Posted by Alythea
Hi-
I’m curious about kinds of projects others have had students do during or at the end of a critical exploration to help them push/clarify their thinking. Some examples of what I’m thinking about are:
Assuming the role of a character in history and then writing a letter of advice to another character in history (like George Percy from the Jamestown settlement writing a letter of advice to John Carver of the Plymouth colony).
Writing (or summarizing) a “lost” chapter/passage from a book, maybe with a focus on character, plot, author’s style, or something else. Having students explain their choices or the development of their thinking (maybe as footnotes) can be a neat component of this.
I’m curious about all subjects, and it would be neat to have a collection here for all of us to get ideas from.
Thanks!
Scott
I took a course taught with critical exploration method, it was about time measurement through history. We read fictional works (such as 20000 Leagues Under the Sea, Time Machine, etc.) as well as historial works (astronomors, mechanical engineer, historian, clock-maker, etc.). There are also contemporaries, who are in one way or another contributed to our class, like one who offered us a broken clock, etc.. At the end of semester, we were asked to
“Choose one of the figures that we met along the way – it could be someone historical (named or nameless), a fictional character, or a contemporary who contributed to our sessions. Write to this person about your Time Travelling experience. Take this person’s historical or fictional background into account so as to involve that person in sharing these experiences with you.” (Elizabeth Cavicchi, 2010)
There is more specific instructions about the writing, like including specific examples, etc..
Look forward to reading more!
Yang