OCC GATE ConferenceOctober 19, 2013
Teaching Gifted Learners to Think Like Historians
Tim Mulvehill
Millikan High School, LBUSD
USC, Rossier School of Education
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.