DOCUMENT RESUME ED 387 416 SO 025 338 AUTHOR Metzler. Suzanne TITLE Witness to History: Using Hands-On Activities, A Guidebook for High School History Teachers. PUB DATE [95] NOTE 43p. PUB TYPE Guides Classroom Use Teaching Guides (For Teacher) (052) EDRS PRICE MF01/PCO2 Plus Postage. DESCRIPTORS *Active Learning; ''Cooperative Learning; 'Discovery Learning; *Experiential Learning; High Schools; *History Instruction; Humanities Instruction; Material Culture; *Social History; Social Studies; Student Participation ABSTRACT This guidebook is intended to help high school students discover the connection between themselves and the people from the past by b?ing engaged in hands-on activities. The guidebook allows students to create artifacts or recreate a process known well to people from times past. The guide is arranged to provide historical background, materials lists, and procedures for each activity. Activities focus on the following: (1) "Marbled Paper"; (2) "Cornbread"; (3) "Hornbooks"; (4) "Quill Pens"; (5) "Paper"; (6) "Envelopes"; (7) "Candles"; (8) "Pierced Tin Lanterns"; (9) "Wool: Spun and Dyed"; (10) "Egg Tempra"; (11) "Tie Dye"; (12) "Quilts"; (13) "Living History Day"; and (14) "Other Ways to Witness History." A six-item bibliography and a list of five organizations of great help are also included. Contains 23 references. (EH) Reproductions supplied by EDRS are the best that can be made from the original document. 1 11. 7hti." . History Witness to AV., lb . ama. ..a. 'Using 9-fancis-On Activities i. guidebookfor 54qh- School .1-listory Teachers PERMISSir)N IC HE (i4 MATERIAL HA-) Eit- S ' / 4 ' TO THE 1t./S.1k Al I. t INFORMA` IoN TT y Suzanne Metzler 'University of Washington, Bothell- U S D[OARTATENT OF EDUCATION BEST COPY AVAILABLE 01,( A Ill SNA1 HI hen( I '.11,41I1PMAI. AM 4 U111 A Rationale for Using this Guidebook Using this Guidebook 1 Marbled Paper 2 Cornbread 4 Hornbooks 6 Quill Pens 8 Paper 10 Envelopes 12 Candles 14 Tin Lanterns 16 Wool: Spun and Dyed 18 Tempra Es_g 22 Tie Dye Quilts 26 Living, History Day 28 Other Ways to Witness History 31 Appendix A: Envelope Template 33 Appendix B: Quilt Patterns Bibliography 37 Using This Guidebook: A Rationale From the Front of the Room This guidebook was designed with the high school student in mind. When I was in high school, both my Latin teacher and my U.S. History teacher used activities and artifacts to actively engage their students in learning, so it was only natural that when I began teaching I employed the same methods. I have been a social studies educator for 11 years, during which time I have taught grades 7 through 12 in both rural and suburban schools. This wide variety of experience in a relatively short span of time has given me the opportunit to experiment with different methods of teaching, both by creative design and learning from others I have worked with. What I soon discovered was that the students loved active participation. My fellow colleagues have put themselves into two camps of thought in the last eleven years regarding the "goings on" in my classroom: the first being that of the diehard believers that history must be taught by lecture and based on the textbook and that what I was doing in my classroom was childsplay. The othcr camp of colleagues were those entranced by what I was doing: they begged for instructions, materials and ways to do the same thinQ in thcir classes. It is for the later group that this guidebook is fort this rationale is for thc first. When I began teaching high school juniors. I became frustrated with thc lack of connection my students made with historical characters as real human beings. As aforementioned, my high school teachers had used interactive learning strategies. so I followed suit. A friend and I created two %%omen who lived in 1859 and then presented two viewpoints on the Civil War to my students in what we began calling "historical characterization." From this small start, we elaborated on costumes and personalities, teaching the students to do exact. accurate research and delighting in their intense interest in not only the characters, but the accessories. I soon became intere,ied in using artifacts to teach students, and took classes on object centered learning from Brooke Thompson and Janet Oakley. I found myself integrating artifacts and documents into my lessons, and was extremely pleased with the results. The ear that I taught sophomore World history. I realized that there was no turning back: my students, who had had me for 7th grade social studies and enjoyed a culture program involving passports" and "traveling" to foreign countries walked into Jass on thc first day wanting to know when Culture Day was. We dove into World history with historical characterization. object centered learning and living history projects. I taught the students to spin, make candles, marbled paper, and to dye \.00l. I began requiring a journal activity I call "copybooks" where students copy old lessons in thc 19th century tradition. do higher order thinking activities with documents, and keep samples of living history activities. As I have added and expanded these projects, it has been with the help of my students. At the end of each year, they voluntarily