The Virtual History Museum vhm msu edu Cindy

The Virtual History Museum vhm. msu. edu Cindy Okolo, November 9, 2009 okolo@msu. edu

The Virtual History Museum (VHM) has been funded by the United States Department of Education, Office of Special Education Programs, Steppingstones of Technology Innovation Grants Core project staff include: Carol Sue Englert (co-PI) Kanthaumar Pongaliur (programmer) Emily Bouck Anne Heutsche Carrie Anna Courtad Hequn Wang Andy Van. Egmond Kristen Kereluik

History and Literacy What do they have in common? Require both factual and procedural knowledge Study of “texts” “Understanding” goes well beyond the text Interpretive, problem-solving process Critical literacy Taking & supporting a position

“That's the beauty of argument, if you argue correctly, you're never wrong. ” Nick Naylor, Thank You for Not Smoking

Domain-Specific Challenges of Learning History • Factual foundation • Specialized vocabulary • Multiple perspectives to take into account • Still, primarily textbook-based instruction Bias/superficiality of textbooks Kids rarely question the authority of the text

Domain-Specific Challenges of History Learning “Historical thinking, in its deepest form, is neither a natural process nor something that springs automatically from psychological development” (Wineburg, 1999). • Presentism • The past was not only weirder than we realize; it was weirder than we can imagine" (Lowenthal, 2000 p. 76)

Domain-Specific Challenges of History Learning Historical empathy = contextualized understanding • “Trying to shed what we know to glimpse the "real" past is like trying to examine microbes with the naked eye: The very instruments we abandon are the ones that enable us to see. ” (Wineburg, 1999) • Bias in evidence • Inferential paradox (Van. Sledright) • Historical record is almost always missing pieces

Battle of Sorrow People in this battle could have been fighting over land, or money, maybe even goods. Some of this people probably died because of fighting. . Civil War The South, also known as the Confederacy, supported slavery due to economic issues. They needed large labor for the many plantations. Without slaves no one would work in the fields, therefore ruining the South’s economy…Abraham Lincoln won the election and became president. The outcome caused the southerners to sucede [secede] from the Union, in fear that they no longer had a voice in government. However, Lincoln was determined to preserve the Union. His famous speech “a House divided against itself can not stand, ” stated his concern.

VHM Picture This picture is a picture of a war between the romans and the French or something. I am not totally sure why this war is gong [going] on possibly for peace, freedom, land. I’m not sure. All I know is this is in a roman collisiam [coliseum] and they are fighting. This even could be greek fighting. Greek, roman always seemed the same to me.

The Spanish Attacks The date is unknown in this picture. In this picture we see the Spanish fighting the Aztecs (the Aztecs were a native group who lived long ago). The Aztecs wouldn’t let the Spanish be here, after they found out it wasn’t their god. So the Spanish decided if you won’t let us here we’ll kill all of you so there are no more Aztecs! The Aztecs fought hard but sadly was [were] no match for the Spanish. The Spanish called them saveges [savages]! You can plainly see this was a very bloodly [bloody] battle. After killing all the Aztecs the Spanish knocked down all traces of the Aztecs. So nobody really knows a whole lot about this battle. We have found some very small but items of the Aztecs. Not all traces of them are gone but we really can’t learn much more from stoding [studying] the same things over and over again.

• It was a hot day and the Aztecs wanted the gold that Britain had found in the underground. So one of the Aztec soldiers said, “Hey, get out of there and get that gold. ” and don’t come back until you get it. So the soldier ran as fast as he could behind the British empire that was keeping an eye out for the Aztecs. So the Aztec soldier ran over to the safe and tried to figure out the combination.

Fight for freedom This picture shows part of the American Revolution. It shows the Americans fighting aginst [against] the British to gain the independence they want. This is a groosom [gruesome] picture of war and how many people gave their lives just so that we could have the freedom we have today. It shows how patriotic some people are because if you look closely you will find quite a few American flags. This picture to me is all about freedom and how hard and long we had to fight for it. It shows that even the kindest person in the world can turn if they are fighting for something the believe in. This picture to me at least means freedom

The Virtual History Museum: Purpose • Capitalize on opportunities for history learning with web-based resources • Support students with different learning characteristics • Focus on historical understanding and history learning as a process of inquiry • Motivate more students to learn history.

