Dr Susan Bester School of Human and Social Sciences for Education.

Dr Susan Bester

School of Human and Social Sciences for Education

Self-directed learning based assessment by means of creative tasks (projects) for history students.

To begin, it is necessary to describe and explain the two concepts Self-Directed Learning (SDL) and Historical thinking.“In its broadest meaning, ’self-directed learning’ describes a process by which individuals take the initiative, with or without the assistance of others, in diagnosing their learning needs, formulating learning goals, identify human and material resources for learning, choosing and implement appropriate learning strategies, and evaluating learning outcomes”. Knowles, M. S. (1975)

Those who do not remember the past are condemned to repeat it.

From this definition it is clear that SDL lead to the determination to acquire knowledge independently and creatively. No wonder that SDL is regard as an integral part of live long learning.

For the practical implementation of SDL within the field of History learning and teaching it is necessary to understand the concept of Historical thinking.

Those who do not remember the past are condemned to repeat it.

Historical thinking revolves around a framework of six concepts - in line with recent international research on history learning

Historical significance

Why we care today, about certain events, trends and issues in history?

Students must comprehend and understand the impact and consequences of a event/person/ development, over a long period of time. In other words what changes are results of the impact and consequences and what makes it significant?

Students must comprehend and understand that a event/person/ development sheds light on enduring or emerging issues in the past and the present. Here the students can ask: What important information is reveals to us and what makes it significant?

Those who do not remember the past are condemned to repeat it.

In other words significant events include those that resulted in great change over long periods of time for large numbers of people. Therefore, both “It is significant because it is in the history book,” and “It is significant because I am interested in it,” are inadequate explanations of historical significance.

Those who do not remember the past are condemned to repeat it.

Critically evaluate the contribution of King Shaka in the context of the time in which he lived to determine the historical significance of his live.

Sketch of King Shaka kaSenzangakhona (1781 - 1828) from 1824

The following themes can be given as a starting point for the research assignment:• Weapons changes.• The "bull horn" formation.• Mfecane (Difaqane).

Those who do not remember the past are condemned to repeat it.

Highlight what does the research on the Soweto uprising of 1976 reveal about issues at that time in the past and contemporary life to determine the historical significance of this event.

A photo which was taken during the Soweto uprising of 1976.

The following themes can be given as a starting point for the research assignment:• The Afrikaans Medium Decree.• The ongoing medium of instruction

controversy.

Those who do not remember the past are condemned to repeat it.

Use primary source evidence

How to find, select, contextualise, and interpret sources

Students must ask questions like: What is it? ( letter, photo, painting dairy)Who is/are the author(s), artist or photographer?When (in what time frame) is the source create?

Students must acknowledge the information that primary sources may reveal about the aim or purposes of the source as well as the values and viewpoints of the author.

Those who do not remember the past are condemned to repeat it.

Students must read the sources in contexts of its historical background (contextualisation).

Those who do not remember the past are condemned to repeat it.

Steve Biko can be consider a martyr of the anti-apartheid movement. Do you agree with this statement?. Find, select and use primary sources to motivate you answer.

Continuity and change

Looking for change where common sense suggests that there has been none and

looking for continuities where we assumed that there was change.

Students must comprehend and understand that continuity and change are interrelated and not isolated.

Students must comprehend and understand that some aspects of life change more quickly in some periods than others - turning points in history.

Those who do not remember the past are condemned to repeat it.

Students must comprehend and understand that progress and decline are fundamental ways of evaluating change over time - remember change does not always mean progress.

Students must comprehend and understand that chronology can help to organise their understanding of continuity and change - remember youcannot understand continuity and change without knowing the order in which things happened.

Those who do not remember the past are condemned to repeat it

Students can determine continuity and change by the comparisons between some point in the past and the present, or between two points in the past.

Those who do not remember the past are condemned to repeat it

Continuity and change

Visit the websites below and compere the

testimony of Hester Johanna Maria Uys about

what happened during the South African War

and the testimony of Hermann Graebe during

the Nuremberg War Crimes Trial. Explain what

has changed and what has remained the same

during the different wars. http://

www.holocaustresearchproject.org/einsatz/graebetest.html

http://erroluys.com/boerwarchildsstory.htm

Place the following pictures in chronological order and explain why you place them in this particular order.

The first plenary session of the Convention for a Democratic South Africa (CODESA) at the World Trade Centre.

Funeral of the victims of the Bisho massacre

Nelson Mandela and president F W de Klerk sign the Groote Schuur Minute.

The first democtatic election in South Africa

Funeral of the victims of the Boipatong massacre

Nelson Mandela released

The funeral of Chris Hani

Cause and consequence

Cause and consequence is the active role, or force, that people (as individuals

and groups) play in promoting, shaping, and resisting change in history.

Students must comprehend and understand that people are in a continuous interplay with among other, natural environment, historical legacies as well as people who want something else during a time frame.

Students must comprehend and understand that actions often have unintended consequences.

Those who do not remember the past are condemned to repeat it.

Analyse the manifesto of Piet Retief (available at the webside http://www.sahistory.org.za/archive/manifesto-emigrant-farmers-piet-retief-1837 ) and identify “types of causes,” (e.g., economic-, political-and cultural conditions) of the Great trek.

Study the website http://share.nanjing-school.com/humanities/files/2012/09/What-was-the-impact-of-the-Treaty-of-Versailles-v9inhb.pdf

and create a schematic chart of the causes of the Treaty of Versailles and explain their arrangement on the chart.

Historical perspective

Historical perspective demands comprehension of the vast differences between us in the present

and those in the past.

Students must be conscious about and consider the multiple perspectives of people in the past.

In other words historical perspective means the understanding of social, cultural, intellectual, and emotional settings that shaped people’s lives and actions in the past.

Those who do not remember the past are condemned to repeat it.

Students must comprehend and understand that historical perspective depends upon evidence - remember within the framework of historical thinking, historical empathy must be base on evidence .

Avoid presentism—the unjustified enforcing of present ideas on the past.

Those who do not remember the past are condemned to repeat it.

Ethical Dimensions

What responsibilities do historical crimes and sacrifices impose upon us today?

All meaningful historical accounts involve implicit or explicit moral judgment - in other words the students should expect to learn something from the past that helps them to face the ethical issues of today.

This creates a difficult paradox because we do not want to impose our own standards on the past.

Those who do not remember the past are condemned to repeat it.

Study the websites below. Interpret the perspective of Dirk van Eck as victim of the ANC’s Operation Kletswayo and make inferences about how some people felt and thought about the TRC.

http://www.justice.gov.za/trc/media%5C1998%5C9801/s980118a.htm

http://mg.co.za/print/2007-07-30-npa-fw-not-being-formally-investigated

Identify a moral issue of today. Do research on the historical background of the chosen issue and discuss the implications for today.

The following issues can be given as a starting point for the research assignment (case study):

Poverty

Violence

Child headed households

Those who do not remember the past are condemned to repeat it.

Thus with SDL and historical thinking students are put into investigative roles.

Instead of listening to a story already complete, students would investigate the sources of the stories and construct their own interpretations and understandings.

They would understand what it means to do history in order to understand the past more deeply.