Teaching World History through Popular Culture

[teacher194]

I would be interested in the songs and cartoons that you use in world history instruction. Thanks!

[LittleMissy53]

really awesome idea(:

[Kain59242]

Hetalia's only really funny if you already know a reaonable amount of world history.

[Fatality0217]

this video is amazing, great job :)

[jcable261]

Great explanation video of something teachers across the country have been doing for years. Pop culture is a great way to remind the kids that the information is relevant and all around them. Matt Groening passed his history classes kids, did you? Information is not distorted, it just appears in short snippits that force the kids to activate their knowledge to catch it.

[USasianboy]

you should show your kids hetalia, its an anime that teaches world history and is very funny

[FathomLordKarathr]

@USasianboy just hold up now just.... just.. stop! stop making me google things ill never forget

[Starrhotty123]

Cool ;)

[Marscrater]

The "teacher" is encouraging students to watch more tv and music videos to learn that Jews never did anything wrong in the history of the world and to accept tv as a good source of knowledge. Rated PG....for pure garbage.

[coz752]

and that last bit

"Just my 2c as graduated adult not teacher/parent."

Means I've seen enough TV and spotted enough references and did enough research whenever I felt I wanted to know more about something to conclude that TV is a sometimes funny but overall very poor teacher often joking, sometimes spreading lies or presumably accidentally being full of misconceptions and errors... but nonetheless a great source for finding topics to get interested in.

[coz752]

or .. If you are just using TV , movies,cartoons and songs AS class material you're doing it wrong.

If you make room in class aside standard practice teaching to let children bring in things they want to learn more about ;for example in history by discussing pop culture references. It's good only if they end up learning the actual events and facts and not just learn the pop culture version of it.

Just my 2c as graduated adult not teacher/parent.

reference implies might not equal to

[coz752]

Well first off It is nice to be able to spot 'references' in pop culture and I do agree it's valuable that children get educated to get interested by what they see and hear around them to dig into material to learn more on their own. And not just passively watch TV just as mind-numbing entertainment.

Don't make anyone watch TV to find references ;) , but it's not bad to support learning about the truths behind references! As shown in posted movie not everything actually historically accurate

[animalamy98]

were doing this in our school at the moment about ww1 its quite fun but really hard any ideas anyone??

[coz752]

@animalamy98

Blackadder (season 4 Blackadder Goes Forth)

Lawrence of Arabia

[animalamy98]

@coz752 thanks ill try it :D

[Spiritoftheearth]

I think this is a really cool idea and good way to get kids interested in history. Giving the kids a real world connection to the material is an awesome idea, but I hope you also addressed the biases present in media portrayals of world history. It's a little off the topic, but the images present in media can serve to reinforce stereotypes about other people and countries.

[Hypatia1951]

Just teach the material---don't tie it into cartoons and nonsense. There is no value, none, in such an approach. You are teaching history as if it were a bunch of disconnected facts without any overarching narrative. These kids aren't going to be any better at thinking historically as a result of such an approach.

[plettad]

And television has been used historically to reveal the world in which we live. Footage of crimes against humanity, that were revealed during the Vietnam war, was a pivotal point in America finally seeing past government regulatory systems (AKA Japan's media) and to truly see the world through even non-patriotic/propagandized material. TV exposes the world.

[plettad]

I believe that this is a very creative way to assess the modern day use of historical reference in modern culture, something that students should be able to comprehend and use to acknowledge the world they inhabit. As for the comments on the basis of the US unintellectual nature as a result of overexposure to television, I hope you will reassess your evaluation. College in the United States is possibly one of the most competitive systems in the world (upper education matters most) I am a senior

[thedrumbum1990]

@alifeofreason No, you can't.

[alifeofreason]

Rap music just teaches you so much doesn't it? You can learn calculus and theoretical physics from listening to 2Pac and Lil' Wayne.

[alifeofreason]

Hey teacher, this is exactly why knowledge in the US is failing. This does not get kids to learn, it gets them to watch tv. In Japan children are at least twice as smart as they are here. They know multiple languages usually and excel any of our standards in math and science. They are doing algebra or even precalculus while the US is watching Family Guy and getting all of their information about the Renaissance from songs or cartoons. I strongly advise that you rethink what you are doing.

[jaggeryaaa2]

@alifeofreason hey!!!!!!!! this is a great way to teach children and get them to learn. many seventh grader and even eight graders are doing algebra. you cannot compare a socialist community to our democractic in that way! KIds will watch this anywayWHYY NOT LEARN THIS WAY. And yes i'm an eight grader

[BREAKINtheLAWSKATE]

@alifeofreason Interesting facts. Maybe if you believe every person should be raised with such a strong academic background you should move to Japan. school systems are already corrupt enough as it is, only tailoring to a small percentage of the average students dreams and capabilities, being more like japan would be a step in the wrong direction. if they dont watch tv and are all interested in math and science, then i wonder where anime comes from? keep these kids interested teacher!

[alifeofreason]

Family Guy, yuck!

[woodduckdawg]

Well done, anything to get students interested in history

[schizoidboy]

It is good to make history interesting but pop culture doesn't always deal with the facts relation to the topic. I had a teacher who said you can't yesterday and make it today. In history estab context is important in explaining what happened.

[DanRSL]

@schizoidboy

I think you just your second sentence

[Aimbob92]

well its a good idea to do that,

but the history tolt in the TV is often not verly "good" or better not verly exact (detailed)

but its a good way to get kids interested

[prorollerskater]

ha! the germantor.

[llydwll]

I do the same thing in US History. I have created hundreds of little clips. I have a of them on my page. Check out my page. I am going to email you about Your World-History-Simpsons stuff. I have lots of USHistory stuff from Family Guy.

[Underdogfore]

we started using pop culture in history class this year, wish there were these things when i was growing up doing history, honestly it makes learning more fun, and classes are highly interactive also....too bad its my last year :(

[prrhythmdancer]

I use videos and pop culture all the time in my world history classroom. What simpsons episode is the WW1 segment?

[Rockguykev]

I use a ton of media in my class and have had students look for stuff in the past as well. This video is really well done and I'll gladly use it to introduce the concept this year.

[jollyjane]

Thanks for the great idea!

[brian493]

Thanks for posting this! I was at the conference and want to use this in my class!