Historical thinking workshop pita langley conference 23 10-2015

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In order for teachers to understand history as a
discipline and be able to teach it that way, they
will have to engage it as a verb – they have to
do it.
- Alan Sears, “Moving from the Peripherary to the
Core“, Becoming a History Teacher

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Making History Meaningful
Tom Morton (GuyLafleur64 - www.slideshare.net)
Keywords: Historical Thinking, PITA, Langley, 2015

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www.bcheritagefairs.ca
Learning Intentions:
• I have a better understanding of
how inquiry and historical thinking
can help make history meaningful.
• I have a better understanding of
how Heritage Fairs can do the same.
• I will be curious to learn more and
try out some of the approaches.

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The Fourfold Challenge to Teaching
History: Purpose
I think that it is in the
curriculum because
people need to learn
about it.
If you want to do
something to do with
history it is important
but if you don’t I
don’t know.
I don’t know or care.
I don’t know, but it helps you on
quiz shows and pub quizzes.
They don’t tell us why.
Because it gives you an idea about
human nature, the same as
citzenship, and provides a basis for
understanding the way the world is
today.

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The Fourfold Challenge: Connection
• Canadians and Their Pasts, a telephone survey of
3,419 adult residents of Canada found that family
history was seen by Canadians as by far the most
important aspect of the past and "'autobiographical
memory,' a personal version of history is a first step
in the development of a 'usable past.'” Yet beyond the
primary grades it has not a feature of provincial
curriculum. The new curriculum gives some flexibility.
• Student understanding is often “piecemeal and
confused”, unconnected to the big ideas in history or a
larger narrative.

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Fourfold Challenge: knowledge

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Fourfold Challenge: Engagement

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Six Concepts of Historical Thinking:
To think historically, students need
to be able to:
• Establish historical significance
• Use primary source evidence
• Identify continuity and change
• Analyze cause and consequence
• Take historical perspectives, and
• Understand the ethical
dimension of historical
interpretations.

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How historical thinking can make history
purposeful, coherent, and engaging:
• Students understand the purpose of a topic, project, or
learning goal through exploration of concepts of historical
significance and cause and consequence.
• Students connect their personal and local history to larger
narratives and see the connections amongst events over
time — the “big picture” of change and continuity.
• Students develop curiosity about the past and through
the concept of evidence follow that curiosity.
• Students study the ethical dimension, questions of fairness
that they care about and consider how we should respond
to past sacrifices and historic wrongs.

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Introduction to the Concept of Evidence
and Inquiry: I Left a Trace
1. Jot down everything that
you have done in the last 24
hours.
(that would be appropriate for
discussion.)

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2. Make a list of traces that might
have been left from your life during
the past 24 hours.
3. Check ✓ those that were likely
to have been preserved.

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1. How well could a biographer 50 years from now
write the story of your 24 hours based on the
traces you left? How much of what happened
would be left out? What aspects of the story
might the biographer miss?
2. Where else could he or she turn for evidence?
3. How could readers of the biography know if it
was an accurate account?
4. What does this exercise tell us about the
challenges historians face when writing histories?

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“the past as a series of events is utterly
gone . . . some remnants remain like litter
from a picnic, but these material remains
never speak for themselves. In fact they are
inert traces until someone asks a question
that turns them into evidence.”
- Joyce Appleby, “The Power of History”

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The Problem: The past is gone. We do not
have direct access to it.
How do we know what we know about the
past?
What stories should we believe?
Concept: Evidence

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The Life of a World War One Fighter Pilot: What
does the book tell us about the life of the
people in the photographs?

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Working with traces from the past and the concept
of evidence has the potential to build curiosity for
a more in depth inquiry such as a Heritage Fair
project and develop useable habits or skills.

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Elements of Evidence
• History is intepretation based on inferences made
from primary sources.
• Asking good questions about a source can turn it
into evidence.
• Interpretation also involves sourcing: inferring the
purpose, values, and worldview of a source’s creator.
• A source should be analyzed in relation to its
context.
• Inferences should always be corroborated—checked
against other sources (primary and secondary).

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Experts do those things, but only because their
mental toolbox enables them to do so. The only
path to expertise as far as anyone knows involves
long, focused practice.
(Daniel Willingham, Why Don’t Students Like School?)

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Visual Analysis: Inferencing
What can we infer from this trace of the past about
the historical context, the photographic situation,
and the situation of Blacks in Victoria at this time?
Victoria Pioneer Rifle Corps. Photographer: UNDETERMINED
Date: [186-] Photo C-06124 courtesy BC Archives

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Victoria Pioneer Rifle Corps, also known at the time as Sir James Douglas' Coloured Regiment.
Photographer: UNDETERMINED Date: [186-] Photo C-06124 courtesy BC Archives

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No Frills Steps in an Inquiry:
• Kindle curiosity – « some perplexity, confusion,
or doubt » (John Dewey)
• Establish some knowledge base
• For Heritage Fairs: Decide on a topic to explore
• Develop question(s)
• Pose first hypothesis and reflect on certainty
• Explore further evidence
• Refine hypothesis and so on as time and interest
permit
• Present to an audience

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Context
• The Fraser River and Cariboo Gold Rushes (1858 –
1862) attracted tens of thousands of mostly
American miners.
• Governor James Douglas invited free Blacks living in
San Francisco to settle in Victoria and several
hundred did so. They soon began farming and
opening various businesses.
• The colony of British Columbia was formed in 1858.
• In 1859 a dispute between Britain and the United
States over possession of the San Juan Islands (in
what is now the Salish Sea) led to the Pig War.

