Student Identity in a Historical Source

Do you have a complex historical source with lots of elements--people, places, things, events--that students struggle to keep track of?

Use when you want students to:

make connections between elements within a source or topic
make connections between elements of a source or topic and themselves
make connections with their peers

D2.His.5.6-8
D2.His.10.6-8

Disciplinary data literacy skills:

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

About this network

Do you have a complex primary or secondary source with lots of elements–people, places, things, events–that students struggle to keep track of? When you have a lesson with a barrage of names, dates, and places, and you want students to find one or two connections that will help them better engage with the reading. This network lets students track the many kinds of connections that are possible in complex historical sources.

SUCCESS STORIES: Teachers who have used this type of network have created purposeful environments where students were able to see how they are engaged by sharing about themselves and connecting to their learning and peers.

TEXTS THAT WORK: Primary sources or secondary sources that have a lot of historical detail and a lot of interaction, with lots of names, dates and places to keep track of.

Play with a sample network

A sample network with data from D’Aulaires Greek Mythology

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 people, places, objects, groups, and activities that are part of the text or source students are reading and/or are important to the students in the class.

Person
A person from the text or a student in the class. For example, when studying a source about Greek mythology, a person node might be Zeus (the Greek god) or Adam (a student in the class).
Activity
Something that a person or group of people do. For example, when studying a source about Greek mythology, an activity node might be "a heroic quest".
Object
A physical thing. For example, when studying a source about Greek mythology, an object node might be "lightning bolt".
Group
A group of people. For example, when studying a source about Greek mythology, a group node might be "demigods".
Place
A location or significant place. For example, when studying a source about Greek mythology, a place node might be "the underworld".

Edges (connection types)

In this network, the edges show things that are connected. Since the network has both elements of the text or source and elements of real life, nodes from the two should be connected showing relationships between the text or source and the students.

interacts with
You would use "interacts with" to connect two nodes that have some sort of interaction and an explanation of the interaction. This will likely be a connection between two nodes from the text or source. For example, when studying a source about Greek mythology, there might be an edge showing "Zeus" - "interacts with" - "Hera" with a note saying "Hera is Zeus's wife".
connected to
You would use "connected to" to connect two nodes that are related and provide an explanation of the connection. For example, there might be an edge showing "Hades" - "connected to" - "underworld" and an edge showing "Adam" (a student in the class) - "connected to" - "Apollo" with a note saying "I like music".

What learning goals does this template support?

Disciplinary Standards
D2.His.5.6-8	Explain how and why perspectives of people have changed over time.
D2.His.10.6-8	Detect possible limitations in the historical record based on evidence collected from different kinds of historical sources.
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 can be messy.	Students will choose specific character traits and quotes from primary sources and enter them into a network, allowing them to explore their and their peer's interpretation of historical figures' traits in the context of both the original narrative and the data their peers entered. Creating the network themselves can help them appreciate that all visualizations are created by someone with ideas, interests, and biases.
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.

Greek Mythology with D’Aulaires, including student-interest-based connections to Greek mythology characters

Lesson Plan

How to integrate this lesson into your classroom: From one class period to many. This activity is especially helpful for integrating several different readings. Used across several sources, the network can help remind students of previous historical events or figures they encountered months or weeks ago.

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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