What are the "history wars," and what are their implications for technology use in history?
With students' ready access to information on the Internet, what might be the concerns of
social studies teachers?
The "history wars" have come about as a debate over the role of social studies and its curriculum for our students. Yhe two schools of thought include those who think the broader role of social studies should remain and those who feel that social studies should focus specifically on history and civics. The implicatons of tehnology on these viewpoints is interesting. The websites I found most useful no matter what the curriculum would begin with teaching responsible integration of information from the internet into school curriculum. Ideally, teaching students to find primary sources of information and studying the world at large in an accurate and responsible way. This is the focus of what we need for students to be preparing themselves for being responsible citizens - to be proactive, researching and curious citizens and to not take others word as if they were being fed what to think. Rather, they will be prepared to become participating, thinking citizens.
I agree students need to be concerned with facts and not others opinions when looking for facts in research. Corroborating a few correct facts is better than just dropping numerous facts onto paper to give the appearance of quality research. What if in an assignment we give to our students, depending on the grade level, we also have them acknowledge web sites that give wrong or miss-leading information? This will show them what not to look for on future assignments. Sometimes the information they DO NOT absorb is just as important as the information they do absorb.
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