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Question Generation 1 – Question
Formation Technique (AKA: Brainstorming)
• Ask as many questions as you can.
• Do not stop to discuss, judge, or answer the
questions.
• Write down every question exactly as it is stated.
• Change any statement into a question.
(Rothstein and Santana, Make Just One Change)

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Question Generation 2: Brainstorming
with Prompts
1. Brainstorm a list of at least 12 questions about
the topic or source. Use these question-starters
to help you think of interesting questions:
– Why…?
– How…?
– How is this connected to…?
– What happened as a result of…?
– What did… think about…?

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2. Review the brainstormed list and star the
questions that seem most interesting and
important. Then, select one or two starred
questions and be ready to present these to the
class.
3. Reflect: How do you know you have a good
question? Would it make a good Heritage Fairs
project? What possible answer do you have to
your question? Where could you go to learn more
and test your answer?

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Criteria for Good Inquiry Questions
• They are worth answering (lead to deeper
understanding of history; authentic)
• They are broadly engaging (for teacher inquiries)
• Students care about them – they see the purpose
in answering them
• They can be answered, though the answer may
be contested or difficult (and this may need
teacher support if this is the case)

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Ways to Support Students to Generate
Questions:
• Look at models, e.g., www.bcheritagefairs.ca
portfolio
• Supply prompts
• Use engaging sources to build curiosity
• Brainstorm questions
• Give or create criteria for powerful questions
• Make a Wonder Wall of Questions
• Plan for peer and teacher feedback
• Practise with small inquiries
• Have students choose one question; you choose
another

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Why was this photograph of the Pioneer Rifles taken?

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Reflection on Certainty: Clothesline
www.thinkinghistory.co.uk -
© Ian Dawson 2009
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How certain are you about
your answer/hypothesis?
UNCERTAIN?
CERTAIN?

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How certain are you about your
hypothesis?
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What words do
students need to use?
Maybe
Not sure
Possibly
Perhaps
Most likelyWhat phrases?
This source suggests…
This photo confirms the idea that…
I chose these two pictures to show…

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Corroboration with further evidence:
Sophia Cracroft, niece and travelling companion of Lady Jane Franklin, who
was visiting Victoria in 1861, wrote in a letter:
"At 5 o'clock the Bishop came to be present at the visits of the
coloured people who had asked my Aunt to see them… The
first was Mr. Gibbs, a most respectable merchant who is rising
fast. His manner is exceedingly good, & his way of speaking
quite refined. He is not quite black, but his hair is I believe
short & crisp. Three other men arrived after him … (T)hey
were the Captain & other officers of a Coloured Rifle Corps, &
the Captain proceeded to speak very feelingly of the
prejudices existing here even, against their colour.

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He said they knew it was because of the strong American
element which entered into the community, which however
they hoped one day to see overpowered by the English one: -
that they had come here hoping to find that true freedom
which could be enjoyed only under English privileges...
… They naturally detest America, & this Rifle corps has been
formed by them really with the view of resisting American
aggression, such as this San Juan alarm, still pending.
As he went out, the Captain said 'Depend upon it, Madam, if
Uncle Sam goes too far, we shall be able to give a good
account of ourselves.'"
(cited in Crawford Killian, Go Do Some Great Thing: the Black Pioneers of
British Columbia. (1978) Vancouver: Douglas and McIntyre, 78.)

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• Does this new context support your
understanding, challenge it, or expand it?
• What other questions do you have about the
photographic situation, the Victoria Pioneer
Rifles, or the position of Blacks in Victoria at this
time?

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Concept: Historical Significance
The problem: We can’t remember or learn or
cover everything that ever happened. How do we
decide what is important to learn about the past?
“Historical significance”: the principles behind the
selection of what and who should be remembered,
researched, taught and learned about the past.

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What was the most significant event in the
history of the Downtown Eastside?

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Why remember these forgotten streets?

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Seixas and Morton, The Big Six Historical
Thinking Concepts (Nelson, 2013)

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Should the Victoria Pioneer Rifles be in our
textbooks? On what grounds?

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Working with historical significance:
Diamond Ranking
Most
Least

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Who were the most historically
significant during British Columbia’s
Gold Rushes?
• James Douglas
• Amelia Douglas
• Matthew Begbie
• Chief Spintlum
• Royal Engineers
• Victoria Pioneer
Rifles
• Hurdy Gurdy Girls
• Billy Barker

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Question Stems for Historical
Significance (aka: so-what or who-
cares questions:
• What was so special about X?
• Why should everyone remember X?
• Does X deserve to be famous?
• Why was X forgotten?

