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History
TaK - History
What characterises the
methodologies of
Historians?
TaK - History
What is history?
• Is it enough to define it as “the study of the
past”?
Concerned with:
• Evidence (the present traces of the past)
• Significance (concerned with significant events)
• Explanation & Understanding (not only
describing the past, but also explaining it)
TaK - History
Write down the two most significant events
that have happened at the College since you
arrived in the summer of 2010.
Who do you think is best qualified to write a
history of RCNUWC:
• a graduate?
• a teacher?
• a member of the board?
• a local journalist?
Why?
TaK - History
“Historians are dangerous people.
They are capable of upsetting everything” Khruschev
“He who controls the present, controls the past.
He who controls the past, controls the future.”
Orwell
“If you do not like the past, change it.” Burton
TaK - History
In Russia…
TaK - History
… and in China
TaK - History
TaK - History
Can we talk about
historical truth?
TaK - History
Why should you care about the past?
What dangers are there in being
obsessed with the past?
What dangers are there in
ignoring the past?
TaK - History
“Those who don’t study the past
are condemned to repeat it” Santayana
“What experience and history
teach is this - that people and
governments have never learned
anything from history” Hegel
TaK - History
To what extent do you think
that people keep making the
same mistakes?
Why?
TaK - History
Different histories
• Over-reliance on the written word?
• In parts of West Africa, history is told
through song by a griot, a respected
wandering musician
• Among many Australian Aborigines, the land
itself is history. Geographical features reflect
the creation stories of the ‘dreamtime’
TaK - History
What is history?
• Micro histories. Our own.
• “For the want of a nail…….”
TaK - History
How can the past be known?
Primary Sources
(materials produced at the time of an event
by people who were there)
• Fallible eye-witness
• Social bias
• Deliberate manipulation
Secondary sources (second-hand accounts)
TaK - History
Primary sources
TaK - History
Writing history
• History is the selection of a selection
• Advantages of hindsight
• Disadvantages of hindsight
TaK - History
Perspectives in history
• Study the historian before you study his facts
• Reading an 18th Century account of the 13th
Century will possibly tell you as much about
the 18th as it will about the 13th Century
• Propaganda and persuasion
TaK - History
Some Problems of Bias
• Topic choice bias
• Confirmation bias
• National bias
• …others?
TaK - History
Theories of history
• The ‘Great Person’ theory
• Economic Determinism
• No meaning, only chance!
“Had Cleopatra’s nose been shorter,
the whole history of the world
would have been different”
Blaise Pascal
TaK - History
Why study history?
• History gives us a sense of identity
• History is a defence against propaganda
• History enriches our understanding of
human nature
TaK - History
Some key points:
• History seeks to study and explain the significant events of the past on
the basis of currently existing evidence
• The study of History can be justified on the grounds that it contributes
to our sense of identity, is a defence against propaganda, and enriches
our understanding of human nature
• History is based on primary sources, but since they are selective they
cannot always be taken at face value
• In seeking to explain the past the historian has the benefit of hindsight
which can sometimes result in hindsight bias
• We can perhaps get closer to the truth by exploring the past from a
variety of perspectives
• Historical events rarely have a single cause but are usually the result of
a combination of factors
TaK - History
Reason
Perception
What fallacies
arise in studying
history?
How reliable is
eye-witness
testimony as a
primary source?
Maths
What role do
statistics play in
history?
Natural
Sciences
Ethics
Should historians
make moral
judgments about
the past?
History
Human
Sciences
Arts
How is history
similar to fiction?
How is it
different?
Can the scientific
method be
applied to
history?
Language
Can historical
events be
described in
neutral language?
How does history
differ from other
social sciences?
TaK
The Presentation
• Real-life situation
• Contemporary problem
Real-life
situation.