fill out an anonymous questionnaire rating thc projects. Since 1989, students have given me excellent advice in improving projects. The textbook and lecture method of teaching historx has been re-evaluated in the writings of many researchers (Nlechling, 1983). At the same time that alternative assessment is coming to the forefront in Washington Statc's Public high schools, the field of social history is receiving more attention front the history profession. In the mid 1980s. the National Council for the Social Studies (N.C.S.S.1 began working on a mksion statement. A portion of this work focused on altei native methods of teaching histor.. The wxtbook took ,1 beating for its shortcomings and the praises (If hands-on Ii learning were sung. Hazel Hertzberg. in a manual prepared by thc N.C.S.S., concluded that "if history is to have deep and lasting meaning to students, they must make it their own. This requires active, participatory learning." (1985, p. 36). From his work studying cognition and development, Howard Gardner began identifying several Frames of Mind (1987). In addition to thc traditionally recognized intelligences of verbal skill and logical reasoning, Gardner recognizes thc intelligence of spatial, kinesthetic, musical, interpersonal and intrapersonal abilities. This theory recognizes that learning hy experience is a special style of learning, in which some children may excel. Gardner advocates using different types of activities; adding less traditional activities to the traditional in order to provide those with othcr types of intelligence with a chance to excel. Recently, the Washington State Council for the Social Studies has recognized the importance of Gardner's theory of Multiple Intelligences (1987). Using experiental learning involves giving students artifacts to study ( Schlereth, 1982; Hunter. 1992) or involving students in a recreation of a historical event or method (Sutro, 1985). In short, experiential learning is as process that "allows the student to handle, manipulate or observe...a process." (Lumpe. 1991. p. 345). Numerous reviewers of history programs in the United States and Great Britain sing the praises of active, engaged learning in what has oftcn been viewed as a dead subject (Schlereth, 1982; Sutro. 1985; Hunter. 1992; Korbin, 1993) and science teachers have long rccogni7ed the use of experiential learning (Shymansky, 1982; Mechling. 1983; Uno, 1990; Lumpe, 1991; Hershey, 1991). Science teachers have developed countless programs for using the method of experiential learning. In a query into thc effectiveness of those programs. a positive attitude was noted by the students in thc courses (Shymansky. Kyle 8: Alport, In 1991, David Hershey stated that "Hands-on biology education is currently considered the 1982. 1 most effective teaching method." (p. 628), and Gordon Uno found that the use of experiential learning students can achieve the desired outcomes of edu,:ation reformers (1990). The major benefit of this method to high school students is that a combination of the hands-on experience with a critical discussion brings about an integrated approach that encourages higher-level thinking (Uno, 1990: Lumpe. 1991). While it may be easy to understand the benefits of using experiential learning in science classes. history has traditionally been less hands-on oriented (Hertzb,:-g. 1985). One might ask, and reasonably so, what the benefits of using this method would be in a history classroom. In a general sense, history students will benefit as thcy do in their science classes; ss ith an integrated approach. In a study of low ability students using an experiential learning method (dissection courseware). it w a determined that biology students are more motivated, and receive a \ aluahle learning experience from this method Kinrie. Foss & Powers. 1993). We know that how a teacher presents material in a high school history class has direct heap:IL: on student interest and learning outcomes ( NIcTeer, 1977: Cornett. 1990; Evans, 1990; Fraenkel. 1992). Robert Stex:nson, who studied the correlation of students perspectives with cogninse challenge, was concerned w ith the lack of stud:nt engagement in history classes (1992). Stevenson interviewed students and teachers, in addition to observing classes and riewing curriculum. Ile is not telling history teachers anything nos when he says that many students consider history hot ith'. Stevenson ascertained that students learn mot c when (hey are engaged. and they are engaged hen they an' 11101c s actisely participating in class. Front this, one would he able to assume that students engaged in experiential learning are not lit only more interested. hut also more challenged cognitively. One would hope that such a benefit would transcend into a history program. One criticism of using experiential learning at the high school level may he that it is often considered games that younger students do in elementary school (Lumpe, 1991; Shymansky, 1982). Proponents of this method argue that the opposite is true: high school students are more capable of using higher level, critical thinking skills, and doirrg so enhances learning (Sutro. 