Encouraging students to use these historical thinking strategies is a way to engage them in critical thinking and evaluate information they see, hear, and read.

  1. Establish historical significance
  2. Use primary source evidence
  3. Identify continuity and change
  4. Analyze cause and consequence
  5. Take historical perspectives, and
  6. Understand the ethical dimension of historical interpretations

 

These distinct but interrelated strategies are all tools for students and learners in general to evaluate information through a more critical lens. This is a way to gain deeper understanding of historical events and better assess the legitimacy of certain historical claims. Was primary source evidence used, what perspective is the information being written from? Questions like these open the door for more informed citizens who can critically think for themselves.

 

I am including our KWL chart here as an example of something that can be engaged to promote critical literacy. First finding out what students know can give you a starting point, and give you an idea of what preconceived ideas they may already have. Getting them to fill in the “wonder” section allows you to see what direction their inquiry will take. Using the historical thinking strategies will help engage students to find different resources with varying perspectives, compare the information they find, and use critical thinking to synthesize what they have learned.