The History Education Network: An Experiment in Knowledge Mobilization

Abstract

The History Education Network/Histoire et éducation en réseau (THEN/HiER), with multi-year funding provided by the federal government’s Social Sciences and Humanities Research Council (SSHRC), was Canada’s first national organization devoted to implementing, supporting, and disseminating research in history education. This highly collaborative project created a network composed of a core group of academic historians, history educators in faculties of education, practicing teachers, graduate students in history and history education, teacher education students, curriculum policy-makers, and representatives from a wide variety of public history and heritage organizations, including museums. Three elements provided the foundational strength, endurance, and flexibility that were required to accomplish the Network’s goals: a strong working group of core individuals committed to the larger goals of the Network; open lines of communication across often-daunting professional, disciplinary, and geographic divides; and strong central leadership and co-ordination to provide a hub for diverse activities and communities.

Appendices

Appendices

Appendix 1: Partner Organizations

Public Historians

• Active History (National)

• Association for Canadian Studies (National)

• BC Heritage Fairs Society (BC)

• British Columbia Historical Federation (BC)

• Canada’s History (National)

• Canadian Heritage Information Network (CHIN) (National)

• Canadian Immigration Museum at Pier 21 (NS)

• Canadian Museums Association (National)

• Glenbow Museum (AB)

• McCord Museum of Canadian History (QC)

• Montreal Holocaust Memorial Centre (QC)

• Multicultural History Society of Ontario (ON)

• Museum of Anthropology, UBC (BC)

• Museum of Vancouver (BC)

• Museums Association of Saskatchewan (SK)

• Ojibwe Cultural Foundation (ON)

• Parks Canada (National)

Practicing Teachers

• Alberta Teachers’ Association Social Studies Council (AB)

• Association québécoise pour l’enseignement en univers social (AQEUS) (QC)

• Begbie Canadian History Contest Society (National)

• British Columbia Social Studies Teachers’ Association (BC)

• Critical Thinking Consortium (TC²) (National)

• Manitoba Social Science Teachers’ Association (MB)

• Nova Scotia Social Studies Teachers’ Association (NS)

• Ontario History and Social Science Teachers’ Association (OHASSTA) (ON)

• Ontario History, Humanities and Social Science Consultants’ Association (ON)

• Saskatchewan Council of Social Sciences (SK)

• Surrey School District, British Columbia (BC)

History Educators

• Centre for the Study of Historical Consciousness (International)

• Centre for Media and Culture in Education, OISE/UT (ON)

• Institut Universitaire de Formation des Maîtres (France)

Academic Historians

• Canadian Historical Association (National)

• Canadians and Their Pasts (National)

• Canadian History of Education Association (National)

• Great Unsolved Mysteries in Canadian History (National)

• Institute for World History (National)

• Laboratoire de muséologie et d’ingénierie de la culture (LAMIC) (QC)

• National Centre for History Education (Australia)

• Simulating History (National)

• Société des professeursd’histoire du Québec (SPHQ) (QC)

Appendix 2: Blogpost—Where Are They Now? Heather E. McGregor and History Education at uOttawa

I then moved to the edge of Lake Ontario in Toronto. After a year of work, I began a Masters of Arts in the History of Education with Ruth Sandwell at OISE. I embarked on the (rather outsized) project of documenting and synthesizing the history of Inuit education in the eastern Arctic, now Nunavut, until 1999. Upon completion of my degree, Dr. Sandwell encouraged me to pursue publication of my work, and it became the book Inuit Education and Schools in the Eastern Arctic (UBC Press, 2010).

I returned to Iqaluit and spent several years working with the Department of Education, Government of Nunavut. I had the opportunity to participate in groundbreaking and decolonizing curriculum and program change projects, many of which I have written about in past entries on this blog.

