Ontario Teachers' Manuals: History Part 6

HISTORY AND GEOGRAPHY

These subjects are very intimately related, and each should be used in teaching the other. Geography, which is often called one of the "eyes of history," may be used in the teaching of this subject in two ways. In the first place, an account of an historical event lacks, to a certain degree, reality in the minds of the pupils if they do not know something of the place where it occurred. Accordingly, in studying or teaching history, reference should be constantly made to the map to give a local setting to the story. The voyage of Columbus, the operations of Wolfe, the coming of the Loyalists, are made more real if they are traced out on the map, and are therefore better understood and remembered by the pupils. For this purpose, it is better, in most cases, to use an outline map, which may be sketched on the black-board by the teacher or the pupils, because on the ordinary wall maps there are so many names and so much detail that the attention may be distracted. Many of the details on the map are, moreover, more modern than the events that are to be ill.u.s.trated, so that wrong impressions may be given.

In the second place, it must be kept constantly in mind that many events in history have been influenced by the physical features of a country.

For example: the lack of a natural boundary between France and Germany has led to many disputes between these countries; the fact of Great Britain being an island accounts for many things in her history (see p.

108); the physical features of Quebec and Gibraltar explain the importance of these places; and the waterways of Canada account for the progress of early settlement. The climate and soil of a country affect its history; treaties are often based on physical conditions, and trade routes determined by them; a nation's commerce and wealth depend largely on the character of its natural resources.

Some easy problems may be given to the senior cla.s.ses to be answered by reference to physical conditions:

Why are London, New York, Chicago, Montreal, and Halifax, such important centres? Why are certain places fitted for certain manufactures? Will Winnipeg become a more important city than Montreal? Will Vancouver outstrip San Francisco? What is a possible future for the Western Provinces of Alberta and Saskatchewan? What might have been the state of North America to-day, if the Rocky Mountains had run along the East coast, instead of along the West?

On the other hand, history contributes a human interest to geography; the places of greatest interest are often those a.s.sociated with great events in history--Athens, Mount Sinai, Waterloo, Queenston Heights.

HISTORY AND LITERATURE

Literature gives life and human interest to both history and geography.

By means of literature we are able to get a better notion of the ideals and motives of a people than the mere recital of the facts of their history can give. In this connection we naturally think of Homer's _Iliad_ and its influence on the Greeks. It was their storehouse of history, morals, religion, aesthetics, and rules for the practical guidance of life, as well as their literary masterpiece.

It is often easy to interest pupils in a period of history by reading or quoting to them some ballad, poem, or prose narrative that colours the historical facts with the element of human feeling. Macaulay's _Horatius_ gives a deeper impression of Roman patriotism than almost anything in pure history can; the various aspects of the Crusades are vividly shown by W. Stearns Davis in _G.o.d Wills It_, a story of the first Crusade. In fact, if stirring events can be linked in the child's mind with stirring verse, if the struggles and progress of nations can be presented in a vigorous narrative that echoes the thoughts, feelings, and interests of the time, we make an appeal to the interest of the pupil that is almost irresistible. The objection is sometimes urged against the reading of standard historical tales and novels, that these are somewhat exaggerated in sentiment and inaccurate in facts. Even if this be so, it may be said that they give in outline a fair picture of the period described, that the interest in history aroused by such tales begets a liking for history itself, and that such exaggerations and inaccuracies are soon corrected when the pupil begins to read history.

The course of history has been modified by songs, ballads, and stories.

The influence on the national spirit and ideals of songs such as _Rule Britannia_ and _The Ma.r.s.eillaise_, of stories such as _Uncle Tom's Cabin_, of novels such as those of d.i.c.kens and of Charles Reade is incalculable.

A few poems and prose compositions are given here as suggestions; a fuller list may be found in Allen's _Reader's Guide to English History_, Ginn & Co., 30c.

Poems: _Boadicea_, Cowper; _Recessional_, Kipling; _Edinburgh After Flodden_, Aytoun; _Hands All Round_, Tennyson; _Columbus_, Joaquin Miller; _Waterloo_, Byron; _The Armada_, Macaulay; _The Revenge_, Tennyson; _The Charge of the Light Brigade_, Tennyson.

Prose: "United Empire Loyalists," Roberts' _History of Canada_, Chap. XV; "Departure and Death of Nelson," Southey; _Montcalm and Wolfe_, Parkman; "The Crusader and the Saracen," in Scott's _The Talisman_; "The Heroine of Castle Dangerous," in _Stories of New France_, Machar and Marquis; "Adam Daulac," in _Martyrs of New France_, Herrington.

