Toronto cause and consequence copy
- 1. 1 Cause and Consequence Few things can be more fascinating to students than unpeeling the often dramatic complications of cause. And nothing is more poisonous to whole societies than a simple, monocausal explanation of their past experiences and present problems. (Lessons from History, The National Center for History in the Schools.)
- 2. 2 John McMillan was a teacher at the Moodyville school from 1900 to 1902. He woke up one morning to find the apple tree in front of his house covered in dead snakes. What might explain this mystery? What hypotheses do you have? Photo courtesy North Vancouver Museum and Archives Snakes in the Tree
- 3. 3 Was Hitler completely to blame for World War Two? Question:
- 4. 4 Interpretation of a 14 year old British student: Hitler wanted to be powerful and no-one wanted or could stop him. He wanted Germans to have living space in eastern Europe. The only way he could do that was by going to war and fighting for it. People say the war was the cause of European politicians and the public. (National Curriculum in Action, QCA)
- 5. 5 How would you assess the student’s response?
- 6. 6 Hitler wanted to be powerful and no- one wanted or could stop him. He wanted Germans to have living space in eastern Europe. The only way he could do that was by going to war and fighting for it. People say the war was the cause of European politicians and the public.
- 7. 7 Challenges Young people use narrative « simplifications » as reasons for historical change. For example: • They see history as a record of the accomplishments of a few important people • They assume change as a rational process (« people figured out how to do things correctly ») • They assume progress • They have difficulty appreciating the social, economic and political context of change (Barton and Levstik, Teaching History for the Common Good)
- 8. 8 Cause and Consequence In September, 1939, a dentist in Viceroy, Louisiana, placed a human tooth in a jar of Coca-Cola and let it stand overnight. The next morning Hitler invaded Poland. - David Mamet, « A Sermon »
- 9. 9 (N)arrative not only helps solve the problems of life (…making meaning from the past) but also limits the range of solutions by narrowing perceptions of reality. - Levstik and Barton
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- 12. 12 Ways to Encourage Sophisticated Thinking About Causes and Consequences 1. Inquiry questions - cultivate puzzlement 2. Vocabulary development 3. Concept maps – making thinking visual 4. Case studies/problem solving of historical actors and situations. 5. Persistence
- 13. 13 1. Inquiry Questions • What were the causes of Confederation? • What were the three main causes of Confederation? • Was it really the Fathers of Confederation who gave birth to Canada? • How much did Canada matter to the people of British North America in 1867? • Whose lives were changed? • What if there had been Aboriginal representatives at Charlottetown in 1864? • Was Dorion right: Confederation was a sneaky scheme of the Grand Trunk Railway?
- 14. 14 2. Vocabulary to Encourage Causal Reasoning • Triggered • Contributed to • Intensified • Softened • Exacerbated • Pushed – Pulled • Others?
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- 18. 18 Rwandan Genocide Interhamwe Ethnic Division Hutu Tutsi Belgian racial policy Hutu hatred Propaganda Death in plane crash of Hutu president United Nations Over-population and land scarcity Civil War Romeo Dallaire Peace- keeping force fueled triggered planned commited motivated encouraged promoted led to Moderate Hutus opposed
- 19. 19 Why was the slave trade abolished?
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- 21. 21 Why do these historians disagree? • A tradition of explaining events by the deeds of great men. • Pride in the progress and achievements of British people. • A growing emphasis on the importance of economics in explaining why things had happened in the past. • The end of British colonialism and growth of independent black nations. • A growing awareness of the dangers of writing history from the point of view of one group only. • The most readily available type of evidence being diaries, speeches, and memoirs of Abolitionists. • Historians starting to use a wider variety of sources, e.g., statistics.
- 22. 22 4. Problem Solving or Predictions • Give real historical situations, human dilemmas – drawing on emotions, what matters to these past people, the choices they faced, the conditions. The focus is on consequences. • Provoke a response with open-ended questions that are answerable at a range of levels.
- 23. 23 For example, use a problem solving/predictions approach to have students consider these situations: Given the British attitude of the time towards Catholics but also the population of Québec after the Conquest, what should the occupying British do? Or personalize it: Students role play Governor James Murray, Bishop Jean-Olivier Briand, Canadiens, British colonists and others in 1760 following the Conquest.
- 24. 24 Combining Sources, Narrative, and Cause and Consequence • Predict a narrative • Test the predicted narrative against the narrative from sources
- 25. 25 Resources
- 26. 26 Videos on Concepts: TC2 Take 2 videos: Thinking about history http://tc2.ca/teaching-resources/online-resource- collections/special-collections/thinking-about-history.php
- 27. 27 Snakes in the Tree – a little context
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- 29. 29 To solve a mystery about the past you need to look at traces left behind – if there are any. Fortunately, there is at least one, a conversation with Mrs. Alice Crakanthorp, a former student of John McMillan at Moodyville, recorded by Vancouver archivist Major J.S. Matthews, 23 October, 1936. Might Alice Crakanthorp be a reliable witness? Is Major Matthews likely to be a reliable recorder of the conversation?
- 30. 30 “We had a teacher at the school named McMillan, and he whipped the Indian boys unmercifully; he would go out in the bush and cut a switch, and whip them with it. The Indian boys resented this, and showed their resentment by draping an apple tree in his garden with dead snakes; McMillan was very unpopular. When the tree was shaken the dead snakes began to wriggle and drop to the ground; it was horrible. The Indian boys must have spent a whole night—they did it in the night—draping his tree with snakes; there was such a lot of them, all dead, and hung over the branches.” (J.S. Matthews, Early Vancouver: Narratives of Pioneers, Volume 4, 1944)