Teaching
History Online
Number
146: 18th July, 2004
Introduction
1.
Teaching
History Online
2.
JFK
and LBJ
3.
Time
Maps
4.
Creative
and Rigour
5.
History
Website Directory
6.
Secrets
of a Homicide
7.
Second
World War Encyclopaedia
8.
Canadian
Military Heritage Project
9.
The
Olympics' Strangest Moments
Introduction
Spartacus Educational
publishes Teaching
History Online every week. The newsletter includes news, reviews
of websites and articles on using ICT in the history classroom. Members
of the mailing list are
invited to submit information for inclusion in future editions of
Teaching
History Online. In this way we hope to create a community
of people involved in using the Internet to teach history.
John Simkin
http://educationforum.ipbhost.com/index.php?showtopic=829
Teaching
History Online: Over the last few months I have had several complaints
from people pointing out that they have not been receiving weekly
editions of Teaching History Online. It seems, KeepAhead, who publish
the newsletter, have taken your email addresses from their data-base
because they believe you have unused accounts. This is clearly not
the case and they obviously have problems with their software. There
are two possible solutions to this problem. One is to re-subscribe.
The other one is to view the newsletter via my website.
JFK
and LBJ: This is the first of websites produced by the Education
Forum that will allow students to question historians, authors, teachers
and researchers about key periods in world history. Some of these
people were active participants in these events. So far fourteen educators
have signed up for this experiment. This includes experts based in
the United States, England, Australia, Canada, Finland, Belgium and
the Netherlands. The first one to be created is for students studying
American history between 1960-66. Over the next few weeks we hope
to establish similar sections on Black History, the Cold War and the
Vietnam War. Please feel free to send me your ideas for other sections.
Time
Maps: This new series is designed to illustrate historical change
in a visual and dynamic way, through interactive maps and animated
diagrams. The aim is to convey historical knowledge and understanding
to students who have a more visual, less textual or verbal approach
to learning, as well as reinforcing learning in all students whatever
their learning style or academic ability, by placing historical knowledge
in a broad chronological and spatial context. This seminar by Peter
Britton helps to explaining the thinking behind this series.
Creative
and Rigour: This workshop by Dan Varney introduces a variety of
practical lesson activities that engage students in collaborative
learning and develop their thinking skills. These range from unstructured
activity in exploring open-ended questions to the structured rigour
of investigating the credibility of sources. Dan Varney argues: "LogoVisual
Thinking (LVT®) is a simple yet profound methodology for making
sense. It gives everyone involved the means of developing meaning.
It is a method of ‘Hands-on’ approach to thinking that were
developed as a way of enabling people to represent their thoughts
as objects and then manipulate them until they make sense. It gets
people out of their heads, engaging physical, emotional and kinaesthetic
intelligences to develop understanding."
History
Website Directory: This annotated directory of websites are organized
under the headings: General Websites, American Civil War, Victorian
Britain, Ancient World, Romans, Medieval World, Industrial Revolution,
Tudors & Stuarts, Transport, Irish History, Welsh History, Scottish
History, Family History Research, First World War, Slavery, Military
History, European History, Online History Journals, Archaeology, Biographies,
Russian Revolution, Trade Union History, Women's History, Nazi Germany,
Kennedy Assassination, America in the 1930s, History of Medicine,
Political History, USA in the 19th Century, USA in the 20th Century,
Spanish Civil War, American West, Race Relations, Second World War,
Vietnam War, Cold War, Middle East, History of Aviation Railways and
Crime & Punishment.
Secrets
of a Homicide: On
22nd November, 1963, Abraham
Zapruder filmed
the motorcade of President John
F. Kennedy. Zapruder's
colour film shows the president being shot and became an important
part of the evidence looked at by those investigating the assassination.
Soon afterwards Zapruder sold Just after the assassination he sold
the 26-second film for $150,000 to Time-Life magazine, which published
individual frames but did not allow the film to be screened in its
entirety. After being released in 1975 Zapruder's 8mm home movie,
has become the most scrutinized strip of celluloid on the planet.
In early 1993, work began on a computer project aimed at justifying
the single bullet theory. The concept was to take motion geometry
from the Zapruder film and apply it to a full-scale, 3D computer model
of the assassination scene. This work was used in ABC-TV's 2003 documentary,
Peter Jennings Reporting: The Kennedy Assassination, Beyond Conspiracy
(in the UK we were shown this film with a British voiceover to suggest
it was made by the BBC). This expensive looking website is part of
this campaign to persuade the public that JFK was killed by a lone
gunman.
Second
World War Encyclopaedia: A comprehensive encyclopaedia of the
Second World War. Each entry contains a narrative, illustrations and
primary sources. The text within each entry is hypertexted to other
relevant pages in the encyclopedia. In this way it is possible to
research individual people and events in great detail. The sources
are also hypertexted so the student is able to find out about the
writer, artist, newspaper, organization, etc., that produced the material.
So far there are sections on: Background to the War; Nazi Germany,
Chronology of the War, Political Leaders, European Diplomacy, Major
Offensives, British Military Leaders, USA Military Leaders, German
Military Leaders, Japanese Military Leaders, The Armed Forces, The
Air War, The Resistance, Scientists & Inventors, War at Sea, Resistance
in Nazi Germany, The Holocaust, War Artists, Weapons and New Technology.
Canadian
Military Heritage Project: This website is dedicated to presenting
Canadian military history - the wars, uprisings and conflicts in which
Canadians participated. The goal of the project is to preserve the
records and memories of Canadians who served their country, and to
ensure that their sacrifices are not forgotten. The website provides
historical background for each conflict, chronological timelines,
statistics, battles, weaponry, uniforms & equipment, famous Canadians,
biographies of soldiers, heroes and their stories, contributions of
women, other countries who participated, muster rolls for conflicts
before 1900, letters from soldiers at the front, music and poetry,
guest authors' submissions and links to other online resources.
Book
Section
The
Olympics' Strangest Moments: This book recounts the bizarre, the
controversial, the inept, the heroic and the plain unlucky from competition
spanning three centuries of the Summer Games. From the inception of
the modern Games in 1896 to the glories of Sydney 2000, the world's
greatest sporting occasion has been packed with unusual occurrences.(Geoff
Tibballs, The Olympics' Strangest Moments, Robson Books, ISBN 1 86105
711 3, £8.99)
Available
from Amazon Books (order below)
