Doing History

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Photos (top to bottom): photo1: grade 6 students -- Moussa, Sam, Awa, Chiara, Michael -- with the Lebanese Ambassador to Senegal; photo2: Miss Debra's homeroom following a walking field trip to Plage de Ouakam, where we met and chatted with Lebou fisherman Momodou Sarr (photo3); photo4: panel of guests whose families immigrated to Senegal from Lebanese early in the 20th century; graphic of the Lebanese diaspora.

Our current unit, The Scientist & the Historian, focuses on an understanding of the two disciplines guided by the following essential questions: what is science/history? what do scientists/historians do? what are their methods?

A curriculum which aims for understanding must offer a rich context, or place students in a position where they act as if they were scientists or historians. They must feel the role, experience it, and think like a scientist/historian.

The unit includes a series of activities in which students act as if they were scientists/historians. By example, students have been assigned to complete an oral history of a family member, ideally their oldest living relative. In addition, each of the two homerooms have been engaged in a mini-history, with Miss Debra's homeroom investigating the history of the Lebou people, and my homeroom investigating the history of the Lebanese community in Senegal.

Excerpts of the interview with the panel of Senegalese residents whose families immigrated from Lebanon (be aware that the hiss is attributed to the passing of a thunder storm): audio1 audio2 audio3 audio4 audio5 audio6 audio7

Excerpts of the interview with the Lebanese Ambassador: audio1 audio2