Learning and Teaching History:
Unravelling History through Visualisation
While
teaching history, I have often given students a group activity. To introduce
the activity, I first take them back in time and place them in the situation
they are about to explore.
“Imagine that you are working in the intelligence department of
Chhatrapati Shivaji Maharaj’s army. Bahirji Naik has assigned you the
responsibility of gathering information about the situation in Surat before the
expedition. The objective is clear: to reach Surat in the shortest possible
time, assess the situation there accurately, gather the information required
for the expedition, and return safely. The task concerns an important trading
centre located deep within the Mughal Empire. It is therefore essential to
gather as much accurate and varied information as possible before setting out.
Now, you are about to set out on a scouting operation as an
intelligence agent. What information will you need to gather? From whom might
you obtain it? How might you obtain it? How will you determine whether the
information you have gathered is accurate and reliable? If information obtained
from different people or sources differs, which information will you accept?
Finally, how will you present all this information to Maharaj so that he can
make the right decisions based on it?
You need to travel to Surat yourself to gather information.
However, before setting out, you must decide exactly what information to
collect, from whom to obtain it, and how to obtain it.”
When
the situation is presented in this way, students begin to think by putting
themselves in that role. Instead of simply trying to learn the textbook lesson
on the expedition to Surat, they begin to approach the situation as
intelligence agents preparing for an actual task. The question they ask
themselves is no longer merely “What do I have to learn from this lesson?”
but “What do I need to know to carry out this
task successfully?”
This
question becomes the starting point for group inquiry. Each group discusses the
situation and prepares its own list of questions. What goods are traded in
Surat? Who are the merchants? Who works for them? How is the city laid out?
What goods are available in its different markets? Is a permit required to
enter the city? Who issues it? Merchants from which communities and countries
come here? Where is jakat (customs duty) collected? Where are private
and government treasuries kept? What is the security system like? Which routes
lead to Surat and back? Which is the shortest route? What difficulties might
they encounter along the way?
In
this way, students themselves identify the information they need and frame the
questions that will guide their inquiry.
Next,
each group is asked, “From whom will you obtain
this information?” Students think of different people who might have
useful information, such as a merchant’s accountant, a clerk, a porter, a
boatman, a guide, a beggar, a darvesh (mendicant), a record-keeper at a
customs post, a local shopkeeper, or a traveller. Through this exercise, they
begin to realise that different people may
possess different kinds of information.
The
next question is, “How will you obtain this
information?” Students suggest
various methods: engaging in conversation, chatting with people, observing
their surroundings, moving through the marketplace, talking to travellers,
conducting reconnaissance, working at a particular place to understand the
surroundings, or conducting business as a merchant.
At
this stage, students become more active in the process. They begin to take on
the roles of information seekers, questioners,
and selectors of sources.
Next,
each group is asked to review its list and consider two questions: “Which of this information do we need in numerical form?
Which information do we need in descriptive form?” Through this exercise, students begin to
understand the difference between quantitative and
qualitative information through their own thinking and experience.
For
example, they realise that numerical information is needed to determine the
number of merchants, the quantity of goods, or the distance and time required
for travel. On the other hand, qualitative information may be needed to
understand the nature of the marketplace, merchants’ experiences, the
atmosphere of the city, its security arrangements, or the forms of
entertainment available.
Having
identified what information they need and how it can be obtained, students now
move on to experiencing the process through
role-play. Some become merchants, accountants, porters,
record-keepers at customs posts, travellers, or local residents, while others
take on the role of intelligence agents gathering information. The students
playing intelligence agents must ask questions, record the information they
obtain, compare information gathered from different sources, and consider which
information appears more reliable.
As
they enact these roles, students realise that, during a covert operation,
information cannot always be obtained by asking direct questions. It may have
to be gathered indirectly through casual conversation and carefully framed
questions, without arousing suspicion. They begin to appreciate how difficult
and risky such work can be.
Through this experience, students move beyond merely identifying
information to understanding the effort, judgement, and skill involved in
gathering it. The textbook account of The reparations
from Surat may simply state that Shivaji Maharaj set out from one place,
reached Surat, took the treasure, and returned. Through the activity, however,
students begin to experience the larger drama hidden behind these brief
statements. The event comes alive for them, touching their own world of
experience. The complexities of the historical event begin to touch their own
world of experience.
Through
such activities, students do not merely learn about a historical event.
