Using Counterfactual History to Enhance Students\' Historical Understanding

The Social Studies (2011) 102, 117–123 Copyright C© Taylor & Francis Group, LLC ISSN: 0037-7996 print / 2152-405X online DOI: 10.1080/00377996.2010.525547 Using Counterfactual History to Enhance Students’ Historical Understanding SCOTT L. ROBERTS Social Studies Program Specialist, Gwinnett County Public Schools, Suwanee, Georgia, USA The question “what if ?” has been asked by historians for generations. This article explains how history teachers can use students’ own what-if questions to enhance their historical knowledge and understanding by offering educators a step-by-step plan for utilizing counterfactual history into their classrooms. Additionally, the author offers a brief discussion concerning the genre of counterfactual history, its use by historians and educators, and an examination of the counterfactual history sources that have been created for student use. Finally, a lesson plan is provided that uses widely accepted educational strategies such as K-W-L charts and “chalk talks” and combines them with the unique tactic of using counterfactual history. Keywords: counterfactual history, historical understanding, teaching strategies In the summer of 2009, director Quentin Tarantino’s film Inglourious Basterds was released to both critical acclaim and controversy, eventually receiving an Academy Award nomination for best picture of the year. This historical revenge-fantasy film, chronicling the exploits of a fictitious unit of Jewish American commandos fighting behind Ger- man lines during World War II, was extremely popular with audiences and has earned over $300 million world- wide (Box Office Mojo 2010). This film serves as the most recent example of the extremely popular literary and cul- tural genre of “alternative” or “counterfactual” history. Although often used interchangeably, there is a distinction between the terms alternative and counterfactual history (Schmunk 2010). Nevertheless, for the purposes of this article, it should be noted that alternative history is a literary genre usually steeped in science fiction. In many of these stories the point of divergence that alters history is influenced by the pres- ence of time travelers, aliens, or other supernatural events. In contrast, the term counterfactual history is often used to describe works that are based on historical fact or where the point of divergence is caused by “realistic” circum- stances such as a historical figure making a different deci- sion in relation to what actually happened. Additionally, counterfactual histories can be works of fiction in which a realistic point of divergence occurs and the author of- Address correspondence to Scott L. Roberts, Social Stud- ies Program Specialist, Gwinnett County Public Schools, 437 Old Peachtree Road NW, Suwanee, GA 30045, USA. Email: Sroberts16@hotmail.com fers his or her version of the altered world through the use of both fictional characters and real historic figures. In other instances, counterfactual history is written in a manner where the author describes an event, explains the point of divergence, and then illustrates how history might be different in an expository manner without the use of fictional characters (Schmunk 2010). Although alternative and counterfactual history questions and stories have an origin dating back to antiquity, it was not until the 1960s that the genres’ popularity grew and began to appear in the forms of films, novels, short stories, and comic books (Lebow 2007; Rosenfeld 2002). While counterfactual his- tory is a popular form of entertainment, as a fan of the genre and a social studies educator, I often wondered if I could integrate it into the social studies classroom as a way to enhance my students’ historical understanding. The Use of Counterfactual History by Historians The first step in my examination was to research the aca- demic literature concerning the strengths and weaknesses of counterfactual history in general. I discovered that its use as a form of historical inquiry has—more often than not—been criticized and scoffed at for much of the genre’s existence (Bunzl 2004; Lebow 2007). Nevertheless, many examples exist of well-respected historians using this type of speculation in both standard historical works as well as in their own works of counterfactual history (Cowley 1999, 2001; Fogel 1964). Today, the genre appears to have gar- nered more respect, and many historians and researchers 118 Roberts Table 1. Popular works of counterfactual/alternative history. Author/creator/editor Title Date Type Topic/Event Blackburn, Jolly R., et al. Aces and Eights: Shattered Frontier 2007 Video game Civil War/westward expansion Blackwood, Gary The Year of the Hangman 2002 Novel American Revolution Carlisle, Robert P., and J. Geoffrey Golson Turing Points: A House Divided during the Civil War Era 2007 Textbook The Civil War Cowley, Robert What If? The World’s Foremost Military