Historical Thinking Skills

Historical Thinking is

• not what we know but HOW we know it.
• not how we know but WHY we know it.

Multiple Accounts and Perspectives

• help us get an accurate picture of the past
• are original documents and objects created at the time of study.
• identify and answer questions about the origins of the source.
• locate events and sources in time and space.

Sourcing

• helps us get an accurate picture of the past
• is original documents and objects created at the time of study.
• identifies and answers questions about the origins of the source.
• locates events and sources in time and space.

Context

• helps us get an accurate picture of the past
• is original documents and objects created at the time of study.
• identifies and answers questions about the origins of the source.
• locates events and sources in time and space.

Primary Sources

• Created at the time of study by someone involved.
• Created after the time of study by someone not involved.

Which is a secondary source for studying September 11?

• A newspaper dated 9/12/01
• A textbook summary of the events of 9/11
• An interview in 2016 with a firefighter who was at the World Trade Center on 9/11.

Which source is more believable?

• Zero Dark Thirty, a movie about the hunt and death of Osama Bin Laden
• No Easy Day, a book written by a member of Seal Team Six who helped capture and assassinate Bin Laden.