Historical Thinking Concepts

• Historical thinking involves critically examining and documenting stories of the past, going beyond memorizing names and dates to understand how past events have shaped the present.

The Big Six Historical Thinking Concepts

• Historical Significance
• Evidence and Interpretation
• Continuity and Change
• Cause and Consequence
• Historical Perspectives
• Ethical Dimensions

Historical Significance

• Historical significance involves deciding what and who should be remembered, researched, and taught from the past.
• Historical significance depends on how notable an event was at the time, the extent and duration of its consequences, and how well it symbolizes historical issues or trends.
• What is historically significant depends on the group of people being asked

Evidence and Interpretation

• Evidence is information provided to establish a fact or support a position, found in primary and secondary sources.
• Trustworthiness of evidence depends on its reliability, relevance, and appropriate use.
• Interpretations of evidence should be reasonable and supported by the evidence itself.
• To assess the quality of evidence, questions to consider:
  • Is the source trustworthy
  • Are the authors qualified
  • Is the source relevant
  • Is the interpretation reasonable

Ethical Judgement

• Ethical judgments involve evaluating the fairness of past actions and decisions, considering their effects on people.
• Ethical judgments should consider the views and needs of all important groups involved and the historical context.
• The strength of an ethical judgment relies on the quality of the evidence used.
• To determine if an ethical judgement is fair we need to:
  • Consider interests of key groups
  • Consider beliefs during the time
  • Collect all relevant evidence

Cause and Consequence

• Cause and consequence examines the reasons why events occurred and their resulting repercussions.
• Events occur for many reasons, both immediate and those that develop over time, and can be influenced by people, ideas, beliefs, governments, or other events.
• Consequences of events can be intended or unintended, immediate or long-term.
• To determine the importance of causes
  • Look for a clear connection
  • Identify the level of influence
  • Ensure there are no alternative explanations
• To determine the importance of consequences
  • Note the depth of the impact
  • Note the breadth of the impact
• When considering cause and consequence, questions to consider:
  • The range of factors that contributed to the event
  • Which factors involved the most influence
  • The intended and unintended consequences of events

Continuity and Change

• Continuity and change are present in all aspects of life, with change occurring at different rates and having both positive and negative effects.
• Turning points mark significant and dramatic changes, with periodization used to mark historical continuity and change.
• Judging the importance of changes and constants aids in understanding our place in history.
• Criteria for an important change include it being relatively permanent, having a substantial effect, and being widespread.

Historical Perspective

• Historical perspective involves understanding the past through the ideas, feelings, and ways of thinking of that specific time period.
• Understanding the values, beliefs, and practices is critical when looking at historical perspective
• Understanding time by understanding the broad knowledge of that period and place in time, and specific information about practices, values, and beliefs is important.
• To take historical perspective
  • Think about what a past event means today
  • What did people value during the time of the event
  • Check to see if current ideas have influence
  • Does your interpretation match what was common at that time
• When considering historical perspective, questions to consider:
  • Are we using our knowledge of values to interpret
  • Are interpretations representative of the beliefs at the time