Project Description
Students are engaged in a project in which they will determine what makes an event or individual significant enough to be remembered for posterity with a place in a history textbook, a monument, or a museum exhibit. Focusing on the area of human rights, students will use primary and secondary sources to learn about key people or events that have advanced the rights of humans in some region of the world. Groups will then propose one individual or event that they believe has been instrumental in the human rights endeavor but is not yet widely known. Through collaboration and compromise, students participating in this project will come to consensus about which person or event they will promote. The next step will be the design of a memorial for this person/event. The format for this memorial will be determined by students. Additionally, students will make proposals and outreach contacts to their schools, communities, regions, or world to secure a venue for the memorial display. Finally, students will analyze current events to determine the human rights area of need for action on their part. They will determine and take the type of action necessary (i.e. letters to editors or politicians, public service announcements, etc.) to become students who are part of the solution to a global problem.
Rationale
History is everything that ever happened to anyone who ever lived. There is too much history to remember it all. Who gets to decide what is worth remembering (http://newsinreview.cbclearning.ca/worksheets/historical_significance/)? Students will look at a variety of perspectives about people or events that have significantly impacted human rights. This time the STUDENTS WILL DECIDE who is WORTH REMEMBERING. Student will further discover ways they can be involved in current global human rights issues. This unit seeks to increase students' research and analytical skills as well as most 21st Century Skills (http://www.p21.org/overview); collaboration, cooperation, creativity, organization, problem-solving, self-direction, technology fluency, and social responsibility.