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The Pack contains associated resources for the learning experience, typically in the form of articles and videos. There is a teacher Pack (with only teacher information) and a student Pack (which contains only student information). As a teacher, you can toggle between both to see everything.
Here are the teacher pack items for Working Like a Historian:
Overview In this experience, students watch a video explaining what history is and how historians work. Next, they learn about historians’ ways of using time, such as timelines and chronological periods. Then, they compare and contrast history and other social sciences and study examples of historical thinking, particularly cause and effect. Finally, they examine the relationship between history and culture. This experience contains a lot of content. You may choose to teach it over two sessions in order to spend adequate time on the various elements of working like a historian. The experience-wide resource Reading Like a Historian in the Teacher Pack includes five downloadable classroom posters that spell out the critical thinking skills of this content area. You will need to register for a free account to download them. Objectives
Everyone agrees that World War I began in Europe in 1914. But there are lots of ideas about why it began. Knowing what and when and where is only part of being a historian. Knowing why and how is the challenge—and it’s the interesting part. You’ll learn more about that deeper thinking in this experience.
Objectives
Causes of World War I
Notice the caption on the political cartoon: “Causes of World War I.” Then look at the rest of the cartoon. Generally speaking, what do you notice?
Discuss student responses. Guide students to the conclusion that the cartoon reveals that there is no single cause for World War I. Ask students to apply this more broadly to history. Point out that studying history is a lot more complicated than studying facts.
As you watch, use the following table to jot down points that strike you as especially interesting or important.
In the video, what was the “aha” moment for you, when you understood something about history that you hadn’t before? Explain your reasoning.
The video clip focuses on the scientific and argumentative aspects of historical thinking. The earlier portion of the video focuses on the storytelling aspect. Recommend the entire video to interested students.
