Computer-mediated critical doing history project

Abstract

The goal of computer-mediated critical (CMC) doing history project was to offer students an opportunity to become researchers of history by using technology to engage in historical enquiry. The project integrates Paul's critical thinking modules, Hexter's Doing History model and Anderson-Inman and Kessinger Gather Model, as well as using primary sources on the Internet to have learners engage in historian-like knowledge building activities. Thirty-three participants from a junior high school joined the history workshop as an extracurricular school activity. The researchers collected information through surveys, online discussion, and assignments; then conducted data analysis on the findings. The collected data were qualitatively analyzed to identify the themes related to the changes and critical abilities in students' thinking about history. The study found that the thoughtful and creative use of computer technology, combined with critical thinking in conducting historical inquiry, contributes to learners' historical knowledge, critical thinking skills, and interest in learning history. The students were positive about their gains in computer literacy, motivation to learn history, as well as their knowledge of history and research skills. A valuable finding was that the majority of the students went through epistemological shifts towards viewing learning history as a constructive, analytic, investigative activity. Through the doing history project, learners' critical historical thinking is promoted to varying degrees, and that most learners are capable of developing a thoughtful and critical disposition toward history learning. However, although learners value the interactive communication and considered it a worthwhile endeavor to broaden their understanding of the history, learners did not engage in deep interactions from both quality and quantity of their online participation. Moreover, given the time limitation of 4 months, an only slightly higher level of historical causal reasoning was found in their knowledge building. Despite the fact that a concept of historical critical thinking was germinated in students' minds, there was still much to learn for mastery of the subject and much to be desired in scaffolding learners' historical reasoning. The paper concludes with some recommendations for the future design of technology in history learning.