How to Spark Interest in History 1

Education: How to Spark Interest in History

Alex Ellison

Department of Education, Manhattan College

EDUC 206: Language and Literacy

Sr. Mary Ann Jacobs

November 2nd, 2022

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Abstract

This essay will focus on a particular question that presents an issue for all high school

teachers in the classroom: “How can I convince my students that history is worthwhile to learn?”

This is a question that is concurrent with other facets of educational subjects, even those

including within the STEM variety which typically do not involve history. It can be argued that a

student’s motivation to learn history is left up to fate; after all, we are brought up with the saying

that each student has their strengths and weaknesses. While it is indeed true that students may

vary in their academic performances across multiple subjects, it must be brought to an educator’s

attention that motivation and interest in a subject is the true reason for this, not necessarily the

student’s intellect. By using a mixture of academic articles and sources, and information

collected from ex-high school students through interview, I will answer the question this essay

seeks to solve: “How can I convince my students that history is worthwhile to learn?”

Introduction to the Study

When I first began my high school life, I started my ninth grade year believing that I

would enter the STEM field and become an engineer of some kind. I had done two STEM

summer courses in the past two years at that point, and it seemed as though my career was all set.

Looking back on it, it is ironic that two years of excitement, interest, and passion for learning

about science and math were completely subverted in the span of six months into my Freshman

year. How could this have happened so quickly? I had by far one of the worst teachers in my life

for Algebra One that year; someone who was completely unable to control the class and bring an

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ounce of passion into their teaching. At that point in my high school career, for the very first

time, I began thinking, “What is the point in learning this? What is this math going to do for me

when I’m older?” It was such a deviation from my then-intended path; so much so that only until

discovering my passion for history in junior year, I faced a deep internal crisis as to what I

wanted to do in life. To reiterate this phrase, looking back on it, I can completely understand why

a student feels as though learning history is pointless. Often times, the history department for

many schools lacks the passionate teachers it needs to deliver important topics in history with a

compelling and charismatic flair. However, it is also not solely up to the teacher to spark interest

from their students, but the content that they teach also greatly affects their motivation to learn.

In this paper, I seek to prove these claims by connecting the personal information that I gained

from an interview with a friend I went to high school with and the online research I obtained.

The Research

In my interview, I kept it rather brief with three main questions. The first question I asked

my friend was, “What was your favorite thing to learn about in history?” She responded by

saying that her favorite thing to learn in history was ancient society, and how each one

functioned. She went on to say that her interest was piqued particularly because “ancient history

feels like I’m discovering something”, rather than events closer to modern history feeling less

exciting and mysterious. This dilemma is echoed in Avis’ personal work with teaching history; to

entice her students to learn about the nineteenth century, she organized her classroom into an

interactive museum and had her students tour the room. Avis then had the students look at photos

of artifacts of the time period, and they were asked to guess its modern-day equivalent. This was

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a sentiment that my friend expressed in her interview, that history lessons are most interesting

when something of the past is related to a modern-day concept. Avis’ style of teaching her

students with a visual element allowed them to understand the historical significance of our

modern-day appliances and technologies. (Avis, 2022) Another question that I had asked my

friend was, “Do you feel that the way history is currently taught that it doesn’t relate the past to

the present?” She responded by saying that not only is this the case, but history classes tend to

omit aspects of sociology, such as LGBTQ+ themes that get swept under the rug. She said that an

example of this was Mesopotamian gods being gender-fluid, and literature describing Achilles to

have homosexual behaviors. This is an issue reflected in Honey’s article regarding inclusivity of

