About the Historical Forensics Project
UVM's Landscape Change Project
Providing Context for Content
Many students studying American History do not see their ancestors’ stories represented within the standard history textbooks that tend to focus on well known urban personalities and the politics of power. The goal of Historical Forensics is to provide an engaging history experience for students that allows them to explore New England history through primary sources using a simulation game, Tool Cards, and/or stand-alone activities. The Historical Forensics approach and curriculum is meant to introduce educators and students to the Library of Congress’ vast collection of primary sources, provide a context for history, STEM, and language arts content, and to model the inquiry method as a means for teaching American History.
This inquiry-based curriculum offers numerous avenues for students and educators to personally engage with the issues of local and national history while being active participants in their own learning. By considering multiple perspectives and analyzing primary sources, students develop their own answers to history’s mysteries.
Teaching with Primary Sources
Primary sources offer context to better understand a certain time period, historical event, or innovation. By carefully analyzing primary sources, people can draw their own conclusions about the past based on the direct evidence of photographs, diary entries, newspaper articles and other documents. The idea behind Historical Forensics is to encourage people to actively gain an understanding of the bigger picture of New England history by piecing together multiple clues and perspectives in the form of primary sources.
Primary sources are readily available in local historical societies, libraries, municipal offices, and museums. More and more of these primary sources are being digitized and made available online. The Library of Congress and the National Archives are two examples of excellent resources that offer vast numbers of digitized primary sources.
Teaching Science through History
There is a push to improve STEM (science, technology, engineering, and math) educational settings from elementary schools through college. This has morphed into an interest in STEAM (science, technology, engineering, art, and math) and has expanded to include a desire to also integrate language arts. History is a wonderful avenue for providing context for all of these content areas. Integrated units serve as a reason for students to learn specific skills, the scientific process of inquiry learning allows students to engage in the material on their own terms, and the arts offers a wide variety of tools for students to demonstrate their learning.
Articles on History and Technology:
"Historical Forensics: Where History, Science, and Community Intersect"
Article republished from the March/April issue of Synergy Learning's Connect Magazine. To see the entire issue, follow this link: Mar-Apr 2012 - Collaborating with your Community.
Article republished from IEEE's Integrated STEM Conference: "History and Technology: Integrating STEM Content into Elementary Classrooms using History-Based Themes"
Support for this Project
This project is supported in part by the Library of Congress Teaching with Primary Sources Eastern Region Program, coordinated by Waynesburg University. Other partners crucial to the development of this project include author, educator, and historian Elise Guyette, Turning Points in American History, The Flow of History, Billings Farm & Museum, The Henry Sheldon Museum, and the Vermont Historical Society. Many thanks to the students and teachers who helped to field test these activities at Open Fields School, Putney Central School, and the Neighborhood Schoolhouse
Many students studying American History do not see their ancestors’ stories represented within the standard history textbooks that tend to focus on well known urban personalities and the politics of power. The goal of Historical Forensics is to provide an engaging history experience for students that allows them to explore New England history through primary sources using a simulation game, Tool Cards, and/or stand-alone activities. The Historical Forensics approach and curriculum is meant to introduce educators and students to the Library of Congress’ vast collection of primary sources, provide a context for history, STEM, and language arts content, and to model the inquiry method as a means for teaching American History.
This inquiry-based curriculum offers numerous avenues for students and educators to personally engage with the issues of local and national history while being active participants in their own learning. By considering multiple perspectives and analyzing primary sources, students develop their own answers to history’s mysteries.
Teaching with Primary Sources
Primary sources offer context to better understand a certain time period, historical event, or innovation. By carefully analyzing primary sources, people can draw their own conclusions about the past based on the direct evidence of photographs, diary entries, newspaper articles and other documents. The idea behind Historical Forensics is to encourage people to actively gain an understanding of the bigger picture of New England history by piecing together multiple clues and perspectives in the form of primary sources.
Primary sources are readily available in local historical societies, libraries, municipal offices, and museums. More and more of these primary sources are being digitized and made available online. The Library of Congress and the National Archives are two examples of excellent resources that offer vast numbers of digitized primary sources.
Teaching Science through History
There is a push to improve STEM (science, technology, engineering, and math) educational settings from elementary schools through college. This has morphed into an interest in STEAM (science, technology, engineering, art, and math) and has expanded to include a desire to also integrate language arts. History is a wonderful avenue for providing context for all of these content areas. Integrated units serve as a reason for students to learn specific skills, the scientific process of inquiry learning allows students to engage in the material on their own terms, and the arts offers a wide variety of tools for students to demonstrate their learning.
Articles on History and Technology:
"Historical Forensics: Where History, Science, and Community Intersect"
Article republished from the March/April issue of Synergy Learning's Connect Magazine. To see the entire issue, follow this link: Mar-Apr 2012 - Collaborating with your Community.
Article republished from IEEE's Integrated STEM Conference: "History and Technology: Integrating STEM Content into Elementary Classrooms using History-Based Themes"
Support for this Project
This project is supported in part by the Library of Congress Teaching with Primary Sources Eastern Region Program, coordinated by Waynesburg University. Other partners crucial to the development of this project include author, educator, and historian Elise Guyette, Turning Points in American History, The Flow of History, Billings Farm & Museum, The Henry Sheldon Museum, and the Vermont Historical Society. Many thanks to the students and teachers who helped to field test these activities at Open Fields School, Putney Central School, and the Neighborhood Schoolhouse
