The Texas History Teachers' Bulletin (Vol. 5, No. 1. November 15, 1916) EDITORS: The History Staff of the University of Texas A. W. BIRDWELL, The Problem Method of Teaching History J. T. DAVIS, Teaching of Civics in the Public Schools of EUGENE C. BARKER, Source Readings in Texas History 5 9 13 28 29 The Texas History Teachers' Bulletin is issued in November, February, and May. The history teachers of Texas are urged to use it as the medium of expression for their experience and ideals and to help make it as practical and useful as possible by contributing articles, suggestions, criticisms, questions, personal items, and local news concerning educational matters in general. Copies will be sent free, on application, to any history teacher in Texas. Address THE TEXAS HISTORY TEACHERS' BULLETIN THE PROBLEM METHOD OF TEACHING HISTORY More and more, educational thinkers, as well as the hard headed tax payers, are demanding that the study of any kind of subject matter give tangible results. This insistent demand has relegated many of the traditional subjects to the background, and has caused the reorganization of the entire program of studies, especially in the high school. And the good work is still unfinished. Every subject must now fight for a place in the curriculum of the secondary school. In the past, the cloak of "culture" has been made to "cover a multitude of sins," but many of this generation refuse longer to be blinded or to "fool" themselves. Oracular or mystical statements have ceased to convince; on the contrary, we are now demanding that each required subject in the high school course make a definite and tangible contribution to the life of the student-either in attitude, in disposition, or in the ability to solve the manifold problems of life. History must meet the issue, and must justify the commanding place it now occupies in the work of the high school. Much has been written about the reasons for studying history; many "aims" have been set down by the writers on the pedagogy of this subject, many of them so vague that there is no earthly way to determine whether teachers are attaining to them. It is not my purpose to add to the "aims" that have been listed, but it does seem that the study of history in the high school should acquaint the student with the methods by which society has solved its problems in the past, and should give him the ability to relate himself to the institutional life around him. The first of these ends can result only from a study of the problem solving activities of successive generations; the second, by a careful search for facts as they are revealed in sources, and relating these facts to the different problems up for solution. For example, at the present time, every American citizen must relate himself to the problem of preparedness. Can he rely on the literature sent out by the Army and Navy league? Can he accept as infallible the dicta of the Outlook? Do not these questions suggest the big truth that a critical attitude towards documents plays an important part in the solution of social problems? Certainly, the highest type of citizenship demands a tender conscience concerning the truth and considerable caution. in accepting mere statements. It should be remembered that every citizen must select, out of the material at hand, a very definite body of facts to which he is willing to pin his faith and on which he is willing to base his judgments. From the teacher's standpoint, there are two practical questions. Is it possible to find a method that will make the realization of these "aims" comparatively certain? And can the subject matter of the available high school text books be adjusted to this method? It is my purpose to discuss only the first of these questions. The Problem Method History is the record of the past as revealed in relicts and documents. It tells the story of man's progress as exemplified in his achievements. His achievements have grown out of conscious needs and have counted in the solution of problems. From the first improvements on his crude tools and weapons, to modern manufacturing industry and the use of the flying machine in war, every step has been stimulated by a conscious need and has been itself either a minor or a major problem. Much has been said about the futility of trying to learn isolated facts. It should be remembered that any historical fact is without its proper setting unless related to a definite problem; on the other hand no fact is isolated if it is related to a definite problem-one that society was struggling with at some particular time. This idea is worth repeating. Any historical fact not related to a definite and real problem is isolated no matter in how big a group of facts it may be found. To learn history, then, is to understand the relation of events to the problemsolving activities of the various peoples that have lived on the earth and have left understandable traces of their existence, of their struggles, of their progress. Does this not mean that the practice of having the student to "get" the next six pages must give way to that of having him search the pages of the text-book for facts that make the solution of past problems clear? This is one meaning of the problem method. And I think it is the safest meaning. If the object is to get something up" in order to create interest and to stimulate "pupil activity," there is great danger that the problem method, at least in the hands of the novice, will become a mere guessing contest. It is doubtful, to say the least, whether the untrained high school student will be able to recognize, unaided, the problem involved in any particular body of historical subject matter; hence the futility of expecting such students to "nose" out the problems that should be considered. It will be the teacher's duty to know what problems confronted the people, or society, at the time under consideration, and to "set" the problem the solution of which the students are to attempt. His will also be the duty of directing the student in his search for facts and aiding him in determining the importance of them.. Then, of course, he should allow the student to group the facts in the solution of the problem in hand. The teacher must continue to be a critic. By leading the students into careful habits of investigating the facts relied on for the solution of the problem in hand, he will be stimulating a "tender conscience concerning truth" and laying the foundation for habits of thinking that will prevent hasty and superficial judgments. The teacher will also have the opportunity of helping the student to the correct solution of the problem in hand, by raising other problems. This one caution seems to be necessary. The problem should in no case be an artificial one, for the simple reason that it is unnecessary. The race in its long journey has met and solved many difficult problems-social, political, economic, religious, etc., and these form the objective of the history student's efforts. It seems to me that if a knowledge of historical subject matter is to "function" in conduct it can only be through the "know hows" worked out by the race as the problems incident to the struggle up from barbarism to civilization have been met and solved. The problem method is especially applicable to the study of local and current history. The search for documents. the application of the principles of historical criticism in determining both the genuineness and the value of the material relied on: the application of the facts gathered to the problem in hand, |