Historians Imagine What Might Have Been 1999 Essays Various military campaigns Dreyfuss, Richard, and Harry Turtledove The Two Georges: The Novel of Alternative America 1997 Novel American Revolution Gingrich, Newt, and William Forstchen Gettysburg: A Novel of the Civil War 2003 Novel Civil War Gingrich, Newt and William Forstchen Pearl Harbor: A Novel of December 8th 2007 Novel World War II Jones, Douglas C., and John Gay The Court-Martial of George Armstrong Custer 1977 TV mini-series U.S. Indian wars Harris, Robert, and Stanley Weiser Fatherland 1994 Film World War II Tarantino, Quentin Inglourious Basterds 2009 Film World War II Thompson, Robert E. The Trial of Lee Harvey Oswald 1977 TV mini-series The Kennedy assassination Turtledove, Harry How Few Remain 1998 Novel Civil War Turtledove, Harry Ruled Britannia 2002 Novel Spanish Armada Willmont, Kevin CSA: The Confederate States of America 2006 Film Civil War now support its use in college classrooms as a method for historical inquiry or as an approach for students to gain a better understanding of the past (Bunzl 2004; Hawthorn 1991; Kneeshaw 1982; Rosenfeld 2002). The Use of Counterfactual History in the Middle and Secondary History Courses As mentioned previously, as a long-time fan of alterna- tive and counterfactual history in its various media for- mats, I sought to include its use as a strategy in teaching my eighth-grade Georgia studies classes. However, while examining the literature on the educational use of coun- terfactual history, I determined there have been few calls from middle and secondary social studies researchers for educators to use counterfactual history in their classrooms to enhance their students’ historic understanding (Ragland 2007). Moreover, I found few concrete examples or de- scriptions of pedagogical moves describing how practicing teachers have incorporated works of counterfactual history in their classrooms. For example, in a study concerning methods of changing teacher’s practices in secondary his- tory classrooms, Rachel G. Ragland (2007, 225) suggests the use of counterfactual history in classrooms; however, she only explains that her participants were attempting to usemethods incorporating counterfactual history. She goes on to mention that her subjects were “not as confident about the use of counterfactual approaches” in their class- rooms and does not offer an explanation of the lessons that her participants were using to implement counterfactual history in their classrooms. Strengths and Weaknesses of Current Counterfactual History Sources for Classroom Use After an investigation of the literature concerning counter- factual history, I searched for materials based on this genre to use in my classroom (see table 1 for examples of pop- ular works of counterfactual/alternative history). Two of the most intriguing sources I discovered were Gary Black- wood’s (2002) The Year of the Hangman and a series of six books titled Turning Points—Actual and Alternative His- tory (Carlisle and Golson 2007a, 2007b , 2007c, 2007d), published by ABC-CILO. The Year of the Hangman is a young adult novel discussing an America where the British have won the Revolutionary War, while Turning Points is a textbook series that uses counterfactual history stories to help students study and gain a better understanding of historic topics ranging from prehistoric Native American cultures to the Regan era. After examining these books, I determined that, while they can be useful in bringing counterfactual history into the classroom, they also con- tain many weaknesses that could undermine their overall effectiveness for aiding students in understanding the topics of study. In examining the The Year of the Hangman, I found the novel to be a fast-paced and interesting read; neverthe- less, I found four problems with it. First, the content of the book could prove difficult in relation to the average eighth-grade student’s reading abilities and historical con- tent knowledge. Primarily considering the limited amount of in-depth historical understanding that many students may hold about the American Revolution, I did not think that they would understand the points of divergence and Using Counterfactual History 119 interesting character twists that that Blackwood developed for the historic figures found in the book such as Benjamin Franklin andBenedict Arnold. Second, although this novel focuses on the American Revolution, which is a “standard” in my school district, it does not correlate to the specific, state-mandated, information that my Georgia studies stu- dents are required to learn in the course. Third, at a length of 272 pages—and with the time restraints often placed on teachers in many school districts around the country—it would be difficult to conduct an efficient book study. The final problem I foundwith the text deals with its readability. Three of my students, who decided to read the book after I mentioned it in class, stopped reading it soon