There are two competing camps as to how history should be taught. The first argues that content and facts matter most. The second argues that memorizing facts is not as important as critical thinking and thinking like a historian matters most. What makes history usable? This video discusses how examining stories, often from primary sources, can make learning history more meaningful to students. This way students can compare and contrast the information that they know or have learned to determine the reliability and the meaning of history to them. Students will be able to learn from the past, be good citizens in the present and predict what could happen in the future. Another thing that can make history meaningful and useful is learning about the areas in which students live. When something has a personal connection, it often has more meaning to an individual. Students can understand where they are right now, because they have heard the stories of past events that brought their city and their people to this very moment. They can analyze the past successes and failures to predict the outcomes of current events and behaviors.
