Students develop better appreciation for history after canoe building

First form history students of the Thomas Saunders Secondary School say they now have a better appreciation for the subject, after completing a hands-on project involving canoe building.{{more}}

The students had one week, from May 6 to 10, to construct the different types of canoes that were used by the Caribs they read about in class.

The project was initiated by the school’s history teacher, Farrah Bailey.

Bailey told SEARCLIGHT on Tuesday that the lesson helped to reinforce the knowledge of canoe building in the minds of the students.

She also said the exercise was helpful in the event that they needed to show their creativity and explain the importance of the transportation their ancestors used.

“I think it was a great experience to see the children so excited about their learning,” she added.

However, this excitement according to Bailey, was generated based on the method used to transmit the information.

Bailey credited Osborne Bowens, dean of the Division of Technical Education of the St Vincent and the Grenadines Community College for teaching her various techniques to make history exciting and to get students more involved in learning with hands-on activities.

The idea was also strongly supported by the school’s deputy principal Carmie Francis and other teachers who thought that the techniques should be used in other subject areas.

Garth Bullock, one of the students involved, described the project as fascinating.

“We had to get the materials, which included tree trunks that had to be carved out and shaped, just as we saw in the history book.

“It was a real good experience, as it was my first time building a canoe,” the student said.

Bullock, who admitted that history was not one of his favourite subjects, said the initiative motivated him to read more and put into practice some of the things he learnt about his ancestors.

“History is a lot of reading, but when you can find time to be creative and make some of the things they taught us that our ancestors used, I think it helps to add more excitement to the subject,” he said. (AA)