Prakash Iyer
Teaching history in a country with diverse cultures, ethnicities, religions, and languages can be intimidating or even complicated. Each region has its own history. Merely narrating the past as a story may not help develop historical consciousness. Apart from this, there is also a common history that all people share as a nation. Teachers also need to find a way to progress from knowing about others to being together in one nation.
Month: June 2023
Math too has a history!
S. Sundaram
History and mathematics can evoke strong and extreme reactions though for different reasons. This article suggests how anecdotes from the history of mathematics can be used to enrich the understanding of students and make math more meaningful to them. Actually, the article can provide a chance for history and math teachers to collaborate and make both subjects enjoyable.
Seamless boundaries
Meera Bhuvanesh
An interesting article on the many activities which a teacher can come up with that will actually help in the engagement of learners at different stages of learning history.
A visual journey of girls’ education
Anurag Shukla
If teachers/readers are in a mood for a good read, then this article opens up several vistas on how education for girls started, the pitfalls and successes, the long and arduous journey and the women who made it to the goalpost.
A matter of our times
Usha Raman
History as a school subject is a pedagogic challenge. More often than not, it always comes under pressure of nation-building more than other subjects. The role of history in arousing an interest in the past and respect for it and also imparting the means to study it usually gets sidelined. As the constant revisions of our school textbooks suggest, history is very much a matter of our times.
The vexing question
Kavita Anand
How can history textbooks help students to ask and answer questions about the present by engaging with the past? Can they spark curiosity and engage students with the dilemmas, choices and beliefs of people in the past? Can they help young people develop an awareness of their own identities through an understanding of their own and other cultures? Most textbooks do not have different interpretations of history and do not encourage the questions that require students to analyze evidence. What are the current challenges before textbook writers and practitioners of history at the school level?
History here and now!
Meghaa Gupta
In the absence of regular postcolonial history in the curriculum [barring trickles in civics/optional modules like political science], children either don’t know enough or their knowledge is painted by hearsay. Contemporary history is lived history and according to the author, negotiating this terrain has been a challenge but it has led to disclosure and deep insight especially in classroom sessions. This article explores the challenges and opportunities in taking contemporary Indian history to school children.
The Many Histories of Modern India
Diba Siddiqi
‘The many histories of modern India’ is a comprehensive course which attempts to explore multiple histories and perspectives of the modern period based on primary and secondary sources, the modern period stretching from 1857 to 1947. The course curated by the author helps students get an understanding of how a perusal of a time in history through image, voice, and writing can make it come alive as seen through the lens of multiple perspectives. This article presents selections from the content and process of the course.