[Winona Online Democracy]
Many thanks to Jerome Christenson for publishing Greg Gaut's
intelligent article regarding the proposed Social Studies Standards and
George Wood's piece regarding increased standardized testing. "Teaching
to the test" does not inspire critical thinking, nor does rote
memorization of selected "facts." Teaching students to interpret
events and primary sources such as letters, documents, journals, etc.,
will enable students to learn to assemble information, form ideas,
and, finally, support those ideas based upon research.
Greg mentions History Day, a program very much like the Science Fair,
that encourages students to research and interpret what they learn.
This program is sponsored by the Minnesota Historical Society. One of
the regional "fairs" is here in Winona, held at Winona State
University. I served as a judge last year and saw some fabulous
projects by students from the Southeast Minnesota area. There were two
Winona Middle School entries last year. Unfortunately, this year there
were no local entries. Students whose projects proceed to the State
competition have the opportunity to proceed to the national
competition, held in Washington D.C. I'd love to see our students take
advantage of this opportunity to learn and participate in historical
research. It costs our school district nothing to participate.
For more information about History Day, please check out Minnesota
Historical Society's website, www.mnhs.org. Click on School Resources
and then on History Day.
Vicki Englich
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