How to Study History? (For teachers and Students)

How to Study History?

There has been misunderstanding and misconceptions about History as a subject among most of the students and a few teachers as well, which causes disinterest and boredom in study of History by most of the students. Whereas the importance of History has been unquestioned in world of scholars. History not only tells us who we are, but also understand the world and its cultures. History helps us understanding changes and judge things wisely. History is interesting and make peoples awakened. it helps us in taking right decisions and it is believed that those who don’t learn from history are doomed to repeat it.

History teachers can guide/instruct our students the right ways of studying History and help them in developing conceptual study of history. They can make History interesting for students by suggesting following principles to adopt-

1.      Students should be informed the importance of Studying History in Human Life.

2.      Make a personal connection with students and share your sources with them. They should be informed about good books of history to develop broader understanding of subject.

3.      Don’t forget to summarise chapters/portions you taught and introduce the unexpected.

4.      Students should be told to build a Study Schedule and develop a learning inventory.

5.      Divide the content materials of history into manageable chunks/portions/chapters.

6.      Students should be told to adopt “ Read-Underline-Note-Repeat ” formula for better learning/understanding of History.

7.      Historical events and personalities must be correlated and compared in terms of their impacts over society, polity and economy to develop logical sense and understanding among students and encourage learning life lessons from history.

8.      They should be told to make a list of important historical terms, concepts & Ideas and practice it.

9.      Instruct them to use Maps and Historical Atlases. Learning History through textbooks only can be confusing.

10.  Make use of Mind maps, charts and Maps/Graphs.

11.  They should be motivated to teach a friend or friends for Peer Learning  and work on creative history projects together.

12.  Travel to Historical Places, Museums, Art Galleries & Cultural Centres.

13.  Watch Historical Movies and Documentaries together.

14.  Watching websites of Museums and History Institutions and YouTube for Historical contents be useful.

15.  Tell them to read inspiring Autobiographies and Biographies.
16. Dedicated use of Library: a corner/shelf for the subject can be developed for targeted students and history lovers. Reading 1-2 history books can be given as Holiday Homework/ Vacation Assignment to students.
17. Use of Mnemonics (A word, sentence or poem used to help remember a series of name, rule etc.) help remembering events, names etc. in chronological sequence.

18.  History should be studied in large frame not in small pictures as all historical events are interconnected & outcome of ‘’ Causes and Effects” of previous events.

19.  Be humble about randomness and weird circumstances in history, but understand that everything can’t be taught and there are great people who shape history.

20.  Beware of Historical biases and inform students to do so. They should study various history books as they are but conclusion must be made as per their own logic.

Thanks for Reading.

(Your suggestions and comments are invited..)

Ambrish Kumar Gupta

Principal

Kendriya Vidyalaya Rajkot

     Date : 10/11/2019