Canadian Social Studies - Volume 40 - Issue 1 - Special Issue: History Alive! Old Sources, New Technologies - You Can't Have a Digital Revolution Without Critical Literacy

Oct 15, 2026

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The article explores how literacy, technology, and subject curriculum goals can work together in teacher education and classroom practice. It argues that critical literacy, especially skills for inference, is essential for effective use of the internet in source-based history. Two practical templates are presented for analyzing sources, with classroom-ready examples for grades 7–12. It concludes with research questions on integrating critical literacy and information technology in history teaching.

LanguageEnglish

CategoryResearch & Report

FormatPDF

Pages8

Reading Time20 min

AccessFree to download

You Can't Have a Digital Revolution Without Critical Literacy

A Case for Critical Literacy

Analyzing a Single Document

CANADIAN SOCIAL STUDIES VOLUME 40 NUMBER 1, Summer 2006 [www.quasar.ualberta.ca/css](www.quasar.ualberta.ca/css) Special Issue: History Alive! Old Sources, New Technologies You Can't Have a Digital Revolution Without Critical Literacy. John Myers Ontario Institute for Studies in Education of the University of Toronto Return to Articles Abstract In working with new teachers and teacher candidates in teacher education with the many demands placed upon them, it makes sense to combine a number of learning goals. The following article examines the idea that literacy, technology, and subject curriculum goals are a powerful combination. Indeed, critical literacy with a stress on inferring, is a necessary component of sound use of the internet for source based history. This article presents two simple but powerful templates for analyzing sources followed by examples of a key literacy orientation for busy teachers to use both on line and face to face in classrooms from grades 7 12. It concludes with a research agenda in the form of some key questions for some of the unexamined issues in the integration of critical literacy and information technology in the history classroom. A Case for Critical Literacy There has always been a tension between viewing history as a story (noun) and viewing it asan investigation (verb) . This goes back to the Latin and Greek origins ofthe word itself and the approaches of Herodotus and Thucydides, each of whom stressed one part of this continuum. I call it a continuum because I view both as important. Yet it is fair to say that in schools, the former is stressed at the expense of the latter based on such factors as the dominance of textbook teaching, full frontal teaching dominated by the lecture, and testing stressing factual recall. At least this seems to be the case in U. S. schools (Goodlad, 1984; Hicks, Doolittle, and Lee, 2004; Friedman, 2006) . In Canada we have had no large scale studies of school history in practice since Hodgetts (1968) though when the popular press reports on school history they usually comment on the lack of knowledge by students as revealed in tests rather than any inability to think historically (Morton, 2000; Gibson and von Heyking, 2003) . In the past four decades there have been a number of developments with the potential to change the "grammatical balance" 1of the subject as taught in schools. The "digital revolution"appears to be the latest of these. Many have spoken of the potential for new technologies beyond the lecture and textbook to liberate teachers and students to do creative work across the curriculum, including the social studies (for example, Levesque, 2005; Allen, Dutt Doner, Eini, Frederick, Chuang, and Thompson, 2005/6) . Teacher education programs in particular are expected to infuse new technologies into their programs to meet the needs and experiences ofthe next generation of teachers (Darling Hammond, Banks, Zumwalt, Gomez, Sherin, Griesdorn, and Finn (2005) . Yet despite enthusiasm for on line work, there are many factors that may limit its impact, especially the realities of a busy teacher's life. This article focuses on literacy in the digital age for the following reasons. Literacy is a public issue in schools and is getting more attention in the form of funding, professional development, and both human and material resources. The case needs to be made that good social studies and history teaching equals literacy. The use of primary sources is part of this case and may help teachers attend to literacy, inquiry, and subject based outcomes simultaneously. The literacy demands on students reading and writing history and social studies are considerable, even with visual information (Myers, 1990; Greene, 1994; Counsell, 1997; Werner, 2004) . Students need to become critical readers in order to make sense of the past and the present, especially when working with new technologies (Wineburg and Martin, 2004; Roswell and

FAQs

Why does the article emphasize critical literacy when using the internet for history sources?

It argues that critical literacy, particularly inferential reading, is a necessary component for sound internet use in source-based history. Students must learn to read critically to make sense of past and present information.

What does the author mean by a “digital revolution” in this article?

The author defines it as using web-based and paper copies of primary sources. The discussion explicitly limits other technologies to avoid substantive treatment in the current space.

What practical tools does the article provide for teachers and teacher candidates?

It presents two simple but powerful templates for analyzing sources. The article includes examples and highlights an approach suitable for busy teachers in both online and face-to-face classrooms from grades 7–12.

Oct 15, 2026

Uploaded by SANS