Sam Korn wrote:
Furthermore, there is the potential that teaching
students to question
Wikipedia could lead to their being more disposed to question other
sources, which is obviously very useful in the study of any subject
(and supremely history).
Possibly more broadly. I was looking around for references to a rather
'retro' teaching method for history, and found this:
"The significance of ephemera for the teaching of history in schools has
already
been demonstrated. In particular, Longman’s ‘Jackdaw’ series from the 1960s,
and more recently the ephemera collections sold by the Public Record Office,
have shown how effective reproductions of ephemeral documents of the
past can
be as part of a teaching pack. The educational potential of ephemera at
all stages
of education has increased beyond measure in recent years with the
widespread
availability of electronic methods of delivering images."
From
http://www.cilip.org.uk/NR/rdonlyres/0CE6922C-0DF2-4A70-ACED-B40005A115A4/0…,
at p. 11.
I'm old enough to remember the 'Jackdaws', which were folders of
reproduction period documents and other things: primary sources in a
wallet. The point made here is quite correct, though closer to using the
Commons and Wikisource perhaps: it could become essentially trivial to
produce the raw material for such a thing now, and to rehabilitate
'project work'. This would fit quite well with also asking students to
go and critique pieces of historical writing in the suggested style. Of
course curricula aren't exactly designed for this stuff, as of right
now, in the UK. (Hmmm, 40 years since I was last subjected to formal
history teaching: "the Hanoverians" ... wonder if it would have helped.)
Charles