Ontario. Department of Education

“ The invention of high explosives has made possible many of the great engineering works of to-day. The inventions that have made transportation and communication so easy and rapid have already done a great deal to bring nations to a better understanding of each other and thus to promote the peace of the world. Discoveries in medicine alone have had an incalculable influence on the health and prosperity of society. In fact, the study of history and an understanding of modern social and industrial conditions are impossible without a knowledge of scientific inventions and discoveries. ”

“ To clothe the skeleton of facts with flesh and blood so as to make history what it really is, a record of human beings who not only did things but had also thoughts and feelings like our own, it is necessary to be able to supply the personal details that make the figures of history real, living, men and women. (See the Story of Florence Nightingale, p. 62.) The teacher who does this will himself come to have a more lively interest in history.
The teacher must also know children. For the understanding of history, pupils are dependent on their previous knowledge of life and its interests. ”

“ To the introduction of the mariner's compass in the fourteenth century, by which sailors were made independent of landmarks and the stars, and could therefore go more boldly into the open sea, we owe the explorations of the fifteenth century that culminated in the discovery of America, and the way to India by the Cape of Good Hope. The introduction of gunpowder in the fourteenth century gave the lower and middle classes a weapon that made them equal in power with the nobles and brought about the downfall of the feudal system and the rise of modern democracies. ”

“ History may be made, in several ways, an important factor in forming intelligent, patriotic citizens:
(a) It must be remembered that society, with all its institutions, is a growth, not a sudden creation. It follows that, if we wish to understand the present and to use that knowledge as a guide to future action, we must know the story of how our present institutions and conditions have come to be what they are; we must know the ideals of our forefathers, the means they took to realize them, and to what extent they succeeded. ”

“ In fact, if stirring events can be linked in the child's mind with stirring verse, if the struggles and progress of nations can be presented in a vigorous narrative that echoes the thoughts, feelings, and interests of the time, we make an appeal to the interest of the pupil that is almost irresistible. ”

“ On the industrial and social side of history, which is being more and more emphasized, it is of great value to the child to become acquainted, even though on a small scale and through the simplest implements and machines, with the construction of machinery and modes of manufacture. For a lesson on the Industrial Revolution in England, for example, it will give pupils a better understanding of the changes, if they know something, through their own activities, of the way of making cloth. ”

“ THE USE OF PROBLEMS IN TEACHING HISTORY
The development, or problem, method is intended to get the pupils to do some independent thinking, instead of merely absorbing knowledge from the teacher. The plan is simply to set clearly before the pupils the conditions existing at a certain moment in the story so that they may see for themselves the difficulties that the people in the story had to overcome. ”

“ Patriotism, which depends largely on the associations formed in childhood, is intensified by learning how our forefathers fought and laboured and suffered to obtain all that we now value most in our homes and social life. The courage with which the early settlers of Upper Canada faced their tremendous labours and hardships should make us appreciate our inheritance in the Ontario of to-day, and determine, as they did, to leave our country better than we found it. ”

“ One of the essential elements in history study is to have a knowledge of the important facts of history, without which there can be no inferences of value for present use. The all-important point in this teaching of facts is to keep the lessons interesting and not allow them to become mere lifeless memorizing of isolated happenings; for a fact is of value only when related to other facts. ”

“ The study of history, especially in the sphere of biography, has a moral value, and much may be done, even in the primary classes, to inspire children to admire the heroic and the self-sacrificing, and to despise the treacherous and the self-seeking. The constant struggle to right what is wrong in the world may be emphasized in the senior classes to show that nothing is ever settled until it is settled right. ”

“ The teacher may, instead of telling the story, read aloud from the Reader to pave the way for the reading of the story by the pupils themselves. Difficulties, either in language or in meaning, may be taken up as in a literature lesson. The pupils will at first find the reading somewhat difficult, but the interest generated by the teacher's reading or oral narrative will carry them through that stage till they acquire a love for reading history, and have enlarged their vocabulary till reading is no longer a burdensome task. ”

