Digital tools for your history class
In this interview, teachers and trainers Katharina Sambeth and Björn Hennig explain why the use of digital tools is also important in teaching history.
In this interview, teachers and trainers Katharina Sambeth and Björn Hennig explain why the use of digital tools is also important in teaching history.
Katharina Sambeth & Björn Hennig: They offer many advantages that can’t always be covered by analog. For example, they offer the possibility to visualize arguments or temporal connections. In addition, working with digital tools is very motivating, especially today, because it often picks up on aspects of the learners’ lives, for example, when their own comics can be created relatively quickly digitally. In addition, especially in history, the KCs also prescribe working with digital tools as well as dealing with historical images in the media, etc., which then shows up again in the game analysis.
Katharina Sambeth & Björn Hennig : We like to use the tool “Argumentationswippe” to show that historical judgments are not “right” or “wrong,” but rather subjective opinions that emerge from argumentation. The tool provides a way to demonstrate that students have the same arguments, but evaluate them differently and come to different conclusions.
Katharina Sambeth & Björn Hennig: On the one hand, this promotes their media literacy by allowing them to use these tools, but on the other hand, it also trains their critical media awareness when they realize, while creating a comic themselves, that historical content has to be shortened or changed in order to do justice to the medium. In addition, the use of digital tools can promote individual learning at one’s own pace.
Katharina Sambeth & Björn Hennig: Try it out and don’t be afraid of things going wrong. You can also ask students to help you and perhaps show you other exciting tools to use in the classroom. If necessary, focus on one tool first and when you feel confident with it, move on to the next.
In this training, you will learn how to use various digital tools in your history classroom.