1. Historical Thinking: how do
you teach it, how do you
assess it?
•How can teachers evaluate their students’
use of the historical thinking concepts?
•How can teachers manage their time to
teach these concepts as well as the historical
content?
•We will discuss good, better, and best use of
these concepts through hands-on classroom
ready activities, to help teachers begin to
incorporate and evaluate student success.

2. What are Concepts and How do
they Work?

3. Why Metacognition?
• How do they help students control their
learning?
• What happens when we don't pay
attention to it?
• Assessing and evaluating student use of
the historical thinking concepts

4. What does research tell us about
the ideas that students bring to the
classroom?
“Students come to the classroom with
preconceptions…
If
their
initial
understanding is not engaged they may
fail to grasp the new concepts and
information that they are taught…”
(The first principle of: How People Learn: Brain,
Mind, Experience, and School. National
Research Council, 2000, Washington DC.)

5. Ros Ashby asked Students to think about
Primary Sources
•“How did the painter know they were dressed like
that?”
source 1
•“How did the painter know what the landing of the
pilgrams looked like, if he was not there?”
•“In source 2 it looks like the arrive at day but source
1 it looks like they arrive at night?”
source 2
•“How did they know what the
Mayflower looked like and how bad or
good the weather was?”
•“How did the artist know what the
Mayflower looked like because he drew

6. Problem: all responses reveal that
the students see the Primary
Sources (paintings) as testimony
Challenge: move students to think
about the Primary Sources as
Evidence of the changing
significance of the Mayflower

7. Teacher reads out a student’s reflection and asks
for class response
• “I think the Indians are in the picture to show
they were there first”
• “Art isn’t always total fact it’s usually symbolism… that these Native Americans
are here first and it’s not really the Pilgrims land at all”

8. Teacher asks, “what would we need to know
to interpret the painting?”
• “What period of time it was painted and
whereabouts it was painted. They could be
changed with society, like giving into [predominant
ideas] because like most people…were white, so
he wanted to paint the white people as great… ”

9. Student Preconceptions of
Historical Thinking Concepts
• Students were taught to apply the concept
of Significance in Heritage Fair projects
• Often other historical thinking concepts
appeared to be involved in student
responses to questions even though they
were not explicitly taught the concepts
• Embedded Concepts within Significance:
Cause and Consequence; Change and
Continuity

10. Significance = Importance
TOC 2013 page 130
• Historical importance is determined generally
by the impact of something on a group of
people and whether its effects are long
lasting.
• …something that is historically significant for
one group may not be significant for another.
• Significance may also be determined by the
relevance of something from the past,
including how it connects to a current issue or
event.

11. Cause and Consequence
“Fleming’s creation of standard time zones made traveling
around the world much easier … He was the reason for bring
more immigrants to the prairies” Hw was the main reason for
British Columbia to enter Confederation … Fleming had
helped Canadians save their electricity bill and resources by
turning their clocks an hour forward in the summer”

12. Do you think that Canada would be different if the
person/event described in your project did not exist?
• “If Laura Secord did not do what she did, Canada may not
have electricity because Niagara Falls would have been
captured by the Americans.”
[Misled by a causal question. The question should have focused on
Significance: why does the person/event resonate today?]
Why is this topic important to you personally and
why should it be important to other people?
• “Terry Fox was an important person because he raised
money to fight cancer. Because of him we now have
cures for certain kinds of cancers. Terry Fox has saved
the lives of many children who were dying of cancer.”
[No causal question, but student resorts to causal explanation]

13. What aspect of the Concept Significance was used?

14. How do we promote Rich
concepts in the New
Curriculum?
How do we avoid
Preconceptions?
•
•
•
•
•
Significance
Change and Continuity
Cause and Consequence
Historical Perspective-Taking
Evidence

15. B1. analyse aspects of the lives of various
groups in Canada between 1800 and 1850,
Framing Questions
• What can we learn from the ways in which
people met challenges in the past?
• Why is it important to consider various
perspectives when analysing events or
issues?
• What types of forces can bring about
change?
TOC 2013 page 137

