Teaching Historical Inquiry with Objects: Applying C3 Tools to develop “Historical Thinking”

Social Studies education is based on three fundamental domains of subject matter: topical content, conceptual content, and disciplinary skills. These three domains together help students learn how to think like historians.

Developing historical thinking requires students to practice applying disciplinary concepts such as continuity and change, contextualization, perspectives, the use of historical sources and evidence, and causation and argumentation.

Continuity and Change Over Time, Contextualization

Continuity and change over time and contextualization focus on the following:

• Chronology of events: Historians do not view events in isolation. Instead, they take stock of the events that occurred before, during, and after a particular event to better understand the event.
• Similarities and differences: Historians analyze the similarities and differences between historical periods. This constitutes not only change over time, which students often find easy to articulate, but also continuity over time. It is equally as important to discuss what has not changed in addition to what changed.
• Contextualization: Historians also analyze how changes in one aspect of life relate to changes in other aspects. For example, a political change could lead to an economic change, as political parties prioritize different parts of the economy. Other aspects of life could be intellectual, social, cultural, etc.

Perspectives

Historians put themselves in the shoes of the people of the past to study their ideas, attitudes, and beliefs. Developing empathy with those in the past helps modern-day people understand their actions. We can't judge the actions of the people of the past by using the standards of today. This skill can help students not only understand historical people but they can also practice developing empathy for people of today.

Historical Sources and Evidence

Historians use documents, artifacts, oral accounts, and even DNA to learn about the past. Students must practice using evidence to support a claim, as this is important in more disciplines than just Social Studies.

Causation and Argumentation

Historians understand that historical events don't just happen on their own. There are prior conditions that lead to each event and each event has its own consequences. Students often think about historical events as inevitable but they are, in fact, the results of individual decisions and not unavoidable.

In My Own Practice...

My students and I use the HIPP strategy for analyzing sources every time that we look at a new document. The strategy requires students to determine the historical context, intended audience, purpose, and point of view of a source. Additional research is often needed to supply an answer for all four parts of the strategy, especially the historical context. Completing a HIPP analysis every time we look at a new source helps students practice these valuable skills.