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Secondary History - The use of generic resources

Module 2

Contents
  History Map Talent Map
  1. Why focus on generic resources?
  2. Word Processing
  3. Activity 2.1
  4. Spreadsheets and databases
  5. Activity 2.2
  6. Presentational software
  7. Encyclopaedia
  8. Referencing tasks - activities for pupils
  9. Activity 2.3
  10. Using the Internet - email and co-operative learning

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Why focus on generic resources?

There are several reasons for using generic resources in History:

The quotes used are from the ICT KS3 programme of study.

The generic tools explored in this section include word processing, spreadsheets and databases and presentational devices such as desktop publishing and PowerPoint.

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Word Processing

Let us start with the basics. The key word in the name of this generic software is ‘processing’. We can use a word processor to draft and redraft, manipulate, reorganise and represent any amount of historical information and so use it to develop our ideas and interpretations about an historical event. Sometimes that process does not need to be that complex. There is an excellent example of this in the Becta book "Improving Students’ Writing in History using Word Processing". The pupils are asked to use copy and paste to place in correct chronological order the history of events in 1066. A slightly modified version of this activity (see below) uses a two-column table so that pupils can copy from the ‘Wrong order’ column to the ‘Right order’ column and change their mind if they feel that they have made a mistake.
Wrong order
Right order

William lands in England

 

William crowned King of England

 

Battle of Hastings

 

Harold marches to meet William

 

Three claims but only one throne

 

Harold’s difficult position

 

Harold Godwinson attacks Harold Hardrada

 

William’s plans for invasion

 

A simple and effective idea and one of many excellent examples of simple, structured word processing activities for History in the Becta pack. An additional virtue is that you could create your own ‘chronological order’ activity using the same word processing features or borrow the table/copy and paste structure to other history activities.

The second example comes from Research Machines KS3 courseware for History (no longer available) which was originally developed by ILECC in conjunction with Ann Marsden, then head of History at St Martin-in-the-Fields School, Tulse Hill. This used a series of simplified versions of primary sources of contemporary explanations of the Great Mortality (Black Death) of 1348 to 1351

Great Mortality, all of which could be found in most school textbooks. Given all the extracts in a single word processing file, the students’ task was to copy and paste, from each extract, short phrases which gave reasons for the plaque and so build up at the bottom of the document a list of ‘causes’ of the Black Death. This list would then be divided across a table into various categories of causation.

Look at the partial extract from this example.

Examples of some of the sources used:

Guy de Chauliac, a fourteenth century doctor

In some places it was believed that the Jews had poisoned the people. In some quarters that it was the poor cripples and in others that it was the rich. The truth is that there were two causes: first, the close position of the three great planets, Saturn, Jupiter and Mars. Such a coming together of planets is always a sign of wonderful, terrible or violent things to come; second, the state of the body - bad digestion, weakness and blockage, and for this reason people died.

Helvetian Chronicle, c1349.

Many wise people think that the Jews are not guilty of poisoning the water with plague and that the Jews only confesses to doing so because they were tortured. Wise people think that the plague was due to the great earthquake which took place in January of last year, 1348; this burst open the crust of the earth and allowed the bad, noxious poisons and vapours to enter the wells and springs. A large proportion of Jews are doctors and they therefore know how to avoid the plague.

Matthew of Neuenburg

A person rose and read a letter out loud. In it the angel said that Christ was displeased by the wickedness of the world, and named many sins: not observing Sunday, not fasting on Friday, blasphemy, usury, adultery.

 

Exercise 1: Possible list of ‘causes’ copied and pasted from these sources

Jews had poisoned the people

close position of the three great planets

the state of the body

the great earthquake which took place in January of last year

Christ was displeased by the wickedness of the world

 

Exercise 2: List redistributed into categories of causation

Religious
Physical
Medical
Other

Christ was displeased by the wickedness of the world

close position of the three great planets

the state of the body

Jews had poisoned the people

 

the great earthquake which took place in January of last year

 

 

Describing and analysing the mentality of medieval Europe from this table of categories would be possible extension work for abler students. But still within the same word document.

The third example was developed with Tony Hier, head of History at Thomas Tallis School, Greenwich, as a worksheet for the KS3 section of the Cadbury Learning Zone. It uses similar techniques to provide students with a framework for presenting their ideas and interpretations and then extends it into a writing frame for them to assemble and present their conclusions.