My next degree was completed near the Salish Sea/Pacific Ocean beaches of Musqueam territory, at the University of British Columbia, where I both lived and studied. I experienced two immersions at UBC. One was in historical thinking and history of education, thanks to the opportunity to work closely with Dr. Seixasand Dr. Clark in the Historical Thinking Project and THEN/HiER, as well as Anne Marie Goodfellow and my incredible student peers. My other deep learning experience came from the incredibly welcoming community of Indigenous and ally scholars at UBC, particularly Dr. Marker and Dr. Jo-ann Archibald. I am grateful for the opportunity to learn what Indigenous education might look like in other regions of this country. Lastly, one of the most interesting and unique projects I participated in during my time at UBC, with the support of THEN/HiER, was the development of the Great Unsolved Mysteries in Canadian History website The Franklin Mystery: Life and Death in the Arctic.

Along my journey I learned how much of a difference it makes to receive individual mentorship from scholars, as well as opportunities to interact with groups of researchers, as was the case during the many events organized and funded by THEN/HiER. I greatly appreciated the communication, collegiality, and partnership building nurtured through the network, among university-based history educators and with communities far, far beyond.

Now I am living by the banks of the Ottawa River, aware of myself being and working on unceded Algonquin territory, in our country’s capital. The University of Ottawa has been a very welcoming community for me, with so many scholars interested in history and education, and with a new focus in the Faculty of Education on Indigenous engagement. I have been able to offer numerous presentations at uOttawa this fall on Inuit education and my previous research, build connections toward a new research program, and initiate relationships with the Inuit and Algonquin communities around this city/region. In January, I will be teaching in the BEd program and continuing to design a research agenda. I am now focused on exploring how historical consciousness, decolonizing, youth leadership development, and climate change education are intersecting in a unique, interdisciplinary polar program called Students on Ice.

Along the way, my focus has been on exchanging stories about history and education among Canada’s Southerners and Northerners. Wherever I am, I hope to engage closer connections between people from the Arctic and Canada’s other regions, creating opportunities to listen, exchange, and learn.

Appendix 3: Research Snapshots

For me, the research snapshot has been the highlight of each e-Bulletin. The researchers who have contributed the snapshots ply their trade in a multitude of research sites, including museums, archives, departments of history, faculties of education, and centers established to support scholarship in history education. They represent many nations and a range of expertise from new scholars through to Canada Research Chairs. I see our 75th and final snapshot as a wonderful opportunity to review the themes that have inspired contributors.

Students’ historical thinking is of central interest. Peter Seixas, UBC Centre for the Study of Historical Consciousness, raises questions about how to measure progression in students’ acquisition of historical understandings, as does Per Eliasson (SE). Amy von Heyking (CA) explores how students grapple with multiple perspectives on the past. Heather McGregor (CA) tackles the challenges of implementing a historical thinking approach in ways that are relevant to the Inuit population of Nunavut. In Québec, Catherine Duquette shares findings on the relationship between students’ historical thinking and their level of historical consciousness; Jocelyn Létourneau collects young people’s accounts of Québec history in order to determine their historical memory and historical consciousness; and Sabrina Moisan describes how teachers in her study, while acknowledging multiple perspectives, provided students with monolithic stories as if they were shared with all members of a particular group.

Marc-André Éthier (CA) and David Lefrançois (CA), Ruth Sandwell (CA), Robert Parkes (AU), Tony Taylor (AU), Allan McCully (NIR), and Sirkka Ahonen (FI) explore “history wars” in varying contexts and for different purposes. McCully, for example, provides a list of eight principles for teaching history in Northern Ireland, and by extension, other divided societies.

