Learning History through Children's Literature
The following article is from the Office of Educational Research and
Improvement which is part of the Department of Education.
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Teaching history using children's literature, both
fiction and non-fiction, is an old idea enjoying new
vitality in the elementary and middle school curriculum.
This Digest discusses (1) the revival of interest in
teaching history through children's literature, (2)
research-based guidelines for teachers of history and
children's literature, and (3) an innovative method of
teaching history using children's literature.
REVIVAL OF INTEREST IN TEACHING HISTORY THROUGH
CHILDREN'S LITERATURE
Using literature to teach history is not a recent
educational innovation. Stories illustrating the triumphs of
individuals embodying civic virtue and good character were
at the curricular core of nineteenth-century common schools.
Narratives provided children with an understanding of
American history and government as well as the attributes
that individual citizens needed to maintain the Republic.
Spelling and reading books were primary means of this kind
of cultural transmission. Generations of American children
defined themselves individually and communally through
stories and amalgams of fiction and fact in the McGuffy
readers and similar textbooks used almost universally in
schools during the last century.
An indicator of increasing interest among educators in
using literature to teach history is the large number of
scholarly and popular articles published in the past ten
years advocating this teaching method. A number of factors
account for this resurgence, such as the high quality and
number of fiction and non-fiction publications written for
children in the past twenty years; activities of prominent
historians and educators to re-establish history's primacy
in the social studies curriculum; advocacy of the whole
language teaching method; concern that children have an
inadequate historical understanding of the cultural
characteristics that hold the Republic together; recognition
that many students need to develop tolerance of individuals
unlike themselves; and attention to the long-standing
problems of students' lack of interest in basic school
subjects (Epstein 1993; Krey 1998).
RESEARCH-BASED GUIDELINES FOR TEACHERS OF HISTORY AND
CHILDREN'S LITERATURE IN THE ELEMENTARY SCHOOL
The research on teaching history with literature is much
more abundant than it was a decade ago (Levstik & Barton
1997). Researchers have documented the appropriateness of
teaching history in elementary and middle school, and their
conclusions suggest that certain elements are integral to
effective instruction in history and literature (Downey &
Levstik 1991; Levstik & Barton 1997; Levstik & Pappas 1990).
For instance, one of the most-repeated claims of history
education advocates is that historical narrative is more
interesting and comprehensible to students than the
expository writing of social studies textbooks. Levstik
(1986), VanSledright (1995), and VanSledright & Kelly (1996)
conducted naturalistic studies of elementary school students
as they studied history through the use of multiple texts,
including children's trade books. These researchers
concluded that students' interest in the subject matter and
their ability to learn and retain information increased
significantly when their history instruction included
literature. Moreover, VanSledright & Kelley (1996) reported
that, given a choice, students in the fifth grade classroom
they observed were more likely to read works of fiction and
non-fiction than standard textbooks.
It is also important to note that without teacher
mediation to direct their reading of multiple sources of
information, students failed to understand the nature of
historical sources and historical writing. They tended to
mistakenly judge the quality of information in a text by the
text's length (VanSledright & Kelly 1996). Furthermore,
without guidance from the teacher, students were unlikely to
discern the relative quality or value of different sources
of information. Rather, they tended to view various sources
indiscriminately, as if they all were equally useful,
reliable, and valid. Fifth grade students are capable of
deep historical understanding, but only if carefully guided
by a teacher (Levstik 1986).
Teachers can enhance children's historical understanding by
using instructional strategies that place a particular event
or time period within the context of a broader framework of
time. Levstik & Pappas (1990) concluded that the context in
which an historical event is presented and discussed may be
crucial in determining whether or not children become
engaged in the study of history. VanSledright & Brophy
(1995) concurred that students' learning of history is
greatly enhanced when teachers help them to connect events
within the contexts of particular times and places. While
mathematical and scientific phenomena have concrete
referents in one's world experiences, historical events
become meaningful only through temporal and spatial links to
other events. Effective teachers, therefore, enable their
students to better understand particular historical events
within a contextual framework of other interrelated events.
THE HISTORY FAIR: AN INNOVATIVE METHOD OF TEACHING
HISTORY USING CHILDREN'S LITERATURE
A teaching method which involves children's literature
and is consistent with research findings on the history
education of elementary school students is the "history
fair." A seven-week unit created by a fifth grade teacher to
teach research skills, the history fair illustrates the
connection between historical fiction and non-fiction and
challenges students to demonstrate their learning in a
public forum as they become experts on topics that interest
them (Nelson & Nelson 1994).
To develop student expertise, the teacher emphasizes
historical fiction throughout the school year. Books which
the teacher can discuss with students to stimulate their
interest are available in the classroom. The class reads
aloud historical fiction such as Jayhawker
by Patricia
Beatty and My Brother Sam Is Dead
by the Colliers. As the
year proceeds, children present book talks and offer
recommendations about the quality of the literature. This
general approach to teaching history through children's
literature establishes a classroom context within which to
conduct the seven-week unit on the history fair.
At the beginning of the history fair unit, children
choose historical fiction books that interest them. A time
line is placed on the wall. As the children study history
through literature, they add events and dates to the time
line to gain perspective on the relationships between those
events. The children read books during the first two weeks
of the unit and then write reports on what they learn about
a particular period in history.