HISTORY AND SCIENCE

The connection between history and science is very close, because it was only after the invention of writing that history, the record of human progress, became possible. Further, the remarkable way in which the chief stages in the development of civilization coincide with certain inventions and discoveries makes the study of history very incomplete without a knowledge of the inventions and discoveries, inasmuch as these opened a road for human development. (See p. 119.)

To make this evident, it is enough merely to mention a few comparatively recent inventions, such as the mariner's compa.s.s, the printing-press, gunpowder, the steam-engine, the power-loom, the cotton-gin, and the telegraph.

To the introduction of the mariner's compa.s.s in the fourteenth century, by which sailors were made independent of landmarks and the stars, and could therefore go more boldly into the open sea, we owe the explorations of the fifteenth century that culminated in the discovery of America, and the way to India by the Cape of Good Hope. The introduction of gunpowder in the fourteenth century gave the lower and middle cla.s.ses a weapon that made them equal in power with the n.o.bles and brought about the downfall of the feudal system and the rise of modern democracies. The printing-press gave to the world the learning of the past and revolutionized social conditions. The invention of high explosives has made possible many of the great engineering works of to-day. The inventions that have made transportation and communication so easy and rapid have already done a great deal to bring nations to a better understanding of each other and thus to promote the peace of the world. Discoveries in medicine alone have had an incalculable influence on the health and prosperity of society. In fact, the study of history and an understanding of modern social and industrial conditions are impossible without a knowledge of scientific inventions and discoveries.

(See pp. 87, 92.)

Children naturally take an interest in what individuals have done, and it is easy to interest them in the work of men such as Watt, Stephenson, Whitney, Fulton, Morse, Edison, Marconi, and their fellows. The biographies of famous inventors should therefore be given, both as a record of what they did and as an inspiration to like achievements.

HISTORY AND CONSTRUCTIVE WORK

Constructive work may be used to advantage in history and civics. It gives concrete expression to some facts of history through the construction by the pupils of objects mentioned therein. In studying Indian life, the cla.s.s may make in paper, wood, etc., wigwams, bows and arrows, stockades, etc.; in connection with pioneer life, they may make some of the buildings and implements used by the pioneers,--log houses, spinning-wheels, hominy blocks, Red River carts, etc.; in studying campaigns, they may make models in plasticine or clay, or on the sand table, of forts, battle-fields, etc., for example--the Plains of Abraham, Queenston Heights, Chateauguay, Plymouth Harbour; the Union Jack may be cut out and coloured. (See p. 68.) In this way the activities of the child may be made of practical use.

On the industrial and social side of history, which is being more and more emphasized, it is of great value to the child to become acquainted, even though on a small scale and through the simplest implements and machines, with the construction of machinery and modes of manufacture.

For a lesson on the Industrial Revolution in England, for example, it will give pupils a better understanding of the changes, if they know something, through their own activities, of the way of making cloth.

For suggestions on constructive work, see the Manual on Manual Training:

P. 22: Suggestions for the various seasons and days.

P. 26: On the use of the sand table.

P. 55: On collecting and preserving pictures.

P. 58: On relief maps and geographical formations.

HISTORY AND ART

Art a.s.sists history in two ways. First, pictures may be used to ill.u.s.trate events in history and make them real. It is often difficult for children to form a definite mental image of historical scenes merely from the words of the teacher or of the text-book, because their experiences are limited and the power to combine these properly is lacking. This is recognized now in the many text-books which are freely ill.u.s.trated. Pictures of persons famous in history are also of value, in that they make these persons more real to the pupils. Materials for cla.s.s use may be collected by the teacher and pupils,--engravings, prints, cuts from newspapers and magazines of famous people, buildings, cities, monuments, events; for example, the Landing of Columbus, the Coming of the Loyalists, the Fathers of Confederation, the Landing of the Pilgrim Fathers, an Old-Time Trading Post, the Death of Brock. A good idea is to have a cla.s.s sc.r.a.p-book, to be filled with suitable contributions from the cla.s.s. The teacher will find a private sc.r.a.p-book exceedingly useful. Many fine pictures are given in _The Highroads of History_, and _The Story of the British People_ for Form III. It may be added that these pictures should be supplemented freely by descriptions and narratives given by the teacher. (See _Visual Aids in the Teaching of History_.)

Second, the pupils may be asked to ill.u.s.trate, by drawings and sketch maps, historic places, routes of armies and of explorers, the journeys of settlers, etc.

HISTORY AND COMPOSITION

History, no less than other subjects of study, needs to be expressed by the pupils, if it is to make them more efficient. Some of the usual modes of expression are given above in connection with constructive work and art. The chief mode of expression, however, for history is through composition, both oral and written.

