7th Graders and Their Pasts: A New Brunswick Case Study

This research presents findings from a case study that involved an entire class of Anglophone 7th grade students in New Brunswick. It expands upon the scholarly work of Canadians and Their Pasts as well as current research surrounding historical consciousness in Canada. The data provides a rare micro glimpse into the ways in which Anglophone youth in New Brunswick are currently engaging with the past. It also reveals some of the collective memory narratives students employ when remembering New Brunswick’s (as well as Canada’s) past. The findings present several points for consideration by both educators and public historians in this province.Cette recherche présente les résultats d’une étude de cas à laquelle a participé une classe entière d’élèves anglophones de la 7e année du Nouveau-Brunswick. Elle se fonde sur les travaux universitaires de Canadians and Their Pasts ainsi que sur la recherche actuelle portant sur la conscience historique au Canada. Les données donnent un petit aperçu rare sur les façons dont les jeunes anglophones du Nouveau-Brunswick s’intéressent actuellement à l’histoire. De plus, la recherche révèle certains récits de la mémoire collective qu’évoquent les élèves lorsqu’ils se souviennent de l’histoire du Nouveau- Brunswick (ainsi que celle du Canada). Les résultats montrent plusieurs points à considérer par les enseignants et les historiens publics de la province

"Providential Openings": The Women Weavers of Nineteenth-Century Queens County, New Brunswick

This case study demonstrates how women living in a rural region of New Brunswick depended upon handweaving as a means of supporting or supplementing the household income. The relationship of handwoven textiles to the lives of residents was deeply rooted in the economies of community and household. Upon combined analysis of archival material, census returns, and material evidence, it becomes clear that many more women were weaving for income than previous information would suggest; and contrary to any popular belief, high quality production was not exclusively a male preserve. Working within the context of household, the women weavers bartered their skills for goods or services, floating in and out of the community network as need required. Résumé La présente étude de cas décrit comment les femmes qui habitaient une région rurale du Nouveau-Brunswick dépendaient du tissage à bras comme moyen de rehausser le revenu du ménage. Le rôle des produits textiles tissés à la main dans la vie des habitants était lié profondément à la vie économique de la communauté et du ménage. Une analyse conjuguée des archives, des résultats de recensement et de la culture matérielle indique clairement que le nombre de femmes qui s'adonnaient au tissage comme source de revenu était nettement supérieur à ce que l'on a cru jusqu'à présent. Contrairement à l'opinion populaire, la production de haute qualité n 'était pas le domaine exclusif des hommes. À l'intérieur du contexte domestique, les tisseuses échangeaient leurs talents contre des biens et des services, faisant partie ou non du réseau communautaire selon les besoins

“I like to take everything and put it in my own words”: Historical Consciousness, Historical Thinking, and Learning with Community History Museums

This article presents ndings from a recent case study involving seventh-grade students (n = 25) and a group of community history museum adult volunteers (n = 5). Over 14 weeks, participants engaged in a series of scaffolding activities designed around a Material History Framework for Historical Thinking. The purpose of the inquiry was to explore pragmatic applications for historical thinking within a community history museum. Data collection included pre- and post-Canadians and Their Pasts surveys, written assignments, photovoice photography, in-depth interviews, and a nal class- room museum project. Conclusions are discussed within the context of Rüsen’s (1987, 1993, 2004) typology of historical consciousness. This article presents a “call to action” for community history museums in Canada. It points to ways in which students can be empowered to become active members of a museum’s community of inquiry

Finishing the euchromatic sequence of the human genome

The sequence of the human genome encodes the genetic instructions for human physiology, as well as rich information about human evolution. In 2001, the International Human Genome Sequencing Consortium reported a draft sequence of the euchromatic portion of the human genome. Since then, the international collaboration has worked to convert this draft into a genome sequence with high accuracy and nearly complete coverage. Here, we report the result of this finishing process. The current genome sequence (Build 35) contains 2.85 billion nucleotides interrupted by only 341 gaps. It covers ∼99% of the euchromatic genome and is accurate to an error rate of ∼1 event per 100,000 bases. Many of the remaining euchromatic gaps are associated with segmental duplications and will require focused work with new methods. The near-complete sequence, the first for a vertebrate, greatly improves the precision of biological analyses of the human genome including studies of gene number, birth and death. Notably, the human enome seems to encode only 20,000-25,000 protein-coding genes. The genome sequence reported here should serve as a firm foundation for biomedical research in the decades ahead