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Cause and Consequence

Few things can be more fascinating to students than unpeeling the oftendramatic complications of cause. And nothing is more poisonous to wholesocieties than a simple, monocausalexplanation of their past experiences and present problems.

(Lessons from History, The National

Center for History in the Schools.)

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John McMillan was a teacher at the Moodyvilleschool from 1900 to 1902. He woke up one morning to find the apple tree in front of his house covered in dead snakes.

What might explain this mystery? What hypotheses do you have?

Photo courtesy North Vancouver Museum and Archives

Snakes in the Tree

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Was Hitler completely to blame for World War Two?

Question:

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Interpretation of a 14 year old British student:

Hitler wanted to be powerful and no-one wanted or

could stop him. He wanted Germans to have living space

in eastern Europe. The only way he could do that was by

going to war and fighting for it. People say the war was

the cause of European politicians and the public.(National Curriculum in Action, QCA)

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How would you assess the student’s response?

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Hitler wanted to be powerful and no-

one wanted or could stop him. He

wanted Germans to have living space

in eastern Europe. The only way he

could do that was by going to war and

fighting for it. People say the war was

the cause of European politicians and

the public.

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Challenges

Young people use narrative « simplifications » as reasons for historical change. For example:• They see history as a record of the accomplishments

of a few important people• They assume change as a rational process (« people

figured out how to do things correctly »)• They assume progress• They have difficulty appreciating the social, economic

and political context of change

(Barton and Levstik, Teaching History for the Common Good)

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Cause and Consequence

In September, 1939, a dentist in Viceroy, Louisiana, placed a human tooth in a jar of Coca-Cola and let it stand overnight. The next morning Hitler invadedPoland.

- David Mamet, « A Sermon »

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(N)arrative not only helps solve the problems of life (…making meaning from the past) but also limitsthe range of solutions by narrowing perceptions of reality.

- Levstik and Barton

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Cause and Consequence:

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Ways to Encourage Sophisticated Thinking About Causes and Consequences

1. Inquiry questions - cultivate puzzlement

2. Vocabulary development

3. Concept maps – making thinking visual

4. Case studies/problem solving of historical actors and situations.

5. Persistence

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1. Inquiry Questions

• What were the causes of Confederation?

• What were the three main causes of Confederation?• Was it really the Fathers of Confederation who gave birth to

Canada?• How much did Canada matter to the people of British North

America in 1867?• Whose lives were changed?• What if there had been Aboriginal representatives at

Charlottetown in 1864?• Was Dorion right: Confederation was a sneaky scheme of the

Grand Trunk Railway?

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2. Vocabulary to Encourage Causal Reasoning

• Triggered

• Contributed to

• Intensified

• Softened

• Exacerbated

• Pushed –Pulled

• Others?

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3. Concept Maps

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Rwandan Genocide

Interhamwe

Ethnic Division

Hutu

Tutsi

Belgian racial policy

Hutu

hatredPropaganda

Death in plane crash of Hutu president

United Nations

Over-population and land scarcity

Civil War

Romeo Dallaire

Peace-keeping force

fueledtriggered

planned

commited

motivated

encouraged

promoted

led to

Moderate Hutusopposed

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Why was the slave trade abolished?

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Why do these historians disagree?

• A tradition of explaining events by the deeds of great men.

• Pride in the progress and achievements of British people.

• A growing emphasis on the importance of economics in explaining why things had happened in the past.

• The end of British colonialism and growth of independent black nations.

• A growing awareness of the dangers of writing history from the point of view of one group only.

• The most readily available type of evidence being diaries, speeches, and memoirs of Abolitionists.

• Historians starting to use a wider variety of sources, e.g., statistics.

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4. Problem Solving or Predictions

• Give real historical situations, human dilemmas – drawing on emotions, what matters to these past people, the choices they faced, the conditions. The focus is on consequences.

• Provoke a response with open-ended questions that are answerable at a range of levels.

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For example, use a problem solving/predictions approach to have students consider these situations:

Given the British attitude of the time towards Catholics but also the population of Québec after the Conquest, what should the occupying British do?

Or personalize it: Students role play Governor James Murray, Bishop Jean-Olivier Briand, Canadiens, British colonists and others in 1760 following the Conquest.

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Combining Sources, Narrative, and Cause and Consequence

• Predict a narrative

• Test the predicted narrative against the narrative from

sources

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Resources

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Videos on Concepts: TC2 Take 2 videos:

Thinking about history

http://tc2.ca/teaching-resources/online-resource-collections/special-collections/thinking-about-history.php

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Snakes in the Tree – a little context

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To solve a mystery about the past you need to look attraces left behind – if there are any. Fortunately, thereis at least one, a conversation with Mrs. Alice Crakanthorp, a former student of John McMillan atMoodyville, recorded by Vancouver archivist Major J.S. Matthews, 23 October, 1936.

Might Alice Crakanthorp be a reliable witness? Is Major Matthews likely to be a reliable recorder of the conversation?

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“We had a teacher at the school named McMillan, and he whipped the Indian boys unmercifully; he would go out in the bush and cut a switch, and whip them withit. The Indian boys resented this, and showed theirresentment by draping an apple tree in his gardenwith dead snakes; McMillan was very unpopular. When the tree was shaken the dead snakes began to wriggle and drop to the ground; it was horrible. The Indian boys must have spent a whole night—they didit in the night—draping his tree with snakes; there wassuch a lot of them, all dead, and hung over the branches.” (J.S. Matthews, Early Vancouver: Narratives of Pioneers, Volume 4, 1944)