Identify some
central conflict
revolving around
a knowledge
issue
2
Underlying
knowledge
issues
4
Vocabulary of
real-life situation
ToK vocabulary
Branching Arguments
Tentative
resolution of the
central conflict
in the real-life
situation
Implications
1
The structure and vocabulary of a ToK Presentation
Abstraction
TaK
Evaluation
of
Knowledge
Issues
3
from Ric Sims
ToK Presentation Planner
Other Real life Situations
Start Here
Real life Situation
Implications
Extract KI from RLS
Vocabulary of
Real Life
Situation
-----------------------------------ToK Vocabulary
Evaluation of
Knowledge Issues
Underlying
Knowledge Issue
Arguments
TaK
A topic
A few weeks ago you saw a video about birth control in which, among
other things, a foetus was shown to feel acute pain.
You decide that the real-life situation for your ToK presentation will be
Abortion.
You decide first to answer for your class some basic questions
concerning types of abortion, the variety of ways it is possible to
induce it and a description of what you have learnt is called, “postabortion syndrome”; then to present some comparative facts about
abortion laws in different countries.
Since your presentation partner is strenuously opposed to abortion,
while you think that abortion should be a choice that belongs to each
woman, the class is guaranteed to hear both sides of the argument.
Everyone in the class will want to participate in the discussion your
presentation is certain to provoke.
TaK
Real-life situation/contemporary problem:
(Focus: History)
Scenario:
Demonstration in China against a new history textbook in Japan
Knowledge Issues:
•
•
•
•
“How is it decided what history is taught in schools?”
“How can we safeguard against bias?”
“Can we talk about historical truth?”
….others?
TaK
Strategies for finding topics
• Think about any cause, local or global, that you
support
• Think about your favourite IB subject. Consider topics
within it that interest you most
• Think about items from the news that have caught
your attention
• Think about experiences you have had
Whatever your topic, you have to be able to formulate at
least one good question about knowledge from it.
TaK
Real-life situation/contemporary problem: (Focus:……………..)
Scenario: …………………………………..
1. State your knowledge issue clearly
2. Show how it arises from your selected real-life situation
3. Develop it
4. Demonstrate how it could be applied back to your real-life
situation and others
A Identification of knowledge issue
• Did the presentation identify a relevant knowledge issue
involved, implicit or embedded in a real-life situation?
Achievement level Descriptor
0
1--- 2
3--- 4
5
Level 1 was not achieved.
The presentation referred to a knowledge issue but it
was irrelevant to the real-life situation under
consideration.
The presentation identified a knowledge issue that was
in some ways relevant to the real-life situation under
consideration.
The presentation identified a knowledge issue that was
clearly relevant to the real-life situation under
consideration.
B Treatment of knowledge issues
• Did the presentation show a good understanding of
knowledge issues, in the context of the real-life situation?
Achievement level Descriptor
0
1--- 2
3--- 4
5
Level 1 was not achieved.
The presentation showed some understanding of
knowledge issues.
The presentation showed an adequate understanding of
knowledge issues.
The presentation showed a good understanding of
knowledge issues.
C Knower's perspective
• Did the presentation, particularly in the use of arguments
and examples, show an individual approach and
demonstrate the significance of the topic?
Achievement level Descriptor
0
1--- 2
3--- 4
5
Level 1 was not achieved.
The presentation, in its use of arguments and examples or
otherwise, showed limited personal involvement and did not
demonstrate the significance of the topic.
The presentation, in its use of arguments and examples or
otherwise, showed some personal involvement and
adequately demonstrated the significance of the topic.
The presentation, in its distinctively personal use of arguments
and examples or otherwise, showed clear personal
involvement and fully demonstrated the significance of the
topic.
D Connections
• Did the presentation give a balanced account of how the topic could be
approached from different perspectives?
• Did the presentation show how the positions taken on the knowledge
issues would have implications in related areas?
• In awarding the higher achievement levels, the emphasis should be
more on the quality of the consideration of connections than on the
quantity of connections mentioned.
Achievement level Descriptor
0
1--- 2
3--- 4
5
Level 1 was not achieved.
The presentation explored at least two different perspectives
to some extent.
The presentation gave a satisfactory account of how the
question could be approached from different perspectives, and
began to explore their similarities and differences.
The presentation gave a clear account of how the question
could be approached from different perspectives and
considered their implications in related areas.