Developing Critical and Historical Thinking Skills in Middle Grades Social Studies

Far too often, social studies is seen as boring and is typically rated as the least favorite subject of K-12 students (Allen, 1994; Black & Blake, 2001; Jensen, 2001; Zhao & Hoge, 2005). However, many of the top-grossing films released each year and countless popular television shows contain historical plots and social studies elements. In addition, many best-selling video games have themes based on significant social and historical events. Given the popularity of social studies outside the classroom, why is it so unpopular in the classroom? Much of the distaste for social studies, particularly history, in the K-12 classroom stems from the way it is taught. The traditional way history is taught-as series of lectures, textbook reading, note memorizing, and test taking-is not only boring to students (Fertig, 2005), it is also ineffective in garnering real historical learning (Scheuerell, 2007). History teachers must encourage students to think historically (Wineburg, 2001), which involves interpreting and analyzing historical artifacts and primary sources and constructing and critiquing narratives about the past. Moreover, students should have multiple opportunities to engage in authentic social studies learning (Levstik & Barton, 2005; O'Brien & White, 2006; White, O'Brien, Hileman, Mortensen, & Smith, 2006; Okolo, Ferretti, & MacArthur, 2007) and critical thinking (Fuchs, 2006; Goldenberg & Tally, 2005; National Council for the Social Studies [NCSS], 2008). When students engage in critical thinking, they should take part in "the kind of thinking involved in solving problems, formulating inferences, calculating likelihoods, and making decisions" (Halpern, 2007, p. 6). A foundation for thinking critically and historically must be developed by the time students reach the middle grades to make students more perceptive and discriminating consumers when faced with lectures, note taking, textbook reading, and other didactic modes of instruction in high school and college classrooms. Furthermore, students who leave the middle grades with strong critical and historical thinking skills will be able to build on this foundation in high school and beyond (Facione, 2004). However, the dual skills of critical and historical thinking must be consciously taught and learned, as they do not develop in isolation on their own (Rudd, 2007; Schuster, 2008). What follows are descriptions of lessons within a mini-unit created to help middle grades students develop a foundation for historical and critical thinking. The lessons were aimed at assisting students in thinking historically, giving students opportunities to analyze multiple perspectives, allowing them to discover the necessity of using multiple sources when conducting research, and guiding them in learning how to construct historical narratives through the creation of a digital historical biography. What is a historian and what are primary sources? In the first portion of the mini-unit, the teacher allowed students to gain a better appreciation for the role of a historian and the sources historians use to construct historical narratives. As the students entered the classroom, the words historian and primary sources were written across the dry erase board. The students were then asked to define these two terms using their own words or by drawing pictures. After approximately two minutes, the teacher asked the students, "What is a historian? " A couple of students suggested that a historian was an actual historical figure or person that historians would study; one student answered that a historian is someone who knows about history. Next, the students were asked to think about what primary sources are. They had a wide array of answers, but the most common were "sources we use," "sources we get," "sources used long ago," and "sources that historians need. " As these are common misconceptions when discussing the work of social scientists with novice historical thinkers, one way to begin the process of understanding these terms is by taking students on a "mindwalk" (Library of Congress, 2002). …