The History of History Teaching

We had to choose to answer one of the three questions listed here:

• What elements of historical thinking have remained at the heart of history teaching over the decades?
  
• How have history teachers responded to technological change in the 20th and 21st centuries?
  
• How have external expectations constrained teaching and learning in history, and how might the digital turn disrupt those constraints?

The one that I wish to answer is the third one (in bold above.)

The external expectations that been placed on historical learning and teaching have hindered students in many ways. The SATs or SOLs or AP tests or any of the standardized tests have structured the historical content in a way that has made it difficult to want to learn more. Teachers are forced to teach the “standard” history lessons and that can learn students to become disinterested in history because they might not grasp all of the facts thrown at them.

The digital age has changed these expectations because now students can look up topics more easily and faster that interests them. They can ask more questions than they probably would’ve just by reading or being lectured on the material. Students are able to actively engage in the historical learning and offer different ways to demonstrate their knowledge of the subject.

I can think of one limitation in the digital realm. As sources are under copyright and not in the public domain, it becomes harder for students to use sources that might have been previously available to them in print to post on the web. Their historical topics might become constrained and thus their interests in digital historical research. On the other side of the coin, with sources becoming digitized it allows students to know what is available for out there in the world to research and might give them inspiration in some shape or form.