History

TaK - History

What characterises the methodologies of

Historians?

TaK - History

What is history?• Is it enough to define it as “the study of the

past”?

Concerned with:

• Evidence (the present traces of the past)

• Significance (concerned with significant events)

• Explanation & Understanding (not only describing the past, but also explaining it)

TaK - History

Write down the two most significant events that have happened at the College since you

arrived in the summer of 2010.

Who do you think is best qualified to write a history of RCNUWC: • a graduate?• a teacher?• a member of the board?• a local journalist?

Why?

TaK - History

“Historians are dangerous people. They are capable of upsetting everything” Khruschev

“He who controls the present, controls the past. He who controls the past, controls the future.”

Orwell

“If you do not like the past, change it.” Burton

TaK - History

In Russia…

… and in China

TaK - History

TaK - History

TaK - History

Can we talk about historical truth?

TaK - History

Why should you care about the past?

What dangers are there in being obsessed with the past?

What dangers are there in ignoring the past?

TaK - History

“Those who don’t study the past are condemned to repeat it” Santayana

“What experience and history teach is this - that people and

governments have never learned anything from history” Hegel

TaK - History

To what extent do you think that people keep making the

same mistakes?

Why?

TaK - History

Different histories

• Over-reliance on the written word? • In parts of West Africa, history is told through

song by a griot, a respected wandering musician

• Among many Australian Aborigines, the land itself is history. Geographical features reflect the creation stories of the ‘dreamtime’

TaK - History

What is history?

• Micro histories. Our own.

• “For the want of a nail…….”

TaK - History

How can the past be known?

Primary Sources(materials produced at the time of an event by people who were there)

• Fallible eye-witness

• Social bias

• Deliberate manipulation

Secondary sources (second-hand accounts)

TaK - History

Primary sources

TaK - History

Writing history

• History is the selection of a selection

• Advantages of hindsight

• Disadvantages of hindsight

TaK - History

Perspectives in history• Study the historian before you study his facts

• Reading an 18th Century account of the 13th Century will possibly tell you as much about the 18th as it will about the 13th Century

• Propaganda and persuasion

TaK - History

Some Problems of Bias

• Topic choice bias

• Confirmation bias

• National bias

• …others?

TaK - History

Theories of history

• The ‘Great Person’ theory

• Economic Determinism

• No meaning, only chance!

“Had Cleopatra’s nose been shorter, the whole history of the world

would have been different”Blaise Pascal

TaK - History

Why study history?

• History gives us a sense of identity

• History is a defence against propaganda

• History enriches our understanding of human nature

TaK - History

Some key points:

• History seeks to study and explain the significant events of the past on the basis of currently existing evidence

• The study of History can be justified on the grounds that it contributes to our sense of identity, is a defence against propaganda, and enriches our understanding of human nature

• History is based on primary sources, but since they are selective they cannot always be taken at face value

• In seeking to explain the past the historian has the benefit of hindsight which can sometimes result in hindsight bias

• We can perhaps get closer to the truth by exploring the past from a variety of perspectives

• Historical events rarely have a single cause but are usually the result of a combination of factors

TaK - History

History

PerceptionHow reliable is

eye-witness testimony as a

primary source?

ReasonWhat fallacies

arise in studying history?

EthicsShould historians

make moral judgments about

the past?

ArtsHow is history

similar to fiction? How is it different?

LanguageCan historical

events be described in

neutral language?

Human Sciences

How does history differ from other social sciences?

MathsWhat role do

statistics play in history?

Natural Sciences

Can the scientific method be applied to

history?

TaK

The Presentation

• Real-life situation• Contemporary problem

TaK

Real-life situation.

