Tag: history’s hierarchy of purpose

history pragmatic historian

History’s Hierarchy of Purpose – Critical Thinking & Context

By Mary | by Mary

The Google definition of critical thinking is “the objective analysis and evaluation of an issue in order to form a judgment.” (If you enter “define critical thinking” into Google Chrome, this is the definition that pops up on top of the page.) We seem to have a shortage of critical thinking in society today. There are plenty of judgments flying around, but they are based more on emotion, propaganda and tribalisim than objective analysis and…

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history pragmatic historian

Challenge – What Would You Have Done as Hitler Rose to Power?

By Mary | by Mary

This is a post I’ve been waiting to write for a couple of weeks, ever since I saw Amy Siskind’s smack-in-the-face tweet: When I was studying the Holocaust as part of a World War I & II class in high school, this is exactly the thought that kept going through my mind. What would I have done? Would I have gone along with the Third Reich’s activities and had to live with my cowardice and…

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history pragmatic historian

History’s Hierarchy of Purpose – Connection & Empathy

By Mary | by Mary

As we move to the middle of History’s Hierarchy of Purpose, we come to Connection & Empathy. History can be used to create a connection to other people, to our past, and to ourselves. By developing these connections, history can help us develop empathy for others. Empathy is the ability to put oneself in the experiences of another, to feel what they feel. This is especially important when it comes to people who seem to…

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history pragmatic historian

History’s Hierarchy of Purpose – Education & Entertainment

By Mary | by Mary

  My Experience with History Education Working our way up from Resource Location & Preservation on History’s Hierarchy of History, we come to Education & Entertainment. When most people think of history, they think of their history education in school and how much they hated it. When I was in high school, history was presented as a series of events, names and dates to memorize, typically jumping from war-to-war, with very little of what happened…

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history pragmatic historian

Challenge: Investigating an Everyday Item’s History

By Mary | by Mary

In my last post, I discussed the bottom level of History’s Hierarchy of Purpose, which was Resource Location & Preservation, the foundation for all of history’s other purposes. Today and over the next few posts, I will issue a number of challenges in order to enhance your ability to locate and preserve historic resources. Challenge – Investigating an Everyday Item’s History Find an item in your home that you are curious about. If it has…

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