History Frames
Teacher Resources
Driving Question: What are frames and how do they shape our perspectives on historical events?
What communities do we build? Why do our networks expand and contract? How has production and distribution shaped our societies? Frames can help us change how we see history by focusing our attention on different details. Before you draw conclusions, you will literally draw some pictures of communities, networks, and production and distribution systems.
Learning Objectives:
- Explain how historians use frames to make sense of history.
- Understand the differences among the three WHP frames.
- Assess how using different frames can change our understanding of historical events.
Vocab Terms:
- distribution
- frame
This lesson is all about exploring different ways to frame history. Get started by predicting what each frame will reveal.
World History: Origins uses three frames to help students make sense of the vastness of world history: communities, networks, and production and distribution. In the first lesson of every unit, students will find a paired frames-related video and activity, like this one.
Looking for some new classroom decor? Check out our frames posters. Illustrated by renowned artist and activist Shepard Fairey, these three posters will look great in your classroom and have the added bonus of helping students remember the frames.
Get familiar with the frames with a quick intro from historian Bob Bain. Then, put your knowledge to the test with the review activity!
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Guiding Questions
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Before you watch
Preview the questions below, and then review the transcript.
While you watch
Look for answers to these questions:
- What is a frame, and how is it like a map?
- Why are frames useful?
- What are the three frames we use in this course?
- Why is it useful to have more than one frame?
- Why aren’t frames perfect tools?
After you watch
Respond to this question: What might be another frame, outside of the three introduced in this video, that could be used to interpret the past and make it usable?
If you’re watching videos as a class, pause at key points and have students discuss the answers to the While You Watch questions with a partner or the class.
Curious about how other WH teachers introduce the frames to their students? Check out this conversation in the OER Project Teacher Community.
Professor Bob Bain is back to walk you through each individual frame. Complete the Frames Overview activity as you watch the three short videos below.
Humans exchange ideas and goods between and within our communities. This sharing happens through systems called networks.
Humans make, share, sell, and trade goods within our communities and across networks. Over time, humans have improved how we produce and distribute the stuff we need.
Your students will draw the frames here and in several other units of this course. No artistic ability needed! Want to extend this activity and see student exemplars? Read this discussion in the OER Project Teacher Community.
Build on what you’ve learned to create your own graphic representation of the frames.