Identify some central conflict

revolving around a knowledge

issue

Tentative resolution of the central conflict in

the real-life situation

Branching Arguments

Underlying knowledge

issues

Evaluationof

Knowledge Issues

ToK vocabulary

Vocabulary ofreal-life situation

Ab

stra

ctio

n

Imp

licat

ion

s

The structure and vocabulary of a ToK Presentation

from Ric Sims

1

2 3

4

- - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - -

ToK Presentation Planner

Real life SituationStart Here

UnderlyingKnowledge Issue

Other Real life Situations

Evaluation ofKnowledge Issues

Vocabulary ofReal LifeSituation

ToK Vocabulary

Ext

ract

KI

fro

m R

LS

Implications

Implications

Imp

licatio

ns

Arguments

TaK

A topic

A few weeks ago you saw a video about birth control in which, among other things, a foetus was shown to feel acute pain. You decide that the real-life situation for your ToK presentation will be Abortion.

You decide first to answer for your class some basic questions concerning types of abortion, the variety of ways it is possible to induce it and a description of what you have learnt is called, “post-abortion syndrome”; then to present some comparative facts about abortion laws in different countries.

Since your presentation partner is strenuously opposed to abortion, while you think that abortion should be a choice that belongs to each woman, the class is guaranteed to hear both sides of the argument.

Everyone in the class will want to participate in the discussion your presentation is certain to provoke.

TaK

Real-life situation/contemporary problem: (Focus: History)

Scenario: Demonstration in China against a new history textbook in Japan

Knowledge Issues: • “How is it decided what history is taught in schools?”• “How can we safeguard against bias?”• “Can we talk about historical truth?”• ….others?

TaK

Strategies for finding topics

• Think about any cause, local or global, that you support

• Think about your favourite IB subject. Consider topics within it that interest you most

• Think about items from the news that have caught your attention

• Think about experiences you have had

Whatever your topic, you have to be able to formulate at least one good question about knowledge from it.

TaK

Real-life situation/contemporary problem: (Focus:……………..)

Scenario: …………………………………..

1. State your knowledge issue clearly

2. Show how it arises from your selected real-life situation

3. Develop it

4. Demonstrate how it could be applied back to your real-life situation and others

A Identification of knowledge issue

• Did the presentation identify a relevant knowledge issue involved, implicit or embedded in a real-life situation?

Achievement level Descriptor

0 Level 1 was not achieved. 1--- 2 The presentation referred to a knowledge issue but it

was irrelevant to the real-life situation under consideration.

3--- 4 The presentation identified a knowledge issue that was in some ways relevant to the real-life situation under consideration.

5 The presentation identified a knowledge issue that was clearly relevant to the real-life situation under

consideration.

B Treatment of knowledge issues • Did the presentation show a good understanding of knowledge issues, in the context of the real-life situation?

Achievement level Descriptor

0 Level 1 was not achieved. 1--- 2 The presentation showed some understanding of

knowledge issues. 3--- 4 The presentation showed an adequate understanding of

knowledge issues. 5 The presentation showed a good understanding of

knowledge issues.

C Knower's perspective

• Did the presentation, particularly in the use of arguments and examples, show an individual approach and demonstrate the significance of the topic?

Achievement level Descriptor 0 Level 1 was not achieved. 1--- 2 The presentation, in its use of arguments and examples or

otherwise, showed limited personal involvement and did not demonstrate the significance of the topic.

3--- 4 The presentation, in its use of arguments and examples or otherwise, showed some personal involvement and adequately demonstrated the significance of the topic.

5 The presentation, in its distinctively personal use of arguments and examples or otherwise, showed clear personal involvement and fully demonstrated the significance of the topic.

D Connections • Did the presentation give a balanced account of how the topic could be approached from different perspectives? • Did the presentation show how the positions taken on the knowledge issues would have implications in related areas? • In awarding the higher achievement levels, the emphasis should be more on the quality of the consideration of connections than on the quantity of connections mentioned.

Achievement level Descriptor 0 Level 1 was not achieved. 1--- 2 The presentation explored at least two different perspectives

to some extent. 3--- 4 The presentation gave a satisfactory account of how the

question could be approached from different perspectives, and began to explore their similarities and differences.

5 The presentation gave a clear account of how the question could be approached from different perspectives and considered their implications in related areas.