ED435586 1999-10-00 Learning History

through Children's Literature. ERIC

Digest.

ERIC Development Team

www.eric.ed.gov

Table of Contents

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Learning History through Children's Literature. ERIC Digest............... 1

REVIVAL OF INTEREST IN TEACHING HISTORY THROUGH

CHILDREN'S............................................................... 2

RESEARCH-BASED GUIDELINES FOR TEACHERS OF HISTORY

AND CHILDREN'S........................................................ 2

THE HISTORY FAIR: AN INNOVATIVE METHOD OF TEACHING

HISTORY USING......................................................... 3

ERIC Identifier: ED435586

Publication Date: 1999-10-00

Author: Nelson, Lynn R. - Nelson, Trudy A.

Source: ERIC Clearinghouse for Social Studies/Social Science Education Bloomington

IN.

Learning History through Children's Literature.

ERIC Digest.

THIS DIGEST WAS CREATED BY ERIC, THE EDUCATIONAL RESOURCES

INFORMATION CENTER. FOR MORE INFORMATION ABOUT ERIC, CONTACT

ACCESS ERIC 1-800-LET-ERIC

Teaching history using children's literature, both fiction and non-fiction, is an old idea

ED435586 1999-10-00 Learning History through Children's Literature. ERIC Digest. Page 1 of 6
enjoying new vitality in the elementary and middle school curriculum. This Digest

discusses (1) the revival of interest in teaching history through children's literature, (2)

research-based guidelines for teachers of history and children's literature, and (3) an

innovative method of teaching history using children's literature.

REVIVAL OF INTEREST IN TEACHING HISTORY

THROUGH CHILDREN'S

LITERATURE.Using literature to teach history is not a recent educational innovation.

Stories illustrating the triumphs of individuals embodying civic virtue and good character

were at the curricular core of nineteenth-century common schools. Narratives provided

children with an understanding of American history and government as well as the

attributes that individual citizens needed to maintain the Republic. Spelling and reading

books were primary means of this kind of cultural transmission. Generations of

American children defined themselves individually and communally through stories and

amalgams of fiction and fact in the McGuffy readers and similar textbooks used almost

universally in schools during the last century.

An indicator of increasing interest among educators in using literature to teach history is

the large number of scholarly and popular articles published in the past ten years

advocating this teaching method. A number of factors account for this resurgence, such

as the high quality and number of fiction and non-fiction publications written for children

in the past twenty years; activities of prominent historians and educators to re-establish

history's primacy in the social studies curriculum; advocacy of the whole language

teaching method; concern that children have an inadequate historical understanding of

the cultural characteristics that hold the Republic together; recognition that many

students need to develop tolerance of individuals unlike themselves; and attention to the

long-standing problems of students' lack of interest in basic school subjects (Epstein

1993; Krey 1998).

RESEARCH-BASED GUIDELINES FOR

TEACHERS OF HISTORY AND CHILDREN'S

LITERATURE IN THE ELEMENTARY SCHOOL.The research on teaching history with

literature is much more abundant than it was a decade ago (Levstik & Barton 1997).

Researchers have documented the appropriateness of teaching history in elementary

and middle school, and their conclusions suggest that certain elements are integral to

effective instruction in history and literature (Downey & Levstik 1991; Levstik & Barton

1997; Levstik & Pappas 1990).

For instance, one of the most-repeated claims of history education advocates is that

historical narrative is more interesting and comprehensible to students than the

www.eric.ed.gov ERIC Custom Transformations Team

Page 2 of 6 ED435586 1999-10-00 Learning History through Children's Literature. ERIC Digest.
expository writing of social studies textbooks. Levstik (1986), VanSledright (1995), and

VanSledright & Kelly (1996) conducted naturalistic studies of elementary school

students as they studied history through the use of multiple texts, including children's

trade books. These researchers concluded that students' interest in the subject matter

and their ability to learn and retain information increased significantly when their history

instruction included literature. Moreover, VanSledright & Kelley (1996) reported that,

given a choice, students in the fifth grade classroom they observed were more likely to

read works of fiction and non-fiction than standard textbooks.

