1. Canadian History 30F

2.  Learning about any history involves much more than simply memorizing a bunch of dates and names  History seeks to ask “essential questions” about a topic to gain insight as to why it was important and it still may impact us today

3.  EQ’s tend to lead to more questions rather than clear-cut answers  Are open-ended – they do not have one “correct” response and many even have no correct response.  Cannot be answered with a “yes” or “no” or even with a single sentence.  Are thought provoking, requiring you to make choices, decisions, and judgements that can be supported by evidence or research

4. SET #1 – TRADITIONAL QUESTIONSSET #2 – ESSENTIAL QUESTIONS - When did Canada enter the war? - What happened at the Battle of Vimy Ridge? - What was the conscription crisis? - To what extent did Canada respond effectively to the First World War? - Did participation in the First World War do more harm than good for Canada? - Could a conscription crisis ever happen in Canada again?

5. NON ESSENTIAL QUESTIONESSENTIAL QUESTION  When did the Canadian government decide to join NATO?  Should Canada continue to belong to NATO?  Why did Canada decide to join NATO?  To what extent does membership to NATO reduce Canadian sovereignty?

6.  Responding intelligently to an essential question requires a person to think critically  In order to do this a person needs to interpret and analyze relevant evidence, make reasonable judgements and ignore bias  In order to develop these skills, various historical thinking concepts have been developed, six of which will be used in this class

7.  What makes a topic significant (important) and who deems it to be this way?  Significance is based on judgement, and thus can lead to debate  **Some criteria to consider includes: -the impact that the person/event had at the time, -the people affected then/now, -short and long term consequences and -how/if its presence is still felt in Canada today.  Historical Significance 7 minsHistorical Significance 7 mins

8.  Primary source evidence would be any materials from when an event ACTUALLY happened  Materials may include speeches, letters, maps, photos, media broadcasts as well as artifacts such as clothing or tools  Primary sources allow us to go back to the time of an event and understand some of the different values and ideas that existed  Evidence and Interpretation 7 mins Evidence and Interpretation 7 mins

9.  What remains the same and what changes over time…..  Continuity and change are interrelated- change is usually a continuous process rather than an isolated event  Change does not always mean progress  In order to study C&C – must know order of events.  Continuity and Change 6 mins Continuity and Change 6 mins

10.  Every event has a series of causes and consequences (outcomes) and we can use this skill to help is infer significance  Involves roles of individuals and groups in shaping events  Some C&C’s are direct, which are easy to detect, but the indirect ones (usually much more far- reaching/layered) are what historians seek to discover  Humans are the agents of change  Cause and Consequence 6 mins Cause and Consequence 6 mins

11.  This is the idea that it is unfair for people to judge past actions by today’s standards  Taking a historical perspective involves putting yourself in the shoes of someone who lived in a different era and trying to see their world  Historical perspective does not mean you need to agree with the perspective but just to understand it  Primary source evidence is used to help a person gain historical perspective  Historical Perspective 6 mins Historical Perspective 6 mins

12.  Studying and learning from past actions can help shape the way people think about ethical dilemmas today.  Need to take a historical perspective – suspend judgement to try to understand the perspectives of the historical figures.  Ethical Judgement 7 mins Ethical Judgement 7 mins