Historical Knowledge

Goal: Understand a wide range of historical information

• identify the key events which express/define change over time in a place or region
• identify how change occurs over time

Goal:  Explain historical continuity and change

• describe the influence of political ideologies, economic structures, social organization, cultural perceptions, and natural environments on historical events
• discuss the ways in which factors such as race, gender, class, ethnicity, region and religion influence historical narratives

Historical Thinking

Goal: Recognize the pastness of the past

• explain how people have existed, acted and thought in particular historical periods
• explain what influence the past has on the present

Goal: Emphasize the complex nature of past experiences

• interpret the complexity and diversity of situations, events and past mentalities
• compare eras and regions in order to define enduring issues

Goal: Emphasize the complex and problematic nature of the historical record

• recognize a range of viewpoints
• compare competing historical narratives
• analyze cause and effect relationships and multiple causation

Historical Skills

Goal: Develop skills in critical thinking and reading

• evaluate debates among historians
• obtain historical data from a variety of sources
• identify gaps in available records

Goal: Develop the ability to construct reasonable historical arguments

• construct in writing a well-organized historical argument
• support an interpretation with historical evidence from a variety of primary and secondary sources