“Once upon a time there was a little boy in Scotland. His mommy would play with him, read him stories and sing songs for him. He just loved watching his mommy do the house work. He loved to look at different things and observe them.
One day his mommy was making tea when the kettle caught his eye. His mommy was boiling water in it. Then what; the kettle’s lid began to move. This grabbed the little boy’s attention. He looked closely. After a while he removed the lid then put it back. Then again he did the same thing but the lid kept moving.
How is the lid moving? This question kept ringing in his mind.
He saw there were water droplets on the lid. Next he placed a spoon in front of the spout of the kettle, and the same water droplets were formed.”
This little boy was observing the effects of steam. From then onwards steam became his fascination and when he grew up he built the first steam engine. This little boys name was James Watt.
I still remember how I got lost in this story and went home and tried experiments with steam.
“History teaches everything including the future”-Lamartine
You see it’s all about how you teach history. Are you just delivering lectures or are you telling a story?
When we were children story time was the favorite. From the magic of fairy tales to the thrill of war stories, these stories would make our imagination go beyond the limits.For me learning new things came from a story.
Benefits of Teaching History:
Make it a point to discuss history with your children.
- History builds confidence in children, it makes them think beyond the limits and most importantly it raises the question: “HOW”
- How did this happen? How was penicillin discovered? Was it by accident? How?
- Big inventions and discoveries come from simple people. Thus children can relate to these people. They believe, if she can do it so can I, and this development must never stop from children to teenagers to adults, one must never lose interest in history.
Every individual who made history has a childhood which was simple yet they could see the big picture. Big inventions emerge from a very small place. And this is what children should believe.
When I was a child I simply could relate to Michelangelo or Gandhi, my field of thinking was limitless; there was no end to it.
This limitless believe in possibility also helped me in my Masters when I was doing a project for Environmental science and I was successful in Treating colored water effluent with a fungus.
As children grow older they may say I find history boring. This is a red signal.
You see it’s the subject of history which encourages a child’s creativity.
Ways to develop interest in history:
• Tell stories of the famous people childhood; children must be able to relate to them.
• Do not emphasize much on the dates rather focus on the message.
• A great and fun way is to watch historic movies, really stirs interest.
• Encourage questions even if it’s in the middle of the story.
• Do not separate history from other subjects, include science, math, literature everything in it.
Focus on the point history is a part of everything. There is no existence without history.
We all want our children to be bright and confident. We want them to believe “Yes it’s possible” in whatever they want to achieve and telling tales of history truly sets an example.
