6. Perspectives

Knowledge Question: How can we gauge the extent to which history is being told from a cultural or national perspective? (perspectives)

How does the way that we identify with past events, such as military victories or defeats, shape our perspective? (perspectives)

5 Minute research & presentation task.

In a small group (2 - 4) you have 5 minutes to research one of these people, you will then give a 1 minute presentation about who they were and their polar expeditions:

Roald Amundsen (Nor)
Robert Falcon Scott (UK)
Robert Peary (US)
Wilhelm Filchner (Ger)
Douglas Mawson (Aus)
Ernest Shackleton (UK)
Fridtjof Nansen (Nor)
Vivian Fuchs (UK)
Nobu Shirase (Jpn)
William SpeIrs Bruce (UK)

Having watched the presentations:

What similarities/differences do you notice about these people?

How do we determine if they are famous or successful

How might their stories be told in a different way in different countries?

BONUS POINT - Do any of these individuals have any local links?

Captain Scott: a second-rate hero?After a lifetime's research, Roland Huntford thinks he has finally nailed the myth of Scott of the Antarctic: far from being a national hero, the explorer was an amateur whose incompetence condemned his men to death

Before reading this article discuss how Captain Scott is regarded in the UK.

Having read this article discuss how you feel Captain Scott be regarded in History.

The RRS Discovery (Scott's expedition ship 1901 - 1904) then and now, at Dundee's Discovery Point

Captain Scott at The South Pole, January 1912. Five weeks after Roald Amundsen's expedition reached the same point.

What Japanese history lessons leave outTwentieth Century history is one of the most controversial subjects in the Japanese school curriculum, reports Mariko Oi.

What Japanese History lessons leave out?

Read this article.

Think about different perspectives from different nationalities