Make students curators - 0 views
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Judy Brophy on 18 Jul 12standards should emphasize creative thinking, not content My students are learning some content-instead of a textbook, I use a primary-source reader in which the sources are accompanied by commentary by historians-but they're learning it as they perform analysis and synthesis, not before. So, for example, I don't have them read them about Puritan conceptions of salvation and then give them photos of headstones and ask them to explain how the headstones reinforce Puritan ideas. I have them undertake Prownian analysis (description, deduction, speculation, research, and interpretive analysis) of children's headstones and furniture (e.g,. a walking stool); perform close readings of children's literature and Puritan poetry, letters, and sermons; and build an argument concerning Puritans' beliefs about children's salvation. As they craft this argument, they must evaluate the usefulness of, as well as synthesize their findings from, these sources, along with earlier ones from the course. The whole exercise is done in small groups, followed by discussion among the entire class.