Social Studies 

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Below is a series of questions that will help guide you when you reflect on your research writing in the social studies. You should not attempt to answer all of the following questions, but to use them to frame how you reflect. 
 

• ​Which of the following is the most persuasive description of history: an account of great individuals, an account of a decline from the greatness of the past, or an account of progress towards the future, or a cycle of recurring events? What other descriptions might be appropriate? 

• What are the implications of Henry Miller's claim that “The history of the world is the history of a privileged few”?  

• What might George Orwell have meant when he wrote that “Who controls the past controls the future. Who controls the present controls the past”?

• In what ways has technology affected the study of history? How have the methods of gaining evidence and the means of communicating historical interpretation, for example, been affected by technological development? Can we now observe the past more directly? 

• Which is the more important attribute of the historian, the ability to analyze evidence scientifically (and so risk reducing it to its dry fundamentals), or the ability to expand it with creative imagination (and bring the past to life)?

• What is the role of the historian? Does the historian record history, or create it? Can the historian be free of bias in the selection and interpretation of material? Could it be reasonably argued that the personal understanding of historians, despite their possible bias, is necessary or even desirable in the interpretation and recording of history? Is the power of persuasion a characteristic of a good historian? 

• What might be the influence on historical interpretation of the context within which historians write? 

• To what extent might the position of historians within their own epoch and culture undermine the value of the interpretation, and to what extent might it increase its value in making it relevant to a contemporary audience?

• What is a historical explanation? How are causal connections between events established in history? According to what criteria can such explanations be critically evaluated? 

• What knowledge of history might be gained by focusing attention on each of the following: the historian, the historical documents and written history, the readership, and the social, cultural and historical context?

• About whom is history written? Are the lives of some groups of people more historically significant than the lives of others? Why do selected past events appear in books as historically important while others are ignored? To what extent is history dependent on who kept or preserved a written record? To what extent is history about those who held power, and to what extent is it about ordinary people

Source: http://lakewood-web.jeffco.k12.co.us/lakewood/html/staff/jwebb/class2/documents/Historyquestions.doc.

History and Language:

• Does the way (the language) that certain historical events are presented in history books influence the way that the reader understands these events?

• What role does loaded language play when talking about historical events?

• What role do connotation and denotation play when talking about historical events?

• How can language introduce bias into historical accounts?

• How does language help or hinder the interpretation of historical facts?

History and Logics/Reason:

• What role does logics/reason play when organizing historic events into cause-and-effect relationships?

• (How) can a logical approach in dealing with historic events be a problem?

• (How) can a logical approach in dealing with historic events be an advantage?

• Can every historic event be explained using logics and reason?

• Is the use of logics in history a guarantee for objectivity or not? To what extent does reason contribute to objectivity in history?

History and Emotions:

• To what extent are emotions necessary in understanding historic events?

• To what extent are emotions problematic when talking about historic events?

• Can different emotions about a certain historic event lead to different conclusions about the event?

History and Sense Perception:

• What role does personal observation (an eye witness account) of a historical event play?

• What advantages and problems do eye witness accounts offer?

• How is the lack of sense perception of historic events and advantage or a problem for understanding these events?

• How do historic films and documentaries help or hinder the understanding of historic events?

Source: Linking Questions: History And Ways Of Knowing | Toktalk.Net". Toktalk.Net. Last modified 2017. Accessed February 25, 2017. http://www.toktalk.net/2009/12/20/linking-questions-history-and-ways-of-knowing/ 
 

• Why study history?

       a. We study history in order to better understand how the relationship of cause and effect effects our lives. We use

            history to find patterns in what we did and how it changed our present environment.

• Is knowledge of the past ever certain?

       a. Knowledge of the past is never certain. The very best we can hope for is a certainty of 99.9%, seeing as every piece

            of evidence has some degree of doubt associated with it. 

• Does the study of history widen our knowledge of human nature?

       a. By studying history, we are able to see how and potentially why human beings act and react the way they do. So

           many variables are involved when trying to understand human behavior and an understanding of history is vastly

           important.

• Can history help in understanding the present or predicting the future?

       a. History can be useful in predicting the future because if we understand patterns that formed in the past, we may              be able to recognize patterns as they form. 

• To what extent does emotion play a role in an historian’s analysis? Is (historical) objectivity possible?

       a. Emotions play a large role in how a historical event is portrayed. Emotions cloud judgement and skew the 

            information both accepted and conveyed by the historian. 

