepts of ethnocentricity, cultural relativism and structural-functionalism.
In the last twenty years much of the energy in the discussion of history education has been about... more In the last twenty years much of the energy in the discussion of history education has been about substantive knowledge (content or what is to be learned) at the expense of the development of procedural knowledge (how students learn history). Attention is now moving towards defining a disciplinary practice of history teaching and learning that focuses equally on procedural and substantive knowledge.
Back in 2005, in an article entitled 'Engage me or enrage me', Marc Prensky wrote about t... more Back in 2005, in an article entitled 'Engage me or enrage me', Marc Prensky wrote about the issue of how to engage the 'digital native' student when 'their stuff' (digital technology) is missing in the curriculum. Google's Hangouts in History offers one way to meet the challenge of 21st century history education by using the latest 'video chat' and social media technology (Google Hangouts) to deliver the 'old stuff' (curricula) in an exciting, interactive and engaging digital form.
It is difficult to accept that Spartan society was driven only by the 'negative' imperati... more It is difficult to accept that Spartan society was driven only by the 'negative' imperative; that of survival against being devoured by the helots or invaded by their neighbours. If you live on top of a 'volcano', the positives need to outweigh the minuses of the perilous location. Powell reminds us: We should be aware of thinking the Spartan way of life so horrible that we are obliged to see the Spartans as irrational in maintaining it... happiness of individuals often depends on whether they think they are good at what they think really matters... Spartan culture possessed, to a most unusual extent, a harmony between values and self-image. Beyond survival, what did the Spartan system allow the Spartans 'to have' or 'to be'?
The centrality of perspective for historical consciousness and historical thinking Perspective li... more The centrality of perspective for historical consciousness and historical thinking Perspective lies at the core of 'historical consciousness' - an understanding that the past, and future, cannot be accessed without an appreciation of our personal and collective orientation in the present. Historical consciousness incorporates both the 'disciplinary practices of historiography and the memory practices of broader populations across different cultures and across different eras, including - but not limited to our own'. It is, in the European tradition, 'the individual and collective understandings of the past, the cognitive and cultural factors that shape those understandings, as well as the relations of historical understandings to those of the present and the future'.
Sister disciplines of history can be powerful tools to unlock fresh insights and new perspectives... more Sister disciplines of history can be powerful tools to unlock fresh insights and new perspectives for teaching historical understanding. Herodotus is claimed as both the father of history and the first anthropologist. This article explores the possibilities for teaching historical thinking with Sparta by borrowing (and applying) the anthropological concepts of ethnocentricity, cultural relativism and structural-functionalism.
In the last twenty years much of the energy in the discussion of history education has been about... more In the last twenty years much of the energy in the discussion of history education has been about substantive knowledge (content or what is to be learned) at the expense of the development of procedural knowledge (how students learn history). Attention is now moving towards defining a disciplinary practice of history teaching and learning that focuses equally on procedural and substantive knowledge.
Back in 2005, in an article entitled 'Engage me or enrage me', Marc Prensky wrote about t... more Back in 2005, in an article entitled 'Engage me or enrage me', Marc Prensky wrote about the issue of how to engage the 'digital native' student when 'their stuff' (digital technology) is missing in the curriculum. Google's Hangouts in History offers one way to meet the challenge of 21st century history education by using the latest 'video chat' and social media technology (Google Hangouts) to deliver the 'old stuff' (curricula) in an exciting, interactive and engaging digital form.
It is difficult to accept that Spartan society was driven only by the 'negative' imperati... more It is difficult to accept that Spartan society was driven only by the 'negative' imperative; that of survival against being devoured by the helots or invaded by their neighbours. If you live on top of a 'volcano', the positives need to outweigh the minuses of the perilous location. Powell reminds us: We should be aware of thinking the Spartan way of life so horrible that we are obliged to see the Spartans as irrational in maintaining it... happiness of individuals often depends on whether they think they are good at what they think really matters... Spartan culture possessed, to a most unusual extent, a harmony between values and self-image. Beyond survival, what did the Spartan system allow the Spartans 'to have' or 'to be'?
The centrality of perspective for historical consciousness and historical thinking Perspective li... more The centrality of perspective for historical consciousness and historical thinking Perspective lies at the core of 'historical consciousness' - an understanding that the past, and future, cannot be accessed without an appreciation of our personal and collective orientation in the present. Historical consciousness incorporates both the 'disciplinary practices of historiography and the memory practices of broader populations across different cultures and across different eras, including - but not limited to our own'. It is, in the European tradition, 'the individual and collective understandings of the past, the cognitive and cultural factors that shape those understandings, as well as the relations of historical understandings to those of the present and the future'.
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