What+is+Historical+Thinking?

=** History is an Argument about the past. **= ===How do we know what we know about the past? Through examining Primary and Secondary Sources. === ===How do we examine primary and secondary sources? Through Historical Thinking. ===

What historians do have is a “historical approach” to primary sources that is often taken for granted by those practiced in it. However, this approach unlocks a world closed to untutored readers. For example, before approaching a document, historians come prepared with a list of questions—about author, context, time period—that form a mental framework for the details to follow. Most important of all, these questions transform the act of reading from passive reception to an engaged and passionate interrogation. If we want students to remember historical facts, this approach, not memorization, is the key. (Wineberg, S., //Thinking Like a Historian, retrieved from // http://www.loc.gov/teachers/tps/quarterly/historical_thinking/article.html)

=Teaching Students to Think Historically= How can teachers help their students to begin thinking like historians? Teaching a way of thinking requires making thinking visible. We need to show students not only what historians think, but // how // they think, and then guide students as they learn to engage in this process. Consider introducing students to several specific strategies for reading historical documents: sourcing, contextualizing, close reading, using background knowledge, reading the silences, and corroborating. Each strategy is defined below, followed by teaching ideas.
 * ** Sourcing **
 * ** Contextualizing **
 * ** Close reading **
 * ** Using Background Knowledge **
 * ** Reading the Silences **
 * ** Corroborating **

This concept map is a visual organizer for students - it was designed to show the meaning of "doing history." It represents the critical thinking and analysis that occurs when students examine historical sources through historical memory and different historical lenses. This then leads to the interpretation of those sources (Light, T. P., retrieved from http://www.academia.edu/481243/Making_Connections_Developing_Students_Historical_Thinking_with_Electronic_Portfolios) media type="custom" key="22802192"