Using Newspapers and Nightly News Broadcasts in the American History Classroom Ryan Clark ED 7999 In partial fulfillment of the requirements for the degree of Masters of Arts in Teaching Spring 2005 Major Social Studies Education 0 TABLE OF CONTENTS PAGE CHAPTER ONE INTRODUCTION The Situation The Purpose Summary 2 3 3 CHAPTER TWO REVIEW OF RELATED LITERATURE Introduction Teaching History Through Current Events Theoretical Basis for the Strength of Media Suggested Approaches Summary 4 5 6 6 8 CHAPTER THREE METHODOLOGY OF THE STUDY Introduction Population Process Hypotheses Data Collection Summary 9 9 9 10 11 11 CHAPTER FOUR FINDINGS OF THE STUDY Introduction Hypothesis 1 Hypothesis 2 Hypothesis 3 Summary 12 13 14 15 16 CHAPTER FIVE CONCLUSIONS RECOMMENDATIONS AND PERSONAL OBSERVATIONS Introduction 17 Conclusions 17 Recommendations 17 Personal Observations 18 Summary 19 REFERENCES APPENDIX A APPENDIX B 20 1 Chapter One Introduction to the Project The Situation When thinking about a subject specifically a genre in social studies that is often dreaded by students American history often comes to mind Students back away from history because they are unable to correlate the events with those that they currently experience Children today are forced to deal with a number of difficulties and challenges The fast pace of the world around them does not stop and is full of confusion and added pressures that make children grow and mature quicker than ever before With dual income families more popular today than in years past children are expected to complete tasks and responsibilities without mom or dad at home It is becoming easier every day for kids to become excited over the newest technology but what will undeniably never go out of style is a new found wealth of knowledge When a correlation between events in their lives outside the classroom is brought into the classroom children have a better chance to learn at school How do we encourage ninth graders to care about history How do we motivate students to open their minds and give the stories of their grandparents a chance How do we make it meaningful to them When teachers are able to motivate students to learn about the events of the past and show that history does in fact repeat itself students may understand history more than they realize 2 The Purpose As is the case with all generations today s students are not just studying history in the classroom they are living it The best way to motivate them to understand their past is to bring it into what they really care about which is their present The purpose of this project is to excite students about history and use tools like newspapers and nightly news broadcasts to help bring text from their books to life This project that took place over four weeks in an upper middle class suburban classroom while teaching lessons to a ninth grade American history class specifically concentrating on years 1950 1975 This project will focus on the positive benefits of teaching the past through modern media and current events The goal is to show how the use of today s media including nightly news broadcasts and newspapers are tools with which students will better absorb and understand great lessons of American history Summary Many students view history as a thing of the past that has no place in today s society This is because they have not been given the chance to explore history in a modern way their own While using the nightly news broadcasts and newspapers to assist in the delivery of the history text students may be able to better understand their history Furthermore students will better retain knowledge and perform better on tests because of the opportunity to translate historical fact through the personification of it 3 Chapter Two Review of Related Literature Introduction According to David Trask Americans report lots of enjoyable meaningful encounters with the past they just haven t had many of them in history classes within the frameworks of Academic history 2002 p 478 Education is not a spectator sport When students are expected to connect with facts from the dull pages of a textbook the link to feeling or personification is not achieved As Trask further discusses People feel connected to the past in museums not in the classroom p 478 Through life and experience children learn The subject of history has a leg up on the scientific laws of the universe mathematical equations and dissecting language sentences because history has a common thread of emotion woven throughout that unfortunately within the confines of the classroom often goes untouched Students usually detest history and therefore educators find that their learning is adversely affected Rosenzweig and Thelen 1998 p 12 This is because students have a hard time understanding how history could possibly have anything to do with them They are already certain that things would never happen to them in today s world let alone a world that they do not even see themselves a part of They are disconnected with history because they do not feel it has any sort of impact on them and therefore do not want to be bothered We are faced with a dilemma How to teach the subject to a tremendous number of students who do not want to learn it who can find no reason whatsoever to study it Khazzaka 1997 p 210 4 Teaching History through Current Events Once citizens depart from the sheltered halls of ivy few maintain intimate contact with the world of social studies except through media presentations of current events Wilson 1993 p 271 If this is the case why are schools so reluctant to incorporate the very same way students choose to experience social events into the classroom According to Jerold M Starr Schools are notoriously slow in revising curriculum to include current events Kalita 2003 p 3 Why is this The idea has been around for centuries On June 8 1795 the Portland Eastern Herald reported that Much has been said and written on the utility of newspapers but one principal advantage which might be derived from these publications has been neglected we mean that of reading them in schools Hopkins 1998 p 2 Newspapers along with other print media and television provide students with the same comfort zone of learning within the classroom that they tend to use outside of it The discussion of current topics will assist in the stimulation of memory and correlation to events that take place outside of the classroom in the lives of students In turn the act of