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Society for History Education
Beyond "Sorting": Teaching Cognitive Skills in the History SurveyAuthor(s): David PaceReviewed work(s):Source: The History Teacher, Vol. 26, No. 2 (Feb., 1993), pp. 211-220Published by: Society for History Education
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Beyond "Sorting":TeachingCognitiveSkills in the
History Survey
DavidPaceIndianaUniversity
FACULTYMEMBERSaneasilyfindthemselvesn thepositionofMarkTwain's amousAmericanourists,whowereconvinced hat heycouldmake hemselves nderstoodnGerman,f they ust spoke ouder.Wetell ourstudentso"analyze,"o"comparendcontrast,"o"defend"theirargumentswithouteverrealizinghatthese "obvious"ermsmayhave no operationalmeaning or them. When hey don'trespond,we
repeathe samesetof instructions,nd,whenonceagainwegetthe same
uncomprehendingtares,we areapt o dismiss he students sunworthy
of our time. At this pointteachingcan be replacedby a processof"sorting,"o use the terminology f my colleagueandmentorCraigNelson.A seriesof ordealss administeredcross he courseof a semes-terwhichseparateshosestudentswhoalready nderstand hatwe wantthem odo from hosewhodo not.Ifanyonenthe atter roupearns he
"language" ehavebeenspeaking tthem, t is largelyaccidental,incethe coursework has consistentlyassumed,rather hantaught,such
knowledge.Thesubstitutionf "sorting"orteachingends o ratifyanddeepen
racialstereotypes,conomic nequality, egativegender dentities,anddifferencesnself-esteem,whichalreadyxistinthe student opulation,and whichhave a devastatingffect,notonlyuponour students hem-
The HistoryTeacher Volume 26 Number 2 February1993
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212 DavidPace
selves,butalsoupon he arger ociety,whichneeds onurturehetalentsandunderstandingf all tsyoungpeople.Moreover,nstructorshemselves
are vulnerableo a greatsenseof inadequacy s they experiencehesullenresentmentf generationsf students,whoarebeing udgedonthebasisof a system heyneitherunderstandorrespect.
Thequestionof teachingvs. sortings a particularlyeriousone forthose teachingcollege historytoday.A generation go mosthistorycoursesocusedprimarilyn apolitical nddiplomatichronology hichwasrelativelyasyforstudentsoassimilateo theirpreexistingntellec-tual andcognitivecategories. uchcoursesmayhavedemanded greatdealof work,andin thehandsof skillful nstructorshey undoubtedly
generatedmanybasicchangesnthethinking rocessesof students.Butmoststudents ouldunderstandhesequence f eventswhich ormed hecoreof suchcourseswith hemental pparatusheybroughtwith hem o
college.Suchintellectualools are not sufficient,however, o grapplewiththeextraordinarilyomplexweb of cultures,ocialclasses,gender,andmentalitg,whicharethe subjectof many,perhapsmost, collegehistory ourses oday.Thesinglethread f political uccessionhasbeen
replaced yatapestry f diverseexperiencesnwhicheachgrouphas its
perspectives,alues,and nterpretationf what s goingon.
