Sea Monsters, Bones, and Textbooks: Medieval News Roundup

<h4><b>The Bones of Charlemagne</b></h4>Swiss researchers believe they have confirmed that the 94 bones and bone fragments kept at Aachen Cathedral belong to the first Holy Roman Emperor. Professor Frank Rühli of the University of Zurich explains, "Thanks to the results from 1988 up until today, we can say with great likelihood that we are dealing with the skeleton of Charlemagne."<br /><br />The remains of Charlemagne were taken out of his grave in the 12th century and put into various reliquaries. The researchers took various measurements of the remaining bones, and conclude that he was about six feet tall and thinly built.<br /><br /><b><a href="http://www.medievalhistories.com/bones-of-charlemagne/">You can read more details from Medieval Histories</a></b><br /><br /><div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;"><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEg0uY8qfRmTHnyempvP0Yn2UCfQPt_ul7JwFMmwjJzXQErAbuvZa42J2QrwbQu_sZj5L6GUaCm6A9MylhqpLlnwAjq5EebnAyHCDLbm-wU7ybnKU2qMrQ5FxDl7MrdnyXS4QhJmC0r1Tbw/s1600/medieval+sea+monsters.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" height="513" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEg0uY8qfRmTHnyempvP0Yn2UCfQPt_ul7JwFMmwjJzXQErAbuvZa42J2QrwbQu_sZj5L6GUaCm6A9MylhqpLlnwAjq5EebnAyHCDLbm-wU7ybnKU2qMrQ5FxDl7MrdnyXS4QhJmC0r1Tbw/s1600/medieval+sea+monsters.jpg" width="640" /></a></div><h4>Medieval Sea Monsters</h4>The Public Domain Review website has a posted an article about the drawings of the sea creatures made by the 16th century writer Olaus Magnus and his influence on sea lore. They note:<br /><br />The northern seas of the marine and terrestrial map teem with fantastic sea monsters either drawn or approved by Olaus. The most dramatic of those, off the busy coast of Norway, below the dreaded Maelström, is the great serpent, coiling around a ship’s mast and lunging with bared teeth at a sailor on the deck. <br /><br /><b><a href="http://publicdomainreview.org/2014/02/05/olaus-magnuss-sea-serpent/">You can see more images and the full article from the Public Domain Review</a></b><br /><br /><h4>What's wrong with History Textbooks</h4>David Cutler, writing in The Atlantic, is finding that high-school history textbooks in the U.S. are not very useful for teaching history. His reasons for this include:<br /><br /><ol><li>Textbooks present history as unchanging, but as time passes, our understanding and interpretation of the past constantly evolves. </li><li>Textbooks are one-sided, offering a top-down, often white-male-centric view of history. </li><li> Without a thesis or any semblance or argument, textbooks don’t accurately reflect how most scholars (at least good ones) write and present history. Teachers should assign readings that model effective historical writing. </li><li>Most importantly—and this merits repeating—textbooks are boring and intimidating. </li><li>Textbooks can serve as a crutch for teachers who don’t know history or the historian’s craft.</li></ol><br />While this article is aimed at teaching American history in High School, some of the observations might also be apt for the use of textbooks in college or first year university history courses too.<br /><br /><b><a href="http://www.theatlantic.com/education/archive/2014/01/down-with-textbooks/283507/">Click here to read this article from The Atlantic</a></b>

Sea Monsters, Bones, and Textbooks: Medieval News Roundup

The Bones of Charlemagne Swiss researchers believe they have confirmed that the 94 bones and bone fragments kept at Aachen Cathedral belong ...

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Newberry library project makes historical documents and images accessible for the classroom

<div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;"><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEizZSHIlRKRugCHR9YB_yfI_i89M6C0kPLF5EZzWNbUonRJGbqYN0ThIbO6BFeVmRHFs3pMHjE79YLekOmmNyUHLWOrNJPrLXR7WanQvcShlu-XlM5d7jsmOfX0gYE52pvOvFRVB0B_5Ig/s1600/crusades.jpeg" imageanchor="1" style="clear: right; float: right; margin-bottom: 1em; margin-left: 1em;"><img border="0" height="320" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEizZSHIlRKRugCHR9YB_yfI_i89M6C0kPLF5EZzWNbUonRJGbqYN0ThIbO6BFeVmRHFs3pMHjE79YLekOmmNyUHLWOrNJPrLXR7WanQvcShlu-XlM5d7jsmOfX0gYE52pvOvFRVB0B_5Ig/s320/crusades.jpeg" width="311" /></a></div>I squinted at the calligraphic handwriting. (I don't read much Latin or Middle French, and in this script, it's challenging just to make out the letters.) And I marveled at the content: God stands next to Adam in the Garden of Eden in all the regalia of a 15th-century monarch. The serpent assumes the head and torso of a woman when it tempts Eve to eat the apple. Queen Tomyris wears a placid expression as, with one hand, she points a bloody knife toward King Cyrus' decapitated corpse and, with the other, she holds his severed head over a vat filled with the blood of his soldiers. Medieval theologians are astonishing.<br /><br /> Then, I stepped back and asked, how might this manuscript help a teacher bring medieval Europe to life for his or her students? What does a manuscript provide that a textbook does not? What would be gained and what would be lost if we had this page digitally reproduced, that is, professionally photographed and displayed on a website? The texture, the smell would be gone. But those colors and the startling scenes would still be stunning on screen. Does the Internet's much-touted ability to overcome spatial barriers effectively dissolve the walls of a rare-books reading room?<br /><br /><b><a href="http://articles.chicagotribune.com/2012-09-21/site/ct-prj-0923-newberry-essay-20120921_1_digital-collections-historical-documents-book-stacks" target="_blank">Click here to read this article from the Chicago Tribune</a></b><br /><br /><b><a href="http://dcc.newberry.org/" target="_blank">Click here to visit the Digital Collections from the Classroom website</a></b>

