HIS1102 : History Lab I
- Offered for Year: 2022/23
- Module Leader(s): Dr Fergus Campbell
- Lecturer: Dr Alison Atkinson-Phillips, Dr Felix Schulz, Ms Anne Redgate, Dr Samiksha Sehrawat
- Owning School: History, Classics and Archaeology
- Teaching Location: Newcastle City Campus
Semesters
| Semester 1 Credit Value: | 20 |
| ECTS Credits: | 10.0 |
Aims
History Lab I (and its semester two counterpart, History Lab II) is a historical survey taught through case studies. The goal is to teach – and learn – through meaningful microcosm, rather than attempt a whistle-stop tour of everything.
Across the two modules, each member of staff will give three interconnected lectures on a specific case-study from their field: one lecture about a discrete moment/event/issue and its attendant historiography, a second lecture that features primary sources on the same, and a third lecture that features public or private representations of that event as a basis for methodological issues. The integration of these differing dimensions will showcase how historians think and work by highlighting examples of differing historical interpretations and ongoing negotiations with the past.
A key aim of the module is to support students in developing strategies for independent learning: specifically, how to get up to speed with unfamiliar topics quickly. The formative assessments will be geared towards a) summarizing the argument and methodology outlined in the lectures, and b) contextualising the events or people of the case studies in time and space.
Outline Of Syllabus
Topics covered will vary from year-to-year, but most members of History staff will contribute a block of five lectures every year, giving students chance to explore a wide range of different periods, places, and approaches. They will thus be encouraged to draw parallels and see interconnections cross-culturally and cross-culturally, in order to move away from thinking of history in narrowly national or regional terms, a practice which tends to prioritise western histories and/or the Global North.
Each of the two History Lab modules will concentrate on a particular broad theme, with case studies ordered chronologically throughout the semester. Depending on what case studies are scheduled for inclusion in a given year, the themes may therefore change, in order to maintain a clear and coherent ‘fit’ between topics and overall theme.
Themes may include:
• conflict
• cities
• social change
• radical ideas
• memory
• labour
• health
Case studies may include:
• Th 1916 Easter Rising in Ireland
• The Stolen Generation in Australia
• Decolonization
• Post-War Germany
Teaching Methods
Teaching Activities
| Category | Activity | Number | Length | Student Hours | Comment |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| Guided Independent Study | Assessment preparation and completion | 67 | 1:00 | 67:00 | Writing position papers for portfolio |
| Scheduled Learning And Teaching Activities | Lecture | 11 | 1:00 | 11:00 | Live PiP Q and A Session each week |
| Scheduled Learning And Teaching Activities | Lecture | 22 | 1:00 | 22:00 | All lectures are PiP |
| Guided Independent Study | Directed research and reading | 100 | 1:00 | 100:00 | Directed reading to support lectures |
| Total | 200:00 |
Teaching Rationale And Relationship
LECTURES will enable students to gain a wider sense of historical argument and debate and how such debates operate, which also allows them to develop comparisons between different historiographical debates.
Q and A sessions will enable students to ask the lecturers questions about their lectures in a live PiP setting - chaired by the ML - and this will take the form of a kind of lecture with a strongly interactive dimension with the students.
Assessment Methods
The format of resits will be determined by the Board of Examiners
Other Assessment
| Description | Semester | When Set | Percentage | Comment |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| Portfolio | 1 | A | 100 | Students to choose 3 x 1000 word position papers 3000 words in total, incl. footnotes but excluding bibliography |
Formative Assessments
| Description | Semester | When Set | Comment |
|---|---|---|---|
| Written exercise | 1 | M | Students pick and prepare a 1000-word position paper in order to have feedback in order to choose the selection of papers. |
Assessment Rationale And Relationship
Submitted work tests intended knowledge and skills outcomes, develops key skills in research, reading and writing.
As formative assessment, students are encouraged to write a position paper of 1000 words each week and to select one to submit for the formative assessment. At the end of the semester, students will need to choose 3 out of the papers to submit as their summative assessment, having had the chance to revise them based on their participation in the Q and A/interactive lecture discussion which will also allow the imparting of feedback on the formative assessment.
Study-abroad, non-Erasmus exchange and Loyola students spending semester 1 only are required to finish their assessment while in Newcastle. Where an exam is present, an alternative form of assessment will be set and where coursework is present, an alternative deadline will be set. Details of the alternative assessment will be provided by the module leader.
Reading Lists
Timetable
- Timetable Website: www.ncl.ac.uk/timetable/
- HIS1102's Timetable