Dealingwith suchissuesin a historycourse s notjust a matterofaddingnew subjectmatter o old courses.The new formsof historyrequire ifferent ognitiveabilities.Tooperatewithin he worldof con-
temporaryistoriographytudentsmustbeable oenter heexperiencefdifferent roupsnthepastand orecognizehateachof theparticipantsin ahistoricalituationwasoperating ithinacomplexbut imitedworldview. Theymustgive up the securityof a history n which datesandeventsprovidea clearand"objective"rameworknd earn o grapplewithamoreambiguous ast nwhichhistorians re nbasicdisagreement
about heverysubjectswhich houldbestudied. uchoperationsequiresubtle andcomplexcognitiveprocesses-processeswhichhave oftenbecomesomuchapartof an nstructor's ind etthatheorshedoesnoteven recognizetheirnecessity.Yet, there is abundantvidence that
despite hegreat ffortsofmanydedicatednd alentedecondarychoolteachers,most students nteringollegetodaystill do not havethebasic
cognitive killsrequiredo dealwithsuchchallenges.Thisdisparity etween he taskbeingpresentedo studentsandthe
tools available o thempresentsa dilemma o the instructor.Wecould
ignore heproblem r reverto theoldpoliticalhistory.A better hoice,however,s to seekto createanenvironmentn which argenumbers fstudents angain as smoothlyandas quicklyas possible hekinds ofabilitiesneeded o dealwithourprofession sitexiststodayandwith he
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Beyond "Sorting":Teaching Cognitive Skills in the HistorySurvey 213
worldwhichhasshapedt.Thischallenge learlyranscendshescopeofa singlecourseor even a single discipline.A semesters a rather rief
period o bringabout uch a transformation.oreover,he introductionof studentso new cognitivemodesis a crucialconcern or the entirestructuref higher ducation. heskillsneeded or success n a contem-poraryhistoryclassroom renot so verydifferent rom hoseneeded nsuchfieldsasliterature rscienceor, even,business,nwhich heabilityto view a situationrommultipleperspectivesnd o dealwithambigu-ous evidenceandconflictingnterpretationss ascrucial sit is inhistory.Therefore,what s ultimately eeded s a newnotionof curriculum,nwhichthedevelopmentf certain rucialabilities s systematicallyn-
couraged crossa student's areer.But,untilsuchglobalchangeshavebeenimplemented,t willbenecessaryorindividual istorynstructorsto strive o structurepecificcoursesnsuchawaythatasmanystudentsas possiblecan gainthe cognitiveabilitiesassumedby contemporaryhistoriography.
I decided o addresshesegeneralpedagogical roblemsn the fresh-man surveyof European istorysince 1815 at IndianaUniversity,acoursewhich hadbeen eachingor wentyyears.While tis ofteneasierto respondothischallengensmallupperevelcourses han nalecture
course of morethan 150 students, t is generally n the introductorycourses hat hedevelopmentf cognitive kills is mostneeded.More-over, since the studentswould also be meetingin small discussionsections with two excellentteachingassistants,John Cox and ChrisMendoza,herewouldbeanopportunityoprovideupportndguidanceon a morepersonal asis.
In redesigninghis courseI chose to focus on two crucialabilitieswhichstudentswouldneed o succeednthecourse.First, tudentswouldhave obeable ounderstandhat he ivingconditions ndexperiencesf
eachgroupwe studied reated uniqueperspectivewith tsown internalintegrity.Secondly,whenfacedwith anexamquestion, tudentshad toknow how to choose a particularnterpretationromthemanypossiblewaysofviewing he ssueand osupporthat nterpretationithevidenceand ogical arguments. s manywill recognize,mychoiceand ormula-tion of theseissues was greatly nfluencedby WilliamPerry'sclassicForms of Intellectual and EthicalDevelopment n the College Years.
Such skills are such secondnature o us that it is worthtryingto
imaginehowtheelements f acontemporaryistory oursemightappearto someonewho lackstheseabilities. nthehistory urvey presentheexperience, alues,andperspectivesf different ocialgroupsanddis-cuss howtheyinteracted.f a students notaccustomedo thinkingnterms of perspectives,the crucial issue remainswhat"really"happened.
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214 David Pace
All the discussionof the differencesn theexperiences f thesegroupscanbe taken ntothestudent's ognitive ystemas eithernoiseproduced
by anineptor maliciousprofessor r asa challengeo findoutwhichofthe groups if any]was reallyright.Thenotion, or example, hatthe
politicsof a particularlass emerge rom its life patterns as no real
meaningn sucha system,exceptasa memorizedquation f "workingclass"and"supportedocialism" ecauset is impossibleo understandthataparticular orldviewis "true"oronegroupandnotanother.
