Techniques of Teaching History

History is an important subject as it tells us about the human civilization of the past days. In the words of a famous historian, history is, "What men have done and said and above all what they have thought." According to Johnson, "History has always been what human beings thought about the past and in this sense it has always been of certain of the past." History is one of the oldest subjects of study. By history we understand the breadth, comprehensiveness, variety and extent of learning experiences, provided by the study of a special subject. The growth of history has accompanied with the growth of human race. Thus history and man are inter-related or that history is a story of human race from starting upto the present day. History at present is no more restricted to the study of political activities of man but it also comprises a study of his achievements in the physical, social, economic, religious, philosophical, literacy, artistic, cultural, industrial, technological and scientific fields, starting from ancient times upto the modern age. It this way its scope is very wide and many–in fact as wide as the world and as long as the existence of man on earths. The social education is nothing but a short course of history, depicting social, economic, industrial, scientific and cultural aspects of man’s life. It throws light on the inter-dependence of man and man, nation and nation and country and country. In the forgoing discussion already given a broad hint to the aims of teaching history. In this sub-section these are listed in a more systematic and easily understandable form. Author’s have already seen a relationship between aims and objectives. Aims are nothing but set objectives according to which the teacher acts. The values are the gains of those aims. Actually speaking the values are achieved when the aims are acquired. So we can that aims are, in itself, where as the various are the product. An analysis of aims and objectives of teaching of history reveals that its study will not lead to any materialistic gains. Its value is cultural, humanising and disciplinary. The study of history leads to development of the understanding of the cultural heritage, provides the pupil some intellectual training and inculcates in them moral virtues. It also arouses in pupils a patriotic fervour. The present book inherits in itself the various techniques of teaching history. The book is of greater significance for the students, teachers, researchers and many others related to this subject.