BC’s New Curriculum and Historical Thinking

Where are you at with the new curriculum? 0 How well do you think you understand the new social studies curriculum? 0 How well do you think you understand the six historical thinking benchmarks/ concepts? 0 How convinced are you that new social studies curriculum is taking us in a positive direction? 0 How prepared do you feel to implement the new curriculum?

New Social Studies Curriculum Overarching goal from the rationale: “The aim of Social Studies is to develop graduates who have the skills, knowledge, and competencies to be active, informed citizens.” What Hasn’t Changed

New Social Studies Curriculum From the rationale: An informed citizen understands key historical, geographical, political, economic, and societal concepts, and how these different factors relate to and interact with each other. Students cannot gain this understanding passively through a broad survey of topics and or by receiving knowledge from authoritative sources. Students must build deep understandings and create their own knowledge through investigations into interesting, open-ended questions, debating and discussing historical and contemporary issues, and developing and supporting their own hypotheses, solutions, and conclusions. What Has Changed?

New Social Studies Curriculum What has changed? 0 Emphasis on big ideas 0 Less prescriptive content 0 Emphasis on discipline specific critical thinking

New Social Studies Curriculum What has changed? 0 Emphasis on big ideas 0 Less prescriptive content 0 Emphasis on discipline specific critical thinking

Disparities in power alter the balance of relationships between individuals and between societies.

Slightly Smaller Big Ideas 0 Political revolutions have similar underlying causes. 0 Political revolutions unfold in similar, predictable patterns.

Working with big ideas pushes you to find the soul of what you’re teaching. 0 Humility and wonder 0 Immersion in the subject. 0 What do I really want them to learn?

Being an expert who’s passionate about your discipline is more important than ever

New Social Studies Curriculum What has changed? 0 Emphasis on big ideas 0 Less prescriptive content

The sum total of this content if taught like it’s been taught by most of us to date (comprehensively covering the content usually following a textbook) is actually greater than in the old curriculum.

Political, social, economic and technological revolutions

Implications of content being less prescriptive 0 More professional autonomy about depth and breadth of content. 0 Helps teachers differentiate instruction, pick up on student interests, add local content. 0 Time to focus on the historical, geographical, economic and political thinking (Kids can “do” history not just consume it).

Thoughts about less prescriptive content

It’s hard to get rid of “sacred” content

To get rid of ‘sacred’ content: The question is not: 0 Is this content worth learning? Instead ask: 0 Is this content essential for students to gain a meaningful understanding of the big ideas? and 0 Is it worth learning if it means I have to sacrifice deep thinking and meaningful understanding of big ideas to have time to cover it?

Content still matters because you can’t think or communicate about nothing

This is not the course

Less is More The test of a successful education is not the amount of knowledge that a pupil takes away from school, but his appetite to know and his capacity to learn. If the school sends out children with a desire for knowledge and some idea of how to acquire and use it, it will have done its work. Too many leave school with the appetite killed and the mind loaded with undigested lumps of information. The good schoolmaster is known by the number of valuable subjects that he declines to teach Livingstone, 1941

New Social Studies Curriculum What has changed? 0 Emphasis on big ideas 0 Less prescriptive content 0 Emphasis on discipline specific critical thinking Kids doing history, economics, geography and political science not just consuming it.

Disciplinary Thinking While Social Studies draws on topics from many different disciplines, the proposed curriculum places greater emphasis on developing disciplinary thinking skills through six major thinking concepts: significance, evidence, continuity and change, cause and consequence, perspective, and ethical judgment. These thinking concepts were originally developed to outline historical thinking, but have been adapted to include some of the ways that geographers, economists, and political scientists think about topics.

Assess how prevailing conditions and actions of individuals or groups affect events, decisions, and developments (cause and consequence)

Historical Thinking What historians do

“Portal” concepts: Six ways to problematize and support historical thinking 1.Historical significance 2.Evidence and interpretation 3.Continuity and change 4.Cause and consequence 5.Historical perspective 6.Ethical judgment Parallel concepts for geographical, political and economic thinking

Historical Significance Since we can’t remember, learn or cover everything that ever happened, how do we decide what is important to learn about the past?

Is the internment of Ukrainian Canadians during World War I historically significant?

Evidence and interpretation How do we know what actually happened in the past? How can we validate, interpret and use primary and secondary sources of historical information in the construction of historical accounts and arguments?

What can be inferred from the letters written by Canadians to RB Bennett during the Depression?

Continuity and change How are lives and conditions alike between periods of time and how have they changed for the people and societies that come before or after?

How has the False Creek Area of Vancouver changed and stayed then same ?

Historical perspective What was the past like when viewed through the social, intellectual, emotional and moral lenses of the time?

How did Samuel de Champlain experience his encounter with the Iroquois? How might the Huron or Iroquois have experienced the same event?

Ethical judgment What should our ethical stance be towards the past when assessed in light of our present values and sensibilities and with consideration of the norms and conditions operating at the time?

Was the allied bombing of German cities justified?

Cause and consequence How do we explain what caused changes to take place, and what the consequences of those changes were? Who or what influenced history and what were the repercussions of these changes?

Why did the allies bomb German cities in WW II? What were the immediate and long term results?

“Portal” concepts: Six ways to problematize and support historical thinking 1.Historical significance 2.Evidence and interpretation 3.Continuity and change 4.Cause and consequence 5.Historical perspective 6.Ethical judgment

New Social Studies Curriculum What has changed? 0 Emphasis on big ideas 0 Less prescriptive content 0 Emphasis on discipline specific critical thinking Kids doing history, economics, geography and political science not just consuming it.

We would like to leave you with two things before you head to your breakout sessions

Thing 1

1. Curriculum change can hurt you.

Overwhelmed

Exhausted

Inadequate

Thing 1 Curriculum transformation can hurt you. Thing 2

Remember the Implementation Dip

Two Things Thing 1 Curriculum transformation can hurt you. Thing 2 Remember the Implementation Dip

So how do we move forward?

Affirm What am I currently doing that’s in congruent with the new curriculum?

Refine What simple steps might I take to implement the new curriculum?

Aspire to What bigger changes are required for me to implement the new curriculum?

Collaborate How can I work with others to make this process more efficient and effective?

Inspired

Empowered