Modern Connections to Historical Sources

Do you want your students to see themselves and their community represented in, influenced by, and contrasted against history?

Use when you want students to:

Break through students' modern perspective by identifying differences between the present and the historical past.
See connections to people in history by identifying similarities between the present and the historical past.

D2.His.2.6-8
D2.His.3.6-8

Disciplinary data literacy skills:

Data are not always static.
Data sets are built from individual data points.

About this network

Do you want your students to make connections between historical events and the modern day? Do you want them to see themselves and their community represented in, influenced by, and contrasted against history? Use this when you have content from history that has impact on modern life (or on another era in history). The Past to Present network template supports students in making connections between the historical content that they are learning and things they see, do, and know of in their everyday lives.

SUCCESS STORIES: Teachers used this network because students routinely struggled to break through their own modern assumptions to take historical perspective because the cultural and social norms seemed so different.

TEXTS THAT WORK: Primary sources from both eras (e.g. images of Roman temples, coins, roads, along with images of modern day architecture that incorporates Roman elements, modern money, modern roads) or secondary sources that explain connections between historical eras and modern life

Play with a sample network

A sample network with data that links Ancient Rome and the Modern US through culture and architecture

Explore the network by dragging nodes around, looking at the details for a few nodes and edges, and opening up the Nodes and Edges tables.

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 represent two things: elements of the modern world that students are interested in, and elements of the history they’re reading that compare to those modern elements.

Ancient Civilization
A historical job or architectural style or law or cultural/social norm that is drawn from a social studies reading. For example, students might study different types of Greek columns, like the Doric columns that held up the roof at the Parthenon.
Modern American
A modern job or architectural style or law or cultural/social norm that students have encountered in their daily life. For example, students might note that a nearby bank uses neo-Classical architecture with Greek columns in it.

Edges (connection types)

In this network, the edges allow students to make more detailed connections between elements of the modern world and elements of their history reading.

Cultural
A connection between an ancient and modern element that is cultural or artistic. For example, a student might note that the Doric columns on a nearby bank are artistic echoes of the columns from the Parthenon.
Political
A connection between an ancient and modern element that is oriented toward politics or governance. For example, a student might note that the columns from the Parthenon represented Athenian government and a similar style can be seen on the White House.
Social
A connection between an ancient and modern element that is oriented toward social interactions. For example, a student might note that the Colosseum in the Roman Empire and sports arenas in the modern world serve as a meeting place for social gatherings.
Economic
A connection between an ancient and modern element that is economic or occupational. For example, a student might note that architects were important in both the modern U.S. and the ancient world.
Physical
A connection between an ancient and modern element that has an impact on the physical environment. For example, a student might note that multi-story apartments were a common living option in both ancient Rome and in the modern U.S.

What learning goals does this template support?

Disciplinary Standards
D2.His.2.6-8	Classify series of historical events and developments as examples of change and/or continuity.
D2.His.3.6-8	Use questions generated about individuals and groups to analyze why they, and the developments they shaped, are seen as historically significant.
Disciplinary Data Literacy Goals
Data are not always static.	While we sometimes think of history and data both as "static" or unchanging, we often change the data itself as we use it, or through interpretation, or because it describes things that are constantly changing, such as historical norms.
Data sets are built from individual data points.	Students will learn to integrate individual data points and aggregate data patterns. Individual data points may inform certain questions, while patterns within and across datasets help answer others.

Lesson-Specific Resources and Examples

The following files are in PowerPoint .PPTX and Word .DOCX format. If you use Google Docs, you should be able to import these into Google Slides and Google Docs with minimal formatting changes.

Cultural echoes of ancient Rome in modern US

Lesson plan

How to integrate this lesson into your classroom: Two class periods: one to add important elements from one historical era and discuss, one to add connected elements from the second historical era and discuss.

General Net.Create Tips, Tricks and Documentation

Quick Tips

Citations matter!	The *Provenance* tab can help your students find and vet evidence.
Your comments can guide students.	Use the *comment* feature to call student attention to specific actions they can take to understand the content and data-literacy learning you're doing
Break data entry and analysis into two lessons	Node-and-edge entry on day one can give you time to focus on student reading comprehension. A second lesson using node/edge gravity, tables and the "Analysis" tab can help with content analysis and data-literacy learning. Check out the “Why Use Networks” slide in the slide deck in Downloadable Resources section below.
Treat mistakes as valuable data-literacy and content-learning moves.	If you see nodes or edges that don’t help with your lesson, point them out and help students find a way to revise them to address the lesson plan.
Remember that data are about individual people.	Chat with your students about how to be respectful of their peers as they enter network data.

Downloadable Resources

Network-analysis teaching slides with terms, visual guides, and a "why networks" slide
Good questions to ask your students during a Net.Create lesson
Advice from Experienced Net.Create Middle-School Teachers: Our partner teachers who have used Net.Create extensively in their own middle-school classrooms prepped a short set of recommendations for getting comfortable with Net.Create, prepping effective lessons and handling common classroom-management needs.

Net.Create User Guide

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