Learning Links
Revolution / Transportation / Technology / War / Migration / Futurism / Tyranny / Scientific Discovery / Education / Human Rights / Religion / Literature / Humanities / Geography
Related Concepts
Social Forces / Cause-and-Effect / Change / Continuity / Multiple Causation / Interpretation / Trends / Historical Events / Historical People / Primary & Secondary Sources / Historical Documents
Demonstrators should be read from bottom to top, but need not be demonstrated sequentially.
Elementary Demonstrators
• Distinguish among the past, present, and future.
• Recognize continuity and change.
• Examine cause-and-effect and multiple causation.
• Explore temporal relationships of historical events.
• Make inferences about issues, events, or people based on historical data.
Middle School Demonstrators
• Examine the interpretive nature of historical accounts.
• Use historical perspectives and trends to develop understanding of current personal or social events.
• Evaluate the impact of historical factors on the development of current issues.
High School Demonstrators
• Interpret events using historical perspective.
• Interpret events utilizing historical investigation.
• Synthesize historical perspective with current data in practicing political and civic participation.
Sample Teaching/Assessment Strategies
Collaborative Process: Cooperative Learning, Reciprocal Teaching / Community-Based Instruction: Field Studies / Continuous Progress Assessment: Anecdotal Records, Self-assessment, Performance Events/Exhibitions / Graphic Organizers: Advance Organizers, Mapping/Webbing, Storyboard, Time Line, Venn Diagram Problem Solving: Inquiry, Case Studies, Creative Problem Solving, Future Problem Solving, Debate, Interviews, Oral History, Research, Role-play, Simulation / Technology/Tools: Computers, Games, Interactive Video, Multimedia, Video/Videotaping / Whole Language Approach / Writing Process
These sample strategies offer ideas and are not meant to limit teacher resourcefulness. More strategies are found in the resource section.
Ideas for Incorporating Community Resources
• Ask leaders of local service organizations to participate in the development of a time line of the community's major historical events.
• Interview citizens from your community to compile a local oral history.
• Contact the Kentucky Historical Society or Museum of History and Science to obtain resources or guest speakers.
• Contact county residents to obtain information and artifacts for the creation of a local archives in the school library.
• Contact the Census Bureau for information about historical changes in demographics.
Core Concept: Historical Perspective
Sample Elementary Activities
• Develop and present a demonstration which shows and explains historical changes in the community. Use past and present photographs of the community. PE, OE, P
• Stage an accurate dramatization of an historical event. Rewrite the ending to show how different decisions could have created different consequences. PE, OE
• Read a story, historical account, or primary document and discuss the causes-and-effects of the various characters' actions. Create a comic book showing the story in pictures. PE, P
• Make an abecedary about a group of Native Americans in history. Present and explain the book to your parents. PE, OE, P
Applications Across the Curriculum
Language Arts
• Read a story set in the time when your grandparents were children. Write about some of the differences between their experiences and your experiences. OE, P
Science
• Examine three different scientific discoveries which have been made in history. Determine the order in which the discoveries were made and explain why the discoveries were made in that sequence. PE, OE, P
Mathematics
• Use manipulatives to represent periods of time (e.g., towers of blocks representing the ages of grandparents, parents, and self). PE
Arts and Humanities
• Research the history of your school. Prepare an artistic representation that illustrates that history. PE, OE, P
Practical Living
• Research the history of a sport or leisure activity. Develop a time line which records important events in that sport and corresponding events in history. PE, P
Vocational Education
• Discuss with grandparents and parents what occupations they wanted to hold when they were children. Write explanations for any differences between childhood plans and actual jobs or careers. OE, P
Sample Middle School Activities
• Use primary sources to interpret an historical event (e.g., Who fired the first shot in Lexington?). Present your findings to a panel of students and teachers. PE, OE, P
• Analyze and interpret information about the application of free speech during a historical event. Compare and contrast views about free speech in the historical time and today. PE, P
• Design a pictorial display with captions showing a trend in western civilization. PE
• Design a "History Day" where students in your school participate in activities representative of a selected era in history. PE, OE, P
Applications Across the Curriculum
Variations on a theme: Transitions/Change Over Time
Language Arts
• Read Frankenstein by Mary Shelley. Investigate why Frankenstein was written in the early nineteenth century. Write a story about a monster created by the Science of modern times. OE, P
Science
• Develop a museum exhibit which demonstrates how people's ideas of monsters have changed over the years. Show how that change is a response to technological changes. PE
Mathematics
• Develop a chart showing the relative heights of movie and literary monsters covering a span of two centuries. Include the description of the process used to estimate when actual dimensions are not given. PE
Arts and Humanities
• Create a monster video using equipment and effects to which you have access. Design a movie poster representative of at least two different time periods for your movie (e.g., the 1950s and the 1990s). PE
Practical Living
• Submit a budget in advance for your production of a monster movie. How would the budget have changed if you had wanted to produce a monster movie 20 years ago? Predict what a budget would be 20 years from now. OE, P
Vocational Education
• Design sets for use in your monster video. PE
Sample High School Activities
• Conduct a debate on a major historical issue using individuals representing different time periods and historical perspectives (e.g., Meeting of the Minds). PE
• Put "War" on trial. Conduct a vote after the trial as to whether or not "War" should be outlawed in the world. Write a reflective essay about the experience. PE, OE, P
• Create a traveling museum based on an historical theme. PE
• Develop and deliver an oral history presentation of your community based on interviews of local citizens. Present your product to a group of students. PE, P
• Create an interactive video showing people of today interviewing historical figures. PE
Applications Across the Curriculum
Language Arts
• Read the biography of a famous person. Analyze whether or not the person became famous because he/she was able to influence the forces of history or if the forces of history enabled the person to become famous. OE, P
Science
• Research the life of a person who created a major technological invention. Determine the factors which led to this person's discovery (e.g., prior knowledge, the inventor's associations with other scientists). Explain the effect if the inventor's discovery had been delayed by ten years. OE, P
Mathematics
• Research the voting trends in several presidential elections. Calculate how the elections might have had different results if the voters had lived in different states, if one or more voters in each precinct had voted for the losing candidate, or if other variations in voting patterns had occurred. OE, P
Arts and Humanities
• Create a mural which depicts the achievements and obstacles faced by an individual in an historical situation. PE, P
Practical Living
• Place yourself in a crucial situation in history. Analyze how you may have been able to influence the outcome of the situation had you been "an average person on the street." Examine ways in which you might use ideas developed in this activity to influence modern situations. OE, P
Vocational Education
• Examine the reasons for the development of labor unions in the United States. Explain how this development shows the ability of groups to influence history. Analyze other areas in which collective action has become a necessity in order for people to deal with problems. OE, P