The Historical Perspective

1
The Historical Perspective

• Diane E. Newby, Ed.D.
• Professor

2
Child Development and History

• Children gradually develop the ability to
  understand the past rather than in stages.
• Research shows children younger than 8 years can
  learn historical concepts.
• First graders are able to place in sequence
  pictures and explain their rationale for doing so
  - pictures and drawings - either in long ago 1772
  or close to now 2006.

3

• Kindergarteners, first and second graders have no
  sense of what dates mean.
• Beginning in fourth grade, dates are useful to
  children, although not until fifth or sixth grade
  do children use dates to identify pictures
  accurately.
• Young children perceive, first there were
  pioneers, then there were cities.
• It is difficult for them to perceive that while
  pioneers were building log cabins in the 1880s,
  large cities were being built in other
  geographical areas.

4
Teaching History and the Concept of Time

• Learning about history requires that children
  develop a sense of the passage of time.
• Use childrens actual experiences to help them
  develop a sense of the passage of time.
• What did you do today?
• How many days has it been since Janices
  birthday?
• Do you remember what we did to celebrate
  Presidents Day?

5
Developing the Concept of Time

• By age 5, children can tell what day it is and
  will use general terms such as springtime before
  they will use the general terms such as
• today
• before
• in a few days
• Routines teach time.

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Developing the Concept of Time

• What can you do this year that you could not do
  last year?
• Start a history booklet in the beginning of the
  year for each child. Include
• snapshots
• pieces of work the child has completed
• paintings or stories created by the child

7
Developing the Concept of Time

• Children will not be able to measure time
  accurately until after age 8 or 9.
• Use an hourglass to see if they can wash the
  tables after art work.

8
Hands-on History Activities

• These activities allow students to become active
  learners of history inside the classroom.
  Children learn best when they play a part of what
  they learn.
• Mystery Center
• Visual Resources
• Pictorial Books
• Art/Paintings and Drawings
• Oral History/Story Time

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Activities

• Holiday Timeline
• Family Tree
• Calendar
• Daily Schedule
• Picture Photo Album
• Cooking Experiences

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Childrens Literature on Time

• Richard Scarys Best Times Ever A Book about
  Seasons
• Just a Minute
• All of Grandmothers Clocks, Sandra Ziegler
• Tell Me a Story Mama, Angela Johnson and David
  Soman

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Integrate Timelines

• Students can make timelines using personal life
  events.
• Pictures, video clips, and drawings
• Famous person timelines
• Geographical place timeline
• Literature timelines

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Recommendations from Zarrillo and National
Standards for History

• Students should understand
• family life now and long ago
• the history of their own local community
• history of their state
• causes and nature of various movements of large
  groups of people into the United States and long
  ago
• folklore and other cultural contributions
• how democratic values came to be
• attributes of international societies
• economic effects of science and technology and
  the inventors responsible for them

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Concept of Change

• The study of history is the study of change.
• Change is universal.
• No matter where we live or how, change will be
  part of our lives.
• Encourage students to experience and observe
  change.
• School -Rearrange the classroom.
• Observe how the school building looked a few
  years ago.
• Neighborhood - Observe changes in the
  neighborhood - then and now.

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References

• Farris, P. J. (2007). Elementary and middle
  social studies.
• Boston, MA McGraw Hill.
• Maxim, George. (2006) Dynamic social studies for
  constructivist
• classrooms. Upper Saddle River, NJ
  Merrill/Prentice Hall.
• Zarrillo, J. J. (2008). Teaching elementary
  social studies.
• Upper Saddle River, NJ
  Merrill/Prentice Hall.
• Welton, David. (2007). Children and their world.
  Boston, Mass
• Houghton-Mifflin Company.

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Web Sites

• The Life of Abraham Lincoln
• http//www.berwickacademy.org/lincoln/lincoln.htm
• How to Make a Timeline
• http//www.dohistory.org/on_your_own/toolkit/timel
  ine.html