The Virtual History Museum (VHM) • Create and share exhibits on historical topics • Exhibit = artifact + activity – Artifact = historical content (text, audio, visual) – Activity = goal directed historylearning activity.

VHM Activities Supported or Standard Versions Essays Prediction papers Editorials Journals KWL Compare/contrast Question-Response Multiple Choice

Other VHM Features • • • Public and private side Copy & share exhibits Searchable database Communication system Classroom management system Evaluation system

Virtual History Museum

VHM: Exhibit – Andrew Jackson

VHM: Exhibits

VHM: Artifacts

VHM: Searching For Exhibits

VHM: Searching For Artifacts

VHM: Compare & Contrast

VHM: Activities

VHM: KWL

VHM: Multiple Choice

Essay

Supported Essay

Another Supported Essay

VHM: Notepad

VHM: AT – Spell Check

VHM: Internal Communication

Research with VHM • Three studies in local school districts – Pilot study, 3 classes – Two larger-scale studies – Inclusive classrooms; kids with and without LD • All students improve knowledge – In general, and compared to textbook-based instruction

Research with VHM • Kids with LD more engaged when using VHM than in traditional social studies instruction • Students and teachers have favorable opinions of VHM and its features

Research with VHM • Special education and general education students learn more in high VHM condition – If kids use VHM only a few times, kids with LD learn less than in traditional instructional conditions

Research with VHM

Research with VHM • Historical understanding improves for some topics • Historical writing and historical reasoning does not necessarily improve • Reasoning and writing are not closely related

Teaching Historical Thinking Strategies • Visual Representation Strategies – Political Cartoons – Photographs – Paintings • Strategy Steps – – – Who is the artist? What story is the artist trying to tell? Did the artist use special techniques? What is the artist’s purpose What do I think about this image?

Image for Photograph Strategy

Recommended Reading • Barton. K. C. , & Levstik, L. S. (2004). Teaching history for the common good. Mahwah, NJ: Lawrence Erlbaum Associates • Paxton, R. J. (1999). A deafening silence: History textbooks and the students who read them. Review of Educational Research, 69(3), 315339. • Van. Sledright, B. , & Brophy, J. (1992). Storytelling, imagination, and fanciful elaboration in children's historical reconstructions. American Education Research Journal, 29(4), 837 -859. • Stearns, P. N. , Seixas. , P. , & Wineburg, S. (2000). Knowing, teaching, and learning history. New York: New York University Press. • Wineburg, S. (1999). Historical thinking and other unnatural acts. Kappan, 80(7). Retrieved from www. pdkintl. org/kappan/kwin 9903. htm.

For More Information about the VHM • • • Okolo, C. M. , Englert, C. S. , Bouck, E. C. , Heutsche, A. , & Wang, H. (in press). The Virtual History Museum: Learning American History in diverse eight grade classrooms. Remedial and Special Education. Bouck, E. C. , Courtad, C. A. , Heutsche, A. , Okolo, C. M. , & Englert, C. S. (in press). The Virtual History Museum: Helping Bring UDL to Social Studies Instruction. Teaching Exceptional Children. Scruggs, T. E. , Mastropieri, M. A. , & Okolo, C. M. (2009). Science and social studies for students with disabilities. Focus on Exceptional Children, 41(2). Bouck, E. C. , Okolo, C. M. , Englert, C. S. , & Heutsche, A. (2008). Cognitive apprenticeship into the discipline: Helping students with disabilities think and act like historians. Learning Disabilities: A Contemporary Journal, 6(2), 31 -40. Okolo, C. M. , Englert, C. S. , Bouck, E. , Heutsche, A. (2007). Web-based history learning environments: Helping all students learn and like history. Intervention in School and Clinic, 43, 3 -11.