after they started. When I asked them why they chose to discontinue reading it, they complained the writing was “too difficult to read” and that the book was simply “boring.” Nonetheless, while it should be noted that other teachers have had suc- cess using this book in their instruction (Langhorst 2006), I wanted to use a method that would include more active student participation in using counterfactual history to en- hance their historic understanding. While examining the Turning Points book series, I found significant weaknesses that also caused me to disregard the books as sources to incorporate the use of counterfac- tual history in my classroom. First, it should be mentioned that the books have several strong points, including the fact that the counterfactual history stories were written by historians; they make a clear distinction between the ac- tual and counterfactual histories; they include discussion questions and key concepts, and unlike many textbooks, a bibliography and further reading sections. Nevertheless, the texts contain many of the same weaknesses found in standard textbooks, such as presenting history with an abundance of unnecessary information, including a large number of lower-level discussion questions, and in many cases, presenting history in an omnipotent and noncriti- cal manner (Apple and Christian-Smith 1991; FitzGerald 1979; Loewen 1995). Additionally, unlike many modern textbooks, these books are visually unappealing. They con- tain fewmaps, charts, and color photographs. For the most part, only black-and-white photos are scattered haphaz- ardly throughout the chapters. In terms of their use of counterfactual history, the ABC- CLIO books present the authors’ speculations in a similar omnipotent and noncritical manner as the “actual” his- tory presented in the same chapters. In turn, many of the discussion questions do not offer students the opportunity to construct their own opinions concerning the what-ifs of history, but are in fact purely reading comprehension questions that ask students to find and repeat the authors’ own opinions concerning the topic. An example of this is NathanielMillet’s (2007) story about the founding ofGeor- gia and what might have happen if Spain had been able to retain control of the colony. At the end of his chapter, in the discussion questions,Millet (2007, 221) asks his readers, “If Georgia had remained under Spanish control through the middle of the 19th century, in what ways would that have represented a threat to maintaining slavery in the other states of the south prior to the Civil War?” According to the book, the answer to the question can be found in the reading and states, “In this alternative version, the large in- flux of liberated blacks to Spanish Georgia-Florida, would create an even greater refuge, and a southbound flow of es- caped slaves, larger than the Underground Railroad, would undermine slavery in the Carolinas” (Millet 2007, 221), thus not allowing students to establish their own scenarios about this historical divergence. Because of the weaknesses found in all of these works, I was determined to develop my own student-centered method to incorporate counter- factual history in my classroom. Using Counterfactual History in the Classroom Many social studies researchers have suggested that stu- dents should be active participants in their study of his- tory and should learn history using hands-on approaches, sometimes described as “doing history,” and not passively learning history by reading and answering questions found in the textbooks or listening to a teacher-centered lecture (e.g., Brophy and VanSledright 1997; Levstik and Barton 2005; Stearns et al. 2000; Wineberg 2001). An ardent pro- ponent of active student participation in my classes, I have adopted many of the ideas suggested by these researchers and incorporated their suggested methods in my practice. Aspreviously discussed, I didnot believe the available coun- terfactual history resources offered students the opportu- nity to “do history,” and therefore, I developed a lesson that incorporates the use of counterfactual history while also integrating research-based strategies concerning the best practices of teaching history and social studies to middle- grade and secondary students. As with any new instructional strategy used in the class- room, I have broken down into steps my use of counterfac- tual history so the students are easily able to follow along. Though the process can be lengthy, I found that by the time my students completed all of the suggested activities, not only did the vast majority write or present a fascinating and well-thought-out final project, their overall understanding concerning the topic of their study was outstanding, thus, making this time-consuming lesson worthwhile. The seven steps I developed for the counterfactual history project are described below. Step 1: Introducing the topic When introducing a unit incorporating counterfactual