Should I choose this template?

Do you have a source where you want students to make deeper connections between themselves and historial figures, or between historical figures in sources? The “Student Connections to Historical Traits” network template provides the opportunity to make text-to-self and text-to-text connections in the following ways:

• make connections between themselves and figures from a historical source, specifically focusing on character traits.
• make connections across historical sources.

Teachers who have used this type of network have found it successful for helping students to learn about the traits of historical figures and make connections with the past.

When should I use this template?

When I want students to explore thematic connections between characters from one or more historical sources and relate them to real-world examples of personal characteristics.

What sources work best?

Sources with historical figures displaying many different character traits–both positive and negative.

This activity can be especially helpful for integrating several different readings. Used across several sources, the network can help reinforce or differentiate between historical norms.

How should I use this template?

Network Details: What should my students and I be tracking?

For any network, students will track nodes (things) and edges (relationships between things), each of which will also have “attributes” (which include mandatory info like citations and optional info like extra notes).

Nodes (things being connected)

In this network, the nodes represents historical figures, the persistent traits those historical figures have, emotions the historical figures might have at a specific point in history, and (optionally) when students experience the same trait or emotion.

• Historical Figure: A historical figure from a primary source. For example, when reading about the Roman Empire, a character node might be Julius Caesar (the first Roman emperor).
• Trait: A descriptive word or short phrase that characterizes a long-term behavioral, emotional or other trait. For example, Julius Caesar might be described as “ambitious” in the primary source The Gallic wars. Students might also include notes that further explain the Trait. For example, Julius Caesar’s ambition can be seen in his goal to expand Roman Imperial territory.
• Emotion: A descriptive word or short phrase that expresses a temporary feeling that happens at a specific moment in the primary source (i.e. an emotion is less long-term than a trait). For example, Julius Caesar describes anger at how the Gauls sacked parts of the Roman Empire but was not angry all the time..
• Student Experience: (optional) A short description of a moment in which a student had an experience that aligns with something in the fictional source. For example, a student whose ambition is to run a company might connect themselves to “ambition”.

Edges (connection types)

In this network, the edges connect historical figures or student experiences to traits and emotions that describe the characters or the experience the student had.

• is or feels: You would use “is or feels” to connect a node (likely a historical figure or student experience) to an emotion or trait describing the character or experience. For example, there might be an edge showing “Julius Caesar” - “is or feels” - “ambitious” if the network is about character traits in The Gallic Wars.

What’s the investment in time and effort for this network?

Time: two class periods. One to get students used to the network as they identify and enter characters and their sources. The second class period provides time to revise/add additional character traits and discuss the patterns students see in the character they entered.

Teacher support: Teachers will need to

• understand the basics of Net.Create (node and edge entry). (See this basic-data-entry video!)[https://netcreate.org]
• how to use one network filter (the “Ego” filter). (See this Ego-filter video!)[https://netcreate.org]

What learning goals does this template support?

• D2.His.5.6-8. Explain how and why perspectives of people have changed over time.
• D2.His.4.6-8. Analyze multiple factors that influenced the perspectives of people during different historical eras.
• D2.His.10.6-8. Detect possible limitations in the historical record based on evidence collected from different kinds of historical sources.

What data literacy outcomes does this template support?

• Data is relational, and hierarchical. Students will cite the textual evidence that most strongly supports an analysis of what the text says explicitly as well as inferences drawn from the text, including identifying internal conflicts in the data collected from different kinds of historical sources.
• Data source and history is important for how we interpret it.

This is also a good opportunity to explore:

• Data can be messy. As we create our data, we may disagree, which impacts interpretation. We need to figure out how to resolve and interpret that.
• Data is not always static. We are changing this data as we discuss our interpretations and revise them.

Resources for classroom use

Teacher Resources

• Classroom management recommendations
• Network-analysis learning Resources
  • Simple Net.Create documentation
  • Videos of new node/edge, table sorting, filters, etc.
  • 5-moves-to-make video
• 1-pager lesson plan
  • “Good questions to ask” guide for teachers
  • What network-data moves (viz, tables, filters) to use as network gets big

Student Handouts

• “Good questions to ask” guide for teachers