The same problemsemergewhen studentsarefaced with exams.Whenaskinga class to "support n interpretationith evidence"or
"comparendcontrast"r"analyze,"istorians remost ikely o have n
mindsomethingike this:1)thereareanumber f possibleanswerso aquestionike this;2) noneof these answersare so absolutely ight hat
theycanbepresentedwiththefinalityof aproof nEuclideaneometry;3) nonetheless,omeof thepossibleanswersare moreconvincing; )well-intentionednd nformedndividualsancometo someagreementon the relativemeritsof the different nswersby comparingvidence,examining ssumptions,ndconsideringhelogical consistency f thevariouspositions.Noneof thisis evenremotelyntelligibleo a studentwhois notyetcapable f imagininghat he same ssue canappear ery
differentlyromdifferent erspectives.f there s a final,ultimate, ightanswer,henthecrucialpoint s getting here,notdefendinghe relativemerits of variousapproaches. ven a word as seeminglyobviousas
"support"asverydifferentmeaningsnthesetwo mentaluniverses.Thedifficulty n escaping hissituation, owever, s thatthe task at
hand s not simplya matter f addinga few new terms o anexistingvocabulary,utrather f introducingnentirely ewlanguagetructure.To use the terminology f Wittgenstein,here s a complex anguagegameat workhere.A teachermay,of course,discusstheproblemof
learningaboutperspectives.Thismaybe interestingo thosestudentswho havealreadymasteredheseskills,and t maybe absolutelyrucialto those studentswhoare ottering n theedgeof acognitive hift ntoamorecomplexwayof organizingheworld.Butthosestudentswhohavenotseriouslybegun o undergohisprocesswill"decode" urwords ntermsof the languagegamestheyarealreadyplaying,since,unfortu-
nately,a discussion f theproblem f perspectivessumes priorabilityto think ntermsof perspectives.
Toescape rom hisviciouscircle, t wasnecessaryocreate complex
structure f learning,an extendedexperiencewithinwhich studentscouldmoreeasilypassthrough difficultandoftenthreateningrocessof self-transformation.ince we cannot imply"tell"our studentspre-ciselywhatwewant hem odo,wemustshowthem,andwemustcreate
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Beyond "Sorting":TeachingCognitiveSkills in the HistorySurvey 215
situationsn whichtheywill naturallyearn hese skillsby themselves.Moreover, sPerryhasargued,t is not sufficiento teacha student hat
issuescanbe viewed rommore hanoneperspective.nisolation ucharealization an leave students n a positionof nihilisticrelativism,nwhich"Well, hat'smy opinion" ecomes he finalanswer o anyques-tion.Inaddition o seeingmultipleperspectives,t is alsonecessaryorstudents o learnthat t is worthwhile o find basesfor discrimination
amongpossible nterpretations,ven whennoneof them s groundednabsolute ruth.This esson s adifficult ne whichcannotbeconveyedbyasimple xplanation,ut,rather,equirescomplexpedagogicaltructurewithinwhich he student an earna newset of basicskills.
Facing hese issuesin thecontextof the modemEuropeanurvey,realized hatI alreadyhadathanda tool,whichcouldbe of enormousassistancenpreparingtudentso viewhistoryperspectively. uringhelate 1970smy colleagueJamesDiehl andI hadcreatedan extensivesimulationor this coursewithgenerous ssistance romProfessorTomSchwenandIndianaUniversity'sDivisionof DevelopmentndSpecialProjects.At thebeginning f the semester ach studentwasassignedaroleas amember f oneof sixsocialclasses.Theyreceived descriptionof theircharacter'situationn 1790and hreeor fourpossibleresponsesto thechallenges acing heir ocialclass at thatmomentntime. At theendof thefirstweektheyturnednessays, ustifyinghe choiceof oneofthesealternativesntermsof the valuesandconditions f theperiodandreceived n return sheetindicatinghe impactof theirchoice on thesocial and economicpositionof theircharacter.The next week thestudentsmoved orwardortyyearsntime,as theiroriginal haracterrone of his or herdescendantsaceda newhistoricalituation nda newset of problems.Throughtructuringheproblems,hoices,andconse-quences,we wereable oreproduce uropeanocialhistoryrom1790 o
1912withcharacterseingbuffeted ytheIndustrialevolution,movingto cities,andtakingpart n the new mass cultureof the latenineteenthcentury.
