A Systematic Approach to Improve Students' Historical Thinking

THIS ESSAY AIMS TO PROVIDE beginning and experienced history teachers as well as history teaching methods professors with a helpful strategy designed to improve students' knowledge of historical content and competence in historical thinking. It introduces a systematic approach to the use of primary sources which emphasizes the of history, or better yet, the doing of teaching history. It is consistent with the best practices in pedagogy. We base the approach to be discussed on our teaching experiences at the high school and university levels (in content courses and teaching methods courses), a review of literature regarding historical thinking, and our experiences with undergraduate entry-level teachers, graduate students in history, and experienced classroom history teachers. This approach is designed around what we label as First-Order, Second-Order, and Third-Order documents. It provides a systematic way for teachers to engage students in historical thinking. Anecdotal comments of experienced teachers and student teachers illustrate the potential of this approach. One veteran teacher with thirty-four years of experience