The Importance of History Assignments
Various academic disciplines can be understood and mastered through repeated use of its fundamental analytical and critical thinking skills. As with many academic study, learning history involves a large memorization of names, dates, and facts; however, this only provides a small glimpse of what the study of history entails. History students at all levels read, digest, analyze, and reflect upon a wide variety of historical materials – texts, images, and objects. Busy work such as that which is designed to create only “a display of knowledge” – the standard lower level essay – “limits the intelligence”. It is not until the student engages in upper level courses that the student uses these mastered skills to generate and advance a well-argued thesis. In sum, students highly skilled in temporal analysis in history know the value of their studies; they realize that the capacity to collect, verify, and distill large amounts of information, and then to make sharp, defensible arguments is had through a methodological and investigative ‘proficiency’ that history teaches, whether in a professional or academic context.
Researching other professional historians and experts in certain fields, and then making a positive contribution towards new knowledge in that field. Students do this through a range of activities and lessons such as investigation, research combined with standard written work. Writing activities are a key stage in developing these wider skills. The activities allow, at first, the skill to be demonstrated. If a student
These are skills that are not just used by historians, but in a lot of careers – lawyers, solicitors, researchers in societies, journalists and many more. When someone marks a history essay, they look for these key elements. When the students have completed the essay or activity, it can then be assessed, looking for those vital aspects that make the skill. The idea is that students can develop a set of criteria, which in the end can be narrowed down until the main target skill could be in refined focus. This kind of development of the process of learning to do something is a lot more useful than rote learning.
Historians do not just report what they find – they always question their findings and set out to prove what they have found wrong. Historians need to be able to: 1) Research 2) Be able to say something 3) Justify their findings 4) Suggest a course of enquiry as a result of their findings
First and foremost, historians use a range of sources in order to support their ideas. This could be anything from a professional journal to a history textbook or even a piece of art. The historian needs to be able to analyse these sources and come to a conclusion about what these sources are trying to tell him or her.
Students who complete their history assignments use a number of different skills to reach their objectives. These skills, once defined by historians and used by historians, have developed to be skills used by all professionals. Look at the skills historians use and see how they compare to the skills that are developed by completing history assignments.
By completing a project on the historical methods of life, a student can develop and improve their research abilities. This is as far as the tiring and extensive techniques that any historian desires to go through while conducting research. The academic study of history itself is primarily constituted of efforts of admiration to the understanding of the thoughts that come in distinct shapes, such as archaeology, political science, and anthropology. Writing historical essays or writing a history essay requires developing elegant written communication skills – formulating a thesis, providing evidence to be used in supporting an argument, and structuring the essay to flow well from point to point. Every historian learns to develop these types of communication skills. Graduates may also find employment in such areas as historical preservation and museum work, or they may pursue further graduate work in education, law, public policy, and historical preservation. And if a person does take graduate work in history, in preparation for writing a dissertation or thesis, they will have already gained these communication and research skills by writing papers and presenting seminars, discussions, or lectures.