1985; Stevenson, 1990; Cornett, 1990). Often high school students enjoy doing activities that are hands-on. As older students. they are capable of making connections and analyzing artifacts. Part of the problem in the current high school classroom is the pressure to cover large amounts of content (Dempster, 1993: Muskin, 1990). If the classroom is dominated by the teacher, student opportunity to make decisions, and therefore, learn critical thinking skills is severely limited since student, are rarely asked to provide information beyond simple recall. (Kohn, 1993; Muskin) In Muskin's quanitative study of 12 high school U.S. history teachers, it was determined that teacher lcd lectures were lessons concerned more with coverage of large amounts of material and less concerned with depth. Further research in this area indicates that getting students actively involved in their own learning may result in greater cognitive gain than thc traditional lecture methods. The study also revealed that participatory learning such as an oral history project increased the motivation of students not previously interested in history. The Muskin study indicated that increasing the opportunity for student involvement and utilization of critical thinking skills may involve changing some teaching environments, and assuredly involves making sure that all teachers are given thc skills and knowledge necessary to choose and implement the goals and activities that will come closer to thc model social studies classroom envisioned by reformers. I hope that ou will use this guidebook to help zour students actively engage in history, and experience what it is like to he a witne to historical times. References Cornett, J.W. (1990. Teacher Thinking About Curriculum and Instruction: A Case Study of A Secondary Social Studies Teacher. Theor\ and Research in Social Education, 17 248-273. Dempster. F.N. (19o".. Exposing students to less should help them learn more.Phi Delta Kappan, 74. 433-437. Evans. R NV. (1990) Teacher Conceptions of History Revisited: ideology, Curriculum, and Student Belief. Theory and Research in Social Educ.:!ion.18, 101-139. Fraenkel. J.R. (1092. \71-11). A Poitrait 01 Four Social Studies Classes (With Special Attention Paid to the Identification of Teaching Techniques .ind Behaviors That Contribute to Student Learning. Paper presented at the meeting of the American Educational Research Asociation. (ER1CDocument Reproduction Service No. ED 350 209) ihe Themy Ciardner. II. f Multiple Intelligences. (1087 Annals of Dvslexia.37, 18-35, lershe D.R. Linking history and hands-on biology. BioScience. 4_L 628-630. (1901 (195 i Hen/berg. 11. Students. Methods and Materials of Insmiction. ln \L. Downey, (Ed.), I listotx in the Schools. Washington D C. National Council for the Social Studies. K.A. (1992. Decentherk Ilertitage Education: What's Goini, On Out Time? l'aper presented at the annual meeting of the American H:s*.orical Association. Washington, D C iv Kinzie. M.B., Foss, M.J., & Powers, S.M. (1993). Use of Dissection-Related Courseware By Low-Ability High School Students: A Qualitative Inquiry. Educational Technology, 41, 87-101. Kohn, A. (1993). Choices tor childrem: why and how to let students decide. Phi Delta Kappan 74 8-20. Korbin, D.. Abbott, E., Ellinwood, J., & Horton, D. (1993). Learning History By Doing History. Educational Leadership, 50, (7), 39-44. Lumpe. A.T., & Oliver, J.S. (1991). Dimensions of Hands-on Science. Thc American Biology Teacher, 53, 345-348. McTeer. J.H. (1977). Student Preferences for Social Studies Content and Methodology. (ERIC Document Reproduction Service No. ED 127 212) Mcchling, K.R.. & Oliver, D.L. (1983). Activities, not textbooks: what research says about science programs. Principal 62 (4), 41-43. Muskin. C. (1990, April). Constraint of Teaching Methods and Opportunity to Learn in High School History Classes: The Pressures of Content Coverage and Classtoom Management. Papper presented at thc annual meeting of the American Educational Research Association. Boston, MA. Nash. G. & Symcox, L. (1991). Bringing history alive in the classroom: a collaborative project. OAH Magazine of History 6, 25-29. Petrini. G.C. (1990). A History of Social Studies Skills. Theory and Research in Social Education, 18. 233-247. Schlercth. T.J. (1982). Teaching American History with American Things: Five Pastmasters. Paper in Working Papers: Historians/Artifacts/Learners. Washington, D.C.: National Endowment for thc Humanities. (ERIC Document Reproduction Service No. ED 216 947) Shymansky, J.A., Kyle. W.0 & Alport, J.M. (1982). liov, Effecthe were the Hands-on science programs of yesterday? Science and Children. 20, (3), 14-15. Stevenson. R.B. (1990). Engagement and Cognitive Challenge in Thoughtful Social Studies ('lasses: A Study of Student Perspectives. Journal of Curriculum Studies 22 329-341. Sutro. E. (1985). Full-Dress Simulations: A Total Learning Experience. Social Education. 49, 628-634. 