Description
Our increasingly digital age raises challenging questions about the intrinsic and extrinsic values of studying history and the humanities. However, history is the laboratory of human experience.
As a humanities subject, it illuminates the past and ultimately helps learners to understand themselves.
Accordingly, history should be on the front lines as our schools navigate the transition to the digital age. Rather than asking “Why should we study history?” the more logical question is: “Why should we not?
The course will let participants discover the undisclosed potential of historical studies, and help school teachers to learn innovative ways to make historical inquiry an invaluable tool in the classroom and beyond to energize engagement with the humanities.
Participants will explore concrete ways to get learners excited about historical topics, and harness that energy to create a classroom environment in which students are building both hard and soft skills.
The course will explore what ICT tools history teachers can use to engage their students, and what innovative strategies school teachers can apply to introduce more historical content in their lessons and their study visits. History encourages learners to be astute critical thinkers through a lens of global awareness.
Moreover, it supports a robust curriculum, inside and outside of history classrooms as it can be easily synthesized into other disciplines like economics, sociology, philosophy, political science, literature, languages, and psychology.
By exploring the many benefits of incorporating historical themes into the classroom, participants will find that historical thinking can be used to build skills like knowledge management, media literacy, and logical communication.
Equally important is that history enriches the lives of students with clear pathways to appreciate art, literature, languages, music, etc.
The humanities fundamentally ask what it is to be human, and this promotes building an ethical framework. In the classroom, that framework helps learners to appreciate and understand the variations of human societies around the world and over time.
Historically minded classrooms are open to different experiences and varied ideas. History is a powerful tool that can be used to promote the empathy that grows from both cultural curiosity and cultural humility.
By the end of the course, participants will feel empowered in supporting their students to approach and engage with history’s multidimensional potentialities across the humanities.
Learning outcomes
The course will help the participants to:
- Establish a more inclusive and culturally curious classroom environment;
- Integrate history in the classroom to foster the appreciation of the variation between and among human societies around the world and over time;
- Explore creative and concrete ways to support and defend the importance of the humanities in the modern world;
- Design classroom activities focused on exploring social responsibility and engaged citizenship along with sharpening skills for future career development;
- Craft projects that focus on the skills needed for digital literacy including the ability to assess sources, and how to create meaningful online content;
- Empower students with an awareness of historical heritage and cultural diversity.
Tentative schedule
Day 1 – Course introduction
- Introduction to the course, the school, and the external week activities;
- Icebreaker activities;
- Presentations of the participants’ schools;
- Conversations about expectations and goals for the week.
The Case for History and the Humanities
- Brainstorming and defining the value of historically oriented disciplines.
Day 2 – Defining the value of historical inquiry and the humanities lens
- What does it mean to “think like a historian”;
- Exploring the value of history beyond the history classroom;
- Case study. In defense of ancient civilizations and dead languages.
Day 3 – Articulating the power of history and the humanities
- What excites us about history? Crafting an elevator pitch for learners’ colleagues, and administrators which can focus on culture, identity, and building citizenship;
- Discussion of why “those who don’t study history are doomed to repeat it” is problematic;
- Group work. The immense potential to work with other disciplines.
Day 4 – Tools to engage learners
- Exploring digital resources;
- Using popular culture;
- Designing classroom activities;
- Making the humanities around us accessible to learners – hit the pavement in the host city to peel back the historical layers in real time.
Day 5 – Projects and reflection
- Participant project. Focusing on developing a clear plan of how to incorporate historical inquiry strategically in the individual classroom;
- Presentations of projects including feedback;
- Identifying challenges going forward;
- Changes in perceptions, and discussion about takeaways.
Day 6 – Course closure and cultural activities
- Course evaluation: round-up of acquired competencies, feedback, and discussion;
- Awarding of the course Certificate of Attendance;
- Excursion and other external cultural activities.