Introduction and Expectations
Description of the Artifact:
Following the Tiff’s simulation, student groups were asked to write a paper reflecting on the town meeting process, their strategies and imperialism. The directions are below.
Paper (Earthlings):
Each team must write a 5-6 page paper. Your team papers must explain the following information:
-What your team’s overall plan was for dealing with the Tiff’s (In DETAIL – have at least 2 paragraphs for each of the rep’s)
-What happens as to your town’s plan after the Tiff’s increase their demands?
-What is happening to your resources as the Tiffs increase their demands?
-What is happening to your culture as the Tiffs increase their demands?
-Are you the imperialists or the imperialized? How does this feel?
Since this assignment, I have adopted rubrics so I can ensure authentic assessment. I also did not save all of the papers, only a sample. So I was unable to complete a comprehensive quantitative analysis. Despite the downsides of using these papers, they artifacts represent a pivotal moment in my student teaching experience as well as my understanding of simulation and role play activities. In the previous artifact I argued that the Tiffs simulation encouraged high levels of engagement from almost all of my students. This artifact examines the result of the activity. Could students translate the simulation into a greater understanding of a historical theme?
Desired goal:
Ideally, the students would have demonstrated all of the below criteria for this specific assignment.
Ideally, each group would have created a cohesive and unified analytic paper that addressed (in past tense) the impact of the town hall meetings on the goals of both the Tiffs and Earthlings. Students would address the multiple facets of Earthling/Tiff culture and economics that needed to be compromised and re-arranged. But the most important section was the final reflection asking what it meant to be either the imperialized or imperialists. I wanted this reflection to be a thoughtful examination of the impact of imperialism on people and cultures. Perhaps students would also make the connection from Tiffs imperialism to European imperialism.
Desired Elements of Historical Imagination:
1) Re-enactment:
To what extent were the students were the students required to demonstrate the ability to Re-enact?
The Tiffs simulation was a unique activity because it was not limited to a specific historical time and place. While the simulation demonstrated the impact of imperialism, the activity itself took place in an undefined future. However, the students were asked to adopt the role of citizens from fictional earthling towns. These towns had specific characteristics that possibly had an impact on the citizens’ values and beliefs. I would have liked to see some reference to these backgrounds.While a historical context did not limit students’ imaginations, they were still limited by a specifically defined fictional place. If students spoke from a written voice that was indistinguishable from their own perspective, then the students did not demonstrate the ability to adopt a role or perspective different from their own. This is an essential skill if a student wants to be able to demonstrate historical imagination.
2) Interpolation:
To what extent were the students were the students required to demonstrate the ability to interpolate?
Once again, since the Tiffs activity was a unique simulation, students were not required to demonstrate traditional interpolation, or reasonably filling in the gaps created by historical record. However, I did want them to bridge the gap between their understanding of the simulation and the their understanding of European imperialism. More specifically, did the students realize that their unhappy experience of imperialism might have given them new insight into how the Africans felt during the time of European imperialism? Or do they now realize the situation Africans found themselves in when they realized that the opposing side had superior weaponry?
3) Interrogation
To what extent were the students were the students required to demonstrate the ability to interrogate sources?
The students were not given primary sources that they needed to interrogate in this activity. So this category of historical imagination was not addressed in the Tiffs simulation
Desired Elements of Historical Empathy:
1) Describe in-depth the role that Students were asked to adopt.
Students were asked to adopt the role of an earthling citizen from fictional towns across the United States. While they were not given specific personalities or roles for each student, their town had characteristics that influenced the values and beliefs of its citizens. For example, in the town of Metropolis, music was essential to the economy and culture. Students in that group must then assume that as citizens of metropolis they should have valued music and wanted to see the production of music continue under the new Tiff. I wanted to see at least some reference to the group’s town values.
2) Were students also asked to explain their own perspective in addition to they perspective that they had to adopt? What differences do you expect to see?
In this assignment it was not clearly stated when students should be adopt the perspective of a citizen of an earthling town and when they should be explaining their own perspective. This is an area of the assignment directions that clearly needs improvement.