My digital project proposal will build on the topic I explored in my web review essay. It will teach students how to “think historically,” including the processes formulating a historical question, choosing sources to use, analyze sources, and construct a narrative out of those sources. The goal is to help students at the high school (or middle school?) level understand the concepts of historiography and historical debate. Working on a specific historical time-period and event will accomplish this goal most effectively. This event will be preferably in world history, but probably in American history because of the materials already available online. Students will have access to a number of online resources—primary sources of all kinds—text, images, objects, maps, etc. The site will lead users through the process of creating their own historical argument and narrative. Then, they will be able to see how a historian approached the materials and created an argument and narrative from them—showing specifically how interpretations of the sources directly led to passages in the historian's narrative work. Interactivity, made possible by the web, will be a key component of the site. The site will also include a parallel section on writing historical fiction, and identifying the differences between “truthful” historical narrative and a fictionalized version of the same account.
Posted by Kristin at October 29, 2004 07:19 PM