qhta state conference 22 6 13

HISTORICAL THINKING

Not just the facts: Using the historical concepts to teach for deep understanding

http://about.me/DavidHilton


What is Historical Thinking?

“History draws on and contributes to other bodies of knowledge, but it is a discipline with its own methods and procedures… Historical thinking requires the mastery of the methods, procedures and tools that constitute the discipline of history.”

National Curriculum Board. (2008). National History Curriculum: Initial advice paper, pp.5-7.



Historical thinking is present in the Australian Curriculum: History as the concepts for historical understanding…



…and the transferable skills of historical inquiry.



…aka…

• ‘historical reasoning' (Kuhn, et al. 1994; Leinhardt, et al. 1994; Van Drie & Van Boxtel, 2008)

• historical thinking' (Levesque, 2008; Seixas, 1993; Spoehr & Spoehr, 1994; VanSledright & Frankes, 2000; Wineburg, 2001)

• ‘historical consciousness' (Goegebeur, et al. 1999; Jeismann, 1997; Rusen, 1993; Seixas, 2006; Von Borries 1997)

• 'historical literacy' (Lee 2004; Perfetti, et al., 1995; Roderigo, 1994)



[Historical thinking] assists with deep understanding and transformative

learning, as it enables the contextualization, organization and evaluation of

historical information with reference to substantiated and ordered

generalisations about historical conditions and human activity.

Howson, J. & Shemilt, D. (2011). Frameworks of knowledge. In Davies, I. (Ed.). (2011). Debates

in History Teaching. London: Routledge.



"Disciplines such as history have their own modes of inquiry, networks of concepts and principles, theoretical frameworks, symbolic systems, vocabularies, and modes of self-regulation… Not only do people need to acquire established knowledge within their respective disciplines (e.g. facts and accounts), they must also (and perhaps above all) learn to employ their methods, procedures, and ways of thinking and inquiring." Levesque, 2008, pp.7-8


Models of Historical Thinking

Sourcing

Contextualisation

Close reading

Corroborating

Wineburg (2000)

Establish significance

Use primary sources

Identify change & continuity

Analyse causation

Take perspectives

Understand moral dimensions

Seixas (2006)

Historical significance

Continuity & change

Progress & decline

Evidence

Historical empathy

Levesque (2008)

Asks historical questions

Uses sources

Contextualises

Argumentation

Uses substantive concepts

Uses meta-concepts

Van Drie et al

(2008)


Concepts for Historical Understanding

EVIDENCE

How to find, select and interpret historical evidence. This involves comprehending the nature of a primary source, locating its provenance and context, asking questions about it, distinguishing between the claims it makes and the assumptions and values that give it its present shape, and the ability to compare competing primary sources.

National Curriculum Board (2009).



POTENTIAL STUDENT TASKS: Evidence

Find and select primary sources appropriate for responding to historical questions.

Formulate questions about a primary source, whose answers would help to shed light on the historical context.

Analyze a primary source for the purposes, values and worldview of the author.

Compare points of view and usefulness of several primary sources.

Assess what can and can’t be answered by particular primary sources.

Use primary sources to construct an argument or narrative.

Seixas, P. (2006). Benchmarks of historical thinking: A framework for assessment in Canada 1-12. Retrieved from http://www.histori.ca/benchmarks/.



CHANGE AND CONTINUITY

Dealing with the complexity of the past. This involves the capacity to understand the sequence of events, to make connections by means of organising concepts including periodisation, and to evaluate change with an informed understanding of the principles of progress and decline.




CAUSE AND EFFECT

The interplay of human agency and conditions. This involves an appreciation of motivation and contestation, short-term events and embedded circumstances, the ways that the legacy of the past shapes intentions and the unintended consequences that arise from purposeful action.




POTENTIAL STUDENT TASKS: Cause & consequence

Examine an everyday event (e.g. a car accident) for its potential causes (e.g., the skill and response time of the driver, the state of health or drowsiness of the driver, distraction of the driver, violation of driving rules, the condition of the cars, the technology of the cars, the weather, the road signage, absence of traffic lights, the culture which glorifies speed, the size of the oncoming SUV, etc.)

Analyze a historical passage, and identify “types of causes,” (e.g., economic, political, cultural; conditions, individual actions) that it offers as causes.

Examine the relationship between an individual actor’s motivations and intentions, and the consequences of their actions.

Create a schematic chart of the causes of [e.g., the Japanese internment] and explain their arrangement.




SIGNIFICANCE

The principles behind the selection of what should be remembered, investigated, taught and learned. Establishing historical significance involves going beyond what is personally interesting or congenial: it requires judgments of contemporary import, consequence, durability and relevance.




POTENTIAL STUDENT TASKS: Significance

Explain what made [X] significant.

Choose the “most significant events” [e.g., in Canadian history; in the 20th century; for new immigrants to Canada], and explain your choices.

Identify and explain differences in significance over time or from group to group (e.g. Why is women’s history more significant now than 50 years ago? Why do Canadians consider Louis Riel significant, while Americans generally don’t?).




PERSPECTIVES

The cognitive act of understanding the different social, cultural and intellectual contexts that shaped people’s lives and actions in the past. This involves an understanding of the dangers of anachronism and an appreciation of diverse perspectives on the past.




POTENTIAL STUDENT TASKS: Perspectives

Write a letter, diary entry, poster (etc.) from the perspective of [x], based either on some sources provided by the teacher, or sources the students find.

Compare primary sources written (or drawn, painted, etc.) from two opposing or differing perspectives about a given event. Explain their differences.




EMPATHY

The capacity to enter into the world of the past with an informed imagination and ethical responsibility. The discipline of history constrains the practitioner from imposing personal preferences on the evidence but all meaningful historical accounts involve explicit or implicit moral judgement, and historians require an awareness of their own values and the impact of these values on their historical understanding.




POTENTIAL STUDENT TASKS: Empathy

Examine a historical issue involving conflict [e.g., attitudes for and against women getting the vote; why Canada admitted such a small number of refugee Jews 1933-39; the outlawing of the potlatch], identify the perspectives that were present at the time, and explain how these historical conflicts can educate us today.

Students identify a moral issue today [e.g. Canadians’ role as peacekeepers, private vs. public health care, protection of the environment], research aspects of its historical background, explain the implications of the history for today.




CONTESTABILITY

Dealing with alternative accounts of the past. History is a form of knowledge that shapes popular sentiment and frequently enters into public debate. This requires the ability to connect the past with the self and the present, and appreciation of the rules that apply to professional and public debate over history.




How is contestation enacted in our classrooms?

qhta state conference 22 6 13

Technology

national curriculum board

historical understanding http

historical understanding

public debate

historical thinking

primary source

primary sources

understanding