They place themselves in an imagined situation from the past: working as
intelligence agents for Chhatrapati Shivaji Maharaj before the expedition to
Surat. They think through the questions they would need to ask, the information
they would need to gather, and the decisions they would need to make. In doing
so, they begin to approach the past as researchers rather than as readers of a
textbook.
This
is a historical thought experiment—an
exercise in using imagination and reasoning to explore how people might have
gathered information and acted in a particular historical situation. Students
move through a concise sequence of inquiry:
framing questions → gathering and recording information → comparing sources and
checking reliability → drawing conclusions → presenting findings to support
decisions.
The
activity naturally leads to further questions: “How
will we determine which information is true and reliable?” If
different sources provide different accounts, which will we accept? How will we
verify the information? Finally, how will we present it to Maharaj so that it
helps him plan the expedition and make decisions during its course?
When
teaching history, we often find that students can
recall numbers and facts from a textbook but struggle to understand what they
actually represent. They may remember that a treaty involved the
surrender of a certain number of forts, that a large amount was paid as
tribute, or that an army travelled a considerable distance over several days.
But can they imagine the extent of the territory surrendered, the magnitude of
the amount paid, the distance travelled, or the scale of the effort involved? Remembering a number is not the same as understanding
what it represents.
While
teaching history, we often present students with information about the clauses
of treaties, the terms of agreements, the transfer of territories, tribute, or
revenue. However, simply hearing this information or reading it in a textbook
does not necessarily help students grasp its numerical values and scale.
They need to form a mental picture of what these numbers actually represent.
Merely
stating the numbers is not enough. Their context and scale need to be
connected to students’ own experience. The extent of a territory can be
compared with a familiar region; a travel distance can be shown on a map; the
amount of revenue or tribute can be related to economic transactions of that
period and the present day; and the number of soldiers can be compared with the
size of a group familiar to students. In these and many other ways, students
can build a mental picture of a historical event.
Such
visualisation is not limited to numbers. Historical information can be
represented in numerical, descriptive, pictorial, and cartographic forms.
Statistics can be presented in tables or graphs. The conditions of a particular
historical period can be understood through descriptions and represented
through pictures, diagrams, and sketches. Events that unfolded in sequence can
be plotted on maps, and the routes they followed can be traced. Through these
activities, students can develop a clearer understanding of historical events.
For
example, while studying the Treaty of Purandar (1665), students can mark on a
map the forts that Chhatrapati Shivaji Maharaj had to surrender under the
treaty, along with the territories associated with them. They can examine the
geographical extent of these territories and compare them with the territories
associated with the forts that remained with him.
Similarly,
while studying the Dandi March (1930), students can trace the approximately
390-kilometre journey from Sabarmati Ashram to Dandi on a map. They can then
create a visual representation of the distance covered each day and the number
of satyagrahis who participated in the march.
Thus,
the ability to visualise historical information
through different forms of representation, while understanding its nature,
scale, extent, and interrelationships, is an important competency in learning
history. Rather than merely
memorising historical information, students need to understand its context
and form a clear mental picture of what it represents. This is an
important part of learning history.
An
important skill that emerges through this process of learning history is information handling—finding information,
identifying its sources, verifying it, classifying it, analysing it, and using
it in the appropriate context. While learning history, we do not merely acquire
information about people and events of the past. We also learn how to interpret
information obtained from different sources, assess its reliability, and draw
conclusions on the basis of the available evidence.
For
example, while studying the Dandi March, students may encounter information
about its route, distance, duration, and participants in a textbook, on a map,
or in photographs and accounts of the march. They can compare these sources,
check whether the information is consistent, trace the route on a map, and
organise relevant details in a table or timeline. Through this process, they
begin to understand not only what happened, but also how historical information
can be examined and used to understand an event.
While
learning history, students do not merely acquire information about people and
events of the past. They also learn to interpret information from different
sources, assess its reliability, and draw conclusions on the basis of available
evidence.
In
today’s information age, this ability has become even more important for the
study of history. Information may come from books, maps, letters, inscriptions,
pictures, oral accounts, newspapers, museum objects, or digital media. Each
source has its own characteristics and limitations. Therefore, while teaching
history, instead of merely providing students with information, it is essential
to let them experience the process of handling
information, examining it critically, and using it to build a mental picture of
the past.
