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In your Notebooks: How do we know when moments are significant?
In your Notebooks: How do we know when moments are significant?
Create a T-chart in your notebook. Take a moment to consider significant events in your life. With a partner, create a list of five or six important events in your lives on one side of your T-chart. After you have your list, write down the criteria or factors you consider to qualify as significant on the other side of the T-chart.
Create a T-chart in your notebook. Take a moment to consider significant events in your life. With a partner, create a list of five or six important events in your lives on one side of your T-chart. After you have your list, write down the criteria or factors you consider to qualify as significant on the other side of the T-chart.
"I wish there was a way to know you're in the good old days before you left them" - Andy Bernard
"I wish there was a way to know you're in the good old days before you left them" - Andy Bernard
What makes an event significant?
What makes an event significant?
Determining what is significant can be difficult. Our lives are full of events, clearly, not all events are equally important. What is personally significant to one person, may not be to another.
Determining what is significant can be difficult. Our lives are full of events, clearly, not all events are equally important. What is personally significant to one person, may not be to another.
If I asked, "What is the most significant moment in K-Pop history?", would we agree?
If I asked, "What is the most significant moment in K-Pop history?", would we agree?
- Some might say the success of “Gangnam Style” sparked a significant increase in K-Pop worldwide. The “Gangnam Style” music video became the most-watched video for almost 5 years on Youtube and was the first YouTube video to reach 1 Billion views.
- Others might argue the most significant moment in K-Pop history was in 2017 when BTS became the first Korean group to win an award at the Billboard Music Awards. Furthering the global impact of K-Pop.
How do we measure what qualifies as significant?
How do we measure what qualifies as significant?
Historians have created a list of criteria to help agree on what makes a person or event significant. There are a number of criteria that historians use that can be applied to establish the significance of events.
Historians have created a list of criteria to help agree on what makes a person or event significant. There are a number of criteria that historians use that can be applied to establish the significance of events.
Below are some generally agreed on criteria to determine historical significance.
Below are some generally agreed on criteria to determine historical significance.
Relevance to people living at the time
Relevance to people living at the time
- Was it noticed at the time as having importance?
Remarked/Discussed
Remarked/Discussed
- Was it talked about by people at the time as well as after
- Weeks
- Months
- Years
Remembered
Remembered
- How has it been memorialized?
- Does it represent a historical issue or trend?
Results
Results
How widespread and lasting the consequences were:
How widespread and lasting the consequences were:
- How deeply felt was it?
- How widespread was it?
Regionally Significant
Regionally Significant
National Significant
National Significant
Global Significant
Global Significant
Resonant (Impactful)
Resonant (Impactful)
- People make analogies or parallels with it
- People can connect with it across time place or space
However, even with criteria historians debate the significance of certain events or people.
However, even with criteria historians debate the significance of certain events or people.
Sources: "Debating Historical Significance" (PDF). Edge Hill UniversityCounsell, Christine. “Looking through a Josephine-Butler-Shaped Window: Focusing Pupils' Thinking on Historical Significance.” Teaching History, no. 114, 2004, pp. 30–33. JSTOR, www.jstor.org/stable/43259071. Accessed 4 Mar. 2021.
Here is another example of how historians determine if an event or person qualifies as significant:
Here is another example of how historians determine if an event or person qualifies as significant:
Choose one of these articles to read and annotate. Does this qualify as significant?
Choose one of these articles to read and annotate. Does this qualify as significant?
bts - history making septet.pdfK-pop making history
Pixar short "out" makes history.pdfPixar making history with a leading character that is gay
In order to measure what qualifies as significant, we need to have pre-defined criteria to judge it against.
In order to measure what qualifies as significant, we need to have pre-defined criteria to judge it against.
UNESCO is a great example of a group that uses a list of criteria for World Heritage Sites. In order to qualify as a World Heritage Site, "sites must be of outstanding universal value and meet at least one out of ten selection criteria.".
UNESCO is a great example of a group that uses a list of criteria for World Heritage Sites. In order to qualify as a World Heritage Site, "sites must be of outstanding universal value and meet at least one out of ten selection criteria.".
The criteria can be subjective/opinion-based, making it a challenge to label a place or event as significant without a lot of debate.
The criteria can be subjective/opinion-based, making it a challenge to label a place or event as significant without a lot of debate.
UNESCO World Heritage Centre. “The Criteria for Selection.” Unesco.org, 2021, whc.unesco.org/en/criteria/
Machu Picchu became a world heritage site in 1983
The Great Wall of China became a world heritage site in 1987.
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