Historical Thinking Skills: Students use of historical thinking skills will be assessed throughout the exam.
I. Chronological Reasoning
a. Historical Causation- students will examine relationships between causes and consequences of events or processes. Long Essay Focus
Students should be able to…
-Compare causes and/or effects, including between short and long term effects.
-Analyze and evaluate the interaction of multiple causes and effects.
-Assess historical contingency by distinguishing among coincidence, causation,
and correlation, as well as critiquing existing interpretations of cause and effect.
b. Patterns of Continuity and Change over time – students will identify and analyze patterns of continuity and change over time and connect them to larger historical processes and themes. Long Essay Focus
Students should be able to…
-Analyze and evaluate historical patterns of continuity and change over time
-Connect patterns of continuity and change over time to larger historical processes or themes
c. Periodization – students will investigate and construct different models of historical periodization. Long Essay Focus
Students should be able to…
-Explain ways that historical events and processes can be organized within blocks of time.
-Analyze and evaluate competing models of periodization of U. S. history.
II. Comparison and Contextualization
a. Comparison – students will compare historical developments across or within societies in various chronological and geographical contexts. Long Essay Focus
Students should be able to…
-Compare related historical developments and processes across place, time, and/or different societies or within one society
-Explain and evaluate multiple and differing perspectives on a given phenomenon
b. Contextualization – students will connect historical developments to specific circumstances of time and place, and to broader regional, national, or global processes.
Students should be able to…
-Explain and evaluate ways in which specific historical phenomena, events, or processes connect to broader regional, national, or global processes occurring at the same time.
-Explain and evaluate ways in which a phenomenon, event, or process connects to other, similar historical phenomena across time and place.
III. Crafting Historical Arguments from Historical Evidence
a. Historical Argumentation-Students will develop coherent written arguments that have a thesis supported by relevant historical evidence.
Students should be able to…
-Analyze commonly accepted historical arguments and explain how an argument has been constructed from historical evidence.
-Construct convincing interpretations through analysis of disparate, relevant historical evidence.
-Evaluate and synthesize conflicting historical evidence to construct persuasive historical arguments.
b. Appropriate Use of Relevant Historical Evidence- students will analyze evidence about the past from diverse sources, such as written documents, maps, images, quantitative data (charts, graphs, tables), and works of art.
Students should be able to…
-Analyze features of historical evidence such as audience, purpose, point of view, format, argument, limitations, and context germane to the evidence considered.
-Based on analysis and evaluation of historical evidence, make supportable inferences and draw appropriate conclusions.
IV. Historical Interpretation and Synthesis
a. Interpretation – students will identify and evaluated diverse historical interpretations.
Students should be able to…
-Analyze diverse historical interpretations.
-Evaluate how historians’ perspectives influence their interpretations and how models of historical interpretation change over time.
b. Synthesis – students will combine disparate, sometimes contradictory evidence from primary sources and secondary works in order to create a persuasive understanding of the past, and to apply insights about the past to other historical contexts or circumstances, including the present.
Students should be able to…
-Combine disparate, sometimes contradictory evidence from primary sources and secondary works in order to create a persuasive understanding of the past.
-Apply insights about the past to other historical contexts or circumstances, including the present.