Sharing Good Practice
Teaching history in the 21st
Century
By Thomas Ketchell
we need to push for in the study of
history: creativity.
Another example is that of a teacher I
look up to … Enrique Legaspi. Enrique
allows his students to actively use
Twitter in the classroom. The results
of this were; significant increase
in student’s engagement with the
content, shy students participated
more as they found a means of
communication that allowed them to
take an active role in the classroom.
A
s a history major, I had a hard
time finding a job when I
graduated. I worked first in
the environmental industry in
Kenya before moving to Beijing, China
where I was confronted daily with
horrible air pollution.
I realized that there was a need to
revolutionise the way in which history
is being taught. This is crucial since
technology is deeply integrated into
the way today’s generation lives.
This high level of pollution made me
tap into my background as a history
major to find a creative way to share my
experience at the time. One event that
stood out for me was that of the Great
Smog of London in 1952. This was the
single worst man-made air pollution
disaster that resulted in 12,000 people
dying in the space of five days.
The teaching of history has to evolve
beyond the simple transfer of
textbooks to tablets. If you want kids
to hate their iPad, put a textbook on
it. Teaching history is more than dates
and figures. It’s about developing
critical thinking, recognizing patterns
and making judgments. Students have
to explore, create and collaborate.
I came across some amazing personal
stories and struggles. It was only when
people realized the morgues were
jam-packed that they understood the
true impact of the smog. I decided
to integrate the use of technology
in order to effectively communicate
what the scenario was like during the
time of the Great Smog. I created a
fictional character who woke up in
1952 and started tweeting as if he had
a smartphone sixty years ago.
Use technology in the
classroom
The fictional character spoke in a
language familiar to today’s kids. I
used the hashtag #GreatSmog and
built up a fair audience with over 422
tweets in the space of five days. I even
got the British Museum and National
Gallery involved.
In reliving the historical event this way