It is also important to note that without teacher mediation to direct their reading of

multiple sources of information, students failed to understand the nature of historical

sources and historical writing. They tended to mistakenly judge the quality of information

in a text by the text's length (VanSledright & Kelly 1996). Furthermore, without guidance

from the teacher, students were unlikely to discern the relative quality or value of

different sources of information. Rather, they tended to view various sources

indiscriminately, as if they all were equally useful, reliable, and valid. Fifth grade

students are capable of deep historical understanding, but only if carefully guided by a

teacher (Levstik 1986).

Teachers can enhance children's historical understanding by using instructional

strategies that place a particular event or time period within the context of a broader

framework of time. Levstik & Pappas (1990) concluded that the context in which an

historical event is presented and discussed may be crucial in determining whether or

not children become engaged in the study of history. VanSledright & Brophy (1995)

concurred that students' learning of history is greatly enhanced when teachers help

them to connect events within the contexts of particular times and places. While

mathematical and scientific phenomena have concrete referents in one's world

experiences, historical events become meaningful only through temporal and spatial

links to other events. Effective teachers, therefore, enable their students to better

understand particular historical events within a contextual framework of other

interrelated events.

THE HISTORY FAIR: AN INNOVATIVE METHOD

OF TEACHING HISTORY USING

CHILDREN'S LITERATURE.A teaching method which involves children's literature and

is consistent with research findings on the history education of elementary school

students is the "history fair." A seven-week unit created by a fifth grade teacher to teach

research skills, the history fair illustrates the connection between historical fiction and

non-fiction and challenges students to demonstrate their learning in a public forum as

they become experts on topics that interest them (Nelson & Nelson 1994).

To develop student expertise, the teacher emphasizes historical fiction throughout the

ERIC Resource Center www.eric.ed.gov

ED435586 1999-10-00 Learning History through Children's Literature. ERIC Digest. Page 3 of 6
school year. Books which the teacher can discuss with students to stimulate their

interest are available in the classroom. The class reads aloud historical fiction such as

JAYHAWKER by Patricia Beatty and MY BROTHER SAM IS DEAD by the Colliers. As

the year proceeds, children present book talks and offer recommendations about the

quality of the literature. This general approach to teaching history through children's

literature establishes a classroom context within which to conduct the seven-week unit

on the history fair.

At the beginning of the history fair unit, children choose historical fiction books that

interest them. A time line is placed on the wall. As the children study history through

literature, they add events and dates to the time line to gain perspective on the

relationships between those events. The children read books during the first two weeks

of the unit and then write reports on what they learn about a particular period in history.

During the next three weeks of the history fair, students research an event or time

period treated in the historical fiction books they have chosen. Children then gather

materials to find pertinent information about the time periods they are studying.

Non-fiction books, COBBLESTONE MAGAZINE, and the Internet are possible sources,

but there must be a balance between types of sources used. Students are also

encouraged to interview people who may have lived during the time period, if it is recent

enough; for example, the Vietnam War, World War II, or the Great Depression. When

they finish their research, students meet with the teacher. This critically important

component of the unit allows the teacher to help students comprehend main ideas,

remedy misconceptions, and offer suggestions about additional information they need to

finish their inquiries. After their conferences with the teacher, students write final drafts

of their research reports. During the final two weeks of the unit, students refine their

reports and prepare displays.

Prior to the fair, students present their projects to classmates using their displays as

guides. On the day of the history fair, the children's projects are arranged on tables in

chronological order according to the time period pertaining to each project. Students

and teachers view the fair during the day; parents and other family members visit in the

evening. Using their displays as guides, the children talk about what they have learned.

One of the most rewarding aspects of the history fair is that children of all levels of

ability can succeed and learn something important to them about a topic in history. They

learn how to find information through many different sources, and they learn that when

reading historical fiction, they can go beyond the story and dig deeper into the history

behind that story. References and ERIC Resources.

The following list of resources includes references used to prepare this Digest. The

items followed by an ED number are available in microfiche and/or paper copies from

the ERIC Document Reproduction Service (EDRS). For information about prices,

contact EDRS, 7420 Fullerton Road, Suite 110, Springfield, Virginia 22153-2852;

www.eric.ed.gov ERIC Custom Transformations Team

Page 4 of 6 ED435586 1999-10-00 Learning History through Children's Literature. ERIC Digest.
telephone numbers are (703) 440-1400 and (800) 443-3742. Entries followed by an EJ

number, annotated monthly in CURRENT INDEX TO JOURNALS IN EDUCATION

(CIJE), are not available through EDRS. However, they can be located in the journal

section of most larger libraries by using the bibliographic information provided,

requested through Interlibrary Loan, or ordered from commercial reprint services.