Thesimulation adoriginally eencreatednresponseo thedifficul-ties we hadexperiencedn gettingourstudents o grasp he notionofsocialclass,and heresultshadbeenverygratifying. resolved o use it
againas one element n my planto teachthinkingperspectively.Theabstract resentationsf theexperience f different ocialgroups n thelecturesandreadingswouldthusbe reinforced ndmade realby the
students'ownencounterwiththesedifferenceshroughhe simulation.We hadmade hecharactersnd heir ituations s concrete spossible,andwe reinforcedhesystembyhaving tudents it with heir ocialclass(aristocratsn front,peasantsn theback),so thatthey experiencedhe
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216 David Pace
classsystemateachmoment f classtime.Moreover,he scenarioswerefilledwithpotential onflictswhichcouldbeused n discussionections
tomakestudents ealizewhyafactory wnerandaworker,orexample,wouldappealoverydifferent rincipleswhen acedwitha strike.
Thesimulationutomaticallymposed kindof binocularisionuponthestudents.Notonlydidthedivisionof theclass ntosocialgroupsorcethem orecognizehat heexperiencef eachcharacternevitably hapedhis orherinterpretationf events,but he studentswerealso confrontedwith he differences etweenheirownpoint-of-viewndevelopmentsnthenineteenthentury ndthoseof thepeoplealive at thattime. All ofthisdiscouragedhem romseeking o reducea complex ituationothe
search or a singlerightanswer t thesame ime hat t encouragedhemtobegin o playwithviewing hesameevents rommanyperspectives.
Inreviewinghesimulationxercise,however, sawthat wouldneedto incorporatet withnewcourseelements o emphasizeheexperienceof thinkingperspectively nd to guidestudentshroughhe swampofnihilism n whichall answerswereequal.I also realized hat o nurturethe earning rocessdesignedo achievemynewobjectives wouldneedto establisha supportive nvironment. tudentscan experiencegreatanxietyas they leave their old mentaluniverse n which there were
always rightanswersand entera new one in whichtheymustdecidewhichpositions mostconvincing nd, hen, ystematicallyefend heirchoice.Suchanxietysnotonlyunpleasantorthestudent, ut t canalsoretard r even stopthe learningprocess.To encouragehe students omovethroughhisprocess,despite hepotential egativeaffect,I soughtto give them,on theonehand,a motivationortakingpartand,on theother,a sense hat he taskwasfeasibleand hat heywouldhavesupportand clearguide ines throughoutheprocess.Inthefirst lectureof thesemester explainedhat hecoursewasdesignedo helpthemdevelop
certain kills whichwouldbe crucial o their successnot only on theexamsbut alsoin futureife, andI gavea few examples f thekindsofsituationsnwhich he abilities hoped ohelpthemgainmightbe usefulto them.I assured hem thatI and the teachingassistantswouldbeavailable o helpthem andthatwe would ryto makewhatwe wantedthemto do as clearaspossible.All of thesethemeswerereiteratedn a"User'sGuide"whichwasdistributedo them. trepeatedherationalefthe courseand listed the kinds of short-andlong-termbenefitsthestudentsmightexpect o gainfromthesemester.Thus,evenif some of
the studentsdid not understandreciselywhatI wasasking hem o do,theycouldgrasphat f theysucceededndoing hismysteriousask, heymightgainsome substantial enefits,and thatI was veryinterestedn
helping them achieve this goal.
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Beyond "Sorting":Teaching Cognitive Skills in theHistory Survey 217
Next,I set outto makegoodon thesepromises y seeking omodelas
preciselyaspossible he tasksI wished hem odo.I nolongerassumed
that he traditionalnstructions,uch as "read hetext,""takenotes,"or"study or theexams,"wouldhave the samemeaningandproducehesamebehaviornthemindsof students, stheydid nmyown.Ihad obemoreprecise, o breakdown argetasks ntooperationsndsub-opera-tions,whichmade t clearerxactlywhat uchvague,global nstructions
reallyentailed.Therefore,n lecturesandin a sectionof the "User'sGuide"entitled"How o Do Well in this Course" provided oncrete
examplesof thewayonemightgo about eadinghe textortakingnoteson a lecture,andI encouragedmyteachingassistantso do thesamein
theirdiscussion ections.Inalloftheseareas flearning,tried oencouragetudents ot otreat
thematerialheyweregivenas a homogenouseriesof truestatementswhichshouldallbe swallowedwhole.Igavethema three-levelmodelofreadingand notetaking n whichtheywere to activelydistinguish e-tweenbroadgeneralizations,ualifyingtatements,ndsupportingvi-dence.Tryingto memorizeeverythingn the text and the lectures,Iwarned hem,wouldprobablyead to disaster.Drawinguponanother
image,I suggestedhat heythinkof themselves s trial awyersprepar-ing generalpositions,supportinghem with appropriatevidence andargumentation,nddiscardingrrelevantvidencewhichwouldconfusethejury.