In addition to helping to develop critical thinking and analytical skills, history assignments are designed to enhance the students’ ability to communicate effectively. In a world where effective communication is key, the importance of establishing this skill at a crucial stage of kids’ development is unquestionable. History assignments provide students with an opportunity to cultivate communication skills in a number of ways. First of all, students are required to make full use of various resources to collect important information for their assignments. These sources of information could be textbooks, encyclopedias, the Internet and the library. In the course of doing so, students are encouraged to first identify and then utilize the most relevant information in order to complete their assignments. This process enhances the skills of extracting important points from a large quantity of information and summarizing them in a coherent, well-organized and effective manner. Secondly, students are also encouraged to debate and to discuss historical events or issues based on primary and secondary historical sources. This trains students to identify the right kind of sources and to draw appropriate conclusions in the light of reliable information. Such skills are transferable and can be incorporated into effective verbal communication. Last but not least, most historiographical assignments, especially those designed for senior students, require students to critically engage and evaluate different views by historians on the same issue. This process of examining various interpretations and angles of a particular historical event not only enriches students’ learning experiences but also establishes an essential step towards independent and effective communication of their own interpretations. By comparing different historians’ viewpoints and carefully composing a cohesive piece of argument based on individual judgement, students can further refine their ability of expressing and getting their message across in writing. The transferable word processing and desktop publishing skills learnt from history assignments also enable students to adopt a more adept approach in presenting their work. By providing a wider choice of conveying their arguments and findings aesthetically, a well presented piece of work often mirrors a well structured and thoughtful content. Proficient use of diagrams, flowcharts, relevant images and concise, informative captions can be very persuasive and can best illustrate the students ability to adopt an effective means of communication that tailors for a particular audience and purpose. This subsequently dictates higher criteria of critical appraisal as students are constantly reminded of the importance of communicating their ideas and findings in the most efficient and effective way to achieve maximum persuasiveness. Through constant fine-tune of the processes and final products of history assignments, it is clear that students develop and enhance the skills of endowed communication. By and large, history assignments endeavor to inculcate fundamental communication skills both in written and verbal form among students; from the selection of relevant materials to the actual presentation of work, students are encouraged to express themselves cogently. Such skills harvested are the building stones for university education and essential assets for future career. In light of this, history assignments give students a golden chance to fine tune not only communication skills but also various transferable skills. However, the effectiveness of the assignments in achieving such form of learning greatly relies on innovative instructional strategies by teachers. It is the melding of modern…
Finally, history assignments can enable students to gain a deeper appreciation for the past. This is very important for those who wish to understand how the world has developed over time and are keen to explore certain issues and events within their historical context. Through a range of different types of assignment, from essay writing, source analysis to posters and large scale projects, students have the opportunity to develop a wide range of historical skills. Making sense of the present is difficult enough. Wanting to make sense of the past, or indeed understanding our history so we can shape a better future, is a difficult concept to put into words. However, with history assignments, students are encouraged to do just that. A good teacher will impart the knowledge of what has happened to make today, today. A great teacher will encourage students to query, question and think with an open mind about how we can use the past to influence our future. By looking for different types of information-writings, governments, businesses, and society in the round-students can develop an appreciation that history is complex and is not, often, based on static well understood knowledge. Documents, material artifacts and sites, oral traditions, environmental data, and the landscape itself can provide information for interested students. In short, assignments offer both learners and instructors a self-reflective, intellectual and creative activity which requires and helps develop a range of skills. For example, furthering the appreciation for history through epistemologically and pedagogically support valuable skill sets which are crucial in the workplace. By requiring students to spend a substantial amount of time researching and writing, coupled with the arduous nature of the content, harnessing an appreciation for history at a secondary level is completely understandable. After all, employing yourself to understand, even in a small way, what it means to be a historian is something profound that students can carry with them and develop as they progress through their lives. It is not satisfactory to dismiss that the period class time devoted to assignments could have been better spent. By engaging and developing an appreciation for the subject, students are able to use that knowledge to critically challenge and accept ‘history’ in everyday life. Any capacity to inspire and invigorate appreciative practices of knowledge is a testament to the rewards of setting history assignments. 800, new literary material analysis suitable for higher marks. I am so happy. This was an innovative and creative task. Now more weight will be given to bringing principles of history to ‘life’. Why shouldn’t you live in the past? However, there has been a major transformation in the educational group psychology and now students show optimum academic performance. I said to her, “I want the best in my doctorate degree and Postfordism, Neo Marxism and Late Capitalism Assignment gave me just that.” What a magnificent and important revelation! People tend to think that writers and historians exploit students. The idea is that if teachers learn how to make “mundane” history exciting and interesting, then it can capture young people’s imagination and develop an appreciation for the monumental impact the subject can offer. Another factor that can influence the success of setting history assignments is ensuring that they reflect the diversity of former empires and cover different time periods. By doing so, teachers can make sure that the growth of appreciation is spread throughout the year and inspire students to undertake further research.
