Problem-Based History Facilitating Historical Thinking and Modeling History © 2010 AIHE, 2008 R. Brown

What Problem-Based History is Taking a key issue of the past and posing it as a problem Students use previous knowledge and their intellectual curiosity to attempt to find a solution Why use this technique? Gets students to think about the past in a new way Fosters critical thinking and looking at history from multiple angles from causation to consequence © 2010 AIHE, 2008 R. Brown

Comparison Student-centered Teacher as facilitator and coach Problem-Based History Problem-Based Learning Student-centered Teacher as facilitator and coach Personal engagement and responsibility Engage prior knowledge and historical context to help solve problem(s) Student-centered Teacher as facilitator Collaborate to solve problems Discover the nature of the problem Reflect on the process used to solve the problem © 2010 AIHE, 2008 R. Brown

What we will be doing Looking at a key event, era, or historical issue as a complex problem to be solved Learning background information Examining and analyzing documents Discussing possible avenues of action Studying the historical result Gaining an understanding of the short and long-term impacts of the issue Drawing conclusions © 2010 AIHE, 2008 R. Brown

“The Plan” Background Information Introduce the Problem Avenues of Discussion Introduce Documents A.R.T.I.S.T. + R.&B. Document Conclusion Historical Result Impact(s) Conclusion © 2010 AIHE, 2008 R. Brown

This PowerPoint presentation is designed as a template or shell This PowerPoint presentation is designed as a template or shell. If you so choose, you can cut out the information in this presentation and add in the material that you will use in your lesson. © 2010 AIHE, 2008 R. Brown

Getting the information necessary to work with the historical problem Background Getting the information necessary to work with the historical problem © 2010 AIHE, 2008 R. Brown

Information Provide students with background information This can include what led to this issue It can include bios of important people It should include facts, figures, and evidence that a problem exists © 2010 AIHE, 2008 R. Brown

Information The background information is not the focus of the lesson but… There should be enough material to provide students a decent foundation in the problem The material should be derived from a number of sources and even across disciplines and media © 2010 AIHE, 2008 R. Brown

Information You can “chunk” the material or use S.P.E.E.C.H. in developing the background information if it can work for your situation Social Political Economic Environmental Cultural Historical Social Political Economic Period or Event © 2010 AIHE, 2008 R. Brown

What are we going to “solve”? Introduce the Problem What are we going to “solve”? If you were _____________ what would you do? © 2010 AIHE, 2008 R. Brown

Introduce Pertinent Documents And a quick and easy means of analysis of each document © 2010 AIHE, 2008 R. Brown

ARTIST + R&B Author Reason To Whom Immediate Effects Subsequent Effects Time Period © 2010 AIHE

What is R&B? R&B is the logical extension of the ARTIST analysis. R&B stand for Reliability and Big picture ideas respectively. It is absolutely imperative that students have a grasp of the reliability of historical documents as well as the big picture ideas contained in them. © 2010 AIHE

Reliability After students have applied the A.R.T.I.S.T. process, ask them to draw conclusions from the document or source. Ask leading questions to get your students to fully process the document and its place in history. Attempt to determine the reliability of the document(s). Should include possible biases and unique points of view © 2010 AIHE

Big Picture Ideas After students have applied the A.R.T.I.S.T. process –AND- have determined the reliability of the document, ask them to draw big picture conclusions from the document or source. Ask leading questions to get your students to fully process the document and its place in the larger scope of American history. Actively discuss the main ideas embodied in the document or source. © 2010 AIHE

Document A You should provide documents of a variety of types: Primary Sources (written, visual, audio, etc) Quotes Secondary sources that work with the problem Visuals (pictures, drawings, paintings, etc) © 2010 AIHE, 2008 R. Brown

Document B Don’t use too many documents. 3-4 is plenty. Too Many Too Few Too Many Blah © 2010 AIHE, 2008 R. Brown

Document C Make sure that the documents are not so long that using A.R.T.I.S.T. becomes tedious © 2010 AIHE, 2008 R. Brown

Document D It can also be useful to ask a couple of probing questions about each document to start the thought process off in the right direction © 2010 AIHE, 2008 R. Brown

Document Conclusion It is always a good idea to formally conclude the document analysis portion of the lesson to make sure that the students have a complete understanding of the material © 2010 AIHE, 2008 R. Brown

Alternate answers to help “solve” the problem Avenues of Discussion Alternate answers to help “solve” the problem This is the point where students should propose their solutions to the problem. © 2010 AIHE, 2008 R. Brown

Alternate “A” Once student ideas have been exhausted, or if they do not generate any logical solutions, you should have two or maybe three alternate actions available © 2010 AIHE, 2008 R. Brown

Alternate “B” The alternate avenues and student-generated possibilities lends itself to powerful discussion Wrap up the discussion to introduce what really happened © 2010 AIHE, 2008 R. Brown

What actually happened The Historical Result What actually happened Brief explanation of what historically happened © 2010 AIHE, 2008 R. Brown

Outcome Explain what the historical outcome was May be useful to explain the intended and unintended outcomes © 2010 AIHE, 2008 R. Brown

Short-Term Impact(s) It is a good idea to differentiate the short-term impacts Impacts that almost immediately arise from the decision © 2010 AIHE, 2008 R. Brown

Long-Term Impact(s) As with the short-term impact(s) it is a good idea to trace the impact of the events and actions long-term These may be years after the fact © 2010 AIHE, 2008 R. Brown

Conclusion As the title implies, this is a time to wrap up the lesson You should be very explicit in explaining what you intended the students to derive from the lesson © 2010 AIHE, 2008 R. Brown

Where this technique works well Events Movements & Ideas Beginning of the American Revolution The Constitutional Convention The Louisiana Purchase The Nullification Crisis The Decade of Crisis Ft. Sumter Entrance into WWI Cuban Missile Crisis Tonkin Gulf Resolution 1968 Election Manifest Destiny 19th Century Reforms Reconstruction American Imperialism Progressivism New Deal Civil Rights Movements © 2010 AIHE, 2008 R. Brown

Using this Outline Cut out the directions, information, and other material Add your own content, scenarios, and ideas that fit your class and students