LGBTQ+ content in history classes; she discusses how the issue as a whole has become

politicized despite the fact sexuality is a part of us, and rather than making rules to prohibit the

talk of LGBTQ+ content, it must be depoliticized to allow not just the history to be discussed,

but for the potential of students that fit in with the LGBTQ+ community to feel welcomed and

represented in an educational environment. (Honey, 2019) The last main question I asked my

friend during the interview was, “How would you benefit from a history class that does more to

relate current issues with issues of the past?” To this question, my friend answered by saying that

her engagement with the content would increase, and it could further benefit through integrating

other subjects such as science, sociology, and literature. In Barnett’s article, this is the exact kind

of education she advocates for: in her own classrooms, Barnett uses scientific pedagogy to add a

new layer to history; almost every pocket of science uses observation and research, which she

utilizes to get her students to understand their reading content more closely. She also utilizes

hypothesis making by having her students begin a lesson with a prediction, and coming up with a
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collective question as a class. While Barnett does not directly go into the history of science, she

is able to utilize the same teaching styles of one who would teach science to a classroom for

history. (Barnett, 2019)

Research Plan

Going off the information I obtained from my online research and the answers I received

from my friend, I have developed ways to solve the question posed in this essay, “How can I

convince my students that history is worthwhile to learn?” Firstly, students judge history on its

cultural relevance. If the topics they are learning have anything to do with the modern world,

they will be much more inclined to be interested in them than if they did not. Of course, all

history can be applied to the modern world, but it is within the teacher’s power to create the

critical connections that students are not aware of. The point of education is not simply to

memorize and recall, but to make deep understandings of a topic that can be applied to

practicality. To achieve this in my classroom, for any lesson, I will make a conscious effort to

bridge a topic with its consequences for the modern era. For example, I could take something as

seemingly irrelevant as ziggurats, which were ancient city-temples originally built in 1250 BCE,

and compare them to the churches and other religious temples of today. Ziggurats back then were

at the center of each city, both culturally and physically. While churches, mosques, and

synagogues are not primarily built at the center of a city today, they can be seen as the religious

center of some small towns and villages, and a local example of this is Riverdale, which has a

variety of synagogues spread throughout itself. Not only is this kind of teaching able to connect

historical themes and concepts with the elements of the modern era, it also provides some

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religious representation that some students may be able to relate to and will consequently feel

more engaged with the lesson.

I also aim to address the cultural omissions left out by most historical curriculums,

namely, the LGBTQ+ community. Even if the historical figures I am teaching about are not of

this community, I can still draw references to it by stating statistical figures, or simply

acknowledging the ancient or Middle Age cultural perspectives that were around towards it. It

does not need to be something I spend a numerous amount of time teaching; I believe that the

path to depoliticizing the stigma around the LGBTQ+ community is normalizing it by teaching

about it like I would any other topic; teaching about a cultural theme with objective, unbiased

information is the best way to reduce the resistance that some students may have to learning

about it, and this is especially true for the LGBTQ+ community due to rampant homophobia

plaguing not just high school students, but middle school students, too. My aim as a history

teacher is to make certain that cultural representation flourishes in my teachings so that students

are not left to wonder, “Why do I need to know this?” Being able to personally relate to historical

events and their consequences allows for students to feel a level of engagement unprecedented in

a classroom that fails to address these concerns, and relating them to present-day times solidifies

the understanding in a more culturally relevant manner.

While a lot of teachers seek to break the mold for their teaching strategies, I have been

properly informed and educated with the right pedagogy in mind to achieve this goal. History

does not need to be stuck in the past when it comes to teaching it in the classroom; on the

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contrary, history should always seek to draw cultural and present-day relevance so that it always

retains its value and importance.

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Works Cited

Barnett, Shana. “Using Scienti c Pedagogy to Teach History.” Edutopia, George Lucas

Educational Foundation, 31 July 2019, https://www.edutopia.org/article/using-scienti c-

pedagogy-teach-history/.

Honey, Meg. “Incorporating LGBTQIA+ Content in History Lessons.” Edutopia, George Lucas

Educational Foundation, 14 June 2019, https://www.edutopia.org/article/incorporating-

lgbtqia-content-history-lessons/.

Avis, Kristy. “10 Ways to Make History Class Engaging for Students.” 2 Peas and a Dog, 6 Sept.

2022, https://www.2peasandadog.com/2017/08/10-ways-to-make-history-class-engaging-

for-students.html.

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