In part A City Goes to War is about memorialization. The site increases access to primary source material so that the memories of the War are not forgotten, but it is more than just creating an online archive to aid our remembrance. A City Goes to War looks more closely at communities to reveal a previously neglected area of research: the lived experiences of Canadians during the First World War.

The teaching package builds on this philosophy by asking students to construct an historical Facebook profile for one individual who lived in Victoria during the War. An online tool, Fakebook, has already been created for just such an assignment. Fakebook was built for history and social studies educators to allow their students to create profiles for historical people. We use the Fakebook/Facebook interface as a lure to entice students into exploring the nuances and complexities of historical scholarship. See the full assignment here.

In completing this assignment students will have to expand their global, national and local historical knowledge of the First World War. They will be introduced to archival research and the sources commonly used in historical projects. They will hone their research skills by exploring the rich variety of sources in our archive, such as:

• Records of Service Database
• Textual Records
• Photographs
• Newspapers
• Diaries
• Oral History Recordings

Once finished, students will have a Facebook profile for an historical person complete with ‘status updates’, personalized ‘posts’ and interesting visual material.

We lure the students in with the popularity of social media, but in the process students become actively involved in the raw material of history: primary documents. The purpose of this teaching package is to engage students, make them excited about historical research and historical thinking. This assignment will deepen their understanding of the War and its effects on their community as well as building their skills in researching and historical thinking. Learn more about the BC curriculum connections and pedagogy behind the assignment.