During the next three weeks of the history fair, students
research an event or time period treated in the historical
fiction books they have chosen. Children then gather
materials to find pertinent information about the time
periods they are studying. Non-fiction books, Cobblestone Magazine , and the Internet are possible sources, but there
must be a balance between types of sources used. Students
are also encouraged to interview people who may have lived
during the time period, if it is recent enough; for example,
the Vietnam War, World War II, or the Great Depression. When
they finish their research, students meet with the teacher.
This critically important component of the unit allows the
teacher to help students comprehend main ideas, remedy
misconceptions, and offer suggestions about additional
information they need to finish their inquiries. After their
conferences with the teacher, students write final drafts of
their research reports. During the final two weeks of the
unit, students refine their reports and prepare displays.
Prior to the fair, students present their projects to
classmates using their displays as guides. On the day of the
history fair, the children's projects are arranged on tables
in chronological order according to the time period
pertaining to each project. Students and teachers view the
fair during the day; parents and other family members visit
in the evening. Using their displays as guides, the children
talk about what they have learned.
One of the most rewarding aspects of the history fair is
that children of all levels of ability can succeed and learn
something important to them about a topic in history. They
learn how to find information through many different
sources, and they learn that when reading historical
fiction, they can go beyond the story and dig deeper into
the history behind that story. References and ERIC
Resources.
The following list of resources includes references used
to prepare this Digest. The items followed by an ED number
are available in microfiche and/or paper copies from the
ERIC Document Reproduction Service (EDRS). For information
about prices, contact EDRS, 7420 Fullerton Road, Suite 110,
Springfield, Virginia 22153-2852; telephone numbers are
(703) 440-1400 and (800) 443-3742. Entries followed by an EJ
number, annotated monthly in CURRENT INDEX TO JOURNALS IN
EDUCATION (CIJE), are not available through EDRS. However,
they can be located in the journal section of most larger
libraries by using the bibliographic information provided,
requested through Interlibrary Loan, or ordered from
commercial reprint services.
Downey, Matthew T., and Linda Levstik. "Teaching and
Learning History." In James P. Shaver, Ed., HANDBOOK OF
RESEARCH ON SOCIAL STUDIES TEACHING AND LEARNING. New York:
Macmillan Publishing Company, 1991.
Drake, Janet J., and Frederick D. Drake. "Using
Children's Literature to Teach About the American
Revolution." SOCIAL STUDIES & THE YOUNG LEARNER 3
(November-December 1990): 6-8. EJ 426 403.
Epstein, Terry L. "Why Teach History to the Young?" In
Michael O. Tunnell and Richard Ammon, Eds., THE STORY OF
OURSELVES: TEACHING HISTORY THROUGH CHILDREN'S LITERATURE.
Portsmouth, NH: Heinemann, 1993. ED 391 741.
Krey, Dean M. CHILDREN'S LITERATURE IN SOCIAL STUDIES.
Washington, DC: National Council for the Social Studies,
1998.
Levstik, Linda S. "The Relationship Between Historical
Response and Narrative in a Sixth Grade Classroom." THEORY
AND RESEARCH IN SOCIAL EDUCATION 14 (Winter 1986): 1-19. EJ
332 191.
Levstik, Linda S., and Keith C. Barton. DOING HISTORY:
INVESTIGATION WITH CHILDREN IN ELEMENTARY AND MIDDLE
SCHOOLS. Mahwah, NJ: Lawrence Erlbaum Associates, 1997. ED
420 572.
Levstik, Linda S., and Christine C. Pappas. "New
Directions for Studying Historical Understanding." THEORY
AND RESEARCH IN SOCIAL EDUCATION 18 (Fall 1990): 327-343. EJ
426 398.
Nelson, Lynn R., and Trudy A. Nelson. "The History Fair:
Multiple Resources and Activities Create Understanding and
Enthusiasm." SOCIAL STUDIES & THE YOUNG LEARNER 7
(November-December 1994): 12-17. EJ 496 950.
VanSledright, Bruce A. "How Do Multiple Text Resources
Influence Learning to Read American History in Fifth Grade?"
NRRC NEWS: A NEWSLETTER OF THE NATIONAL READING RESEARCH
CENTER (September 1995): 4-5. ED 385 832.
VanSledright, Bruce A., and Christine A. Kelly. "Reading
American History: How Do Multiple Text Sources Influence
Historical Learning in Fifth Grade?" READING RESEARCH REPORT
68 (1996). ED 400 525.
VanSledright, Bruce A., and Jere Brophy. STORYTELLING,
IMAGINATION, AND FANCIFUL ELABORATION IN CHILDREN'S
HISTORICAL RECONSTRUCTIONS. East Lansing, Michigan: Center
for the Learning and Teaching of Elementary Subjects, 1991.
ED 337 407. ------
ERIC Identifier: ED435586
Publication Date:
1999-10-00 Author: Nelson, Lynn R. - Nelson, Trudy A.
SourSource: ERIC Clearinghouse for Social Studies/Social
Science Education Bloomington IN.
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