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Before you don sackcloth and ashes over the latest NAEP history results, take a deep breath.
Consider the baleful warnings from the first History-Civics NAEP in 1987-88
Or the "limited" performance of American youth on the eve of the 1976 Bicentennial
And this one makes us think twice about that "Greatest Generation."
Now here's a riddle: think about who actually made it to high school in Texas in 1917, the first time a test of historical facts was administered to American students.
The bottom line from 1917:
Go back to granddad and tell him that you are no more ignorant than he was!
But seriously, to paraphrase the ever-thoughtful Michael Schudson, historical knowledge has a way of "seeping into the cultural pores" even if such knowledge is not readily retrievable by "seventeen-year olds answering a quiz."
While we're at it, can we ask Ms. DeVos to take a quiz on the history of voter suppression in the US?
Finally, what does NAEP measure, anyway? @YAppelbaum
…hingtonpost-com.stanford.idm.oclc.org/news/answer-sh…
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Sam Wineburg
@samwineburg
“If it’s in the book it must be right."

An exercise on historical thinking for middle school students (also works for high school too).

[Episode 5, I think, of "Doing worthwhile things with your students during a tough time"] 1/16
This is an exercise about Mrs. Rosa Parks’s heroic decision to hold her ground when she boarded a bus on a fateful day in December, 1955, in Montgomery Alabama.

A simple factual question: where on the bus did Mrs. Parks sit? 2/16
On the surface seems like a pretty narrow question. But it’s a question about establishing fact. And facts these days are, well . . . at risk. So let’s look at what some textbooks say. 3/
Read 16 tweets
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Sam Wineburg
@samwineburg
Why is teaching about historical context so hard?

(thread, followed by exercise for AP & college students) 1/21
Lots of reasons. For one, language.

Not a foreign language. One's own. 2/21
When we hear certain words, a “spread of activation” sets off in memory. Hearing a particular word (“giraffes”) or name (“Joe Exotic”) ignites associations. It happens. It’s automatic. We can’t stop it. 3/21
Read 23 tweets
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Sam Wineburg
@samwineburg
What’s historical thinking? What’s “context”? A quick but worthwhile exercise for your high school and college students. 1/
Seeing words that evoke associations, but pausing long enough to think about the context in which they were uttered, ain’t easy.
Nor is it something that comes naturally to many of us (hmm… reminds of a book I once read)
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