OCC GATE ConferenceOctober 19, 2013

Teaching Gifted Learners to Think Like Historians

Tim Mulvehill

Millikan High School, LBUSD

USC, Rossier School of Education

tmulvehill@lbschools.net

Session 3: 12:30-1:30 pm

OBJECTIVE

This afternoon, we’ll analyze techniques for teaching gifted learners to think like historians by integrating “The Big Six” historical thinking skills with differentiated instructional strategies and the Common Core standards.

Session 3: Thinking like historians

AGENDA

• Historical Thinking and Other Unnatural Acts: Sam Wineburg

• ‘The Big Six’ Historical Thinking Skills: Peter Seixas

• Integrating ‘Historical Thinking’, the Common Core & Differentiated Instruction

Historical ThinkingAnd other unnatural Acts

Sam WineburgStanford University

Read the 3-page excerpt. Discuss questions 2 & 3

with a colleague.

Historical ThinkingAnd other unnatural Acts

Sam WineburgStanford University

Sourcing, asking relevant

questions of documents, identifying

motive, identifying subtext, avoiding

presentism

How do we teach students

to do this?

Historical Consciousness

Peter SeixasUniversity of British Columbia

Director of the Centre for the Study of Historical Consciousness (www.cshc.ubc.ca)

‘The Big Six’Historical Thinking skills

1. Historical Significance• How did this event, person or development result in change?• What does this event, person or development reveal about issues in

history or contemporary life?• How is historical significance constructed through narrative in

textbooks or other historical accounts?• How does historical significance vary over time or from group to group?

2. Evidence• What can be inferred based on this primary source?• What questions can be asked about this primary source that will

provide evidence for an inquiry, argument or account?• Who created this source? When, where and why was it created?• What conditions and worldviews were prevalent at the time the source

was created?• Can this source be corroborated by other primary or secondary

sources?

‘The Big Six’Historical Thinking skills

3. Continuity and Change• What historical turning points can be identified?• What evidence of progress and/or decline can be identified? Does

progress occur for some while decline occurs for others?• What are the historical markers that begin and end this time

period? Could an alternative periodization be plausible?

4. Cause and Consequence• What are the short-term and long-term causes and

consequences?• How can historical causes be ranked in order of importance?• What is the relationship between the actions of historical actors

and the conditions at the time?• Which consequences were intended and which were unintended?• Was this historical event inevitable?

‘The Big Six’Historical Thinking skills

5. Historical Perspectives• How do worldviews today differ from

worldviews in the time and place under study?• How did people think and feel in the time and

place under study?• How did different people’s perspectives differ

in the time and place under study?

6. Ethical Dimension• What responsibilities do we have to remember

and respond to the contributions, sacrifices and injustices of the past?

Depth & ComplexitySandra Kaplan

USC, Rossier School of Education

Do we find overlap between the ‘Big Six’ and the Depth & Complexity icons?

Common Core

Common Core

Common Core

Integrating Historical Thinking, Differentiated Instruction

& the Common Core

Take a few minutes to compare the ‘Big Six’, the Depth & Complexity Icons & the Common Core standards. Do you

see overlap or integration? Feel free to discuss with a colleague.

Integrated History

Instruction for Gifted Learners

Depth & Complexi

ty

State Standar

ds

Common Core

Acceleration&

Advanced Placement

Historical

Thinking

Novelty

Thank you

Materials from this presentation will

be available online at

www.occgate.org

Sources:

Seixas, P. & Morton, T. (2012). The Big Six Historical Thinking Concepts. Nelson College Indigenous.

Wineburg, S. (2001). Historical Thinking and Other Unnatural Acts. Temple University Press.