Student Connections to Historical Traits

Do you want students to make deeper connections between themselves and a historical figure, or between historical figures in a reading?

Use when you want students to:

make connections between historical figures, institutions, and events
make connections across histories from different time periods and geographies.
make connections between the histories students are studying and their own experiences

D2.His.5.6-8
D2.His.4.6-8
D2.His.10.6-8

Disciplinary data literacy skills:

Data are relational, and hierarchical.
Data are interpreted, and we can even create it.
Data can be messy.
Data are not always static.

About this network

Do you have a source where you want students to make deeper connections between themselves and historical figures, or between historical figures in sources? If you want students to explore thematic connections between one or more historical sources and relate them to real-world student experiences, the ‘Student Connections to Historical Traits’ network template provides the opportunity to make text-to-self and text-to-text connections.

SUCCESS STORIES: Teachers who have used this type of network have found it successful for helping students to learn about the traits of historical figures, institutions, and phenomenon, and make connections between different time periods and historical institutions.

TEXTS THAT WORK: 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 change and continuity in historical norms.

Play with a sample network

A sample network with data connecting traits of different world religions

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)

Historical Figure
A historical figure, event, institution, etc., 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 historical 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 characters or student experiences to traits and emotions that describe the characters or the experience the student had.

is or feels
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.

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.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.
Disciplinary Data Literacy Goals
Data are 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 are interpreted, and we can even create it.	As we create our data, we may disagree, which impacts interpretation. We need to figure out how to resolve and interpret that.
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 are not always static.	We are changing this data as we discuss our interpretations and revise them.

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.

Traits of major world religions

Lesson plan one-pager

How to integrate this lesson into your classroom: From two class periods to many class periods. The first class period gets students used to the network as they identify and enter historical data. Subsequent class periods provide time to revise/add additional historical figures, discuss the historical patterns students see and (for a many-class-period lesson plan) make comparisons across historical time periods and geographies where relevant.

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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