Helping students to love history in elementary school

Social Studies Review, Fall 2001 by Finucane, Laurie

Making History become "a story well told" as the California History-Social Science Framework describes begins with teacher planning and building on the students' catalogue of experiences. Young elementary students do not generally come to us with large repertoires from which they are able to "connect" to a historical event or time period. Therefore, it is the teacher's role to facilitate this connection. This is not an easy task to accomplish and takes skillful planning.

First, in order to build in students an understanding of their shared cultural heritage, both as Americans and as citizens of the world, we must simulate experiences that begin to build this foundation. For example, when addressing the 5th grade History-Social Science Standards 5.3 (Students describe the cooperation and conflict that existed among the American Indians and between the Indian nations and the new settlers) and 5.4 (Students understand the political, religious, social, and economic institutions that evolved in the colonial era) the teacher must set the foundation for understanding by "painting the picture" so that students gain an understanding about the beginnings of America. In the unit I authored titled, Early American Settlements: The Jamestown Experience, students are asked to complete activities that simulate some of the same experiences that the new settlers had (Activities 3 and 4). These activities involve storytelling and decision-making based on the information of the time period using primary sources. Through these experiences students gain some understanding as to why Early American History progressed as it did and why conflicts occurred between two cultures. I witnessed 51 graders grasp a high level understanding of why and how certain events occuffed in Jamestown. On one occasion a parent shared with me that their family went on a camping trip with a large group and that their son befriended a retired history teacher. She told them that their son had a phenomenal understanding of Early America and that she had very in depth conversations with him and he displayed a knowledgeable viewpoint of that time period. First of all, I have to convey to you that this was not the top student in the class and second, that I was pleasantly surprised myself because before this time in my career I had not realized the impact some of these activities had on my students. This was the first of many incidents that proved to me that these kinds of simulated activities were effective in making connections for students. Students are able to conserve and apply information once they have some experiences with that information.

We have explored how a teacher can create experiences that give students a glimpse into the "real" experiences of history. However, in order to reap the benefit of the study of history one must help the development of students' skills in critical thinking and analysis by teaching students how to use the tools that will facilitate their investigations of history.

For example, in the unit, Early American Settlements: The Jamestown Experience, there are two activities that are included in order to teach students skills that will facilitate the use of skills in critical thinking and analysis. The first activity in the unit is one that introduces the Five Themes of Geography and gives them practice in using this information. Understanding new settlements through the lens of geographic understanding is essential at this grade level. It is through this lens that students can begin to realize that decisions on where to begin new settlements was not a random choice. In activity five the students are introduced to the processes of artifact analysis and interpretation. These skills enable students to take the basic information learned about the residents of Jamestown and the Powhatans and use higher level thinking skills. After the students learn the basic information and the artifact analysis skills they are asked to create their own simulated artifact that an archeologist might find from the time of Pocahontas and John Smith. I remember one particular incident concerning this activity. I was teaching a 5th grade class primarily composed of students who were learning English as a second language. Students worked in pairs to create their simulated artifact. All of the artifacts were impressive, but one was especially unique. It was a gravestone for Pocahontas created by two young men. It was a cross with Native American designs engraved on it. They used critical thinking skills to apply what they knew about the life of Pocahontas to create this artifact. They told me that they knew that Pocahontas died in England and that she converted to Christianity. However, they felt that she would have still been proud of her heritage and that if the gravestone maker knew about her that he would have made her gravestone similar to the one they simulated. These students had taken the first step in developing their skills in critical thinking and analysis.