Teaching History - Alternatives to Traditional Methods

I learned history in a traditional school program. We studied California history in the fourth grade and US history in the fifth grade and, in general, history was organized and presented by geography in expanding circles.

When I was taking courses in the history of Western Civilizations in college I found that I knew a lot of information about the various periods of history but I had no sense of the flow of events and civilizations from one to the next or how civilizations influenced each other across geography and time.

Does It Make Sense

History, like any subject, must make sense in order to have any hope of being remembered. Even more significant for placement in long-term memory, the information must have personal meaning for the student. The student, regardless of age, must be able to feel, on some level, the significance of past events and put them into meaningful context for his/her own life.

The Underlying Purpose

With this in mind, I would like to take a look at the Montessori approach to the study of the whole of history.

A Linear Approach

Montessori's approach to history begins with the telling of earth's story from its beginning to the present. It continues with the story of life on the planet, the story of humans, the story of the development of language and, finally, the story of mathematics. Each of these five Great Lessons approaches its topic from a holistic perspective. Each tells its respective story including scientific and social impacts of the events. Montessori saw the interconnectedness of all living and non-living things on the planet. The Great Lessons share the big picture story with plenty of opportunity for the student to investigate aspects on her own.

The Great Lessons

The Great Lessons on the development of Writing and of Mathematics give students a glimpse into how different cultures have made contributions to the subjects throughout time. Through these timeline lessons, students see in a direct way how different people from different cultures and perspectives played a unique role in the development of something we all use everyday. These timeline lessons, which can be applied to any subject that interests the child, are called vertical timelines in that they look at the various layers of our past like an archaeologist looks through layers of a dig.

Cultural Contributions

The Montessori studies of history don't stop with these timeline-based lessons. The curriculum includes an emphasis on the study of cultures, both current and historical. A child in the Montessori classroom will have the opportunity to investigate the people of ancient times as well as modern peoples around the world. These horizontal studies look at a slice of time and the people and events that made it memorable. They are a natural extension to the vertical stories because children want to know more about the different time periods that are discussed along the way.

The Big Picture

Teaching history as a big, overall picture gives a broader context in which the history can make sense. It imparts deeper meaning for the modern child's experience. When brain researchers look at this sort of learning situation, they say there is optimal opportunity to transfer the pieces of data into long term memory.

What Is The Point?

As a teacher of first, second, and third grade children, I find that this approach to history gives children a solid framework on which they can build future information, an understanding of how cultures and events are related, and a growing awareness of how each of them has influenced the world in which we live.