You will find the worksheet in the KS3 at Cadbury Learning Zone. You will need to register if you have not accessed the site before. Make a note of the school name and postcode with which you have registered as this will be your log in password when next you visit this zone.

The file you need to download, in Word format, is called ‘the impact of industrialisation’. Students are asked to load this file into Word and then load the Cadbury Learning Zone, hopping between Word and the website by using the minimise buttons and the Task bar. If you are not sure how this works then look at the ‘How to’ sheets in the Encarta section below.

As these two extracts from the worksheet suggest, the students collect evidence from the website and enter it into the first worksheet, and then use that evidence to complete a writing frame (using copy and paste if desired) which is the second worksheet.

An extract from the first worksheet from the Cadbury Learning Zone - collecting information

An extract from the second worksheet Cadbury Learning Zone - the writing frame

The rows in the tables are set to a specific height using the Exactly option form the Table Cell Height and Width command. This restricts the amount of text that can be entered so that the worksheet does not lose its shape. In this way the student can build on the word processing techniques learnt in simpler activities to do a completely electronic work session involving the Internet. So here are three examples of differing complexity and sophistication suggesting how word processing might aid the development of historical skills. They seem to share the same characteristics:

Some other word-processor activities

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Activity 

 

Task 2.1

Using you own selection of primary sources or a specific site on the Internet as stimulus, create your own worksheet using as many of the techniques discussed in this section i.e. copy and paste, tables etc.

 

 

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Spreadsheets and databases

See Module 4

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Activity 

 

Task 2.2

You will need to download the ‘How to search in Excel’ help sheets and a sample collection of data handling activities.

Creating your own census data file

Why not try creating a data file of census data for a group of houses near your school? Most local libraries will have census data on microfilm or microfiche for all census returns over 100 years old. You do not need 500 records; really effective work can be done with 100. Although it takes quite a long time to set up a census data handling activity, you will be able to use it year after year. The great thing about History is that it never goes out of date. If you are going to make your own census data file, you may find the following information useful.

  • For each census, the data is usually stored on rolls of microfilm. It is arranged by district, not by street. A district might be a section of a parish or a municipal ward. So the data for a street may be split across a number of rolls and a number of districts.
  • Most central libraries will have an index guide to the census microfilm, with the streets listed in alphabetical order. Listed next to the street’s name will be the roll number and district number containing the street’s data. Some librarians will have also included the sheet numbers in their index, which makes the job of searching so much easier.
  • If the index does not include sheet numbers, you will need to browse through the roll until you find the heading sheet that introduces each district. This sheet contains the title of the district (parish or ward), a list of the streets contained in the section and the number of the district. This will be the only place where you will see a reference to the district’s number. Search for this heading sheet first and then you will find your data.
  • Many libraries will have Postal Directories for their area which usually list the name, surname and occupation of the head of family for every house and street. This is invaluable for deciphering data obscured by tick marks or written in illegible script. The postal directory will also fill in other missing gaps: uninhabited houses might be lockup shops or small factories. The data for 1891 is more likely to be in the 1892 postal directory.
  • Make sure you book the microfilm reader with an attached photocopier.

Allow yourself one hour to decode, enter and correct each sheet. There are 30 people on each sheet.

 

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Presentational software

See Module 5

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Encyclopaedia

Historians find things out, as Von Ranke wrote, "Wie es eigentlich gewesen ist", they attempt to find out what actually happened in the past. 'Finding things out' is also one of the strands in the ICT National Curriculum. In particular the programme of study for Key Stage 3 of the ICT National Curriculum opens with this statement:

During key stage 3 pupils become increasingly independent users of ICT tools and information sources. They have a better understanding of how ICT can help their work in other subjects and develop their ability to judge when and how to use ICT and where it has limitations. They think about the quality and reliability of information, and access and combine increasing amounts of information. They become more focused, efficient and rigorous in their use of ICT, and carry out a range of increasingly complex tasks.

Pupils should be taught to talk about what information they need and how they can find and use it, for example, searching the Internet or a CD-ROM.