“ It does not look like fair play to expect a class to answer questions that the teacher cannot answer without consulting the text. On the other hand, it is refreshing to see the interest aroused in a class by a teacher who thinks enough of the subject to be able to teach it without constant reference to the text-book. Therefore, let the oral method be here again the chief dependence of the teacher. In such a lesson, for example, as that on the Intercolonial Railway (see p. 82) no book is needed—only the map and the black-board. ”

“ However, as McMurry points out, we are in a peculiarly favourable position in Canada, because we have in our own history, in the comparatively short time of 400 years, the development of a free and prosperous country from a state of wildness and savagery. The early stages of our history present those elements of life that appeal strongly to children—namely, Indians with all their ways of living and fighting, and the early settlers with their simpler problems and difficulties. ”

“ Children can make their own only such knowledge as their experience helps them to interpret. Their interests are in the present, and the past appeals to them just so far as they can see in it their own activities, thoughts, and feelings. The great aim of the teacher, then, should be to help pupils to translate the facts of history into terms of their own experiences ”

“ While it is quite true that certain important topics are to be thoroughly mastered as centres of connection for the less important [Pg 59] facts, yet it must be insisted on that a more important aim of the teacher is to arouse and stimulate an interest in history so that the pupil's study of it may continue after the close of his school-days. No mastery of facts through memorization alone will counterbalance the lack of interest in, and liking for, the subject. ”

“ Notes obtained from books or dictated by the teacher are harmful to the right spirit of study, and create a distaste for the subject.
Special review lessons should be taken when a series of lessons on one topic, or on a series of connected topics, has been finished. At the close of each lesson, the facts learned are fixed more firmly in the mind by the usual drill; but there must be further organization of the several lessons by a proper review, so that history will not be a number of unconnected events, but will be seen as an orderly development. ”

“ Art assists history in two ways. First, pictures may be used to illustrate events in history and make them real. It is often difficult for children to form a definite mental image of historical scenes merely from the words of the teacher or of the text-book, because their experiences are limited and the power to combine these properly is lacking. This is recognized now in the many text-books which are freely illustrated. Pictures of persons famous in history are also of value, in that they make these persons more real to the pupils. ”

“ Now children are more interested in people than in institutions or events; and, if we can give them a knowledge of some of the striking incidents in the lives of important characters in history, we may expect them to be more interested in the study of history at a later period, because they will frequently meet with these familiar names. The emphasis at this stage is therefore on biography. ”

“ On the other hand, history contributes a human interest to geography; the places of greatest interest are often those associated with great events in history—Athens, Mount Sinai, Waterloo, Queenston Heights.
HISTORY AND LITERATURE
Literature gives life and human interest to both history and geography. By means of literature we are able to get a better notion of the ideals and motives of a people than the mere recital of the facts of their history can give. In this connection we naturally think of Homer's Iliad and its influence on the Greeks. ”

“ To present history to the pupils in an interesting way, the oral method is the best. It is not necessary for the teacher to have a special gift for narration; any one who is really interested in the story to be told is able to tell it well enough to hold the attention of the class. In narration, mere fluency is not the chief requisite; it is more important that the pupils should feel the teacher's interest in the topic. ”

“ The close relation between the progress of civilization, as told in history, and scientific inventions and discoveries is shown by Lewis H. Morgan, who has indicated nine stages in the upward march of mankind from the earliest times to the present. There are three stages of savagery, three of barbarism, and three of civilization, the close of each stage being marked by an important discovery or invention. The problem method may be used, by asking what each invention or discovery would enable the people to do that they could not do before. ”

“ Memory depends on attention; we must observe attentively what we wish to remember. In history, attention may be secured by making the lessons interesting through the skill of the teacher in presenting the matter vividly to the pupils; also by using means to make history real instead of having it a mere mass of meaningless words. ”

