Conference: Teaching the history of knowledge: purposes, problems, practices

This one-day conference, organized by the VU Stevin Centre in celebration of its fifth anniversary, focuses on the rationales of teaching the history of knowledge and on finding appealing ways of doing so. How do we convey the important and relevance of our courses? And what exactly is our message? What, for instance, is the added value for medical students of a course in the history of medicine? Which competences should we aim to teach in our courses? And how can we innovate and optimize our teaching? How do we cater for the needs of several different target groups? What do museums have to offer to our students? How can we make students experience the so-called “historical sensation”?

The morning program consists of a round table discussion of the rationales behind our teaching. The afternoon presents some “best practices” in and innovative ways of teaching the history of knowledge and explores.  

Program

Morning session: why teach the history of knowledge?
9:30 – 10:00        Coffee/tea
10:00 – 10:10      Opening
10:10 – 11:00      Brief introductions (10 min) by the panel members:
Rens Bod (UvA, history of the humanities), Kees Cappon (UvA, history of law), Frank Huisman (Maastricht & Utrecht, history of medicine), Cyrus Mody (Maastricht, history of technology), Bert Theunissen (Utrecht, history of science)
11:00 – 12:00     Round table discussion
12:00 – 13:00     Lunch

Afternoon session: how to teach the history of knowledge
13:00 – 14:00      Ilja Nieuwland, Huygens ING & VU
   Workshop: Teaching students digital skills – defining the bare minimum

14:00 – 14:20      Ad Maas, Museum Boerhaave
   Astrolabes and audiences: Teachings students in Rijksmuseum Boerhaave.
14:20 – 14:40      Trienke van der Spek, Teylers Museum
  Teylers Museum: The Lorentz Lab, the Lorentz formula and problem of poetic license
14:40 – 15:00      Thijs Hagendijk, Utrecht
Learning from sixteenth-century recipes: The value of pedagogical reconstructions for chemistry education
15:00 – 15:30      Coffee/tea
15:30 – 15:50     Ruben Verwaal, Erasmus University Rotterdam
                               What is reliable knowledge? Memory
15:50 – 16:10     Danny Beckers, VU
Teaching the history of computing: Differentiation within the class room through varied learning activities
16:10 – 16:30      Timo Bolt, Erasmus University Rotterdam
                               ‘Journal clubs’: Primary literature & medical students
16:30 – 16:50     Marije Martijn, Vrije Universiteit Amsterdam
                               Title tba
16:50 – 17:00      Concluding remarks

17:00 – 18:00    Drinks