This section will attempt to show how a reference CD-ROM, in this case Microsoft Encarta, can be used in History not only to contribute positively to a pupil's experience of key aspects of the study units but also to develop their skills as independent users of information sources.

Microsoft Encarta is being used for three reasons;

  1. It's there - most schools already have it installed on a networked CD-ROM server
  2. It's been around a long time - there is a Microsoft Encarta 1994, 1995, 1996 etc. through to 2000 and beyond. There will probably be an Encarta for each year in the foreseeable future. Any activities you create will therefore still be usable and relevant for a few years, am important point if they take time to develop.
  3. The pupils have got it even if you haven't - and the evidence is the acres of regurgitated text printed out from Encarta without any thought or process which they submit as homework.

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Referencing tasks - activities for pupils

The downloadable resources in this section are divided into two groups:

  1. Encarta How to Sheets

    Searching in Encarta

    Copying pictures from Encarta

    Copying text from Encarta

    The second and third items on the 'How to' sheets assume that the pupil is working with a word processor and Encarta running at the same time.

  2. Four example tasks of search and process activities which you will can complete. These are:
The middle two are based on activities to be found in the Becta publication 'Finding Out', price £9.95, an invaluable source of good ideas for simple research activities for Key Stage 3.

You will need to have downloaded the following two documents - Encarta how to sheets and Encarta search and process activities sheets before reading the next section which describes the Exercises you are being asked to do.

 

Exercise 1. Using the 'Searching in Encarta' sheet

Exercise 2. Using the 'Copying pictures from Encarta' sheet

Select three famous people (or choose a topic of your own) and copy a picture of each into your word processor.

Exercise 3. Using the 'Copying text into Encarta' sheet

Go back to each of the articles you used in Level 2, select a short amount of text and copy it to a place underneath the relevant picture in your word processor. Edit the text so that it can be understood in the new context.

Exercise 4. Presenting your research project with WordArt and tables

Format the font and size of the title (or use WordArt of you are working in Microsoft Word) and use tables (or a similar device) to lay out pictures and text across rather than down the page.

Should you want to try more complex searches in Encarta then selecting Find and then Word Search produces a dialogue box.

The search rules Encarta Encyclopaedia uses are:

Operator
Example
Finds every article in which …
" "
"pride and prejudice"

the phrase pride and prejudice appears

and
pride and prejudice

both words appear

or
pride or prejudice

either the word pride or the word prejudice appears

not
pride not prejudice

the word pride appears when the word prejudice does not

near
charge near brigade

charge of the light brigade because charge appears within 8 words of brigade

Now you have finished the tasks, let's summarise of what we have done and what key points need to be kept in mind. We have tried to establish a hierarchy of referencing skills that starts with Searching and then progresses through Copy and Paste to Presentation. To avoid the automatic copying and pasting of chunks of text it has been suggested that any task set should impose some processing of the data. The aims have been to:

What we have been attempting to teach them is how to identify what information they need and how they can find and use it by, for example, searching a reference CD-ROM.

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Activity 

 

Task 2.3

  1. Here is an abbreviated table of the ICT attainment targets, covering those areas which might be associated with the processes of communicating and handling information using a reference CD. Of the tasks you have completed in this section, what statements and part-statements would you claim and for which task? (download for Word or for ClarisWorks here)
  2. Email your response to your tutor.
Communicating information
Handling information
Task

Pupils use IT to generate, amend, organise and present ideas.

They use IT to save data and to access stored information, following straightforward lines of enquiry.

 

Pupils use IT to combine different forms of information, and show an awareness of audience.

They add to, amend and interrogate information that has been stored. They understand the need for care in framing questions when collecting, accessing and interrogating information. Pupils interpret their findings, question plausibility and recognise that poor quality information yields unreliable results.

 

Pupils use IT to organise, refine and present information in different forms and styles for specific purposes and audiences.

They select information needed for different purposes, check its accuracy and organise and prepare it in a form suitable for processing using IT.

 

  1. Design an activity using Encarta supported by any or all of the three 'how to' sheets. It could be a simple search activity, along the lines of the categories/true or false/anachronisms examples. It could be a copy and paste activity. If so, it must include instructions on how you want them to process the text they have copied.

