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    Lesson 23 - My Country Tis of Thee History

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    Oliver PICTON
    This document provides a lesson plan about having students think like historians by selecting the most important historical event from their country and justifying their choice. The lesson aims to investigate the purpose of historical knowledge through role playing, understand the historian's method of making and justifying choices, and consider diverse perspectives. The lesson discusses what makes an event historically significant, what it reflects about a society's values, the criteria used to make choices, and questions about the nature of history and historical truth.

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    Lesson 23 - My Country Tis of Thee History

    Uploaded by

    Oliver PICTON
    10 views2 pages
    This document provides a lesson plan about having students think like historians by selecting the most important historical event from their country and justifying their choice. The lesson aims to investigate the purpose of historical knowledge through role playing, understand the historian's method of making and justifying choices, and consider diverse perspectives. The lesson discusses what makes an event historically significant, what it reflects about a society's values, the criteria used to make choices, and questions about the nature of history and historical truth.

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    This document provides a lesson plan about having students think like historians by selecting the most important historical event from their country and justifying their choice. The lesson aims to investigate the purpose of historical knowledge through role playing, understand the historian's method of making and justifying choices, and consider diverse perspectives. The lesson discusses what makes an event historically significant, what it reflects about a society's values, the criteria used to make choices, and questions about the nature of history and historical truth.

    Copyright:

    © All Rights Reserved
    Download as PDF, TXT or read online from Scribd
    Download as pdf or txt
    10 views2 pages

    Lesson 23 - My Country Tis of Thee History

    Uploaded by

    Oliver PICTON
    This document provides a lesson plan about having students think like historians by selecting the most important historical event from their country and justifying their choice. The lesson aims to investigate the purpose of historical knowledge through role playing, understand the historian's method of making and justifying choices, and consider diverse perspectives. The lesson discusses what makes an event historically significant, what it reflects about a society's values, the criteria used to make choices, and questions about the nature of history and historical truth.

    Copyright:

    © All Rights Reserved
    Download as PDF, TXT or read online from Scribd
    Download as pdf or txt
    of 2

    Lesson 23: My Country, ’Tis of Thee

    (a Lesson about Historical Judgment)

    Context
    This activity uses the body of knowledge students have acquired and asks them to begin to think
    as a historian. It invites them to create, not just discover history. When they select or eliminate
    an event or an individual from the historical account, they must give good reasons. As an
    international range of historical choices emerges, diverse perspectives must be considered.

    Aims
    y To investigate the purpose of historical knowledge, through student role playing.
    y To understand the method of the historian by making and justifying historical choices.
    y To invite a cross-cultural range of reasons and justifications for historical choices.

    Class Management
    This lesson requires choice. Let the students discuss for a few minutes, helping each other to
    make choices and justifying these choices to each other. Then ask them to write up what they
    plan to say.
    Allow 40–60 minutes for the lesson, including 20 minutes’ preparation time.

    Focus Activity
    Step 1
    You are the minister of tourism in your country. For the forthcoming anniversary celebrations,
    you are to select your country’s most important historical event. This event will then be honoured
    and portrayed in a national festival.
    Make your choice and give three good reasons for it.

    Step 2
    Present your choice to the class. Spend 3–5 minutes defending your choice.
    The rest of the class acts as a committee to provide reasons in support of your choice and to
    suggest counter-arguments.

    Step 3
    List each event, the reasons for having chosen it, and the arguments against it (on the board or
    using an overhead projector).

    Teacher Support Material—Theory of Knowledge Lessons from Around the World © IBO, September 2004 Lesson 23—page 1
    Lesson 23: My Country, ’Tis of Thee (A Lesson about Historical Judgment)

    Discussion Questions
    y What makes your chosen event historically significant?
    y What does it reflect of your society’s values?
    y What were your criteria as you chose the event?
    y Was it described “simply as it was” or did you select some aspects of it and eliminate others?
    y What is history?
    y What do historians do?
    y What are the necessary conditions of good evidence?
    y What constitutes historical truth?

    Links to other Areas of TOK


    y Compare and contrast the formation of historical knowledge with that of scientific
    knowledge.
    y Compare and contrast the work of historians with that of artists.

    Quotations

    The historians are the guardians of tradition, the priests of the cult of nationality, the prophets
    of social reform, the upholders of national virtue and glory.
    Bagby*

    The Orient was generally thought to be far too important to be left to the interpretation of
    the Orientals themselves.
    Edward Said*

    The mutual relations between the sexes seem to us at least as important as the mutual
    relations between any two world governments.
    Thomas Babington Macaulay*

    References
    Said, EW, Culture and Imperialism, (1994) Vintage Books USA, ISBN 0679750541
    Carr, EH, What is History?, (1967) Vintage Books USA, ISBN 039470391X
    Eban, A, Heritage: Civilization and the Jews, (1984) Simon & Schuster Inc, ISBN 0671441035
    *No references available.

    Teacher Support Material—Theory of Knowledge Lessons from Around the World © IBO, September 2004 Lesson 23—page 2

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