Thus,from heverybeginning f thesemester tudentswereencour-
agedto organizeheir earningn termsof interpretationsndevidence.To understandheseinstructions,t was still necessaryor students omakealeapfrom heworldof rightanswers o thatof differing utlooksandinterpretations.o maketheleapa little shorter nd to give themmoreconfidence hat herewasactuallyirmground n the other ide,I
brokeuptheir asks ntosmallerdiscrete ndwell-defined perations. oreinforce his processand to be certain hat it continuedacross thesemester t was importanto tie this learning o what most students
understandablyee as a central"practical" ay-off in a course-the
grade.The ntense xperiencef thesimulationrtheprocessoflearningtodefendanargumentmightreallyappealomanymembers f theclass,but,if thestudentsdidnot see somerelationshipetween heseopera-tions andthose coursemechanismswhichgenerated rades, heywere
apt o becomedisaffected reven feelbetrayed.This connectionwas establishedmplicitlyn a sectionof the"User's
Guide"nwhichIwent hroughhemechanics fpreparingortheexam.I toldthem obe certain bout hemeaning f thequestions;oassemblerelevantmaterialrom ectures, eadings, nddiscussion;o forma basic
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218 David Pace
position,subsidiary rguments,ndqualifications;o confirm he rel-evanceof supportingvidence; o outline; o distance hemselves rom
theiranswer; tc.Sincethestudentswere obegiven nadvance listofquestionsromwhich hecoreoftheexamwouldbeselected,heywouldbeable ogo throughhesestepswith he actualquestions, lthoughheydidnot know which wouldactuallyappear n theexam. Someof the
suggestionswerepurelyprocedural,ut mostof themimplicitlyrein-forcedhemodelofsupportingn nterpretation.ocompleteheprocess,as the coursegotunderwayheteaching ssistants roke he discussionsectionsup into smallgroupsandpresentedhem all withthe same
hypotheticalxamquestion.Aftereachgrouphaddevelopedtsapproach
to thequestionndependently,he students ll cametogether gainandcomparedheirapproaches.
Finally,it seemednecessary o reconsiderhe formof the essayquestions hemselves. n the pastI hadtendedto relyuponstandard
phrases uchas "comparendcontrast"r"discuss,"whichcontributedlittleto the earning rocess wastryingonurture.herefore,beganbyrestructuringheliteraryormof thequestions,o that heyweremorecongruentwith thecognitivepatterns wastrying o teach.Ina typicalquestion wouldbeginbygiving he students verystrong ndgenerallyunbalanceduotationndaskthem oqualifyt,oftenfrom heperspec-tive of severaldifferent ocialgroups.Forexample, neof thepotentialquestionsorthe firstexamreadas follows:
"The ndustrialevolutionreated nprecedentedmprovementsn thewellbeing fEuropeans.ever efore ad omanyived owell."
While heressome ruthnthisquotation,osthistoriansould greethattreflectsnoversimplifiediewofEuropeanocial istoryntheate18thandearly19th entury.ocusingntheexperiencef three f the
groups elow, omposenessaynwhich oupresent fuller ndmorebalancedicturef the mpactf theIndustrialevolutionndifferentsegmentsfEuropeanociety.
a)Peasantsb)Artisansc)Aristocratsd)TheUpperMiddleClass
Thestructure f the questiontselfwasdesigned o reinforce hebasiclearning atternsf thecourse.Theissueof perspective ppearedwice:
first nthecontrastf different istorians'nterpretationsf thepastand,again,nthedifferentxperiencesf the socialclasses. twasmadequiteclear hatwhatwas atstakewasnotwhetherhequotation asabsolutelytrue or absolutely false. Students were encouragedto think about the
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Beyond "Sorting":TeachingCognitiveSkills in the History Survey 219
mannern whicha statement anbothcontain ruthandbe oversimpli-fied.Finally, heverystructure f thequestionorced hem o assemble
evidence,ratherhansimplystatewhathappened.Thereremained,owever,one lastpiece-the linkingof thesecogni-
tiveprocesses o situations utside he classroom. t wasvery importantforstudents o master heseskillsforsuccess nthis andsimilar lasses,but the ultimatepurposeof suchlearningwas to expand he optionsavailable o students n othercontexts.Therefore, added an extraexercisetoward he endof the class in whichstudentsanalyzed omeeventassociatedwithEurope uringhe semesterntermsof thehistori-cal material overed n the course.Onceagain,studentswereasked o
compareheperspectivef contemporaryournalistsndhistorical ctorswithwhat heythemselveshadgained romstudyingEuropean istory,and heywere asked o supportheirpositionwithconcrete vidence.
