An innovative project at John Diefenbaker Senior School (JDSS) in Hanover is bringing to life the stories of local World War I soldiers. By utilizing personnel files, various secondary sources, and ArcGIS StoryMaps, the project is seamlessly blending historical thinking and technology to illuminate local history for Grade 10 students.
Every year, Jennifer Morris, a history teacher at the school, guides her students on a journey to trace the life of a local soldier from the West Grey area who enlisted during WWI. This past spring, the project took a modern twist with the integration of GIS mapping technology, transforming the learning experience into something even more dynamic and impactful.
The project was designed with the three primary goals of introducing historical thinking, bringing history to life, and encouraging inquiry and critical thinking skills.
A collaboration with Hillary Weppler, Intermediate Secondary Technology Coach at Bluewater District School Board, allowed for the incorporation of technology into the project through the use of ArcGIS StoryMaps, a tool that combines geospatial data with audio, photos, videos, and text to visualize sequential events or themes. This platform allowed students to present their research in a dynamic and interactive format, creating detailed maps tracing the journeys and experiences of their assigned soldiers. It was a perfect opportunity for students to visualize historical data and present their research through an interactive map depicting the war journey of a local soldier.
Explore the projects below to witness the power of combining historical research with technology, and the efforts of JDSS students to transform historical data into compelling, interactive narratives.
Norman Robert Dickson
Clarence Ross
Ernest Victor Trump
Hector Stewart Mcgillivray
William Henry Turner
Lewis Newell
John McGill Derby