Many researchers consider pedagogical applications. Investigations are being carried out on the use of resources in history teaching: Scott Metzger (US) on media; Penney Clark (CA), Felicitas Mcgilchrist (DE), Katalina Morgan (ZA), Vincent Boutonnet (CA), and Ismail H. Demircioglu (TR) on authorized textbooks; Viviane Gosselin (CA) and Brenda Trofanenko (CA) on museum exhibitions; Lindsay Gibson (CA) on archives and historic sites; and Jeremy Stoddard (US) on film and museums. Stuart Foster (UK) describes two large-scale national history programs in the United Kingdom: the First World War Battlefield Tours and the Centre for Holocaust Education. Bruce van Sledright (US) discusses his research on the epistemic beliefs of both students and teachers and asks compelling questions about furthering this work. Alison Kitson (UK) points out that effective teaching needs to engage with students’ preconceptions in order to help them analyze causes and consequences in more sophisticated ways. S.G. Grant (US) explores the notion of “ambitious teaching,” while Bob Bain (US) looks at “Big History.” Others, such as Jennifer Petit (CA), Mona Gleason (CA), and Samantha Cutrara (CA), focus on student engagement with history. Mills Kelly (US) takes a uniquely light-hearted approach, describing ways to have “fun with history.” Michael Dawson (CA) and Eric Damer (CA) describe innovative approaches to teaching history to undergraduate and adult students.

Others consider use of evidence. Linda Levstik (US) describes the use of objects as evidence. Steven High (CA) makes a case for oral evidence. Lyle Dick (CA) comments on how primary source documents and Inuit oral history can be used as evidence in the context of the Finding Franklin mystery (canadianmysteries.ca). John Lutz (CA) discusses primary documents and Gene Allan (CA) discusses archival research. Maria Grever (NL), whose research interest is heritage education, looks at how material and immaterial traces of the past are used as primary instructional resources. Christina Cameron’s (CA) work centers on world heritage sites.

A number of researchers are interested in the relationship between students’ identities and history education. Mario Carretero (ES) and Anna Clark (AU) are both interested in national identity. Carla Peck (CA) looks at ethnic identities in Canada and Terrie Epstein (CA) at racial identities in the United States. Inspired by Epstein, Tsafrir Goldberg (IL) has worked with both Arab and Jewish Israeli students to explore notions of historical reasoning, learners’ identity, and peer deliberations of “charged” historical topics. Tim Stanley’s (CA) goal is to help young people to link their own histories to broader communities. Helen Raptis (CA) looks at how multi-cultural identities affect both teachers and students. Marginalization in the history curriculum is another topic of interest and is addressed by both Jonathan Anuik (CA) and Kristina Llewellyn (CA).

History teacher preservice education and teacher professionaldevelopment are of interest to a number of researchers, including Nicole Tutiaux-Guillon (FR), John Allison (CA), and Joan Pagès and Antoni Santisteban (ES). Paul Zanazanian (CA), for example, is interested in the impact teacher understandings and uses of history may have on the manner in which they negotiate their public role and responsibilities as future practitioners. Jean-François Cardin (CA) looks at teacher professionaldevelopment designed to help teachers gain the necessary tools for teaching particular concepts. Jennifer Tupper (CA) looks at teacher preparedness to teach the curriculum mandate of treaty education in her province of Saskatchewan.

Several researchers tell readers about collaborative and large-scale projects. Abby Reisman (US) describes her work with the Stanford History Education Group. Jill Colyer (CA) describes her role as national coordinator of the Historical Thinking Project. Sharon Cook (CA) tells readers about collaborations in the Educational Research Unit at the University of Ottawa, where researchers across disciplines have united to conduct research projects, sponsor events, and mentor graduate students.

Digital initiatives are a growing area for research. Henry Yu (CA) talks about the collaborative creation of “mobile museums and immersive video games.” Stéphane Lévesque (CA) and the duo of Kevin Kee (CA) and Shawn Graham (US) describe their work with the Virtual Historian and the Centre for Digital Humanities, respectively. Sean Kheraj (CA) and Alan MacEachern, Director of the Network in Canadian History and Environment, a “sister-Cluster” to THEN/HIER, talk separately about using the digital environment to experiment with approaches to knowledge mobilization. Historian Margaret Conrad (CA) uses two web-based initiatives in Atlantic Canada to highlight the potential of humanities computing.

Some researchers take more of a meta-perspective. AlanSears (CA) writes about the professional experiences that led to his interest in history and citizenship education. Christopher Dummitt (CA) offers advice, suggesting that researchers “start with something we think we know, move backward, ask open-ended questions, and be prepared to be surprised.” Michael Marker (CA) asks how indigenous communities can benefit from research conducted by scholars who are based outside those communities.

