History and Tok

Areas of Knowledge

Why History in TOK?

◦ Areas of Knowledge:

◦ Human sciences

◦ Mathematics

◦ Natural Sciences

◦ Arts

◦ History

◦ So why History?

◦ Try to imagine what it would be like to live in a society where there wasabsolutely no knowledge of the past.” -Arthur Marwick (The Fundamentals of History)

INSIGHTS FROM THE PREVIOUS LESSON?

Knowledge Framework

◦ Scope

◦ Perspectives

◦ Methods and Tools

◦ Ethics

Historical thinking

and understanding

• Signifigance

• Consequences

• Change

• Perspectives

• Empathy

• Continuity

• Causation

• Primary SourcesWhy History matters

What is history?

Questions to think about

1. Can (and should) history be approached in a ‘scientific’ way?

2. How can ‘ordinary’ objects provide us with insights into the past?

3. Can we access the truth about the past?

4. Is everything we know historical?

5. Is there an accepted ‘historical method’ of producing knowledge about the past?

6. Can we rely on eyewitness testimony?

Unique for History as an AOK◦ Studying history can also promote empathy with, and understanding of, people living in diverse places

and at different times.

◦ Lack of ability to directly observe makes history unique, and gives perspectives their prominence.

◦ As we cannot directly observe historical events, documentary evidence plays a vital role in helpinghistorians to understand and interpret the past. => Reliability?

◦ to being heavily evidence-based, history is also an interpretive discipline that allows for multipleperspectives and opinions.

◦ “Everything you see or hear or experience in any way at all is specific to you. You create a universe byperceiving it, so everything in the universe you perceive is specific to you.” -Douglas Adams

◦ "Every historical narrative has an author, and every author has a perspective. This is true for academic historians, for the authors of textbooks, and for classroom teachers." => study the historian before you study the facts

Making connections to the core theme

◦ Is it possible to know who we are without knowledge of the past? (scope)

◦ How does the way that we identify with past events, such as military victories or

defeats, shape our perspective? (perspectives)

◦ How might the methods of the historian help us to evaluate claims we are exposed

to in the media today? (methods and tools)

◦ What ethical concerns are raised by the digitization and online publication of

archive material containing people’s personal images and documents? (ethics)

Scope

1. Is it possible to have knowledge of the past?

2. Is knowledge about the past different from other kinds of knowledge

3. Are all areas of knowledge concerned with knowledge of the past to some extent?

4. Why does history enjoy a privileged position as its own dedicated area of

knowledge in the TOK curriculum?

5. Is all knowledge in some sense historical knowledge?

6. Is truth the goal of all historical inquiry?

7. Is certainty about the past more difficult to attain than certainty about the

present or the future?

8. What counts as a fact in history?

Perspectives

1. If it is difficult to establish proof in history, does that mean that all versions are equally acceptable?

2. Are historians’ accounts necessarily subjective?

3. Is empathy more important in history than in other areas of knowledge?

4. How might the existence of different historical perspectives be beneficial to historical knowledge?

5. Can the historian be free of bias in the selection and interpretation of material?

6. Is it inevitable that historians will be affected by their own cultural context?

7. How can we gauge the extent to which history is being told from a cultural or national perspective?

8. Are we more prone to particular cognitive biases (such as hindsight bias) in some disciplines and areas of

knowledge rather than others?

Methods and Tools

1.What methods do historians use to gain knowledge?

2. What is unique about the methodology of history compared to other areas of knowledge?

3. On what criteria can a historian evaluate the reliability of their sources?

4. If our senses are sometimes unreliable, does this mean that eyewitness testimony is an unreliable source of

evidence?

5. Have technological developments enabled us to observe the past more directly?

6. What challenges does archive-based history emphasize about how knowledge is shared and preserved?

7. Is there less emphasis on collaborative research in history than there is between researchers in other areas of

knowledge?

8. How do the methods and conventions of historians themselves change over time?

Ethics

1. Is it unfair to judge people and actions in the past by the standards of today?

2. Should terms such as “atrocity” or “hero” be used when writing about history, or

should value judgments be avoided?

3. Do historians have a moral responsibility to try to ensure that history is not misused

and distorted by people for their own ends?

4. On what criteria could we decide whether people in the past have a right to privacy in

the present?

5. Do historians have an ethical obligation not to ignore contradictory evidence?

Quotes History_ Bigquestions

Origin Purpose Value Limitations

Task: Evaluate next speeches as a historical source◦ One speech/group

◦ Greatest Recorded Speeches in American History (1933-2008)

◦ Harry Truman August 6, 1945 Hiroshima

◦ John F. Kennedy January 20, 1961 JFK's Inaugural Address

◦ JFK June 26, 1963 “Ich Bin Ein Berliner”

◦ Martin Luther King, Jr. August 28, 1963 “I Have A Dream”

◦ Ronald Reagan January 28, 1986 Challenger Disaster

◦ George W. Bush September 14, 2001 9/11

◦ Barack Obama November 4, 2008 2008 Grant Park Victory Speech

◦ https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=FN_UJJ9ObDs (Truman)

◦ https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=F1W_P2qmemM (Reagan)

◦ https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=vP4iY1TtS3s (Martin Luther King)

◦ https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=mxa4HDgfWFs (JFK´s inaugural address)

◦ https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=GK907TwM7q0 (JFK Ich bin ein Berliner)

◦ https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=PtVMHjygw8Y (Bush 9/11)

◦ https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=GNtJRPcPCcw (Obama)

History Connected IA Prompts

• How can we know that current

knowledge is an improvement upon past

knowledge?

• How is current knowledge shaped by its

historical development?

TOK Exhibition

Objects

What could be possible

objects related to the

History for the TOK

exhibition?

The TOK exhibition explores how TOK manifests in the world around us.