Dr Susan Bester
School of Human and Social
Sciences for Education
Self-directed learning based
assessment by means of creative
tasks (projects) for history
students.
To begin, it is necessary to describe and explain the
two concepts Self-Directed Learning (SDL) and
Historical thinking.
“In its broadest meaning, ’self-directed learning’
describes a process by which individuals take the
initiative, with or without the assistance of others, in
diagnosing their learning needs, formulating learning
goals, identify human and material resources for
learning, choosing and implement appropriate
learning strategies, and evaluating learning
outcomes”. Knowles, M. S. (1975)
Those who do not remember the past are
condemned to repeat it.
From this definition it is clear that SDL lead to the
determination to acquire knowledge independently
and creatively. No wonder that SDL is regard as an
integral part of live long learning.
For the practical implementation of SDL within the
field of History learning and teaching it is necessary
to understand the concept of Historical thinking.
Those who do not remember the past are
condemned to repeat it.
Historical thinking revolves around a framework of
six concepts - in line with recent international
research on history learning
Historical significance
Why we care today, about certain events, trends
and issues in history?
Students must comprehend and understand the
impact and consequences of a event/person/
development, over a long period of time. In other
words what changes are results of the impact and
consequences and what makes it significant?
Students must comprehend and understand that a
event/person/ development sheds light on enduring or
emerging issues in the past and the present. Here the
students can ask: What important information is
reveals to us and what makes it significant?
Those who do not remember the past are
condemned to repeat it.
In other words significant events include those that
resulted in great change over long periods of time
for large numbers of people.
Therefore, both “It is significant because it is in the
history book,” and “It is significant because I am
interested in it,” are inadequate explanations of
historical significance.
Those who do not remember the past are
condemned to repeat it.
Critically evaluate the
contribution of King Shaka
in the context of the time
in which he lived to
determine the historical
significance of his live.
Sketch of King Shaka
kaSenzangakhona (1781 - 1828)
from 1824
The following themes can be given as a starting
point for the research assignment:
• Weapons changes.
• The "bull horn" formation.
• Mfecane (Difaqane).
Those who do not remember the past are
condemned to repeat it.
Highlight what does
the research on the
Soweto uprising of
1976 reveal about
issues at that time in
the past and
contemporary life to
determine the historical
significance of this event.
A photo which was taken
during the Soweto uprising
of 1976.
The following themes can be given as a starting
point for the research assignment:
• The Afrikaans Medium Decree.
• The ongoing medium of instruction
controversy.
Those who do not remember the past are
condemned to repeat it.
Use primary source evidence
How to find, select, contextualise, and interpret
sources
Students must ask questions like: What is it? ( letter,
photo, painting dairy)
Who is/are the author(s), artist or photographer?
When (in what time frame) is the source create?
Students must acknowledge the information that primary
sources may reveal about the aim or purposes of the
source as well as the values and viewpoints of the author.
Those who do not remember the past are condemned
to repeat it.
Students must read the sources in contexts of its
historical background (contextualisation).
Those who do not remember the past are
condemned to repeat it.
Steve Biko can be
consider a martyr
of the antiapartheid
movement. Do
you agree with this
statement?. Find,
select and use
primary sources to
motivate you
answer.
Continuity and change
Looking for change where common sense
suggests that there has been none and
looking for continuities where we assumed
that there was change.
Students must comprehend and understand that
continuity and change are interrelated and not
isolated.
Students must comprehend and understand that
some aspects of life change more quickly in some
periods than others - turning points in history.
Those who do not remember the past are
condemned to repeat it.
Students must comprehend and understand that
progress and decline are fundamental ways of
evaluating change over time - remember change
does not always mean progress.
Students must comprehend and understand that
chronology can help to organise their understanding
of continuity and change - remember you
cannot understand continuity and change without
knowing the order in which things happened.
Those who do not remember the past are
condemned to repeat it
Students can determine continuity and change
by the comparisons between some point in the
past and the present, or between two points in
the past.
Those who do not remember the past
are condemned to repeat it
Continuity and change
Visit the websites below and compere the
testimony of Hester Johanna Maria Uys about
what happened during the South African War
and the testimony of Hermann Graebe during
the Nuremberg War Crimes Trial. Explain what
has changed and what has remained the same
during the different wars.
http://www.holocaustresearchproject.org/einsatz
/graebetest.html
http://erroluys.com/boerwarchildsstory.htm
Place the following pictures in chronological
order and explain why you place them in this
particular order.
The first plenary session of the Convention
for a Democratic South Africa (CODESA) at
the World Trade Centre.
Funeral of the victims of the Bisho massacre
Nelson Mandela and president F W de Klerk
sign the Groote Schuur Minute.
The first democtatic election in South Africa
Funeral of the victims of the Boipatong
massacre
Nelson Mandela released
The funeral of Chris Hani
Cause and consequence
Cause and consequence is the active role, or
force, that people (as individuals
and groups) play in promoting, shaping, and
resisting change in history.
Students must comprehend and understand that
people are in a continuous interplay with among
other, natural environment, historical legacies as well
as people who want something else during a time
frame.
Students must comprehend and understand that
actions often have unintended consequences.
Those who do not remember the past are condemned to repeat it.
Analyse the manifesto
of Piet Retief (available
at the webside
http://www.sahistory.org
.za/archive/manifestoemigrant-farmers-pietretief-1837 ) and identify
“types of causes,” (e.g.,
economic-, political-and
cultural conditions) of
the Great trek.
Study the website
http://share.nanjingschool.com/humanities/fil
es/2012/09/What-wasthe-impact-of-the-Treatyof-Versailles-v9inhb.pdf
and create a schematic
chart of the causes of the
Treaty of Versailles and
explain their arrangement
on the chart.
Historical perspective
Historical perspective demands
comprehension of the vast differences between
us in the present and those in the past.
Students must be conscious about and consider
the multiple perspectives of people in the past.
In other words historical perspective means the
understanding of social, cultural, intellectual, and
emotional settings that shaped people’s lives and
actions in the past.
Those who do not remember the past are condemned
to repeat it.
Students must comprehend and understand that
historical perspective depends upon evidence remember within the framework of historical thinking,
historical empathy must be base on evidence .
Avoid presentism—the unjustified enforcing of
present ideas on the past.
Those who do not remember the past are
condemned to repeat it.
Ethical Dimensions
What responsibilities do historical crimes
and sacrifices impose upon us today?
All meaningful historical accounts involve implicit or
explicit moral judgment - in other words the students
should expect to learn something from the past that
helps them to face the ethical issues of today.
This creates a difficult paradox because we do not
want to impose our own standards on the past.
Those who do not remember the past are
condemned to repeat it.
Study the websites below.
Interpret the perspective
of Dirk van Eck as victim
of the ANC’s Operation
Kletswayo and make
inferences about how
some people felt and
thought about the TRC.
http://www.justice.gov.za/trc/m
edia%5C1998%5C9801/s980
118a.htm
http://mg.co.za/print/2007-0730-npa-fw-not-being-formallyinvestigated
Identify a moral issue of
today. Do research on
the historical
background of the
chosen issue and
discuss the implications
for today.
The following issues can be given as a starting
point for the research assignment (case study):
Poverty
Violence
Child headed households
Those who do not remember the past are
condemned to repeat it.
Thus with SDL and historical thinking students
are put into investigative roles.
Instead of listening to a story already complete,
students would investigate the sources of the
stories and construct their own interpretations
and understandings.
They would understand what it means to do
history in order to understand the past more
deeply.