We
cannot travel back through time in a time machine and experience historical
events directly. However, the power of
imagination can help us
understand their scale, nature, and context. Using available historical
information, numbers, maps, pictures, and different sources, we can help
students build a vivid mental picture of the past.
In
this way, beginning with a single historical event, students gradually
experience the different stages of historical inquiry:
identifying sources, exploring methods of gathering information,
distinguishing between quantitative and qualitative information, assessing
reliability, verifying evidence, analysing information, and presenting
findings. Through such group activities, students experience why
learning history involves more than simply acquiring information; it also
requires engaging with information thoughtfully and critically.
Through
such learning experiences, history becomes more than information read from a
textbook; it becomes a subject to be explored and understood. It is here that the competency of information handling
begins to develop through students’ own experience of learning history.
In
the present day, the use of data and data science in learning history
can help students understand historical trends, changes, and interrelationships
more clearly. Three important applications are understanding historical
trends, visualising historical events, and quantitatively studying
socio-cultural changes.
Data
science makes it possible to interpret information from different historical
sources in greater depth and detail. History should therefore not be viewed
merely as a chronological account of events, but also as an opportunity to
understand different aspects of human life. Data can help us study
human life in its spatial, temporal, resource-related, and social contexts.
By digitising, classifying, and analysing historical documents, data
science can help uncover new evidence and interpretations for writing history.
Analysing information about archaeological sites, the distribution of
artefacts, and records of structures can help us understand ancient social
life, trade, and urban planning. Similarly, analysing census records, economic
statistics, and other numerical data can help trace social and economic changes
in modern India. In this way, data science not only makes historical writing more
evidence-based, but also gives students new tools to analyse historical
information and interpret its meaning.
For
example, Geographic Information Systems (GIS) can be used to map the expansion
of the Maratha Empire and study the relationships among forts, mountain ranges,
mountain passes, and important locations. Students can plot the forts on a map
and examine their distribution in relation to the surrounding physical
landscape. They can identify clusters of forts, observe their proximity to
mountain passes and routes, and compare locations across different regions.
They then can discuss questions such as: Why might forts have been located in
these places? How could the surrounding landscape have influenced movement,
communication, and control over territory? What further information would they
need before drawing conclusions? This can help students understand how
geographical conditions influenced administration and power relations.
Similarly,
by comparing census records and other statistics from different periods,
students can study long-term changes in population, migration, urbanisation,
and epidemics.
Data
can also be used to study the distribution of resources and power relations in
history. For example, mapping data on land revenue, agricultural production, or
land ownership can make the economic conditions and patterns of social
inequality across different regions more visible. In this way, studying the
interrelationships among space, time, resources, and social power can lead to
a more comprehensive understanding of complex historical processes.
Such
activities make it clear that the study of history is not limited to the
history textbook; it is interdisciplinary in nature. Mathematics and statistics
help students understand numerical data; geography and cartography help them
explore the spatial extent of events and the relationships between places;
while computer science and data science enable them to analyse and visualise
large volumes of information. Drawing on these different disciplines helps
students make better sense of historical information. History teaching can
therefore provide students with opportunities to integrate knowledge from
different subjects and understand and interpret
history on the basis of evidence.
The
ability to understand the scope, nature, and interrelationships of historical
information and to visualise it through different forms of representation is
thus an important competency in learning history. A variety of classroom
activities can be designed to develop this ability. These may include preparing
tables and graphs from historical data, plotting historical events on maps,
comparing information from different sources, converting information into
visual representations, and investigating historical changes using digital
data. For example, students can prepare graphs showing changes in India's
population using census data, mark the major centres of the Revolt of 1857 on a
map, compare different sources relating to the Jallianwala Bagh massacre, visually
represent the route and duration of the Dandi March, or study the expansion of
the Maratha Empire using digital maps.
Through
such activities, students develop the ability to handle
and interpret historical information. This involves identifying
sources, gathering and verifying information, analysing and comparing evidence,
recognising patterns and relationships, and presenting interpretations
supported by evidence. Moving beyond memorising historical facts, students learn
to investigate how events unfolded, understand their context, and draw
conclusions from the available evidence.
Through
such activities, students become more than collectors
of information. They become
historical investigators who can visualize, analyse information,
interpret its meaning, and present their findings. Developing the ability
to handle information while teaching and learning history means not only
helping students understand the past, but also cultivating the habit of
thinking on the basis of evidence.
Prashant Divekar
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