In Del Mar, we have been getting professional development on empowering our students to meet the needs of the ever changing job market-i.e. learning the "21st century skills". I think the second tier of the historical method, lends itself to the creation of activities that require students to prepare those higher level thinking skills. In particular, I've been trying to do more of the following: "
Analyzing Causation and Consequence
o Studying the differences between single-causation and multi-causation of the events of the past
o Impact of the consequences of events and decisions of the past, including those that were desired, and those that were unintended
With explorers and early English settlements, this has been the perfect time to use some of the activities (i.e. the graphing of the different explorations/colonizations timeline/chart) that we have learned during this grant to have my students analyze information more instead of it being handed to them or through having them regurgitate facts from the textbook. By graphing when the different explorers and settlers came, and their impacts (both positive and negative), the students are analyzing the effects of exploration and how our country was first discovered and settled.
Your idea about showing multiple causations really hit a nerve. Very smart! I think the kids are getting the linear picture of history from what I am doing, but I am doing them a disservice if I don't allow them to see the bigger picture. But, (as always) with higher level thinking, it is harder to teach. I would rather have the kids get the linear version than nothing at all. I can see a real need for differentiated instruction in this area.
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