When Mr. Armstrong covers social studies the lesson is always critical thinking x creative play.
Maui Mind Academy presents
Envisioning Speculative Pasts and Alternatives Histories
Critical Thinking for Middle School Social Studies Students in Hawaii
Scenario: the Hawaii Kingdom was Restored in the 1960s. What would your school experience look like today? What's different? What does a visitor to the Kingdom of Hawaii experience in 2024, 60 years after it's restoration?
Situation: You are dropped into a public middle school social studies class that fails to identify the portrait of Abraham Lincoln on the wall. And they are studying the overthrow of the Hawaiian monarchy. They've been assigned 10 questions which can be easily googled, such as "What does annexation mean?"
Complication: Mr. Armstrong brought his organic computer, a gaming laptop, a wifi hotspot, and a custom GPT called Electric Grimoire. And there's a big TV with HDMI. Game on!
Question: How does Mr. Armstrong bring the topic of Hawaiian sovereignty to life in a DOE classroom?
Answer:
"History is Written by the Victors" - What does that mean?
Look around your classroom. Look at your Hawaiian History textbook.
Who wrote it?
When was it written? (1980s)
What's happened in the last 44 years? (Your parents were born, you were born)
"Small Actions Can Have Big Ripples"
What if Kamehameha I failed to unite the Hawaiian Islands?
What if Captain Cook died before reaching Hawaii?
What if Japan won the Battle of Midway?
What would this classroom look like?
Can ChatGPT help us imagine alternative histories?
Yes it can!
Here are diary entries from four generations of middle school students who experienced the restoration of Hawaiian sovereignty in the 1970s, starting with your grandparents' generation.
Do they seem credible? Why or why not?
Now let's debate... Who's ready to debate that the return of the Hawaiian Kingdom would be positive? (One brave hand) Who is ready to debate the other side? (Another brave hand).
Now a good debater can see both sides of the coin. Can you hold the perspective of the other side?
Activity: Make a comic, draw a scene of a school or hotel in the Kingdom of Hawaii (2024)... What's different? Why?
Exemplary Student Work
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