What is Historical Thinking
Summary
TLDRThe video script delves into the concept of historical thinking, emphasizing its importance in understanding the past. It outlines five key aspects: using multiple sources for a comprehensive view, analyzing primary sources for their context and reliability, questioning the origin and purpose of sources (sourcing), understanding the historical context to avoid misinterpretation, and basing historical narratives on evidence. This approach is not only beneficial for a more accurate historical understanding but is also integral to fostering critical thinking and responsible citizenship.
Takeaways
- 📚 Historical thinking involves the reading, analysis, and writing necessary to understand and tell stories about the past.
- 🔍 It's not just about what we know about the past, but also how we know it, given the challenges of retrieving historical events.
- 📚 Multiple sources are essential for constructing a more accurate picture of past events, as no single account can capture the complexity of history.
- 📝 Primary sources are original documents and objects created at the time of the event and are crucial for reconstructing the past.
- 🤔 Historical thinking includes learning to read, question, contextualize, and analyze primary sources, as they can present different narratives about the same event.
- 👀 The importance of questioning eyewitness accounts and considering the interests and context in which they were recorded.
- 📚 State standards often include the requirement for students to use multiple sources and analyze them for purpose, perspective, and credibility.
- 📅 The concept of 'sourcing' involves identifying the origin of a source, the author's intent, the timing of its creation, and its intended audience.
- 🌐 Context is central to historical reasoning, requiring historians to understand the ideologies, politics, and social conditions of the time.
- 📈 Historical context involves locating events and sources in time and space, and making connections to understand the broader picture.
- 📖 Writing history requires telling stories supported by evidence; truth claims in history must be substantiated to distinguish good history from fiction.
Q & A
What is the definition of historical thinking as described in the script?
-Historical thinking is the process of reading, analysis, and writing necessary to tell historical stories. It's not just about what we know about the past, but how we know it, and it involves constructing a more accurate picture of what happened and what it meant.
Why is it important to use multiple sources when studying history?
-Using multiple sources is crucial for getting as accurate a picture as possible of past events. No single account written from one perspective can capture the complexity of the past, so students must work with multiple accounts and learn to analyze and synthesize them.
What are primary sources and why are they important in historical thinking?
-Primary sources are original documents and objects created at the time under study. They are vital to reconstructing the past and help students learn how to read, question, contextualize, and analyze these sources to understand different stories about the same event.
How should primary sources be approached when studying a historical event?
-Primary sources need to be questioned and read closely. Students should consider what the eyewitnesses had to lose or gain with their accounts, what interests were at stake, how soon after the event and for what audience each account was recorded, and look for points of agreement and disagreement.
What does the script suggest about the relationship between teaching historical thinking and state standards?
-Teaching historical thinking is not only beneficial but also aligned with many state standards. At least 38 states specify this learning outcome, emphasizing the use of multiple sources and learning to analyze those sources for purpose, perspective, credibility, and validity.
What is the concept of sourcing in historical thinking?
-Sourcing is about identifying and asking questions about the origin of the source, the author's purposes and perspective, when the source was created and for whom, and about its trustworthiness. It helps students to better understand historical events and their causes.
Why is context important in historical reasoning?
-Context is central to historical reasoning because it helps to locate events and sources in time and space, and to ask questions that provide a fuller understanding. It involves making connections and considering factors such as ideologies, political tensions, and the broader world in which historical figures lived.
What role do sources play in writing history?
-Sources provide evidence for claims made about the past. When writing history, stories must be supported by evidence to distinguish plausible claims from falsehoods and to ensure that the account is truthful and not mere fiction.
How does historical thinking help students become better readers, thinkers, and citizens?
-Historical thinking helps students to critically analyze information, understand different perspectives, and make informed judgments. It is not separate from the content students learn but serves as a vehicle to help them master it, fostering critical thinking and responsible citizenship.
What are some additional elements of historical thinking mentioned in the script?
-Additional elements of historical thinking mentioned in the script include concepts like causation, significance, change over time, and reading strategies like corroboration.
