Teaching About Historical Thinking

1
Teaching About Historical Thinking

• Points to Ponder
• January 25,07

2
What is History?

• Page 2
• The past is everything that has happened and can
  never be recounted in totality.
• History is the telling of what happened and is by
  nature selective in the telling.
• The history we create depends on our present
  situation and purpose.
• History is never static it changes with emerging
  values, ideas and audiences.

3
What is Historical Thinking?

• Historical thinking is the act of interpreting
  and assessing both the evidence from the past
  that has been left behind and the narratives that
  historians and others have constructed from that
  evidence.

4
Information or Education

• Page 2/3
• History as an information subject means it is
  content to be passed from teacher to student and
  remembered by the student. An account is
  presented as the true story which students learn
  and accept.
• History as an educational subject means students
  need to think critically in order to understand
  the discipline. History is told in partial
  accounts constructed for specific purposes.
• As new social, economic and political issues
  arise we revise our perspectives of the past.

5
Challenges

• Making history problematic
• Assembling multiple resources
• Accepting alternative interpretations
• Using history to inform the present
• Teaching the tools
• Shifting the focus in assessment

6
Before Teaching Historical Thinking

• Page 6/7
• Distinguish between the history and the past.
• Distinguish between myth and history.
• View the study of history as inquiry.
• Write the history of an event.