Workshop on Students Carefully Selecting Online Research
The annual conference of the History Teachers Association of Victoria (HTAV) is a wonderful opportunity for colleagues from all over the state to get together, plan curriculum, re-align our rubrics, and most importantly get inspirational new ideas from teachers far and wide. This year, Jessica Fulton and myself put together a workshop based around our recent focus on preparing students in our History classes to better utilise and explore sources in online research. It was a fantastic time to share some of the ways we have scaffolded and sequenced the teaching of research skills all the way from Year 7 through to VCE, and working in small groups with a diverse range of teachers allowed us to reflect back on the value of the work we’ve all done.
It was wonderful to have some positive feedback from the participants, and we all agreed that ensuring students are doing careful research from robust online sources is not just a priority for learning outcomes but a priority for life after school in general.
Tom Stammers | VCE History and English Teacher