 

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The Internet - Email and co-operative learning

The availability of cheap and supervised email creates the possibility of schools working together to produce collaborative projects, using the email to consult and inform each other with text messages and the sending of attached documents. British Telecom recently ran a competition to encourage this aspect of communication technology. The following four activities were produced as exemplars of what history departments might look at as ideas for practice.

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  • Oral history project

    Objective: To collect oral evidence from local people on particular topics. To share the information with partner schools to produce comparative analyses on common themes.

    Participating schools should be from different geographical areas. Pupils at each school conduct interviews with older local people on one or more of the key themes of a particular topic. Themes and topics might include:

    • Britain in the 1940s – evacuation; the Blitz; rationing; the effect of the war on family life
    • the changing role and status of women – in the workplace; at home; education and opportunities
    • the impact of the introduction of new communication technologies – radio; television; computers

    The interviews should then be stored as word-processed files or as sound files. Each participating school then acts as the ‘host’ for one of the topics – this should be agreed through a video or call conference. Each school then emails the relevant interviews to the correct ‘hosts’, who may then ask for more information, perhaps including emailed illustrations or photographs. Each school then collates all the information they have received on their topic, adding their own research where appropriate. They then produce a web page to go on a website set up by all the schools. This website includes text and pictures and an overall analysis of each topic. Pupils from all the participating schools use video or call conferencing to make suggestions for ways in which the website can be improved so that it becomes a valuable information resource, perhaps for other schools to access as well.

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  • Comparative study of Victorian census data

    Objective: To build a comparative study of census data from two or more localities. To co-operate with others to develop a research resource for collaborative and comparative learning.

    Participating schools should be from different geographical locations. The pupils could be within the same Key Stage, or from across two Key Stages. For the first part of the project, each school collects data from, say, their local 1891 census enumerator forms. They then create a computer file to record the information they uncover. To ensure consistency, the schools need to liaise beforehand, using email, call conferencing or video conferencing, to discuss the standardisation of the data, how it will be recorded, the structure of the data file, and the type of software being used. Once the data files have been created, they should be placed on a jointly produced web page. These data files form the basis of a research resource that pupils can use to find out as much as possible about Victorian life in the partner school’s locality. Each school could email specific queries about local people/places/events/activities, and the partner school could respond by email with written information, digitised pictures, etc. Each school then produces a web page giving an account of Victorian life in their partner school’s locality. Pupils could then use video or call conferencing to discuss the merits and success of the web pages.

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  • Updating ‘History in the headlines’ – online newsletter activity

    Objective: To encourage pupils to understand the chronology of a particular historical event. To use ICT to reconstruct the story of that event in a dramatic manner.

    This is an old idea reworked to exploit the use of ICT. The aim is to simulate a newspaper office receiving news of an important historical event as if it is happening now, and writing and updating their news report as a breaking story.

    The first school researches an agreed historical event. The information they gather is broken down into short summaries in chronological order. Each summary is emailed to the partner school on an agreed day, at an agreed interval between each email. On receiving the first email, the partner school, acting as the newspaper office, starts to produce their newspaper report. They update and enhance the story as more emails arrive. They could email back with requests for more information – this could include photos or scans sent as attachments. Finally, the newspaper office produces a front-page story, complete with headline, picture and caption, which is emailed to the first school for review. The schools then swap roles.

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  • Supporting primary/secondary school links - Famous lives

    Objective: To encourage links between Year 6 primary pupils and Year 9 secondary pupils. To encourage historical research and emphasise the contribution that role-play can bring to the learning of history.

    The Year 6 pupils use email to link up with the Year 9 pupils in their new secondary school. They agree on a suitable historical period to cover – for example, Tudor England, the Industrial Revolution or World War Two. The Year 9 pupils choose two or three famous people from that period whom they will represent. (There is an opportunity for discussing what we mean by ‘famous’ in an historical context.) The Year 6 pupils brainstorm some questions that they would like to ask the famous people about their life and the things they did, and they email these to the Year 9 pupils. The older pupils then do some research to try to find the answers to these questions. Then, using video conferencing, the Year 6 pupils conduct some ‘interviews’, with Year 9 pupils taking on the role of each famous person and using their research to answer the questions. The Year 6 pupils then write summaries of the interviews to serve as a record of the information they have learned. The schools then swap roles.

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