Newberry library project makes historical documents and images accessible for the classroom

I squinted at the calligraphic handwriting. (I don't read much Latin or Middle French, and in this script, it's challenging just to ...

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New Vikings MLitt offered by University of the Highlands and Islands

<br />Runes, place-names and heavy metal; these are just some of the topics in a new University of the Highlands and Islands’ course. The postgraduate qualification in Viking Studies has been developed by the University’s Centre for Nordic Studies. Modules include Viking History, Runology (the study of Runes) and Vikings in Popular Culture which looks at the way Vikings are portrayed in films, comics, music and the media.<br /><br />Although the Centre for Nordic Studies is based on Orkney and Shetland, the new MLitt can be studied part or full-time from anywhere in the world. Tutors will use resources such as video-conferencing technology and a virtual learning environment to teach students wherever they are based. Enrolment opened this month, with the first intake of students starting in autumn.<br /><br /><b><a href="http://www.medievalists.net/2012/05/31/new-vikings-mlitt-offered-by-university-of-the-highlands-and-islands/" target="_blank">Click here to read this article from Medievalists.net</a></b><br />

New Vikings MLitt offered by University of the Highlands and Islands

Runes, place-names and heavy metal; these are just some of the topics in a new University of the Highlands and Islands’ course. The postgrad...

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How to build a better trebuchet

<br /><div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;"><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEjnJ5VCprZoyoXnE8e5OuClOeEBlALL5hJ668DwNnuQqEzCsFwnb_012w4NxQhiIWzr7sdbfxs67tiMpiC_yd9MglhCpyPdihVqFhfGj-aA7m-ATRiFGH4Aiz4uyB3dx2d2gOCs60INlr4/s1600/trebuchet.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="clear: right; float: right; margin-bottom: 1em; margin-left: 1em;"><img border="0" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEjnJ5VCprZoyoXnE8e5OuClOeEBlALL5hJ668DwNnuQqEzCsFwnb_012w4NxQhiIWzr7sdbfxs67tiMpiC_yd9MglhCpyPdihVqFhfGj-aA7m-ATRiFGH4Aiz4uyB3dx2d2gOCs60INlr4/s1600/trebuchet.jpg" /></a></div>The assignment was to build a trebuchet, a kind of medieval catapult, and bomb the cardboard castle with marshmallows.<br /><br />But before the teams of students were allowed to start tinkering with their materials – bits of jinx wood, string and glue – they had to brainstorm 50 ideas in 20 minutes about how to do it.<br /><br /><br />This problem-solving technique, which was developed at one of Canada’s most competitive business schools, is being introduced for the first time to students in kindergarten through Grade 8 at Ledbury Park Elementary and Middle School in North York. Five Toronto private schools, including Branksome Hall and Upper Canada College, began integrating the Rotman School of Management’s I-Think program into secondary and middle-school classes in recent years, but the Toronto District School Board is the first to integrate it at the elementary level.<br /><br />It made for better trebuchets in Brent Charpentier’s Grade 8 classroom. One had perfect accuracy, and another launched a marshmallow 7.65 metres.<br /><br /><b><a href="http://www.theglobeandmail.com/news/national/toronto/how-to-build-a-better-trebuchet/article2420922/" target="_blank">Click here to read this article from The Globe and Mail</a></b><br /><b><br /></b><br /><b><a href="http://www.medievalists.net/2011/08/23/lesson-plans-trebuchets/" target="_blank">Click here to read more about making trebuchets in the classroom</a></b><br /><br /><iframe src="http://rcm.amazon.com/e/cm?t=medievalistsn-20&o=1&p=8&l=as1&asins=B000LJN9MG&ref=tf_til&fc1=000000&IS2=1<1=_top&m=amazon&lc1=0000FF&bc1=000000&bg1=FFFFFF&f=ifr" style="width:120px;height:240px;" scrolling="no" marginwidth="0" marginheight="0" frameborder="0"></iframe>

How to build a better trebuchet

The assignment was to build a trebuchet, a kind of medieval catapult, and bomb the cardboard castle with marshmallows. But before the teams ...

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