So what's a history teacher to do?
Romanowski urges teachers to support students in critiquing their textbooks and exploring perspectives beyond that of the texts. Teachers can ask their students, for example, to answer this question: "Whose viewpoint is presented, whose omitted, and whose interests are served?" Teachers can have them explore reactions of various Americans to a historical event, such as the attacks of 9/11, including that of the U.S. president, a member of Congress, a relative of a victim, and an Arab-American. Lastly, Romanowski recommends, teachers can use writing assignments to develop students' critical thinking.
Matt Esterman on 24 Nov 12The Historical Thinking Project was designed to foster a new approach to history education - with the potential to shift how teachers teach and how students learn, in line with recent international research on history learning. It revolves around the proposition that historical thinking - like scientific thinking in science instruction and mathematical thinking in math instruction - is central to history instruction and that students should become more competent as historical thinkers as they progress through their schooling.
