Article 11 – Technology and Social Studies

Bennett, Linda. (1999). Instructional Technology as a Medium for Learning World History. The International Journal of Social Education vol. 14 (1).

Summary: The above article lays out the five standards (Chronological Thinking, Historical Comprehension, Historical Analysis and Interpretation, Historical Research Capabilities, and Historical Issues Analysis and Decision Making) for historical thinking that are included in the National Standards for World History, and explains how the instructional technologies can be used to meet each one. For each standard, Linda Bennett explains how some schools have combined IT with their world history classes, as well as multiple websites that can give students more information than typical classroom textbooks can offer. Examples of these are the use of Inspiration software to help students brainstorm ideas, and various museum websites that educators can use to create virtual fieldtrips. Online and CD based encyclopedias can also lend to virtual fieldtrips, as well as give students the ability to not only know that certain primary documents existed in the past, but actually to read them. Bennett also talks about how the Internet allows students and teachers to connect with others across the global, bringing world history education to a truly global scale. This can be particularly useful, as Bennett points out, when looking at the idea of perspective.

Response: While the article was a bit dated, I still found the examples that Bennett gave on how to combine instructional technology with world history classes to be sound. Virtual fieldtrips, if executed well, can be fun and educational for students, as well as allowing students who may not learn best from typical classroom situations to learn from a new medium. I was particularly attracted to the idea of using the Internet and other communication devices to communicate with other teachers and students across the globe, and being able to incorporate that into projects. This may be one of the best ways in which we can help teach the idea of perspective in history, as it could allow for students around the world to learn from each other, and while there are many barriers to this (cost, language, reality of project, etc.), I feel that it may be one of the strongest IT teaching strategies world history teachers have.