Chapter

How Do We Teach
Elementary Students to
Think Like Historians?

Tammara Purdin, Florida Council for History Education

Foreword by
Another Author

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How Do We Teach Elementary Students to Think Like Historians?
 How Do We Teach Elementary Students to Think Like Historians?

C3 Inquiry Focus Content Topic

C3 Disciplinary Focus
Evaluating sources and Elementary students
U.S. History
using evidence thinking like historians
C3 Focus Indicators

D1: Determine the kinds of sources that will be helpful in answering compelling and
supporting questions (D1.5.K-2).
Determine the kinds of sources that will be helpful in answering compelling and
supporting questions, taking into consideration the different opinions people have about
how to answer the questions (D1.5.3-5).

D2: Compare perspectives of people in the past to those of people in the present (D2.
His.4.K-2).
Explain why individuals and groups during the same historical period differed in their
perspectives ([Link].4.3-5).
Explain how historical sources can be used to study the past ([Link].10.K-2).
Compare information provided by different historical sources about the past (D2.
His.10.3-5).

D3: Evaluate a source by distinguishing between fact and opinion (D3.2.K-2).

Use distinctions among fact and opinion to determine the credibility of multiple sources
(D3.2.3-5).

D4: Construct explanations using correct sequence and relevant information (D4.2.K-2).
Construct explanations using reasoning, correct sequence, examples, and details with
relevant information and data (D4.2.3-5).
Grade Level Resources Time Required
K-5 Resources cited throughout Approximately 30 minutes
chapter and in Appendix for each activity

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 Historical Thinking:
Teaching Elementary Kids to
Think Like Historians…

It’s Not Just for History

In the early years of the United States, Thomas Jefferson, Benjamin Rush, and Noah Webster
fashioned recommendations of what they thought education should resemble in the new
nation (Dorn, 2012). Each proposal varied. One aspect they shared was the necessity to
design an educational system to support the existence of the United States (Dorn, 2012).
Nearly a century later, it was evident that education was essential to shaping the United
States. Students need to be educated and the institutions across America are responsible
for developing children into functioning contributors to society (Dorn, 2012). Curriculum,
content, the collaboration amongst the students, and the resources the teacher uses should
provide the components that support this educational system and the purpose of the system,
which is to create functioning members of a democratic society. Boyle-Baise and Zevin (2014)
remind us that public schools were intended to prepare democratic citizens who could attend
to changes over time. For this to happen, educators need to teach social studies (National
Council for Social Studies [NCSS], 2017). Yet, it seems that much of the United States has
overlooked these original intentions of education and repeatedly marginalized social studies
in the taught curriculum, particularly in the elementary grades (Barton & Levstik, 2004;
Bolick et al., 2010; Heafner et al., 2007; Heafner & Fitchett, 2012; NCSS, 2017; Rock et al.,
2006).
As presented by Webster in 1790, “Education, in a great measure, forms the moral
characters of men, and morals are the basis of government” (p. 22). Teachers in the United
States instruct on the values required of a democratic republic, with standards that reflect
civics and government. Subsequently, equipping teachers with necessary tools and strategies
to teach in an ever-changing culture is obligatory, so that they can arm students with the
principles on which America was founded. Keeping this in mind, it is necessary to unite
a formal social studies curriculum (specific state standards) and informal social studies
curriculum, specifically historical thinking strategies (sourcing, close reading, corroboration,
and contextualization), to meet content expectations and prepare students to be functioning
future citizens.
This chapter intends to define historical thinking strategies in detail, as well as specific
approaches for developing (or implementing) these into social studies classroom instructional

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How Do We Teach Elementary Students to Think Like Historians?
practices. Furthermore, the chapter will provide elementary educators with historical
thinking activities and lessons to use in the elementary classroom. The chapter is designed
in a broad fashion, using historical thinking skills in a variety of areas, rather than focusing
on specific contexts. This is what teachers want to convey to students—the importance of
applying historical thinking skills in any situation and not just the specific standard or era
being taught. Therefore, the teachers will be meeting the original intentions of education by
including social studies, as well as the skills and strategies needed to teach and learn social
studies.

What is Historical Thinking?

