3. Digital literacy

Digital Literacy

A very important part of literacy in history is understanding digital literacy.
Yes! There is a wrong way to use the internet in history class!
Yes! It is important to get the right information!
Yes!This is a part of literacy!

Let us look at an example.
If you are using the internet researching for an essay on the life of Adolf Hitler (The former leader of Germany who started World War 2 and made the decision to kill Millions of Jews), would you use a friend's opinion from a comment on their facebook page? Should you reference facebook? wikipedia? blogs? opinion sites?
hmmmm...

                                                                           

How do we find the RIGHT kind of information?

                                                                                   

To know how to use  the internet is very important to our everyday lives.Some of use never get off the computer!
Everyone who uses the internet should understand which are official web sites and which are not.

If you did not know this already it may come as a shock.
NOT EVERYTHING YOU READ ON THE INTERNET IS CORRECT!!! 
There are considerable amounts of information on the internet that is uniformed, opinionated or just plain wrong.

We have to learn how to find which information is reliable and which is not.



WE MUST USE OUR BRAINS!!

So let's see how we can get rid of the garbage and focus on the relevant and reliable information that we should use.


Where do we find information?
How do we know if it's reliable?

Most sites are ".com" (commercial) sites. usually these are not credible/reliable. Check who the author is cause you may be able to use the site if they are an expert in their field.
".org" (organisation) sites are an organisation and are, generally speaking, okay to use.
".net" (network) typically are not used.
But ".edu" (education) and ".gov" (government) sites can be used.

Of course, not all of these domains can be used. Always double check the reliability of the author and their credentials (if they are an expert)!!

Primary and Secondary Sources

History requires you to read, analyse and interpret primary and secondary sources.
This is also important in real life. Take for instance, a news program. Did the person being interviewed see the incident with their own eyes? Do they have first hand knowledge? Were they there when the incident happened? Should we believe them? The same questions are asked in history.

Don't believe everything people tell you, research it for yourself. Make sure that whoever is trying to convince you of something is an expert and knows what they are talking about. After, if they seem reliable, make sure someone else corroborates (backs them up) that persons research.


Primary sources are sources that existed or were made at the time in the past being studied.
e.g. historical document, pottery, historical photographs, books and documents written by historical people at or very close to the events of an event.


Secondary sources are sources created after the time being studied.
e.g. school text books, documentaries (although these can contain primary sources) and public speeches.  


Here is a video to help you further understand primary and secondary sources.

Please, if you have time, follow the link and use the Interactive Historical Thinking Poster. This will help you to enhance your historical thinking skills! It will help you think like an historian!


 Click on this link to begin.

When it comes to assignment time (and that time will come!!) you will have to research your topic. The first thing to do is to read widely. That means read as many different resources as you can, including older texts and the original documents (primary and secondary sources). Find photos and images to help your understanding of the topic.

Research Questions

Guide your research around these questions:

• When was the text written? 
• Is the information up to date?
• Apart from informing, does the text have any other purpose?
• Are they an expert in the area?
• Who is the author of the text?
• Has any evidence of research been provided?
• Do they refer to the work of experts or knowledgeable people? 

These questions are good to ask yourself when anybody is trying to persuade you of something. 

You cannot walk out of your house or turn on any media without someone trying to convince you of something!!

Let us now look at numeracy in history. Please, turn the digital page by clicking on this link.

4. Numeracy in History

Numeracy in History

Numeracy is an important part of life. As we have seen earlier, we use numeracy everyday.


Numeracy is also an important part in history.
Firstly, chronology is important to know.

Chronology is a word that we need a definition for before we can move on.

Chronology means the arrangement of events and dates in order that they happened.

Dates

While studying history you will come across dates. Dates are very important to history. All history is dated so we can understand where things, people and events fit and their significance in history.

BCE/BC and CE/AD

We divide our history in half. We use the christian tradition to divide time between the time before Jesus Christ (the christian deity/savior/god) was meant to be born and the time after he was born. There is no year zero so the chronology goes from 1 BC to 1 AD.

For example, it is now 2013 so it has been two thousand and thirteen years after the birth of Christ.
We call the time Before Christ BC and the time after Christ AD.
AD means Anno Domini which is Latin for 'The year of our lord'. So traditional dating of history is BC and AD.

BUT!

Modern scholars (experts in history) have changed what the division means. They have kept the same dates but changed the terms they use. So when you look at historical dates you may see 33 BCE or 500 AD!! 

As an example, we live in 2013 CE. (Although we don't need to use AD for modern dates, which is explained later)

Alexander the Great was born in 356 BCE

WHY DID THEY DO THAT??

Probably to confuse everyone!

On a serious note, they changed the the words and the meaning to move away from the religious tradition.

WHAT DOES IT MEAN??

Confused? well let me explain.

• BCE means Before Common Era.
• CE means Common Era.

Now they have divided history between, Before [the] Common Era and the start of the Common Era.

Now 1 BC to 1 AD becomes 1 BCE to 1 CE.

Remember 

Traditionally, historians would use BC and AD. 

Now they would use BCE and CE.
But both are still used.
Both are right.

Remember that it doesn't change the dates.
In recent modern history, the AD/CE is left out. So if you see a date that doesn't have BC/BCE or AD/CE then it is safe to assume it is in the Common Era (CE).

This video will further explain the process of chronology.

So when you read history, you will come across both BC/AD and BCE/CE as a dating system.   