In all these aspectsof the course-the simulation,he lectures, he"User'sGuide,"heexams,and hefinalpaper-theissuesofperspectiveandevidenceweredealtwith namyriad f different orms.This redun-
dancyhad threefunctions. n the firstplace, repetitionwas absolutelynecessaryordeep earning, utrepeatinghe samepatternsn the samemannerwouldhavebeenmoreapt oproduce leep hanbasicchangesn
cognitive organization. he presentationf these patterns n severaldifferent"channels" llowedthemto sinkin without nducinguncon-sciousness.Secondly, he presenceof the samemessagein differentforms ncreasedhe ikelihood hatalargenumber f studentswould ake
partin the process.Thatmagical"click"which allows someone to
organize xperiencen a differentmanners triggered yquitedifferentstimulindifferentndividuals.Onestudentmight"see t" n the"User'sGuide," nothermight"heart" nthe ectures,whilea thirdwould"feelit"in thesimulation, nda fourthwouldmakea cognitive hiftthroughsomecombinationf theseexperiences. inally,hepresentationf thesepatternsn manydifferentwaysmade t easier o establish motivationforstayingwiththeprocess.Sincetheywerepresentn everyaspectofthe course, ncluding he examsthemselves,t was easierto convincestudents hat t wasimportanto consider different pproacho readingor totakepart nthesimulation nddiscussions ections.
Atthe endof the semester ll indicationswere hat heexperimentadbeen a success.Whileno "objective"estingwas conducted, andmyteachingassistantswereconvinced hatthe learningprocesshadpro-ceededquitewell. Moralewas quite high,and students eemedto bemuchmoreactively nvolved nthe course. tappearedo be somethingthat heyweredoing,notsomethinghatwashappeningo them.Thereweremanyindications hat,havinga clearer deaof whatwas expectedof
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220 David Pace
them,they weremotivated o studyharder han theirpredecessorsn
previousemesters, nd hat heirexampreparationasmoresystematic
and efficient. The effortsto explainto studentspreciselywhat wasexpectedof themservedto breakdown someof the barriers nd themistrust,whichoftenimpede tudents' ommunication ithprofessorsandteachingassistants.But,it wasthechange n the qualityof examswhichprovidedhemoststrikingndicationhat omethingnthisprocesswas succeeding.The usualproblemsof irrelevantacts, insufficient
support or arguments, nd the failure o articulate thesis were all
considerablyess serious hannpreviousemesters,nd tudents howedmore mprovementcross he semester han nthepast.
Anunintended enefitof thisprojectwasthat t facilitatedommuni-cationwithmy teaching ssistants. he articulationf specificcognitivegoals gaveus a common anguagewith whichto approachhe course.Moreover,whileCox andMendozaweregifted eacherswhowouldhavedone well in any teaching ituation, have reason o believe that thedivisionof the general asksexpectedof students nto small concrete
operationsmade t easier orbothof them ooperatewithin heirdiscus-sionsections.
It was anexhilaratingxperienceosense amajor hangen a course
whichI hadtaughtortwo decades.Thequality f myinteractions ithmystudents,my ability o communicate ithmyteaching ssistants,ndtheperformancef the students n theirexams,all convincedme that
something ignificanthadimprovedn the course.This is enoughto
encourageme to continuen this direction.By consciously ocusingonthe effort to help my studentsacquire he cognitiveskills whichare
necessaryo understand hat want oteach, mayhavebegun olearn,atlast,how tomovebeyond ortingand owardsrue eaching.