Presenters:
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Greta Kroeker, (History)
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Rebecca MacAlpine (History 347 student)
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Zoe Miller (History 347 student)
What do an apron, a necklace, a wooden birthing stool, a traditional wedding ceremony, and an Early Modern European witch trial and “burning at the stake” enactment have in common?
They are all artifacts created by students as part of a semester long project in Greta Kroeker’s History 347 “Witches, Wives and Whores” course, a course that examines the lives of women during the time period from 1450 to 1750.
The course is open to both history and non-history students, and the semester long project is driven by the students’ questions and personal interests. Greta has designed course activities that require students to take an active role in their learning, build on their critical thinking and research skills and engage deeply with course content in a way that is personally meaningful to them. In an effort to teach students to empathize with others and make history relevant, Greta wanted the course activities to appeal to the student diversity in her class by allowing students to follow their own interests and the things that excite them as a learners and scholars, and to do so using academically sound sources and methods, and then have the students present what they have learned in whatever way they think will work. Her course activities are a blend of traditional scholarship with experiential learning.
Read a Teaching Story about Greta Kroeker