“ Teachers and pupils who are interested in the events of to-day are much more likely to be interested in the events of the past. A knowledge of current events will arouse curiosity in what led up to them, will suggest a motive for studying the past, and will often supply concrete examples for both history and civics. ”

“ In fact, much of the culture value of history depends on the training it affords in composition, and, by intimately connecting these two subjects, a double advantage is gained—the ability to comprehend historical material, and practice in effective expression. ”

“ History affords specially good exercise for the judgment we use in everyday life in weighing evidence and balancing probabilities. Such a question as "Did Champlain do right in taking the side of the Hurons against the Iroquois, or even in taking sides at all?" may be suggested to the older pupils for consideration.
(e) History, when taught by a broad-minded, well-informed teacher, may do much to correct the prejudices—social, political, religious—of individuals and communities. ”

“ There should also be impressed on the minds of the young a sense of their responsibility for an honest and faithful use of the ballot, a right won for them by the long and earnest effort of their forefathers; and the necessity for purity of government in our democratic form of administration. In school life, a good deal can be done to create a sense of fair play, respect for the rights of others, and of the necessity for submission to lawful authority by encouraging the pupils to conduct all their school organizations, whether in play or in work, honourably and by right methods. ”

“ The pupils may discover how many people there are to the square mile in these countries; they may be asked to work out the population Canada would have if she were as densely populated as England, [Pg 77] as the United States, as Germany, etc.; how fast did the population of the United States increase in the first century after the Revolution; what will the population of Canada be in fifty years, if it increases as rapidly as the population of the United States in the last fifty, etc.; at the present rate of increase, when will Canada catch up to Great Britain? ”

“ In our schools, we should give most attention to the study of Canadian and British history as a whole, to enough of the history of France and other countries to make clear certain parts of our own history, and to certain important periods, such as the settlement of Upper Canada by the United Empire Loyalists, etc. ”

“ Valentine grew old, loving and beloved, never dreaming that he had found his great thing. When the simple monk died the whole countryside mourned, and hundreds came to look for the last time on the quiet face in the rude coffin. ”

“ These were along three lines—one, political with responsible government as its object; another, religious with equal rights and privileges for all churches as its aim; a third, educational with equal and efficient instruction for all without distinction of class or creed as its purpose. The first movement is known as the struggle for Responsible Government—the struggle for equal political rights; the second, as the Secularization of the Clergy Reserves—the struggle for equal religious rights; the third as the University Question—the struggle for non-denominational control of education. ”

“ When the story of the union of the crowns of England and Scotland in the reign of James I has been taught, the pupils should be asked to attempt the problem of uniting the two flags into one. For this purpose the flags already made can be used. The flag of England will surmount that of Scotland, and in order that the flag of Scotland may be seen, the white ground of the flag of England must be removed, only a narrow border of white along each arm being retained to represent the ground colour. ”

“ For this purpose, it is better, in most cases, to use an outline map, which may be sketched on the black-board by the teacher or the pupils, because on the ordinary wall maps there are so many names and so much detail that the attention may be distracted. Many of the details on the map are, moreover, more modern than the events that are to be illustrated, so that wrong impressions may be given.
In the second place, it must be kept constantly in mind that many events in history have been influenced by the physical features of a country. ”

“ Of course, at every step appeal must be made to the experiences of children, as the teacher knows them. In Civics, however, the beginning must be made with conditions that exist to-day—schools, taxes, the policeman, the postmaster, etc. The beginning of the real teaching of history may then be made at the beginning of Canadian History, as this will enable the child to go gradually from the simple, or individual, to the complex, and will also allow the teacher to make use of whatever historical remains may be within reach. ”

“ The best means at the teacher's command to assist its coming is to tell good stories from history with all the skill he has; the stories need not be told in chronological order. The notion of time implies also in the older pupils the power to place events in chronological order.
The notion of a social unit is also of slow growth and must spring from the child's conception of the social units he belongs to—the home, the school, the community. ”