Where can teachers find teaching resources to help bring historical thinking into their classrooms?
-Teachers can explore the Clearinghouse to find teaching resources that will help them incorporate historical thinking into their classrooms.
Outlines
📚 Understanding Historical Thinking
The first paragraph introduces the concept of historical thinking, emphasizing its importance in interpreting the past. It explains that historical thinking involves reading, analyzing, and writing to construct a more accurate picture of historical events. The paragraph highlights the necessity of using multiple sources to capture the complexity of the past, as no single account can fully represent it. Primary sources are identified as essential for reconstructing history, and the importance of questioning and analyzing these sources is discussed. The paragraph also addresses potential concerns about integrating historical thinking into educational standards and curriculums, noting that many states already include such learning outcomes in their standards.
🕵️♂️ Deepening Historical Understanding Through Context
The second paragraph delves into the role of context in historical reasoning. It uses Abraham Lincoln's words as an example to illustrate the importance of contextualizing historical statements. The paragraph suggests that historians must ask questions about the audience, purpose, and time period to fully understand a historical figure or event. It explains that context involves considering various factors such as ideologies and preceding events. The paragraph also discusses the importance of evidence in historical storytelling, emphasizing that history is not fiction and that truth claims must be supported by evidence. It concludes by mentioning additional elements of historical thinking, such as causation and change over time, and encourages the use of these concepts to enhance students' reading, thinking, and citizenship skills.
Mindmap
Keywords
💡Historical Thinking
💡Multiple Sources
💡Primary Sources
💡Sourcing
💡Context
💡Evidence
💡Corroboration
💡Causation
💡Significance
💡Change Over Time
💡Historical Context
Highlights
Historical thinking involves reading, analysis, and writing to tell stories about the past.
It's important to understand not just what we know about the past, but how we know it.
Multiple sources are necessary to construct an accurate picture of past events.
Primary sources are original documents and objects created at the time of study, crucial for reconstructing the past.
Historical thinking includes learning to read, question, contextualize, and analyze primary sources.
Contrasting accounts of the same event must be analyzed for their potential biases and interests.
Teaching historical thinking may align with state standards, as 38 states specify this learning outcome.
Students should learn to use multiple sources and analyze them for purpose, perspective, and credibility.
Understanding the context of historical events is central to historical reasoning.
Historical context involves making connections and considering factors like ideologies and political tensions.
Historical stories must be supported by evidence and cannot be altered for a more intriguing plot.
Truth claims in history need to be supported by evidence to distinguish them from fiction.
Historical thinking is complex and vital for students to become better readers, thinkers, and citizens.
Historical thinking is not separate from content learning but is a vehicle to master it.
The Clearinghouse offers teaching resources to bring historical thinking into the classroom.
Historical thinking is a gift that students will use for the rest of their lives.
Transcripts
Think historically? What's that?
You may have heard the term but been puzzled by it
We're all familiar with historical stories
we learn them from our textbooks
popular histories, movies, documentaries, and grandparents and neighbors
Historical thinking is the reading, analysis, and writing
that necessary to tell these stories
It's not only what we know about the past, it's how we know it
Because the past is hard to retrieve
We can't travel back in time to see what happened
at the Boston Massacre or at Wounded Knee,
to hear Sojourner Truth's words
or understand how Cesar Chavez and Dolores Huerta
mobilized the Farmworkers Movement
But thinking historically helps us get closer to that past to retrieve
and construct a more accurate picture of what happened and what it meant
This video focuses on five aspects of historical thinking
Many people think of history as a single account
but in fact, we must use multiple sources to get
as accurate a picture as possible of events in the past
Whether we use textbooks, original documents, photos, drawings, or film
teaching for historical thinking demands
that students work with multiple accounts
and learn to analyze and synthesize them
No single account written from one perspective
captures the complexity of the past
Primary sources are original documents and objects created at the time under study
and they are vital to reconstructing the past
Historical thinking includes learning how to read, question, contextualize,
and analyze these sources, as they can
tell different stories about the same event
So, when we study what came to be known as the Boston Massacre
we can read a report from the commanding British officer
that says that soldiers fired on the crowd of colonists without orders
We can then read a contrasting account from someone
in the crowd who remembers that officer giving orders to fire
But we can't just assume that one is lying and the other isn't
instead, we have to ask questions about what these two
eyewitnesses had to lose or gain with their accounts
What interests were at stake?
