Good NewsBad News

• Good: You were overpaid by $275 this year!

• Year 1 - $1675 total, $837.50 Summer Institute, $104.68 each Saturday session

• Discrepancy between grant proposal and actual budget; the wrong total was listed; we decided to keep paying because this is what we promised

• Bad: We’ll go broke if we continue and I may go to jail

• Year 2 - $1400 total, $600 Summer Institute, $100 each Saturday session

Students as Historical

Detectives

Students as Historical

DetectivesDr. Mark J. Stout, Curriculum Coordinator of Social Studies

History Research

• As you have seen or will see in your readings, research over the past 15 years on teaching and learning history has focused on the processes of historical thinking

• The focus of Year 2 will be on the use of Primary Source Materials in the classroom

• We want you to begin integrating primary source materials with your students and teaching them historical thinking skills

Issues...

• What are some issues related to the use of primary source documents in the classroom?

• Why would a teacher avoid involving students in a historical-investigations approach?

Students as Historical Detectives• The most common concern among teachers

in using primary source materials is that is complicates “content coverage”

• In what ways does a teacher resolve the potential conflict between coverage demands and alternative teaching approaches as they teach history using a historical-investigation approach?

Students as Historical Detectives• This was one of the key research questions in

my study, Students as Historical Detectives: The Effects of an Inquiry Teaching Approach on Middle School Students’ Understanding of Historical Ideas and Concepts

• My idea: Restructure Objectives into Investigative Questions

• Students then engage in a historical investigation around these questions, using mostly primary source materials

Study

• 3 months in an 8th grade classroom; January - March, 2003

• Diverse school and class: 6 white, 6 black, 3 Hispanic, 3 Asian, 1 Asian/white

• Heterogenously grouped class; A/B block schedule (hated it)

• Unit -- Constitution and New Governments

How?• Students worked in groups of 3-4

• I developed “Investigative Packets” (a manila folder) with key documents/images/maps/graphs/data

• Each group was given a different part of the big question

• Inquiry guide sheets and work forms provided guidance/structure for their investigative work

• Large group instruction focused on setting the context and establishing an understanding of key themes

Example

• Identify and explain several key compromises that were necessary in order for the Constitution to receive approval. 852.02 (Essential Curriculum)

• IQ: What factors made the task to form a different government so difficult?

• This is broader and naturally leads students to construct their own understandings

Structure• Setting the Context -- whole class: “Why is it

important to count people?”

• Examining the Evidence -- cooperative groups: “Census data by region in 1790”

• Constructing Interpretations and Formulating Theories -- cooperative groups: Develop a “resolution” to resolve the issue

• Develop a Critical Interpretation -- Cooperative groups: “Political cartoons” Individual: “How do your interpretations compare to those of a historian?”

Mary: My group came up with the conclusion that some large

populations may contain a high percentage of slaves, which results in

them not being able to vote because their [sic] not citizens…Our group

came up with the conclusion that slaves [should] be able to vote or count

a certain amount of the population.

Key Findings

• Three themes primary emerged in the analysis of data collected during the study.

• Shifting the Culture of Learning

• Reading Primary Sources

• Historical Understandings

Shifting the Culture of Learning

• Students were unfamiliar with the concept of historical interpretation -- saw history as a set of unquestioned facts based on textbook materials

• Students lacked confidence in their own ability to interpret historical events

• They were not accustomed to working in teams over any length of time to solve problems

Reading Primary Sources

• Students were challenged with the language in primary source documents

• Did better when given chunks of text carefully chosen for both interest and relation to the topic

• Combining text with visual images, maps, and statistical data helped them to make connections

• Spent time carefully setting the context for understanding prior to reading

Historical Understandings

• Students understood history in ways that students in other history classrooms did not

• Saw history as an interpretive process rather than as a set of unquestioned facts

• Began to question sources in terms of reliability and perspective

• Need to teach historiography/historical thinking skills

Historical Understandings

• History is pieces of puzzles put together by a historian. If one piece is missing, the whole “puzzle” could be misinterpreted. Speaking of interpretations, history is also an opinion. In your opinion you could include what actually happened, who was involved, where did it happen, when did it happen, and why it happened the way it did and how. (Brent)

January and Brent’s original thoughts to “History is...”

January and Antonio’s original thoughts• History is a lot of documents, scenes, and important things that

took place back in the early ages….History is many copycats and one truth. For instance, a textbook is all secondary documents. A letter from the 1900’s a primary document. The difference is secondary is rewritten and [re]worded, primary is real and uncopied… (Antonio)

Boston Massacre• How did it start? What did the colonists do?

What did the soldiers do?

• How many people died?

• Who was at fault?

• What evidence was used to reach conclusions?

• The Referential Illusion: The textbook gives the illusion that it is a reference book, but it provides no sources and is authored by a person or persons

The kids said...

• Me: What does this tell you about textbooks?

• Antonio: They all have different perspectives and points of view.

• Me: Do you ever think that your textbook maybe isn’t telling you everything?

• Kiki: I just wanted to say that sometimes some of the old time books aren’t as good as the newer ones because we’re still finding out today about things that happened hundreds or thousands of years ago.

CLASS OBSERVATIONS ABOUT DOCUMENTBroadside -- Boycott of William Jackson

•Flier to boycott a person; maybe linked to stamp act•Person is named William Jackson; he is an importer•It has multiple dates; the 1641 date might be a catalog number; the earliest date is January, 1770•There are crease marks, like it has been folded; there are marks and stains on it•It might have been posted somewhere; nail hole•It is kind of like a news article•It is kind of like a letter•It is kind of like a prayer because it says “Amen”•It uses different fonts; some words are all capitals to highlight their importance•Lower case “s” sometimes looks like an “f,” and sometimes does not(Overhead notes, 1-12-03)

Citation for StudyCitation for Study

• Stout, M.J. (2004). Students as Historical Detectives: The Effects of an Inquiry Teaching Approach on Middle School Students’ Understanding of Historical Ideas and Concepts. University of Maryland College Park; UMI Dissertation Services.

Please...• You have our permission to pursue historical

instruction based on an investigative approach that requires students to develop interpretations of the past based on their analysis of primary sources and secondary sources

• I think you can do this and still cover the curriculum

• I’ll deal with any issues surrounding local assessment scores at the secondary level