History matters: the U.S. survey course on the Web

Abstract

TYPE ABRAHAM LINCOLN INTO AN INTERNET SEARCH ENGINE and you will receive anywhere from 300,000 to 1,000,000 hits. You will find yourself scrolling down lists of websites for the Abraham Lincoln University School of Law, Abraham Lincoln Camp, the Hideous Jabbering Head of Abraham Lincoln, and the online auction of a green painted plaster figure of Lincoln. Meanwhile, you might miss out on some terrific Web-based resources, including the original Lincoln letters at the Library of Congress American Memory site or the documentary history of Lincoln's law practice collected by the Illinois Historical Preservation Society. This example illustrates one of the most common complaints by teachers about the Internet: there is an overwhelming amount of information available and it is of varied quality and relevance for the classroom. Teachers often do not have the time to locate and make effective use of the best online resources-to find the substantive, quality sites that will enhance teaching in social studies classrooms. And the lack of control over content, validity, and reliability opens new challenges when sending students to the Internet.(1) Yet the Internet also offers amazing opportunities for social studies teachers by providing tools that, when used effectively within the larger context of the social studies curriculum, can prove invaluable. Internet sites allow teachers to enhance inquiry-based learning by bringing primary resources into the classroom, and they allow students to follow their interests and exert greater control over their learning environment. Using digital media in social studies classrooms can also help bridge the gap between reading and writing through online interaction, extending the time and space for dialogue and learning as well as helping make student work public in new formats.(2) But these possibilities do not fully address the challenge of finding and using quality Internet sources. In light of the phenomenal growth of the Internet, its increasing importance in the social studies classroom, and the incredible time required to identify quality sites, teachers need tools for navigating its vast but uneven resources. This article will explore one such tool, History Matters--a free, non-commercial website designed to assist social studies and history teachers at high schools and colleges around the world. Navigating the Web History Matters (historymatters.gmu.edu) was developed by the American Social History Project/Center for Media and Learning at The City University of New York and the Center for History and New Media at George Mason University. This website aims to meet a range of pedagogical, professional, and classroom needs. It features useful and innovative teaching materials, valuable primary documents, and threaded discussions with leading historians on teaching U.S. history. Visitors to the site will find depth as well as breadth, with materials ranging from a discussion on texts and contexts in teaching women's history, to a blues song on domestic work, to a series of sketches detailing one soldier's experiences in World War II. WWW.History An essential function of History Matters is to serve as a gateway to prescreened, quality websites. It does this through an annotated guide called WWW.History. There are currently more than 400 such websites and their number is growing rapidly. Each website is carefully evaluated by professional historians for content, depth, and reliability. The annotations summarize each site's content as thoroughly as possible, and emphasize its utility for teachers and students. In addition, the annotations highlight special features; mention sites that are particularly easy or difficult to navigate; and forewarn visitors about any potential problems, such as sites that are under construction. Each site chosen for WWW.History is indexed and searchable by the type of website (archive, electronic essay, gateway, journal, organization, syllabi/assignments), type of resource (text, images, audio, and video), and topic covered. …