1.1no. G.T. (1990). Inquiry in the classroom. BioScience, 40, 841-843. Wigginton, E., & Students. (Eds.). Foxfire: 25 Years. (1991). New York: Doubleday. Using This Guidebook This guidebook was designed with the high school student in mind. Hopefully, the high school teacher will be able to use it to help students discover the connection between themselves and the people from the past by engaging students in hands-on activities. Teach your students to critically examine objects and artifacts. You can do this by using an object they are familiar with, such as a pencil, and asking them to list the attributes of the object. They will notice size, shape, color and markings of the pencil. Then ask them to brainstorm possible uses for the object. Besides the purpose of writing, could a pencil have other uses? What does the pencil say about the culture it is found in? Tell students that they should look at historical artifacts in the same manner: listing size, shape, color and markings, then brainstorming possible uses and names. The activities in this guidebook will allow you and your class to create artifacts or recreate a process known well to people from times past. Ask students to focus on the activity from the perspective of what it might have been like to be alive at that time. The guide is arranged so that you have historical background, material lists and procedures for each activity. The format is designed to display the entire lesson on two pages that open easily on your desk or podium, and activities are designed to be completed in an average 50 minute class period. I've also included some suggested ways to use the activity to help high school students think critically about the past. I suggest that you try the activity on your own before you do it with your class, and that you use cooperative learning strategies on the days your class witnesses history "hands-on." .!". Make marbled paper on a sunny fall day. Alt:k i wellePtr7. I HISTORICAL BACKGROUND: The art of marbling paper was carried from Japan to Turkey, then Persia on its way to Europe. Europeans brought the trade to North America. Bookbinders used the richly decorated paper as endpapers for books. MATERIALS NEEDED: Construction paper, kitty litter pans, water, artists oil paints, paint thinner, rubber gloves, eye droppers, hair combs, 3 ounce paper cups. clothespins, old shirts to wear over nice clothes. PROCEDURE: Cover a table with newspapers. Put on rubber gloves. Fill kitty litter pans two-thirds full with water. Mix oil paint in a paper cup with a small amount of paint thinner. Using an eye dropper, drOp two or three drops of each desired color into the tubs. Using a comb, create patterns in the paint. The paint \Kill stay suspended in the water for a short time. When the desired pattern is in the water, quickly lay a piece of paper on the water, then lift the paper off the paint, and hang, it up to dry. HINTS: Work outside on a sunny day so that paint will dry quickly. Have small pieces of construction paper cut ahead of time, and have each student write their name and class period on the back. This will make it easier to sort the papers at the end of the day. Hair pics (like those used for permed hair) work better than traditional combs. Show students examples of marbled paper before hand, so that they have an idea of what has been done, and what colors they might like to use. Have 3 or 4 pans set out, so that 6 students at a time can use the table. Students remaining in the classroom should be given an activity or worksheet that they can work on without assistance. j w Irwr: U el' I. gel"; IMILuj 7"r. 111111::41111101WAIE:::3 ". Make your own butter to eat on the bread. w IEat rf. a i 11111L.:MINNIR.1 sit . HISTORICAL BACKGROUND: Before electric stoves became a part of our kitchens, people used wood stoves, fireplaces and dutch ovens to cook. In the 18th century, many homes had the kitchen built away from the house. This helped cut down on the fire hazard, and made the house cooler in the summer. Large cranes were installed in the fireplaces, and pots were set on the cranes. Dutch ovens, cast iron pots with three legs, could be used directly in the fire. Large outdoor ovens, also called dutch ovens, could hold large amounts of bread .1 one time. Colonists often did baking on one day of the week, making enough to last for the entire week. 200 years ago, Americans ate much more bread than we do today. A family could easily consume one or two loaves of bread in a day. All preparation of food was done by hand, and "from the ground up." Students are fascinated by the discovery of a world without microwaves, prepared food and cake mixes. MATERIALS NEEDED: Cornmeal, milk, flour, baking powder, mixing bowl and spoon, measuring cups and spoons, dutch oven or iron skillet, fire to cook on. PROCEDURE Decide if you will use an outdoor fire, then prepare it. You can do this activity using an electric fry pan, but then would want to go over cooking techniques with the students. Mix one cup of cornmeal, one cup a flour and a teaspoon of baking powder together. Add 3/4 cup of milk. If you use a dutch oven, grease a round baking pan, set the cornbread in the pan, and set the pan inside the dutch oven. Have students help with the process, and have them help set the oven in coals, then cover the oven with coals. Check bread in about 20 minutes. Many Americans cooked cornbread by dropping it in oil and frying it. This is sometimes called Spoonbread or Johnny Cake. Try frying the cornbread this way over a fire using an iron skillet. Serve the bread with molasses.