What Are the Benefits of Learning about Community History?

What Are the Benefits of Learning about Community History?

• Students leave campus and engage with the surrounding town.

• Cemetery, courthouse, and local museums provide undergrads with hands-on learning opportunities.

• Undergraduates gain a new perspective on their “college town” while helping youngsters study the past.

THE COMMUNITY BECOMES A LABORATORY FOR LEARNING

What Are the Benefits of Collaboration?

• University students conduct an original research project into the history of the Durham community and then share their new knowledge with their eighth-grade partners.

• Undergraduates learn about present-day Durham through conversations with their eighth-grade teammates.

• University students help teach important technology skills to their eighth–grade partners.

What Are the Benefits of Collaboration?

• Middle-school students enjoy working with college students who serve as role models.

• Middle-school students gain vital hands-on experience usingtechnology to research the past.

•Social studies teacher observes improved attendance on “`Digital Durham’ Days.”

What Do Undergraduates Learn?

• How the history of Durham connects to the larger history of the post-Civil War South.

• How historians utilize primary sources, secondary works and technology to write their interpretations of the past.

• How to share knowledge effectively with others . . .

Authentic Learning:

Technology Enables the Sharing of New Knowledge with the Community

Theresa Mohin (Class of 2007) explores the experience of African American women in the post-Civil War era through primary research and through conversation with Durham resident, Gwen Phillips.

Listen to Audio Clip . . .

What Do Eighth Graders Learn?

• How nineteenth-century residents experience industrialization.

• How historians use primary sources, digitized materials, and tools like census databases to research the history of a community.

• How to use technology to study the past.

Example Middle School Project Creating a Durham History Museum

Objectives:In this project you will become familiar with Durham of the late 1800s. You will also explore the “Digital Durham”

database on the Internet. Using primary source information, you will develop a general idea of what life was like for a teenager living during this time.

Description of Project:Dr. Abel’s class will meet with you every Friday and you will investigate the topic with your group. All groups will create a plan for an exhibit in an historical museum for Durham residents. You will present this to the class as an opening of the museum.This will include the production of a 3-piece folded poster board that answers the question:

“ What was _(your topic)_ like in early Durham?”

It must meet the following criteria:-a clear explanation of the topic and primary sources utilized

-at least 2-3 primary source visuals that characterize the theme of the topic-general statements and assumptions that can be made about Durham in the “New South”-an oral presentation of the display

Grading:This project will be graded on the idea that if a person were to view it without a guided tour or presentation he or she would be able to understand this aspect of the history of Durham.It will also be graded on :

-Visual appeal ( graphics, pictures, maps, models, etc.)-meets criteria above-Quality of the Content and material utilized-Understanding and clarity of the information-Creativity and appeal of presentation

Replicating the Digital Durham Community

Learning Model • Build stakeholder support to define program objectives

• Illustrate desired outcomes with Digital Durham prototype !

• Establish formal partnerships• Local government, libraries, teachers, universities, museums, school leaders, IT/IM advisors

• Begin research to build a multi-media community archive• Consult with IT/IM professionals about data structure & software

• Extend partnerships & add sponsors to fund program• Work with teachers to develop lesson plans & objectives

• Design & build digital archive with IT/IM professionals • Construct and test easy-to-use prototype multimedia web site• Add multimedia archive & lesson plans--and test web site again• Add links to community resources• Teacher training & feedback • Final test of entire system

• Public launch with partners & sponsors• Written report about progress to achieve program objectives during first year• Focus report for all stakeholders, sponsors, and community

Library of Congress Subject Heading Search

Child Labor During the Industrial Era

Photos by Lewis Hine Letter found on Digital Durham

North Carolina Legislation: A Case StudyAs early as 1891, North Carolina legislation regulating the work of laborers made specific mention of children. Mill owners voluntarily agreed to limit labor in the mills as follows:

1. A work week was not to exceed sixty-six hours,2. Children under ten years would not be permitted to

work in the mills under any circumstances.3. No child under twelve years old would be permitted to

work in mills during the term of an available school. Those under twelve could work if their parents were widowed or disabled.

1903: Acts passed to regulate employment of children inmanufacturing establishments and to prohibit labor ofchildren under twelve years of age. A bill to induce betterattendance of children in the public schools wasOrdered printed along with a bill for regulation of childlabor.

1905:The General Assembly did enact legislation stating that nochild under twelve years should work in any factory ormanufacturing business. A proviso set 1907 as the year inwhich no child between twelve and thirteen was to beemployed in a factory except as an apprentice. 1907also was set as the year in which no boy or girl underfourteen could work in a factory – between the hours ofeight p.m. and five a.m.

1905:

Legislation also made it a misdemeanor for parents -- who hired out their children to factories – to misstate written certification as to the school attendance of the child. In 1908, amendments to this legislation required that the certification of school attendance demonstrate that the child had attended school four months in the preceding twelve months.

1907:

North Carolina legislature passes an act regulating child labor in manufacturing and to regulate hours of labor. Additional bills are introduced in reference to manufacturing, child labor in messenger services and in factories are introduced with varying results between 1907 and 1919.

Students can search population census for Durham Township in 1880 by a number of different fields including name, age, “color,” sex, and occupation.

In this example, students search for youngsters who would have been of school age in 1880.

The Search Results Page

Value of Extensive Institutional Support

Funding

Center for Instructional Technology

Vice Provost for Undergraduate Education

Community Affairs

History Department

Office of Service Learning

External Support

NC ECHO Grant from the State Library of North Carolina

North Carolina Humanities Council

In-kind Support

Master of Arts in Liberal Studies

Center for Instructional Technology

Rare Book, Manuscript, and Special Collections Library

Five Points

TobaccoWarehouses

1884

Planing Mill1884

Tobacco Manufacturing

1884

American Tobacco Campus

2008

Carolina Theatre

2008

YMCA2008

Trudi Abel, Ph.D.

Director, Digital Durham Project

Duke University

[email protected]

http://digitaldurham.duke.edu