National Standards in Historical Thinking
STANDARD 1 – CHRONOLOGICAL THINKING
- Distinguish between past, present and future time.
- Identify the structure of an historical narrative.
- Establish temporal order in constructing historical narratives of their own.
- Measure and calculate calendar time.
- Interpret data presented in time lines.
- Reconstruct patterns of historical succession and duration.
- Compare alternative models for periodization.
STANDARD II – HISTORICAL COMPREHENSION
- Reconstruct the literal meaning of an historical passage.
- Identify the central question (s) the historical narrative addresses.
- Read historical narratives imaginatively.
- Evidence historical perspectives.
- Draw upon data in historical maps.
- Utilize visual and mathematical data presented in charts, tables, pie and bar graphs, flow chars, Venn diagrams, and other graphic organizers.
- Draw upon visual, literary, and musical sources.
STANDARD III – HISTORICAL ANALYSIS AND INTERPRETATION
- Identify the author or source of the historical document or narrative.
- Compare and contrast differing sets of ideas, values, personalities, behaviors, and institutions.
- Differentiate between historical facts and historical interpretations.
- Consider multiple perspectives.
- Analyze cause – and – effect relationships and multiple causation, including the importance of the individual, the influence of ideas, and the role of chance.
- Challenge arguments of historical inevitability.
- Compare competing historical narratives.
- Hold interpretations of history as tentative.
- Evaluate major debates among historians.
- Hypothesize the influence of the past.
STANDARD IV – HISTORICAL RESEARCH CAPABILITIES
- Formulate historical questions.
- Obtain historical data.
- Interrogate historical data.
- Identify the gaps in the available records, marshal contextual knowledge and perspectives of the time and place, and construct a sound historical interpretation.
STANDARD V – HISTORICAL ISSUES – ANALYSIS AND DECISION-MAKING
- Identify issues and problems in the past.
- Marshal evidence of antecedent circumstances and contemporary factors contributing to problems and alternative courses of action.
- Identify relevant historical antecedents.
- Evaluate alternative courses of action.
- Formulate a position or course of action on an issue and evaluate decisions.