Downey, Matthew T., and Linda Levstik. "Teaching and Learning History." In James P.

Shaver, Ed., HANDBOOK OF RESEARCH ON SOCIAL STUDIES TEACHING AND

LEARNING. New York: Macmillan Publishing Company, 1991.

Drake, Janet J., and Frederick D. Drake. "Using Children's Literature to Teach About

the American Revolution." SOCIAL STUDIES & THE YOUNG LEARNER 3

(November-December 1990): 6-8. EJ 426 403.

Epstein, Terry L. "Why Teach History to the Young?" In Michael O. Tunnell and Richard

Ammon, Eds., THE STORY OF OURSELVES: TEACHING HISTORY THROUGH

CHILDREN'S LITERATURE. Portsmouth, NH: Heinemann, 1993. ED 391 741.

Krey, Dean M. CHILDREN'S LITERATURE IN SOCIAL STUDIES. Washington, DC:

National Council for the Social Studies, 1998.

Levstik, Linda S. "The Relationship Between Historical Response and Narrative in a

Sixth Grade Classroom." THEORY AND RESEARCH IN SOCIAL EDUCATION 14

(Winter 1986): 1-19. EJ 332 191.

Levstik, Linda S., and Keith C. Barton. DOING HISTORY: INVESTIGATION WITH

CHILDREN IN ELEMENTARY AND MIDDLE SCHOOLS. Mahwah, NJ: Lawrence

Erlbaum Associates, 1997. ED 420 572.

Levstik, Linda S., and Christine C. Pappas. "New Directions for Studying Historical

Understanding." THEORY AND RESEARCH IN SOCIAL EDUCATION 18 (Fall 1990):

327-343. EJ 426 398.

Nelson, Lynn R., and Trudy A. Nelson. "The History Fair: Multiple Resources and

Activities Create Understanding and Enthusiasm." SOCIAL STUDIES & THE YOUNG

LEARNER 7 (November-December 1994): 12-17. EJ 496 950.

VanSledright, Bruce A. "How Do Multiple Text Resources Influence Learning to Read

American History in Fifth Grade?" NRRC NEWS: A NEWSLETTER OF THE NATIONAL

READING RESEARCH CENTER (September 1995): 4-5. ED 385 832.

VanSledright, Bruce A., and Christine A. Kelly. "Reading American History: How Do

Multiple Text Sources Influence Historical Learning in Fifth Grade?" READING

RESEARCH REPORT 68 (1996). ED 400 525.

ERIC Resource Center www.eric.ed.gov

ED435586 1999-10-00 Learning History through Children's Literature. ERIC Digest. Page 5 of 6
VanSledright, Bruce A., and Jere Brophy. STORYTELLING, IMAGINATION, AND

FANCIFUL ELABORATION IN CHILDREN'S HISTORICAL RECONSTRUCTIONS.

East Lansing, Michigan: Center for the Learning and Teaching of Elementary Subjects,

1991. ED 337 407. ------

This project has been funded at least in part with Federal funds from the U.S.

Department of Education under contract number ED-99-CO-0016. The content of this

publication does not necessarily reflect the views or policies of the U.S. Department of

Education nor does mention of trade names, commercial products, or organizations

imply endorsement by the U.S. Government. ERIC Digests are in the public domain and

may be freely reproduced and disseminated. ------

Lynn R. Nelson is an Associate Professor of Education and Director of the Ackerman

Center for Democratic Citizenship at Purdue University in West Lafayette, Indiana.

Trudy A. Nelson is a fifth grade teacher at Wea Ridge Elementary School in the

Tippecanoe County School Corporation.

Title: Learning History through Children's Literature. ERIC Digest.

Document Type: Information Analyses---ERIC Information Analysis Products (IAPs)

(071); Information Analyses---ERIC Digests (Selected) in Full Text (073);

Available From: ERIC Clearinghouse for Social Studies/Social Science Education,

2805 East Tenth Street, Suite 120, Bloomington, IN 47408. Tel: 800-266-3815 (Toll

Free). For full text: http://www.indiana.edu/~ssdc/eric_chess.htm.

Descriptors: Childrens Literature, Educational Research, Elementary Education,

History Instruction, Social Studies, Teaching Methods

Identifiers: ERIC Digests, Trade Books

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