Page 121 - Balancing between the present and the past

History teachers and historical contextualization
but he never asked his students to reason as to how Alexander the Great’s motivation and beliefs affected his actions.
5.5.4.3 Contextualize to explain
Compared to the other teachers, Lisa and Nick made more use of the historical context to explain historical events. They not only reconstructed the historical context but also used historical context knowledge to compare phenomena or presented different perspectives on a historical event. For example, Nick used historical context knowledge of the Ancient Period, such as time indicators (e.g., 63 B.C., the first century), a geographical context (e.g., map of the Middle East and the Roman Empire), and the political and socio-cultural circumstances (e.g., the differences between monotheistic religions such as Christianity and Judaism and the polytheistic Roman religion) to explain the Roman persecution of Jews and Christians.
Bob and Kim encouraged their students to use their historical context knowledge 5 the most. Interestingly, this happened the most when presenting and discussing
historical sources. For example, Bob presented a 1950 Russian cartoon displaying
American insects that were raiding Soviet Union territory. He asked his students to
use their historical context knowledge (e.g., the Cold War climate, the Marshall Plan) to examine and interpret the cartoon.
Bob: All right, who knows when this cartoon was made?
Student A: The source states 1950.
Bob: Yes, 1950. Which important historical events took place around 1950? Student B: The Korean War.
Bob: Correct but think again. Which historical event could be related to the source?
Student C: The Marshall Plan?
Bob: Yes, but how is that related to the source? How did the Americans experience the Marshall Plan?
Student C: As something good. They wanted to help other people who needed help after the Second World War.
Bob: All right. And how could the Russians have viewed the Marshall Plan? Student C: As something negative.
Bob: But it was something good, was it not? You cannot be angry at something that is good, can you?
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