Centuries 

We, as historians, also count history in centuries.
A century is a hundred years
A millennium is a thousand years (plural is millennia)


 "Here are some examples 

• The sixth century BCE includes all of the years from 600-501 BCE.
• The sixth century CE includes all of the years from 501-600 CE.
• The year 1895 BCE falls in the nineteenth century BCE .
• The year 45 CE falls in the first century CE .

In general, if you know the year, you add 1 to the first two digits to get the century, unless it ends in double-zero (00). Thus, 1997 is in the 19+1 century, or the 20th century. 1800 is in the 18th century."

These examples are taken from 

Jones, J. (2002)., How to use dates in history, taken from http://courses.wcupa.edu/jones/his101/misc/dates.htm

To finish, we will take a link to a Glogster showing a chronological timeline.
Please, click on this link.

Alternatively, this link will take you to a Glogster on the life in the Australian goldfields.

2. Literacy in history

Literacy in history!

Literacy is different in each of your subject areas and history does not get a pass.
Sure, there is the reading of texts and comprehension of texts (like in English class) but there are also subject specific skills needed to analyse historic sources and texts. There is also those strange words that are unique to historic context.

Those are strange words...

Why did Britain send convicts to Australia?
Why do groups of people rise up against their rulers and take their place?
Why is Middle Eastern culture different to Australian culture?


To understand what has happened in history requires you to know certain words and what they mean.

Historic ideas and concepts

Historic ideas, terms and concepts need to be defined in order to understand historic events and changes in societies. These ideas largely shape our modern world and it is important for us to know what these mean in order for us to understand why people, places and countries are different.  

Did you know that the word "Laconic" in the image above simply means using very few words??
In this case, the designer wanted to 'sum up' a country using one word.

Let us take a look at some of those crazy historic words that we would need to know for history.

Here are some examples:

• Nationalism
• Imperialism
• Socialism
• Chartism
• Egalitarianism
• Social Darwinism

So many "ism's"!!! 

"ism" is a very important suffix for historical ideas. This helps to change the noun into an abstract noun. And "abstract" means that it not physical. e.g. Love, hate, thought, evil, fear and beauty.

Here are some definitions taken from the Australian curriculum grade 9 history text book's glossary.

Imperialism

The process of acquiring and maintaining colonies for economic and strategic purposes (Carrodus et al., 2012, p. 283).

In other words, a country taking land off others for their benefit.

Socialism

A political and economic system that advocates that the means of production, distribution and exchange should be regarded and owned by everyone in society and  managed by the state, rather than by individuals. (Carrodus et al., 2012, p. 284)

In other words, The government of a country controlling business, resources and finances but it's shared by everyone. i.e. no millionaires.   

Chartism

A 19th century movement in support of the development of a people's charter with the aim of electoral and social reform (Carrodus et al., 2012, p. 282) 

In other words, political reform; to make things fairer in British politics.

Egalitarianism 

The belief that every person is born equal in terms of rights and opportunities (Carrodus et al., 2012, p. 282).

In other words, everyone should be treated equally. 

Social Darwinism 

Charles Darwin's theory of evolution applied to the social sphere, whereby 'the survival of the fittest' became the doctrine for the treatment (or the lack of treatment) of 'unfit members of society. (Carrodus et al., 2012, p. 284)

In other words, some people used evolution as a way to be racist. Predominantly used to make 'white' people superior to 'black' and Asian people.

Videos 

Videos are a great literacy style. Videos are entertaining and informative at the same time. Here are a few great videos by John Green found on YouTube. They will help you to understand some of these important ideas in a historic context. The first is on Nationalism. A very important idea to understand. John talks fast so you may want to watch it a few times to grasp all of what he says!! 

Here is another great video from John Green. It will help you understand Capitalism and Socialism as economic (how a country uses money) systems. 

         

This is also a great video by John Green on Imperialism.

Let us continue by looking at digital literacy by clicking on this link.

1. Why is literacy and numeracy important?

Welcome to year 9 History!! 

"The making of the modern world"

Let us take a look at how literacy and numeracy is important, not only to this subject, but to everyday life.

Here are some questions we will consider;


Why is literacy and numeracy important?


What is literacy and numeracy?


Why is literacy and numeracy important when studying history?


Why is understanding literacy and numeracy in history important to "real life"?


Hmmmm... Lots to consider.

These are important questions to ponder that will help you to understand why literacy and numeracy are relevant to everyday life. 

We cannot live in our world and not use some form of literacy and numeracy. To have a conversation with someone face-to-face or online is using literacy. To buy something at the store is using numeracy and literacy. To understand a friend's age when going to a birthday party is using numeracy. And of course, you have to use literacy and numeracy when you leave school in the work place or for further studies. It is part of our everyday lives and will continue to be so in the future.

First, lets take a look at literacy.

"Isn't literacy just reading sir?" some of you might say. This is a good question and one that needs an answer. Literacy is not just about reading. Reading is part of literacy but we will discover there are many aspects to literacy. 

As you grade 9s are considered to be 'digital natives', you should be able to work your way around this blog. But, I know at not everyone is at the same level of 'digital literacy' (we will look at digital literacy later) and so I have included instructions and links throughout the blog to guide your learning if you run into trouble.

'BTW' - Digital natives means that you grew up with technology and can usually understand computer technology better than us 'old people'.  

Here is a definition:

Digital Natives 

noun

• a person born or brought up during the age of digital technology and so familiar with computers and the Internet from an early age:the digital tools that are reshaping our economy make more sense to young digital natives than to members of older generations

 .  

  quote from http://www.oxforddictionaries.com/definition/english/digital-native

Let's see how we use literacy in our history class.

Please, turn the page digitally by clinking this link here.