In the Junior Forms the stories should be reproduced orally (see Details of Method for Forms I and II, p. 25), either by pure narration or by dramatization; the pupils relate in their own language what they have learned, or are allowed to dramatize the story. In the dramatization, the pupils should be given a good deal of freedom in constructing the conversation, once they get to know what is wanted, the only restriction being that no pupil shall be allowed to take part who does not know the story thoroughly. Incidents such as Harold taking the oath to help William of Normandy gain the crown of England, Joseph being sold into Egypt, the Greeks using the wooden horse to capture Troy, are very easily dramatized.

In the Senior Forms the black-board outline may be used as the basis of written or oral reproduction. The subject of composition will itself be less objectionable by reason of these exercises, as the pupils are asked to reproduce the history as material valuable and interesting in itself, not merely as a means of showing their skill in expression. Moreover, in the study of history, the pupil hears or reads the compositions of others, and unconsciously gains, by these examples, much in vocabulary and in power of expression. In fact, much of the culture value of history depends on the training it affords in composition, and, by intimately connecting these two subjects, a double advantage is gained--the ability to comprehend historical material, and practice in effective expression.

HISTORY AND CHRONOLOGY OR THE USE OF DATES

Geography is one of "the eyes of history"; chronology, or the arranging of events according to their dates, is the other. This suggests that dates are to be used merely as a help in "seeing" events in history in their proper order, so that their relations to other events may be better understood. When these relations are seen, the dates lose much of their value.

For example, let us consider the following dates: 1763, 1774, 1775, 1783, 1791. The short interval between 1763, when Great Britain finally a.s.sumed control of Canada by treaty, and 1774, when the Quebec Act was pa.s.sed, helps to make clear the reason for the French citizens receiving so many concessions. They outnumbered the English so much that these concessions were deemed necessary to hold their allegiance to the Crown in face of the efforts made by the discontented New England colonies to get their support in the coming revolution against Great Britain. The success of the Act was shown in 1775, when the invasion by the revolutionists failed. The war of the Revolution was ended by treaty in 1783, and Canada received as settlers, princ.i.p.ally in Upper Canada, the United Empire Loyalists, whose ideas of government were so different from those of the Lower Canadians that the separation of Upper and Lower Canada by the Const.i.tutional Act of 1791 became necessary. These dates, so close together, emphasize the rapidity with which events moved in that period, as well as the sequence of cause and effect. We think also of the dates of Cartier's voyages, 1534, 1535, and 1541, merely to raise the question as to why so much time elapsed between the second and third voyages. When these points are properly seen, the events are kept in place by their relation of cause and effect, and the dates lose their value. Moreover, the relations thus discovered will do most toward fixing these dates in the memory. It should be understood, therefore, that dates are only a means to an end, not an end in themselves.

It is important also to know the dates of certain events when we are studying the history of several countries, in order that we may consider together those events that are contemporary.

There are, of course, some dates that should be remembered because of the importance of the events connected with them, for example: 1066, 1215, 1492, 1603, 1688, 1759, 1776, 1789, 1841, 1867.

In the Junior Forms, because the pupils are still lacking in the "historical sense," little emphasis need be put on the giving of dates.

A few of the most important may be given in Form II, but it is very questionable if they have any significance to the pupils at this early stage.

CHAPTER IV

SPECIAL TOPICS

CURRENT EVENTS

The study of history should not end with what is contained in text-books, for the making of history never ceases. The study of current events will be found to be a very valuable element in history teaching.

Teachers and pupils who are interested in the events of to-day are much more likely to be interested in the events of the past. A knowledge of current events will arouse curiosity in what led up to them, will suggest a motive for studying the past, and will often supply concrete examples for both history and civics. In fact, the teaching of civics may be based almost entirely on current events. (See Civics, p. 52 et seq.) The influence of a knowledge of current events on the study of history is very plainly seen to-day in the earnest and widespread effort to discover the causes of the war that is devastating Europe at the present time. History becomes real when pupils understand that what is happening now has its roots in the past and, at the same time, is history in the making. For example, the present war will certainly intensify our interest in the great movement to prevent war by means of world-wide arbitration of disputes between nations, or by any other means. The value of this phase of history teaching depends very largely on the interest taken in it by the teacher and on the work that the pupils can be induced to do for themselves. The teacher talks to the pupils about some important current event in an interesting way. Then the pupils are encouraged to add to what he has said by relating what they have heard, or have read in the newspapers. After a few lessons the chief difficulty is to make a suitable selection of topics to be discussed in cla.s.s. Those of national importance, if within the scope of the Form work, will have prominence, and the pupils will be given hints as to articles about these topics in papers, magazines, and books. It is obvious that topics likely to arouse religious, political, or other party feeling, should be avoided. For actual school-room practice the following scheme has been used successfully in Form III: