EHISTO project

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EHISTO (European history crossroads as pathways to intercultural and media education) is concerned with the mediation of history in popular (science) media and the question of social and political responsibility of journalists and other mediators of history, especially teachers, in the field of commercial presentation of history. The project responds to the increasing significance of a commercialised mediation of history within the public historical culture and reflects the fact that these representations, which do not always meet the EU standards for history education, can have a lasting impact on the young generation’s understanding of history.

Using the example of popular history magazines, the project shall, besides the necessary basic research, develop didactically reflected materials for both history education in school as well as initial and in-service teacher training. On one hand enable a media-critical examination of history magazines and on the other hand, by working with the history magazines, the project addresses itself to popular interpretations of history from the participating countries and reflects their similarities and differences in European cultures of remembrance. Therefore, this approach not only trains media-critical competences but furthermore enables a multi-perspective and comparative access to history.

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    A multinational analysis of Columbus in popular history magazines
    (2014-10-16) Nygren, Thomas; Taylor, Margaret; Kelleway, Elisabeth; Thorp, Robert; Olsson, Annie; Hohner, Johanna
    In popular culture, Christopher Columbus is often depicted as a discoverer and hero and there are celebrations in his honour. Columbus’ legacy is, however, not undisputed, and this fact can be used to illustrate contemporary use and misuse of history. Thus, popular history texts describing the life and deeds of Columbus are examples of different ways of using history. In teaching popular history magazines can be used in various ways. The learning objective here is that the images, texts and questions should contribute to the understanding of how history can be used in contemporary media. Columbus' deeds, with colonialism and imperialism as a result, highlight historical issues which show how very differently history can be interpreted and portrayed – not least in different countries. Studying the articles is an exciting way to learn more about history and to practice media-critical thinking and multiperspectivity.
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    Germany - The depiction of Christopher Columbus in popular history magazines
    (2014-10-16) Hannig, Miriam
    The learning object presented here deals with the image of Columbus that is portrayed in German and English popular history magazines, which were selected as examples. The main focus is on how illustrations are used in the magazine articles and whether the way of presenting them meets the standards of using historical sources. The tasks presented in this learning object can be seen as suggestions for dealing with this topic and can also be used for analysing the presentation of illustrations in history magazines from other countries (additional material). Furthermore you can find overviews, which summarise the depiction of Columbus and the “discovery” in national history textbooks (additional material) to give you an understanding of the national tendencies in presenting the topic.
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    England - Christopher Columbus. An English perspective
    (2014-10-16) Kelleway, Elisabeth; Haydn, Terry
    As part of the EHISTO Project, from September 2013, Hellesdon High School in Norwich, England will run a series of Introductory Skills workshops to incoming History AS-Level students (16-17 year olds). The goal of these workshops will be to hone their critical literacy skills and build upon their evaluative and analytical skills, setting expectations for AS-Level work. This article will be one of those used in these workshops, and the students will work in groups on specific tasks linked to their article.
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    Poland - Christopher Columbus (Columbus and the "Discovery of the New World")
    (2014-10-16) Czekaj, Katarzyna
    The topic of the module concerns various methods of presenting the historic figure of Christopher Columbus in literature, popular culture and school textbooks. The choice of articles from popular science magazines used in the module allows the students to familiarize themselves with various theories concerning the life of that great explorer, as well as various points of view regarding his role in the world's history. The main part of the module is based on a Polish article presenting a critical analysis of theories about Columbus' Portugal origin and his kinship with Polish king Ladislaus of Varna. However, the suggested tasks are also based on articles concerning Columbus that were published in German, British, Swedish and Spanish magazines. In addition, for some tasks students need to individually search the Internet for information and refer to other sources of knowledge concerning the explorer that are available to them: school textbooks, dictionaries, encyclopaedias, iconography and both feature and popular science films. The module's construction allows the students to learn about various perspectives and points of view concerning the origin of Christopher Columbus and his role in history, but also, most importantly, to improve their critical analysis competences in relation to information from both traditional and multimedia sources, as well as effective processing of that information in order to form their own conclusions and opinions.
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    Sweden - Columbus as a popular historical character. The image of Columbus in popular history magazines
    (2014-10-16) Nygren, Thomas
    Columbus' life and deeds is an important part of Western historiography. His role as an historical adventurer and explorer is a part of our contemporary historical culture. His journey to America and its consequences can undoubtedly be seen as one of the important parts of our historical development; a significant contribution to changing power relationships, economy, but also suffering in the world.
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    Spain - The mysterious origin of Columbus
    (2014-10-16) Seoane Pardo, Antonio M.
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    A multinational analysis of the causes of World War I in popular history articles
    (2014-10-16) Nygren, Thomas; Taylor, Margaret; Kelleway, Elisabeth; Thorp, Robert; Olsson, Annie; Hohner, Johanna
    World War I is a common and popular topic in popular history. On the next pages you can find popular history articles from different European countries describing the causes of World War I. The articles show different ways of presenting and popularizing history. In teaching, they can be used in various ways and here we have designed a number of questions to stimulate media-critical thinking and multiperspectivity. The goal of this learning material is that the articles and questions should provide historical insights on the causes of World War One, historiography and, not least, contribute to the understanding of how history can be used for different purposes.
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    Germany - The way the beginning of World War One is presented in popular history magazines
    (2014-10-16) Hannig, Miriam
    The unit shown deals with the start of World War One and its representation mainly in German and Swedish popular history magazines, which are examples introduced in the following. The focus is on pictures used for illustrating the assassination of Sarajevo both in textbooks and in magazines. Considering this, the central question is, how those pictures are selected and presented as historical sources. Furthermore, the unit tries to figure out, whether the question of the guilt of war is regarded to be multi-perspective or explicit.
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    England - The causes and 'outbreak' of World War One
    (2014-10-16) Spillane, Tom; Haydn, Terry
    World War One, and in particular, the causes and outbreak of the war are particularly high profile in history education at the moment, given the impending centennial anniversary of the outbreak of the war. Another reason for the continuing attention to the causes and outbreak of the war is that even after a hundred years of academic writing about the topic, there is no overwhelming consensus of professional historical opinion about which country was most responsible for the war, what were the main causes of the war, or why the war started in 1914 rather than some other date.
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    Poland - First World War
    (2014-10-16) Czekaj, Katarzyna
    The presented module deals with the issue of the outbreak of World War I and its coverage in popular science magazines (in this case – in Polish, German and Spanish periodicals), as well as in Polish school textbooks. The subject matter of the articles, along with the suggested tasks, focuses on the reaction of the societies of various countries in Europe and the world to the events that took place in the summer of 1914. Comparing the presentation of that topic in texts coming from several different countries helps students to understand the various ways of perceiving the same facts and events by historians and readers of different nationalities. Thanks to the analysis of the said texts, students learn that the outbreak of that international conflict, as well as the issue of responsibility for its escalation, in 1914 were interpreted in a completely different way than they are in our times. The perspectives varied not only in individual countries, but also among individual groups in one society. The module includes both text analysis exercises (concerning popular science articles and texts in school textbooks) and iconographic material analysis. The module particularly focuses on linking the discussed historical issues to still relevant problems known to students, such as the role of marketing and propaganda in shaping the public feeling and societies' perception of armed conflicts in the past and nowadays.
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