Historical Thinking: how do you teach it, how do you

assess it?•How can teachers evaluate their students’ use of the historical thinking concepts? •How can teachers manage their time to teach these concepts as well as the historical content? •We will discuss good, better, and best use of these concepts through hands-on classroom ready activities, to help teachers begin to incorporate and evaluate student success.

What are Concepts and How do they Work?

Why Metacognition?

• How do they help students control their learning?

• What happens when we don't pay attention to it?

• Assessing and evaluating student use of the historical thinking concepts

What does research tell us about the ideas that students bring to the

classroom? “Students come to the classroom with

preconceptions… If their initial understanding is not engaged they may fail to grasp the new concepts and information that they are taught…”

(The first principle of: How People Learn: Brain, Mind, Experience, and School. National Research Council, 2000, Washington DC.)

•“How did they know what the Mayflower looked like and how bad or good the weather was?”

•“How did the artist know what the Mayflower looked like because he drew it at least 200 years after?”

•“How did the painter know they were dressed like that?”

•“How did the painter know what the landing of the pilgrams looked like, if he was not there?”

•“In source 2 it looks like the arrive at day but source 1 it looks like they arrive at night?”

Ros Ashby asked Students to think about Primary Sources

source 1

source 2

Problem: all responses reveal that the students see the Primary Sources (paintings) as testimony

Challenge: move students to think about the Primary Sources as Evidence of the changing significance of the Mayflower

• “I think the Indians are in the picture to show they were there first”

• “Art isn’t always total fact it’s usually symbolism… that these Native Americans are here first and it’s not really the Pilgrims land at all”

Teacher reads out a student’s reflection and asks for class response

Teacher asks, “what would we need to know to interpret the painting?”

• “What period of time it was painted and whereabouts it was painted. They could be changed with society, like giving into [predominant ideas] because like most people…were white, so he wanted to paint the white people as great… ”

Student Preconceptions of Historical Thinking Concepts

• Students were taught to apply the concept of Significance in Heritage Fair projects

• Often other historical thinking concepts appeared to be involved in student responses to questions even though they were not explicitly taught the concepts

• Embedded Concepts within Significance: Cause and Consequence; Change and Continuity

Significance = Importance

• Historical importance is determined generally by the impact of something on a group of people and whether its effects are long lasting.

• …something that is historically significant for one group may not be significant for another.

• Significance may also be determined by the relevance of something from the past, including how it connects to a current issue or event.

TOC 2013 page 130

Cause and Consequence

“Fleming’s creation of standard time zones made traveling around the world much easier … He was the reason for bring more immigrants to the prairies” Hw was the main reason for British Columbia to enter Confederation … Fleming had helped Canadians save their electricity bill and resources by turning their clocks an hour forward in the summer”

Do you think that Canada would be different if the person/event described in your project did not exist?

• “Terry Fox was an important person because he raised money to fight cancer. Because of him we now have cures for certain kinds of cancers. Terry Fox has saved the lives of many children who were dying of cancer.”

[No causal question, but student resorts to causal explanation]

Why is this topic important to you personally and why should it be important to other people?

• “If Laura Secord did not do what she did, Canada may not have electricity because Niagara Falls would have been captured by the Americans.”

[Misled by a causal question. The question should have focused on Significance: why does the person/event resonate today?]

What aspect of the Concept Significance was used?

How do we promote Rich concepts in the New

Curriculum?How do we avoid Preconceptions?

• Significance

• Change and Continuity

• Cause and Consequence

• Historical Perspective-Taking

• Evidence

B1. analyse aspects of the lives of various groups in Canada between 1800 and 1850,

• What can we learn from the ways in which people met challenges in the past?

• Why is it important to consider various perspectives when analysing events or issues?

• What types of forces can bring about change?

TOC 2013 page 137

Framing Questions

Cause/Agency/Consequence

Traditional: Change and Continuity

Then Now

[B1. ] and compare them to the lives of people in Canada in 1713–1800

Change and Continuity

- Slavery in Canada- Enslaved escaped from Canada to the Northern Free States-British law not enforced in Canada

- Slavery abolished in Canada- Underground Railroad reverses direction going from the U.S. to Canada -Blacks staking rights in Canada

- What was the turning point that marked the Change?-What continued between periods that slowed change?

TOC 2013 page 137

1713–1800 1800–1850

B1. assess key similarities and differences between Canada in 1890– 1914 and in the present day, with reference to the experiences of and major challenges facing different groups and/or individuals and to some of the actions Canadians have taken to improve their lives

• In what ways are Canadian rights and freedoms a result of the struggles of people in the past?

• What are some ways in which different people respond to challenges and create change?

• What role has diversity played in the development of Canada?

TOC 2013 page 147

Framing Questions

Cause/Agency/Consequence

Head TaxLaws made to restrict Chinese businesses

Chinese solicits help from government in China

Chinese not allowed to study in professional schools

The community forms alliances with Christian churches

Chinese form mutual benefit societies

Riots against Chinese mines and Shops What role has

diversity played in the development of Canada?

http://www.collectionscanada.gc.ca/canadiens-chinois/021022-1400-e.html

Primary sources

Historical Perspectives The right – hand group as one faces the memorial shows chiefs of the Mohawk, Tuscarora, and Oneida Nations, furnished with the scalping knife, spear, and pipe of peace. The left-hand group shows the Seneca, Onondaga, and Cayuga Natives, with the bow and arrows, war-club, and flintlock gun. The trophies consist of artistic arrangements of their weapons and instruments, including snowshoes and lacrosse sticks. The totems of the Six Nations, the bear, the wolf and the tortoise, are introduced in the memorial, especially at the request of the Indians themselves. http://www.uelac.org/Loyalist How would FNMI and non-FNMI people

see this statue?

“What are some ways in which different people respond to challenges and create change?“

Historical Perspectives / evidence-based inferences

The right – hand group as one faces the memorial shows chiefs of the Mohawk, Tuscarora, and Oneida Nations, furnished with the scalping knife, spear, and pipe of peace. The left-hand group shows the Seneca, Onondaga, and Cayuga Natives, with the bow and arrows, war-club, and flintlock gun. The trophies consist of artistic arrangements of their weapons and instruments, including snowshoes and lacrosse sticks. The totems of the Six Nations, the bear, the wolf and the tortoise, are introduced in the memorial, especially at the request of the Indians themselves. http://www.uelac.org/Loyalist

Use historical context to make inferences on Perspective: What was happening at the time?In 1886, Louis O’soup, Peter Hourie, Mistawasis, Kahkewistahaw, and Atakaoop, a group of chiefs from the Western Prairies were taken East to the unveiling of Brant’s statue.How would FNMI and non-FNMI people see this statue today? How does knowing the context help you understand how both groups may have seen this differently in the past? Create tableaus for each.

-Who is the author of the photo -Why was it created? Was the purpose positive or negative? -What is it telling the audience -Who would be the audience and why would they be interested? -How does the source show the Chinese Canadian community in transition? -What values do this source reveal about the Chinese at this time?

Contextualize the source: Liang, the Chinese political activist visits a Chinese Community organization in Canada

Primary Source Evidence

• http://interactivepdf.uniflip.com/2/10582/299582/pub/

References

• Benchmarks of Historical Thinking is a project of the Centre for the Study of Historical Consciousness, the Historica Foundation, and supported by the Canadian Council on Learning <http://www.historicalthinking.ca>

• How Students Learn: History in the Classroom. National Research Council, 2005, Washington DC.)

• Counsell, C. (2004) 'Looking through a Josephine-Butler-shaped window', Teaching History, 114, Making History Personal Edition (March), The Historical Association.