Historical thinking

In IB History, it is really important to develop your “Historical Thinking”. This refers to the way you break down the key events that you are studying and also dictates the way you approach questions (including how it is worded and how you will answer it).

The key concepts through which we view much of our course are: Change, Continuity, Significance, Causation, Consequence and Perspective.

These are concepts that every historian should aim to use when exploring and understanding key events throughout History. They are to:

1) Establish Historical Significance

This means that you have the ability to explain why a certain aspect of history (an event, a person or a development) is important and discuss the impact of this aspect in the context of your study. Historical significance can be established (and somewhat evaluated) by asking the following questions:

- Did it result in change? Real change too. You are asked to work out just how deeply the consequences of an event or a person’s actions were felt by the people at the time. It also asks for you to establish the time period in which those effects were felt.

- Does it reveal something about society at the time? You are required to break down how much this part of history gives us a clear perspective of the issues that were present at the time and how important they were to those experiencing the history. In short, we should be given a good ‘snapshot’ of life at the time in a given context.

- Does it have a meaningful place? Evaluate whether the issue in question has an important place in the context of what you are studying. For example, the significance of Hitler’s role in history is meaningless if you are studying what happened in Ancient Egypt. It is important to have a strong link between events in question in order to avoid writing off-topic or bringing up events that are not applicable in a given context.

2) Use Primary Source evidence – This means drawing upon sources from the time and using it to inform your interpretation of events in question. It also allows you to point to concrete parts of history which support your view. Rather than hearing history second-hand, you are actively taking the step into interpreting the conditions, thoughts and feelings of the people at the time by reading a document or examining a visual source. Remember that primary sources portray an aspect of life for the people living it at the time. Remember: A source’s reliability is dependent on how you use it– it is important to take into account WHO made it, WHEN it was made, WHY it was made, WHAT it represents and HOW it informs us – in order to provide a fair evaluation or analysis of events.

3) Identify Continuity and Change – means remembering that history is not simply a list of events. You need to look for changes in the conditions of life at the time, even in places where everything seems the same after a certain event. Furthermore, it’s important to look for continuity even when it seems like everything has changed. These judgments can be made by comparing between different points in history, right up to the present. For example, looking at conditions before and after the Spanish Civil War and working out how much the it changed the lives of those living at the time using the ideas of progress and decline.

4) Analyse Cause and Consequence –This means outlining the long term causes and short term trigger events which result in a particular event or action. Typically, we are used to looking at events and how each event flows on from another. However, this is not enough to properly evaluate real causes a consequences. You also need to take into account the groups and people that take actions which result in change including their personal motives. Remember that reasons for ‘inaction’ can sometimes be just important as reasons for action.

5) Take Historical Perspectives into account – In order to take different perspectives into account you must acknowledge that the same event may have a different meaning depending on the group/s that are experiencing it. For example, when studying the Russian Revolution, we may notice that the views and opinions of white people at the time could differ greatly to depending on whether they were Bolsheviks or not. This is true of many events in history but may not be quite as obvious as the example above.

6) Understand Ethic Dimensions of History – This means learning from the past to help inform us about issues and make decisions in today’s society. This isn’t always useful for History Revolutions (as we are restricted to the time frames that are provided in the Study Design), HOWEVER, it is an important aspect of the study of history and allows us to take what we have learned from our studies and apply it in our lives in a positive way.

It is important to note that you cannot address every one of these concepts in every one of your answers that you provide. Rather, they should help to guide your answers in one way or another in order to ensure that you are including enough detail and truly analysing history; not simply retelling it.

For another explanation of these big ideas, have a look at http://historicalthinking.ca/historical-thinking-concepts to help your understanding.

CHANGE

The study of history involves investigation of the extent to which people and events bring about change. Discussion of the concept of change can inspire sophisticated discussions such as encouraging students to think about, and look for, change where some claim none exists, or using evidence to challenge orthodox theories and assumptions about people and events that it is claimed led to significant change. Students’ questions and judgments about historical change should be based on deep understanding of content and on comparisons of the situation before and after the events under examination.

CONTINUITY

While historical study often focuses on moments of significant change, students should also be aware that some change is slow, and that throughout history there is also significant continuity. Students can demonstrate deep historical knowledge and understanding by, for example, showing awareness that there are times when there has been considerable continuity in the midst of great historical change. Alternatively, students may question and assess whether a change in political leadership, for example, brought about a change in foreign policy, or whether it was simply mirroring policies of previous governments.

CAUSATION

Effective historical thinkers recognize that many claims made about the past seek to more thoroughly explain and understand how a certain set of circumstances originated. Deep historical understanding is demonstrated where students recognize that most historical events are caused by an interplay of diverse and multiple causes that require students to make evidence-based judgments about which causes were more important or significant, or which causes were within the scope of individuals to direct and which were not.

CONSEQUENCE

History is the understanding of how forces in the past have shaped future people and societies. Students demonstrate competency as historical thinkers where they understand and can explain how significant events and people have had both short-term and long-lasting effects. Students use evidence and interpretations of those people and events to make comparisons between different points in time, and to make judgments about the extent to which those forces produced long-lasting and important consequences.

SIGNIFICANCE

History is not simply the record of all events that have happened in the past. Instead, history is the record that has been preserved through evidence or traces of the past, and/or the aspects that someone has consciously decided to record and communicate. Students should be encouraged to ask questions about why something may have been recorded or included in a historical narrative. Similarly, they should be encourage to think about who or what has been excluded from historical narratives, and for what reasons. Additionally, students’ questions should encourage them to think about, and assess, the relative importance of events, people, groups or developments, and whether the evidence supports the claims that others make about their significance.

PERSPECTIVES

IB students should be aware of how history is sometimes used or abused to retell and promote a grand narrative of history, a narrowly focused national mythology that ignores other perspectives, or to elevate a single perspective to a position of predominance. Students are encouraged to challenge and critique multiple perspectives of the past, and to compare them and corroborate them with historical evidence. Students should recognize that for every event recorded in the past, there may be multiple contrasting or differing perspectives. Using primary-source accounts and historians’ interpretations, students may also investigate and compare how people, including specific groups such as minorities or women, may have experienced events differently in the past. In this way, there are particularly strong links between exploring multiple perspectives and the development of international-mindedness.