A+INTRODUCTION

Our first lesson was putting in place some big ideas about how this year's course will run.

We looked at some of the ideas that are part of the historian's tools and what have been some significant ideas for New Zealanders over the last 100 years or so.

These are:
 * Points of View**


 * Personal/Family experiences**


 * Pacifism/Going to war**


 * Sources**


 * Provenance**


 * ANZAC Day**

These are **CONCEPTS** which means big ideas that have an understanding that is able to be transferred from one situation to another.

When we make a **CONNECTION** between one concept and another we are starting to understand the importance of History as a study.

When we are studying historical events there are several more C words that help us


 * CAUSES**


 * COURSE**


 * CONSEQUENCES**

The next page on the wiki will ask you to complete an activity that digs deeper into these ideas.

Send the results of your own written work to jpipe@mags.school.nz

Do not cut and paste!

**Reading in History** If you were to examine a number of history or social studies textbooks, you would find them loaded with reading problems. Often ideas are presented in such rapid-fire order that it is difficult for some students to understand. The por reader has difficulty in making sense out of much of the material. Perhaps this is the reason some people have developed a dislike for history and geography. Of course, the good reader has no such problems. Take a good look at the social studies vocabulary. That too, causes difficulty for many students. Textbooks are overflowing with strange names of people, places, and events. Then, to make matters worse, much of the vocabulary is taken from other languages. You will also use the common reading skills in history. You will preview, skim, recall, find main ideas, and identify detail. The special skills you will need are: 1. Being able to follow the //sequence// of events 2. Being able to make comparisons 3. Being able to remember dates 4. Being able to use maps, charts, globes, and an atlas 5. Being able to associate dates with events (cause and effect skill) 6. Being able to distinguish between fact and opionion (interpretation of past events) 7. Being able to use source books Social studies material is easier to read than science material because most of it is written in narrative or story form. History is based upon cause and effect events. There would be no history, if there had not been causes for effects. History is nothing more than a series of situations which had at their base a cause which provided certain effects. A student must be able to grasp the relationship between reasons for action and their effects.

zHi thee