Several historians have described their own historical work. Thomas Peace (US) reports on his study of the work of Sawantanan, who was likely the first Native schoolteacher in what would become Canada. Rose Fine-Meyer (CA) examines the work of grassroots publishing organizations, community groups, and practicing teachers in infusing women’s history into the Ontario curriculum in the 1970s and 1980s. Christabelle Sethna (CA) describes findings of her work on the history of contraception. Jennifer Bonnell (CA) looks at public memory and environmental history in the context of the Don River Valley.

I thank each and every one of these researchers for taking the time to share their work with us. I apologize for truncating their messages so severely, and I encourage readers to read the complete snapshots on the Featured Members page of ourwebsite. I wish these scholars all the best as they move forward to investigate other intriguing questions.

Penney Clark, THEN/Hier e-Bulletin, no. 79 (March 2016), pp. 3–4.

Appendix 4: Small Project Grants

Descriptions can be found at: http://thenhier.ca/en/content/small-project-grants-reports.html

2015

• 44 Months of Hell: The Story of the Winnipeg Grenadiers

• Lake Country: Origins in Time and Place

• The Canadian Oral History Reader

• Inverness Interactive Archives Project

• Le Bataillonacadien de la Première Guerre mondiale

2014

• First Story App

• Matérieldidactique pour le programme scolaire du Muséeacadien de l’Université de Moncton

• Illustrate! Educate! Organize! The Graphic History Project

• Enhancing Historical Thinking Through Discipline-based Inquiry

• Québec Tour of the Anne Frank Exhibition, 2011–2013

• 24th Military History Colloquium – Spotlight on Education

2013

• Passés exposés: histoire et historiensdans les musées

• Agricultural History Society 2013 Conference

• Herstories Café 2012–2013

• Aboriginal Intergenerational Dialogues

• Hannah Ingraham – Ambassador to Loyalist Fredericton

• Making It Meaningful: Historical Thinking Concepts and the Alberta Social Studies Curriculum

• National Capital History Symposium

• Saskatchewan Archaeological Society’s Museum/ArchaeoCaravan Project

2012

• International Didactics of History, Geography and Citizenship Edu-cation Symposium

• Making History: Narratives and Collective Memory in Education

• War of 1812 Art and Poetry Exhibit

• Japan Through the Senses

• Eat Your History Contest

• The War of 1812: Whose War Was It, Anyway?

• The Campbell House Story

• Perspectives, Past and Present, in the Social Studies Classroom

2011

• Herstories Café

• Beyond Pedagogy: The Limits of Representation

• Online Jewish Western Bulletin Digitization and Access project

• Connecting Northern British Columbia Youth to Canada’s History through the BC Heritage Fair Program

• History, Identity and Diversity in the Secondary School Social Studies Classroom: A History Teaching Conference

• Let’s Talk History! A Dialogue about Doing History

• Where the Archive Ends: A Graduate Conference on History and Its Uses

• History Matters

• Curriculum Connections

• Café historiques

• Understanding Power, Appreciating Difference: Building Historical Understandings of Mental Health through E-Learning

• Black History Theatre Project: The Old Stock

2010

• Saskatchewan’s Archaeology Caravan Curriculum Development

• MedSTEP (Medieval Students’ Teaching Experience Program)

• Exemplary History Teaching Video Using Historical Thinking

• Developing Topics on Atlantic Canada for the Begbie Canadian History Contest

• Richmond Delta Regional Heritage Fair 2010 Student Workshops

• Reaching a Popular Audience Graduate Workshop

• Journeys Outreach Kits – National Nikkei Museum and Heritage Centre

2009

• Horses, Horsepower, and Horsing Around – The Bedaux Expedition at Hudson’s Hope Museum

• ASTERO (Alberta Social Teachers’ Education Resource Online)

• MedSTEP (Medieval Students’ Teaching Experience Program)

• Alberta-based Benchmarks of Historical Thinking Working Group

• La Sociétéhistorique de la Saskatchewan Heritage Days 2009