Now consider history—a subject that is typically conceived as a chronological
march through content over time. The typical history course based on
a textbook simply lays out information on discrete topics chronologically—
“one darn thing after another,” in the apocryphal words of a frustrated student.
By beginning a history course in a remote and distant past, unmoored
from contemporary events, learners’ interests, overarching questions, and
specific tasks, students are far less likely to be engaged in “doing” history in a
way that will allow them to come to understand the “story” of the past and the
big ideas that transfer to the present.