We consider how soon after the event
and for what audience each account was recorded
We look for points of agreement and
disagreement between the two contrasting accounts
To be useful in retrieving the past,
primary sources need to be questioned and read closely
Okay, you may be saying, "Wait a minute, this all
sounds good but what about my state standards?
And the fact that I'm expected to cover my textbook's 26 chapters?
How does that fit in?
Isn't this some pie in the sky way to teach history?"
Actually, teaching kids how history is known
may very well be in your state standards
at least 38 specify this learning outcome
For example, various state standards
say students should be using multiple sources
and learning to analyze those sources for
purpose and perspective, credibility, and validity
analysis akin to what we call sourcing
Sourcing is about identifying and asking
questions about the origin of the source
about the author's purposes and perspective
when the source was created and for whom; about its trustworthiness
Imagine your students are working with two accounts
related to the 1955 Montgomery Bus Boycott
The first, a textbook, says, "Rosa Parks was
arrested for refusing to give up her seat to a white man
African Americans heard this and decided to boycott the buses."
The second, a letter written by English professor Joan Robinson
in May 1954 to the mayor of Alabama states
"There has been talk from 25 or more local organizations of
planning a city-wide boycott of busses
[ E ]ven now plans are being made to ride less, or not at all, on our busses."
This letter was written more than a year
before the start of the Montgomery Bus Boycott
A student who notices this learns that
plans for a bus boycott preceded Rosa Parks' arrest
and can better understand the boycott and its causes
Alternatively, a student who ignores the date of
Robinson's letter easily misses its real significance
the familiar story that depicts the boycott as an impulsive movement
motivated solely by Parks's arrest is left unchallenged
Sourcing the letter gets us closer to the fuller story
Context is at the center of historical reasoning
Consider these words spoken by Abraham Lincoln in 1858
"I have no purpose to introduce political and
social equality between the white and black races.
I...am in favor of the race to which I belong having the superior position."
Historians resist initial judgments to brand these words as bigoted
and instead realize that they must ask questions
Such as, who was Lincoln talking to and for what purpose?
What were the perspectives on race at the time?
What political tensions was Lincoln navigating?
They realize to get as accurate a picture as possible of the man
his times, and the event at which he spoke
they have to contextualize these words
and this requires making connections
Lincoln did not live in a vacuum
his speeches and actions are deeply intertwined
with what was going on in his own world
Context includes many different factors, from the ideologies of the day
to the words that came before those under investigation.
But in the big picture, historical context is about locating events
and sources in time and space and asking questions to do so
Taking a page from the math curriculum,
we can say that the coordinates of history are space and time
These sources are not free-floating items that speak for themselves
their historical context matters
When we write histories we tell stories and answer questions
To be called history, these stories must be supported by evidence
Sources, like the Lincoln speech and the Joan Robinson letter
provide evidence for claims made about the past.
History isn fiction
We can't change the story to create a more intriguing or satisfying plot
Truth claims in history need to be supported by evidence
That is how we distinguish plausible claims from balderdash
and good history from pure fiction
These five elements of historical thinking are all integral
to understanding how we know what we know about the past
But of course, there are more elements, concepts like causation
significance, change over time, and reading strategies like corroboration
Historical thinking is complex and it is vital
to helping students become better readers, thinkers, and citizens
It's not separate from the content we want students to learn
instead, it is the vehicle that will help them master it
Explore the Clearinghouse to find teaching resources that
will help you bring historical thinking into your classroom
It's a gift your students will use for the rest of their lives
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