Title: "Is History Bunk?

" (Could be adapted to address models in Geography and Economics)

Purpose: Industrialist and founder of Ford Motor Company, Henry Ford, is quoted as saying:

'History is more or less bunk. It's tradition. We don't want tradition. We want to live in the present, and
the only history that is worth a tinker's damn is the history that we make today.'

The purpose of this lesson enables students to make some decisions about the value and importance of
history as an AOK and source of reliable knowledge. In the process, the links of History to the WOKs
will be examined.

Learning Intentions: the students should be able to...

describe how predictions of the future are based on the past

link WOKs emotion, perception, reason, (maybe language), intuition to the prediction process

link history to predictions and to the WOKs

identify and explain the limitations of the historical process and prediction making

extend their understanding of the meaning of 'evidence' in general and in historical

methodology

isolate the most important WOK used in constructing knowledge in history

extract a Knowledge issue from the content of the lesson

Relevant TOK topics: this activity could be suited as...

an introduction to history as an Aok

Resources:

Questions and tasks in this plan.

Time: 1 hour

Class Management:

1. Begin the lesson abruptly, with no introduction by asking students to make a prediction about
where they will be, what they will be doing in a year or two how well they will be at doing it.
The prediction should be in very general terms. If they are not willing to share their prediction
with the class, then they should make a prediction about someone they know, with or without
a name. Have them write this down.

2. After completing the prediction, ask the students to write down the 'justifications' or
'evidence' they would offer in support of their predictions.

3. In a third written task, ask the students to list the reasons, why their predictions might not
work out in the way they predicted.

1
 4. At this stage process the 3 written tasks by discussing some or all of the following questions
(ask for specific examples, whenever appropriate):

o What is your prediction? What is the justification or evidence for your predictions?
(past performance and inductive and deductive reason)

o Explain how predictions are linked to history? How is the past linked to the future?
(we use history to predict the future)

o What WOKs did you rely on to make your predictions? (reason, emotion, intuition)

o Which WOK is most important in your predictions?

o Is this also the case in events beyond your lives for example world politics or global
warming?

o What could go wrong with your predictions? (random chance interference, faulty or
inadequate information, faulty induction or deduction, emotional involvement/your
perspective, certain weighting given to one piece of evidence over another, selective
or faulty sense perception)

5. Play the game 'Bag Me': teacher pre-select 10 items and draw them out of the box one at a
time. Students write down what they can piece together about the person who owns these
items. Draw conclusions about the person (make predictions).

6. Report back and process the activity with the following questions and tasks:

What do you conclude? What justification, or evidence, do you use to support your
conclusion?

How does the game demonstrate how historians work? (gather information and draw
conclusions)

Which WOKs did you rely on to come to your conclusions (construct knowledge)?
Explain how?

Which WOK was most helpful to you in coming to your conclusions?

How could your conclusions be flawed or misleading? (the selection of evidence is only
traces of the person, the inductive process, the students own perspective

What does today's lesson tell you about the nature of evidence?

7. Introduce Henry's Ford's quote stated in the purpose of the lesson and ask or write the final
concluding questions:

What does the lesson suggest to us about history? How reliable is history?

In light of today's lesson, do you think Henry Ford was right: is history bunk?

What is a KI that could be extracted from this lesson?