• Why do accounts of the same historical event differ? Whose history do we study?

        a. Historical events differ because of the differences in perception the historians have. Each will view the same   

             event through slightly different means and thus interpret the event in different ways. 

• What determines how historians select evidence and describe/interpret or analyse events?

        a. A historian selects evidence based upon preconceived notions that fit his or her viewpoints. Things that don't                    fall into the viewpoints will either be ignored or have little to no emphasis placed on them.

• What problems are posed for the study of history by changes in language and culture over time?

        a. Changes in language pose a big problem because when words are translated, they may lose their connotative 

            meaning. This present problem when ideas are trying to be conveyed either from one historian to another, or

            when one piece of evidence needs to be translated.

• Can history be considered in any sense “scientific”?

        a. Because history does not utilize the scientific method, it can not be called a science, but history uses other 

            sciences such as anthropology and geology in order to gather evidence.

Source: IB History SL. "History Tok Questions". Dariushistorysl2.Blogspot.Com.Au. Last modified 2017. Accessed February 25, 2017. http://dariushistorysl2.blogspot.com.au/2010/06/history-tok-questions.html.


History

• Are historical claims restricted by the language they use?

• Is all history biased?

• How important is the role of statistics in history?

• Does history show we have made ethical progress?

• To what extent does emotion play a role in historical interpretation?

• Is historical objectively possible?

• To what extent does historical knowledge change over time?

• How is knowledge about the past different from other kinds of knowledge?

• How does the language used to describe the past change how history is understood?

Human science

• Is it true to say that the human sciences are less certain than the natural sciences?

• What determines whether a theory in the human sciences is convincing?

• How reliable are statistics in economics and business decisions?

• To what extent should business decisions be based on ethical considerations?

• Which is more important in advertising: reason, emotion, language or perception?

• How true are economic models?

• The law of supply and demand relies on the assumption of 'ceteris paribus'. Top what extent does this exist in real life?

• Can one model ever represent an entire economy accurately?

• How reliable are geographic models?

• What are the limits of statistics in the human sciences?

Arts

• Do all art forms (literature, painting, music, sculpture, architecture, dance etc) use a language?

• How important is it that the artist intention be perceived or understood by the audience?

• Should art be beautiful?

• Must true art be recognised by experts?

• Can art give us knowledge?

• To what extent is creativity linked to reason?

• Can art help us to understand individuals and societies?

• Should the arts have an ethical function?

• If an author justifies their work, can we trust the knowledge?

• How true is it to say, 'what constitutes art is relative to the individual time and place'?

• Does perception affect creativity?

• How does prior learning or experience influence our interpretation of art?

Language

• Does all knowledge depend on language?

• Do we need language in order to think?

• Does language shape our thoughts?

• Does religious experience come from a place beyond language?

• Should offensive language be censored?

• Can we really know a culture through it's languages?

Ethics

• How important is it to be consistent in our moral reasoning?

• Can ethical truths be as certain as mathematical truths?

• Can our values change our perception of things?

• To what extent does religion shape moral belief?

• Is is true to say, ethical beliefs are more based on emotion than reason?

• Can ethical knowledge be constructed without sensory perception?

• Is moral belief constant?

• Does ethical knowledge differ from other kinds of knowledge?

• Does possession of knowledge carry an ethical responsibility?

Emotion

• How true is it to say reason and sense perception are never free of emotion?

• To what extent does the emotion of empathy build moral codes?

• Does our language shape our emotions?

• When, if ever, can emotion be rational?

• To what extent does emotion hinder knowledge construction?

• Does everyone experience the same satisfaction?

• Is it possible to experience an emotion that cannot be expressed in words?

• Is there any knowledge that can be attained solely through emotion?

• Are faith and religion purely emotional, or is it possible to provide rational justifications for them?

Perception

• Do humans have more than 5 senses?

• To what extent is perception more trustworthy than reason?

• What role does eyewitness testimony play in history?

• What role do our senses play in the construction of reality?

• What is the role of culture and language in the perceptual process?

• What role does perception play in different areas of knowledge?

Reason

• Is reason at the core of knowledge construction in different areas of knowledge?

• Is reason objective and universal?

• Can reason and imagination work together?

• Does all knowledge require some kind of rational basis?

• How can beliefs affect our ability to reason?

Source: "Knowledge Questions In International Baccalaureate Subjects". Ibmastery. Last modified 2017. Accessed February 25, 2017. https://ibmastery.mykajabi.com/blog/knowledge-questions-in-international-baccalaureate-subjects 

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