A World Turned Molten: Helping Year 9 to Explore the Cultural Legacies of the First World War

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Bibliographic Details
Title: A World Turned Molten: Helping Year 9 to Explore the Cultural Legacies of the First World War
Language: English
Authors: Foster, Rachel
Source: Teaching History. Jun 2014 (155):8-19.
Availability: Historical Association. 59a Kennington Park Road, London, SE11 4JH, UK. Tel: +44-300-100-0223; Fax: +44-20-7582-4989; e-mail: enquiries@history.org.uk; Website: http://www.history.org.uk
Peer Reviewed: Y
Page Count: 12
Publication Date: 2014
Document Type: Journal Articles
Reports - Descriptive
Education Level: Junior High Schools
Middle Schools
Secondary Education
High Schools
Elementary Education
Descriptors: Foreign Countries, History Instruction, European History, War, World History, Cultural Education
Geographic Terms: United Kingdom (England)
ISSN: 0040-0610
Abstract: Rachel Foster shows how her own study of cultural history led to a new dimension in her planning. She wanted to show her students not only that historians are interested in many different kinds of topic, but that they ask different kinds of question about those topics. Foster also wanted her students to examine how civic traditions and rituals might promote more thoughtful engagement with the contested nature of collective memory. Drawing on the work of Jay Winter, whose focus on memory and collective remembrance has shown how an interpretation of the war came to dominate public discourse, Foster developed the enquiry question, "Did the Great War really end civilisation?" for her Year 9 students. Foster explains and reflects on the process of planning this lesson sequence and on the new perspectives on the First World War that are constantly emerging in popular and scholarly work. She concludes with the observation that a history teacher's work is never done: "just as there is no definitive answer, perhaps there can be no definitive question either".
Abstractor: As Provided
Number of References: 31
Entry Date: 2015
Access URL: https://www.history.org.uk/publications/categories/300/resource/7461/teaching-history-155-teaching-about-ww1
Accession Number: EJ1049389
Database: ERIC
Description
Abstract:Rachel Foster shows how her own study of cultural history led to a new dimension in her planning. She wanted to show her students not only that historians are interested in many different kinds of topic, but that they ask different kinds of question about those topics. Foster also wanted her students to examine how civic traditions and rituals might promote more thoughtful engagement with the contested nature of collective memory. Drawing on the work of Jay Winter, whose focus on memory and collective remembrance has shown how an interpretation of the war came to dominate public discourse, Foster developed the enquiry question, "Did the Great War really end civilisation?" for her Year 9 students. Foster explains and reflects on the process of planning this lesson sequence and on the new perspectives on the First World War that are constantly emerging in popular and scholarly work. She concludes with the observation that a history teacher's work is never done: "just as there is no definitive answer, perhaps there can be no definitive question either".
ISSN:0040-0610