1. Historical Thinking in the K-12 Classroom Scott M. Waring, Ph.D. swaring@mail.ucf.edu

2. The Historic Sense (1917) In 1917, J. Carleton Bell noted that when speaking with history teachers that one thought persists “I do not care to have my pupils learn dates and events, but I am particularly anxious to have them develop the historic sense.” As he questioned what this meant, especially for the learner in a history classroom, he found an eminent university professor of history who eloquently summed up this thought: –If two students are given a number of newspaper files and are asked to write the history of a town for a five-year period, one will give a clear, intelligible, well articulated account, with the various events and movements in due perspective, with adequate emphasis on a few leading features and proper subordination of details, while the other will have merely a hodge-podge of miscellaneous facts. The one shows the historic sense, the other does not. (p. 317-318) Bell, J. C. (1917). The historic sense. The Journal of Educational Psychology, 8(5), 317-318.

3. Five Aspects of the Historic Sense (1917) 1.The ability to understand present events in light of the past. 2.The ability to sift through the documentary record-- newspaper articles, hearsay, partisan attacks, contemporary accounts--and construct "from this confused tangle a straightforward and probable account" of what happened. 3.The ability to appreciate a historical narrative. 4.Reflective and discriminating replies to ‘thought questions' on a given historical situation.“ 5.The ability to answer factual questions about historical personalities and events. Bell, J. C., & McCollum, D.F. (1917). A study of the attainments of pupils in United States history. The Journal of Educational Psychology, 8(5), 257-274.

4. Creating Historical Thinkers Novice vs. Expert –Historical “Habits of Mind” Historical presentism Progression of time is preordained – clear start and finish to history Progression of intelligence One cause for historical events – presented by the textbook Learn from the past to avoid mistakes in the future One source and perspective is sufficient Bradley Commission on History in Schools. (1995). Building a history curriculum: Guidelines for teaching history in schools. Westlake, OH: National Council for History Education. p. 9.

5. Creating Historical Thinkers Schema –The difficulty of your set could be increased if you do a jam followed by a peach http://www.readingquest.org/premises.html

6. Knowledge vs. Understanding First you arrange things into groups. Of course, one pile may be enough, depending on how much there is to do; but some things definitely need to be separated from the others. A mistake here can be expensive; it is better to do too few things at once than too many. The procedure does not take long; when it is finished, you arrange things into different groups again, so that they can be put away, where they belong.

7. Best Practices in History Instruction Create authentic questions –Students must have opportunities to ask questions of personal interest. Utilize a variety of sources –A variety of sources (i.e. published documents, unpublished documents, oral histories, visual documents, artifacts, etc.) should be sought to answer the question posed. Examine the sources –Each source must be examined to determine who constructed it and why. Waring, S. M. (2011). Preserving history: The construction of history in the K-16 classroom. Charlotte, NC: Information Age Publishing.

8. Best Practices in History Instruction Determine the context –Context for the document is vital. A document taken out of context can lead to invalid conclusions. Read the sources –Sources should be read closely and efforts should be made to “read between the lines.” Consider alternative perspectives –Multiple alternative perspectives must be considered. Finding just the polar extremes is not sufficient. Waring, S. M. (2011). Preserving history: The construction of history in the K-16 classroom. Charlotte, NC: Information Age Publishing.

9. Best Practices in History Instruction Corroborate the sources –Corroborating sources need to be found. Construct narratives –Opportunities should be presented where students have a chance to construct historical narratives utilizing the spectrum of sources, while noting where gaps in the sources or the author’s knowledge exist. Waring, S. M. (2011). Preserving history: The construction of history in the K-16 classroom. Charlotte, NC: Information Age Publishing.

10. Conducting Authentic Historical Inquiry How do you learn other disciplines?