Students go to the source in history class

From the Battle Creek Enquirer: Students go to the source in history class Several new studies suggest America is politically polarized in part because fewer people are willing to challenge their own beliefs.

But a number of local social studies teachers are trying to help their students do just that — and maybe become better citizens in the process.

Dozens of social studies teachers across Calhoun County and the region have sidelined textbooks and are using primary sources — that is, words and images direct from historical figures — to teach American history. Rather than simply memorizing the names of historical figures and the dates of important events, students are asked to read the raw materials of our nation’s past and to analyze their meaning and impact on today’s society.

The method was developed as part of the Teaching American History Project, an effort funded by federal grants that ended last year. Bonnie Garbrecht, a now-retired educator who was director of the local project, said about 50 local teachers had gone through the two-year training that started four years ago and others had been trained in earlier efforts.

But several educators continue using the method because they said it helps kids learn to think for themselves and develop fact-based opinions.

“It gives you the chance to say your opinion, what you think about it, and not just think someone else’s opinion is right because it’s the only one you know,” said Julianna Blaskie, a 13-year-old eighth-grader in Sara Seiler’s U.S. History class at Lakeview Middle School.

That’s a skill fewer Americans are exercising, research suggests.

In a digital world where millions of like-minded folks are only a click away, people are increasingly seeking out news and facts from sources with which they already know they agree, several new studies suggest. “Thus,” reads the conclusion of an East Carolina University study, “Americans are getting different versions of the same issues and events, which may hinder the chances of political moderation and compromise among the mass public.”

“But this transfers over into everyday life,” said Seiler, the Lakeview Middle School teacher. “When (students) watch the news, they’re going to question what they’re seeing.”