History

History, according to the International Baccalaureate, is "more than the study of the past. It is the process of recording, reconstructing and interpreting the past through the investigation of a variety of sources." It's not just about what happened; it's about how we investigate and discuss what happened. The reality is this: we can never really know exactly what occurred in the past. Even the recent past is fraught with uncertainty because humans are notoriously unreliable sources of information. Between the flaws in our sense perception and reason, the obscuring forces of language and emotion, and the conflation of memory and imagination, we have a very difficult time understanding even the events of the present. The events of the past, then, are all but lost to us in a fog of fragmented stories told, retold, and interpreted through countless diverse viewpoints. Our job, as students of history, is remarkably like that of a detective. We must gather whatever clues we have, then piece them together and fill in the gaps as best we can. It is an inexact process to say the least, but it is the best we can do.

ESSENTIAL QUESTIONS

• How is knowledge constructed in history?

• How is truth determined in history?

• Why is knowledge about the past useful for the future?

• What Ways of Knowing are important when studying history?

• What methods are used to learn about past events?

DOCUMENTS

• WOKs in History

• Mini-presentation 1 (WOKs in History)

• History and other AOKs

• WOKs in History (pros/cons)

LINKS

• "South Korea to replace all school history books" (article)

• "Rethinking History Class on Columbus Day" (article)

• "Vintage Ads Encouraged Women to Gain Weight" (article)

• Kitty Genovese Killer Dies in Prison (article)

• "The Danger of a Single Story" (article) 

• "Horizontal History" (article)*

• Did the Past Really Happen? (video)