In my previous blog post, I researched if learning about history helps us learn about our previous mistakes. In this blog post, I plan to research if understanding the cause of problems in history helps us to avoid problems in the future.
History helps students grow and develop as students. (2) By studying history, we can learn about our future. We cannot ignore the distant past (6) but we should rather study it and learn from it. History can be made more attainable by utilizing different learning strategies. (1) By understanding history, we can find out more about the significance of previous events as well as their cause and effect. (7) In doing so, we can also learn how to avoid similar problems in the future. Opportunities to talk about history are important to help engage students to learn about history. (1) When students learn about history, they continue to study and learn history throughout the whole course of their life. (1)
By understanding the past, we can approach the objective truth. (5) It should be studied because it is essential to individuals as well as society. (4) Learning from the past can teach us many different lessons about life and what we should do in the future. Some examples of this include finances (3), how people and societies behave (4), and providing insight into cultures. (2) By studying history to learn about these things, we can increase cross cultural awareness and understanding (2), increase financial literacy (3), and learn more about behavioural patterns through the history of the world. (4) However, history never repeats itself, because people and contexts are constantly changing. (7) Historians often believe that lessons can be drawn from the past, but only in a limited way. (6)
When thinking about the past, you shouldn’t judge it (3), but you should instead focus on the future and what can be done. Historians can identify the roots and sources of a problem (6), and this can help to contribute to problem solving. (6) By doing so, we can understand change and how our society has come to be. (4) Historians can also make predictions based on patterns from history. (7) This can help us identify solutions for our future.
- https://files.eric.ed.gov/fulltext/EJ1073994.pdf
- https://lancasteronline.com/opinion/columnists/knowing-history-can-keep-us-from-repeating-our-mistakes/article_0c6dc086-f0ea-11e9-a976-f72ef8926171.html
- https://www.linkedin.com/pulse/avoiding-mistakes-past-learning-from-history-joe-wrobel?trk=pulse-article_more-articles_related-content-card
- https://www.historians.org/about-aha-and-membership/aha-history-and-archives/historical-archives/why-study-history-(1998)
- https://www.theguardian.com/technology/2019/nov/12/history-as-a-giant-data-set-how-analysing-the-past-could-help-save-the-future
- https://news.mit.edu/2017/3-questions-how-history-helps-solve-todays-issues-0228
- https://community.oerproject.com/b/blog/posts/how-can-an-understanding-of-history-help-us-predict-the-future
Hi Aniela,
This is an interesting topic! One thing I really agreed with in your blog post is that “lessons can be drawn from the past, but only in a limited way.” I believe in this because I think at the fast pace society is progressing in, we cannot be applying the same solutions we discovered to problems that occurred years ago. We must be able to think critically and use it as inspiration, or alter it so that it fits the modern society.
I thought of a questions as I was reading your blog post, and that is how do you weight the importance of studying history to find solutions versus being innovative and creating new solutions to further promote progress our society? I feel this might be interesting to touch on because it will provide more significance to the act of studying history, as some may argue that it is not efficient as we are “going backwards” not forwards.
Here are some links that might help:
https://www.game-changer.net/2023/03/23/the-importance-of-studying-history-why-learning-from-the-past-helps-prevent-problems-in-the-future/
https://www.viima.com/blog/importance-of-innovation
Good luck and I look forward to more of your posts!