Recasting the History Textbook as an e-Book: The Collaborative Creation of Student-Authored Interactive Texts

• In Event: 66.057 - Roundtable Session 27
  In Roundtable Session: 66.057-4 - Rethinking Social Studies

Abstract

While the integrated classroom use of primary sources with digital technology alone is not a novel approach to history instruction, our paper argues that synthesizing primary sources with content-authoring software creates new potential for students to learn both historical reasoning and content. Our yearlong exploratory effort culminates in a 9-day school intervention in which 96 students author 321 of their own interactive digital history e-book pages using primary sources from various archives. We investigate how the use of digitized primary source documents and content-authoring software can help engage students to construct historical narratives that represent multiple perspectives.

Authors

• Laura Moorhead, San Francisco State University

• Jeremy D. Jimenez, Stanford University