history, it should be understood that the vast majority of students have not likely heard of the genre in terms of literature; although they may be familiar with the concept through video games, comic books, or movies. With this in mind, the first step of the project involves discussing the literary genre with students by offering examples, 120 Roberts explaining the purposes behind the lesson, and discussing what you hope that students will gain from it. In order to do this, I prefer to use a simple PowerPoint presentation to introduce the topic. I begin by asking a series of what-if questions based on the topics that my students had pre- viously learned in my Georgia studies class. Some of these what-ifs include: “What if the British won the American Revolution?” and “What if Martin Luther King, Jr., was never assassinated?” Next, I discuss the definition of counterfactual history and offer several examples of some of my favorite works in the genre. After explaining the plotlines of these books, I provide evidence about why the situations that the authors used to describe the divergences could have easily happened and may have changed the course of history as we know it. There are thousands of alternative/counterfactual histories to choose from, and the examples I used are Harry Turtledove’s (2002) Ruled Britannia, which discusses an England where the Spanish Armada defeated the English in 1588, and Richard Dreyfuss and Harry Turtledove’s (1997), The Two Georges: The Novel of Alternative America, which describes a world where there was never an American Revolution. In addition, due to my state’s large number of standards concerning the American Civil War, I discuss several texts that examine the world after a Southern victory. Examples include Turtledove’s (1998) How Few Remain, the first of a series of eleven books that offer an eighty-year history of a world where the Confederate States of America won the Civil War, and Newt Gingrich andWilliam Forstchen’s (2003)Gettysburg:ANovel of theCivilWar, the first book of a trilogy discussing the Civil War after a Southern victory at the Battle of Gettysburg. I also discuss the film CSA: TheConfederate States ofAmerica (2006), amockumentary describing aworldwhere theConfederate States ofAmerica not only won the Civil War but also managed to conquer the Northern states and much of Central America as well. I end the discussion by explaining to my students why we are doing this. I offer the justifications that studying counterfactual history allows “you [the student] a chance to become an ‘expert’ about one historical event,” “to spend more time studying an event that you found interesting in this class,” and “to be creative and use higher-order think- ing skills that you will need later in life.” Finally, because I present this lesson at the end of the school year, I explain to my students that this lesson “is better than listening to me rehash the same material that you have already learned about for the last four weeks of school.” Step 2: Create five counterfactual history questions The second step of this assignment is to have students write five counterfactual history questions they potentially want to research. One of the most important points of this as- signment is to allow students to have choices in their own learning. I believe this concept is a key element of the as- signment that differentiates it from the other counterfac- tual history materials out there. In the counterfactual texts I described earlier, the alternative history story has already been written and students passively read them. In this les- son, students are the ones determining both the counterfac- tual questions and eventually their own answers to them. It is entirely up to the teacher to decide whether they want to allow their students to ask any what-if questions or to keep the questions in the parameters of topics that have al- ready been studied. Keep in mind that some students may simply copy the counterfactual history questions that have been previously discussed in step 1. However, in my experi- ence, I found that most students are extremely creative and have written legitimate questions such as, “What if Andrew Jackson would have followed the Supreme Court’s order to protect the Cherokee in Georgia?” and “How would Geor- gia be different if the Yamacraw Indians did not befriend James Oglethorpe?” Step 3: Create a counterfactual K-W-L The third step of this assignment is to have students decide on three of their counterfactual history questions to examine for further study and then create a K-W-L chart concerning what they already know about the topic of their question (K), what they want to know about the topic of their questions (W), and what they learned (after research) about the topic of their question (L) (Ogle 1986). In introducing this step, I remind students that they cannot write an interesting counterfactual history story if they do not have a great understanding of what a