16. Cause/Agency/Consequence

17. Traditional:
Change and Continuity
Then
Now

18. [B1. ] and compare them to the lives of people in
Canada in 1713–1800 TOC 2013 page 137
Change and Continuity
1713–1800
- Slavery in
Canada
- Enslaved
escaped from
Canada to the
Northern Free
States
-British law not
enforced in
Canada
1800–1850
- What was the
turning point that
marked the
Change?
-What continued
between periods
that slowed
change?
- Slavery
abolished in
Canada
- Underground
Railroad reverses
direction going
from the U.S. to
Canada
-Blacks staking
rights in Canada

19. B1. assess key similarities and differences between
Canada in 1890– 1914 and in the present day, with
reference to the experiences of and major challenges
facing different groups and/or individuals and to some of
the actions Canadians have taken to improve their lives
Framing Questions
• In what ways are Canadian rights and freedoms
a result of the struggles of people in the past?
• What are some ways in which different people
respond to challenges and create change?
• What role has diversity played in the
development of Canada?
TOC 2013 page 147

20. Cause/Agency/Consequence
Head Tax
Riots against
Chinese mines
and Shops
Chinese form
mutual benefit
societies
Laws made to
restrict Chinese
businesses
Chinese solicits
help from
government in
China
Chinese not
allowed to study
in professional
schools
The community
forms alliances
with Christian
churches
What role has
diversity played in
the development
of Canada?

21. Primary sources
http://www.collectionscanada.gc.ca/canadiens-chinois/021022-1400-e.html

22. Historical Perspectives
The right – hand group as one
faces the memorial shows chiefs of
the Mohawk, Tuscarora, and
Oneida Nations, furnished with the
scalping knife, spear, and pipe of
peace. The left-hand group shows
the Seneca, Onondaga, and
Cayuga Natives, with the bow and
arrows, war-club, and flintlock gun.
The trophies consist of artistic
arrangements of their weapons and
instruments, including snowshoes
and lacrosse sticks. The totems of
the Six Nations, the bear, the wolf
and the tortoise, are introduced in
the memorial, especially at the
request of the Indians themselves.
http://www.uelac.org/Loyalist
“What are some ways in
which different people
respond to challenges
and create change?“
How would FNMI and non-FNMI people
see this statue?

23. Historical Perspectives / evidence-based
inferences Use historical context to
The right – hand group as
one faces the memorial
shows chiefs of the
Mohawk, Tuscarora, and
Oneida Nations, furnished
with the scalping knife,
spear, and pipe of peace.
The left-hand group
shows the Seneca,
Onondaga, and Cayuga
Natives, with the bow and
arrows, war-club, and
flintlock gun. The trophies
consist of artistic
arrangements of their
weapons and instruments,
including snowshoes and
lacrosse sticks. The
totems of the Six Nations,
the bear, the wolf and the
tortoise, are introduced in
the memorial, especially
at the request of the
Indians themselves.
http://www.uelac.org/Loyal
ist
make inferences on
Perspective: What was
happening at the time?
In 1886, Louis O’soup, Peter
Hourie, Mistawasis,
Kahkewistahaw, and
Atakaoop, a group of chiefs
from the Western Prairies
were taken East to the
unveiling of Brant’s statue.
How would FNMI and nonFNMI people see this
statue today?
How does
knowing the context help
you understand how both
groups may have seen this
differently in the past?
Create tableaus for each.

24. Primary Source Evidence
-Who is the author of the photo
-Why was it created? Was the purpose
positive or negative?
-What is it telling the audience
-Who would be the audience and
why would they be interested?
-How does the source show the
Chinese Canadian community in transition?
-What values do this source reveal
about the Chinese at this time?
Contextualize the source: Liang,
the Chinese political activist visits
a Chinese Community
organization in Canada

25. •
http://interactivepdf.uniflip.com/2/10582/299582/pub/

27. References
• Benchmarks of Historical Thinking is a project of the
Centre for the Study of Historical Consciousness, the
Historica Foundation, and supported by the Canadian
Council on Learning <http://www.historicalthinking.ca>
• How Students Learn: History in the Classroom. National
Research Council, 2005, Washington DC.)
• Counsell, C. (2004) 'Looking through a Josephine-Butlershaped window', Teaching History, 114, Making History
Personal Edition (March), The Historical Association.