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Change and Continuity
“Come on, Bart. History can be fun. It’s like an
amusement park except instead of rides, you get
to memorize dates.”
—Marge Simpson in “Margical History Tour,” an episode
of The Simpsons that aired on December 22, 2004

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Making History Meaningful
by Building Connections:
Exploring Continuity and
Change through Enhanced
Timelines

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Human Timeline
• Begin with events, then add dates, people and
time periods. Ask them how they will represent
periods or events that stretch over time such as
residential schools.
• Use cards, posters or tabards with visual images.
• If you have one big timeline, have students stand
in a slight crescent so everyone can see everyone
else. A straight line doesn’t work for visibility.
• Try two timelines face to face so students can
compare.
(adapted from Ian Dawson, Thinking History)

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• If you don’t have enough students in your class
use chairs or stuffed toys to make up the
numbers or to increase the length of the line.
• Finally, stick the whole thing on the wall (with
blu-tack, so you can take it down and get them
to do it again in a few weeks – "Oh look kids, the
cleaners have taken down our timeline – we need
to put it up again.”)

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Timeline Story Telling
• As with the human timeline but in a small
group, give students assorted cards with
events, people, and trends to place in
chronological order. Add dates.
• Ask them to choose X number of events,
people, and trends to construct a story; ask
them to add some more to expand the story.
• Compare stories amongst groups. Treat these
as hypotheses to be investigated further and
retold later.

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Understanding Continuity and Change
1. Continuity and change are interwoven.
2. Change is a process with varying paces and
patterns.
3. Progress and decline are ways of evaluating
change. Progress for one people may be decline
for another.
4. Periodization helps us organize our thinking
about continuity and change.

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Daredevils at Niagara Falls
Throughout the Past Century

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Questions stems for Continuity and
Change
• A flood of foreigners, wars both serious and silly,
environmental destruction, fortunes made and
lost. This was a time of radical change but what
stayed the same during the Gold Rush?
• What kind of a change was the Gold Rush?
• Did the Pacific Northwest change for the better as
a result of the Gold Rush?
• When did British Columbia become British?

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What inquiry questions
about continuity and
change could we ask
about these
photographs?
Ladner Public School interior. -
[ca. 1920] George Campbell
Fonds
Delta Junior High School Class. -- [1977?]
Beatrice and William Cain fonds

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Other Historical Thinking Concepts:

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Cause and Consequence
Few things can be more fascinating to
students than unpeeling the often
dramatic complications of cause. And
nothing is more poisonous to whole
societies than a simple, monocausal
explanation of their past experiences and
present problems.
(Lessons from History, The National
Center for History in the Schools.)

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John McMillan was a
teacher at the Moodyville
school from 1900 to
1902. He woke up one
morning to find the apple
tree in front of his house
covered in dead snakes.
What might explain this
mystery? What
hypotheses do you have?
Photo courtesy North Vancouver
Museum and Archives
Snakes in the Tree

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• How did the Hudson’s Bay Company influence
Canada?
• How did the Gold Rush shape British Columbia?
• Which Gold Rush had more significant impact on
Canada’s history: the Fraser River Gold Rush or
the Klondike Gold Rush?
• What were the underlying causes of Canada’s
policy towards Jewish refugees?
• Why were the Japanese interned in WW II?
Cause and consequence questions from
Heritage Fair projects

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Historical Perspective-Taking
asks us not to judge the past by today’s
standards.
How can we better understand the
foreignness of the past, and the different
social, cultural, intellectual, and even
emotional contexts that shaped people’s
lives and actions in the past?

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Historical Perspective Taking
What is
happening in
these photos?
What is your
feeling about
this?

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• Why did so many people join the gold rush
when they knew that the trip was hard and
that conditions in the mining towns were
bad?
• How did Europeans and Aboriginal peoples
look upon the early exploration of Canada?
• Why did the government ban the potlatch
and how did the First Nations react?
Historical perspective taking questions
from Heritage Fair projects

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The Ethical Dimension
(T)he ethical dimension of historical thinking
helps to imbue the study of history with
meaning. Remembrance of heroes’
sacrifices, memorials to history’s victims,
reparations for mass crimes, and restitution
for stolen goods and ruined lives are all
attempts to come to terms with the past in
the present.
(Seixas and Morton, The Big Six Historical Thinking Concepts)

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The Ethical Dimension
How can history help us to live in the
present?

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• Was the Prime Minister’s apology for the abusive
treatment of Aboriginal people in residential
schools enough?
• Are there any possible lessons learned from the
internment of Japanese-Canadians?
• Should Canada participate in wars or is peace-
keeping the best solution?
• Was Farley Mowat justified in twisting the truth?
Ethical judgment questions from
Heritage Fair projects

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References:
historicalthinking.ca/
www.nelson.com/

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tc2.ca/history.php
www.bcheritagefairs.ca/enric
hing-heritage-fairs/

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Reflection (discuss in whatever order you wish):
• What questions do you have about what we have
explored or what we have left out?
• What concept or approach do you want to put
into practice?
• How will you introduce it?
• What pitfalls or barriers might you encounter and
how could you work around them?
• What more might you do to build curiosity,
connections, purpose, or engagement?

Historical thinking workshop pita langley conference 23 10-2015

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