Digital Archives: Democratizing the Doing of History

Digital Archives: Democratizing the Doing of History

Pedagogy

This article discusses the fact that prior to the digital revolution, only scholars could study primary sources. K-12 students and teachers were relegated to the little they could get to locally because they did not have the money needed to experience primary historical sources themselves. These limitations kept many students and teachers from getting excited about research. Digital archives, however, allow anyone access to primary sources in a nonlinear environment. Because of this, archivists should strive to create digital archives from a large variety of voices. In this way, the history classroom should be radically changed to foster historical inquiry and personal connections to historical content. The article discusses a study of pre-service teachers who engaged with digital archives. They found them useful for their future classrooms, especially since they often represented the marginalized groups not represented in the textbook.

Bolick, Cheryl Mason

International Journal of Social Education

2006

Polk, Victoria

Journal Article

http://eric.ed.gov/PDFS/EJ782136.pdf.

Bolick, Cheryl Mason. “Digital Archives: Democratizing the Doing of History.” International Journal of Social Education. 2006. 122-134. Accessed on February 4, 2012. http://eric.ed.gov/PDFS/EJ782136.pdf.