History education is the study of the past, but the word originates from the Greek word
“historia,” which is defined as inquiry, the act of seeking knowledge, or research (Joseph &
Janda, 2004). Inquiring, seeking knowledge, and researching can be accomplished through
using historical thinking skills. These skills stand at the heart of the questions historians
seek to answer, the arguments they make, and the debates in which they engage. Several
organizations have embraced and cultivated approaches in thinking like a historian. The
Stanford History Education Group (SHEG) focuses on four main areas of historical thinking:
sourcing, close reading, corroboration, and contextualization (Figure 1). Each section of
SHEG’s historical thinking chart has several questions, skills students should be able to do,
and prompts. It is not expected for students to address every detail listed that relates to the
historical thinking skill for each lesson or activity. It is possible that the student will “evaluate
the author’s word choice” for close reading and then use the prompt “I think the author chose
the words to make me feel…” but perhaps not address other details that correlate with close
reading.

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Figure 1. Historical Thinking Chart

HISTORICAL THINKING CHART

Historical Reading Questions Students should be able to . . . Prompts
Skills
• Who wrote this? • Identify the author’s position on • The author probably
Sourcing • What is the author’s perspective? the historical event believes . . .
• When was it written? • Identify and evaluate the author’s • I think the audience is . . .
• Where was it written? purpose in producing the • Based on the source
• Why was it written? document information, I think the author
• Is it reliable? Why? Why not? • Hypothesize what the author will might . . .
say before reading the document • I do/don’t trust this document
• Evaluate the source’s because . . .
trustworthiness by considering
genre, audience, and purpose

• When and where was the document • Understand how context/ • Based on the background
created? background information influences information, I understand this
Contextualization • What was different then? What was the content of the document document differently
the same? • Recognize that documents are because . . .
• How might the circumstances in products of particular points in • The author might have
which the document was created time been influenced by _____
affect its content? (historical context) . . .
• This document might not give
me the whole picture
because . . .

• What do other documents say? • Establish what is probable by • The author agrees/disagrees
Corroboration • Do the documents agree? If not, comparing documents to each with . . .
why? other • These documents all agree/
• What are other possible • Recognize disparities between disagree about . . .
documents? accounts • Another document to
• What documents are most reliable? consider might be . . .

• What claims does the author make? • Identify the author’s claims about • I think the author chose these
Close Reading • What evidence does the author use? an event words in order to . . .
• What language (words, phrases, • Evaluate the evidence and • The author is trying to
images, symbols) does the author reasoning the author uses to convince me . . .
use to persuade the document’s support claims • The author claims . . .
audience? • Evaluate author’s word choice; • The evidence used to support
• How does the document’s language understand that language is used the author’s claims is . . .
indicate the author’s perspective? deliberately

STANFORD HISTORY EDUCATION GROUP [Link]

Note From Stanford History Education Group.

[Link]

These historical thinking behaviors include qualities of critical thinking. Brown (2000)
presented research showing that elementary learners who employ and apply historical
thinking skills, such as using primary sources, do achieve better in academics including
language arts, science, and social studies. Tally and Goldenberg (2005) disclosed “these
intellectual (and emotional) habits with sources and data were at the heart of how critical
thinking is defined in every area of the sciences and humanities, and now, in the information-
rich workplace as well” (pp. 1-2).
Research from Wineburg et al. (2011) indicates historical thinking includes precise actions
such as:
• Identify an author’s position on a historical event.
• Identify and evaluate the author’s purpose in producing a document.
• Evaluate a source’s believability/trustworthiness by considering genre, audience, and
author’s purpose.
• Use background information to draw more meaning from a document.
• Infer historical context from documents.
• Recognize that documents reflect one moment in a changing past.
• Evaluate evidence/reasoning that the author uses to support claims.

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How Do We Teach Elementary Students to Think Like Historians?
 • Understand that language is used deliberately.
• Establish truth by comparing documents to each other.
• Recognize disparities between two accounts.
Historians read in a certain way that engages them in the exact historical event and their
thinking helps them to decipher the event. Historians do not read to collect information
about dead people and reiterate the information on a multiple-choice test (Wineburg et al.,
2011). Even when interpreting the past, historical thinking fosters the context to understand
the past. To contextualize, students must remove their 21st-century perspectives and place
themselves in the specific context of the period they are studying.
Historians have constructed skilled, instinctive methods of reading. These methods
are broken down into the various historical thinking strategies. Historians are trained
professionals who organically engage in synthesizing, analyzing, and interpreting (Nokes,
2011). It is unfortunate that most students do not use those skills when they read, because
most elementary teachers have not been trained to instruct students in historical thinking
skills. Nokes (2011) proposed that perhaps students do not engage in comparable skills
due to the overuse of textbooks. Students simply trust textbooks because textbooks are
presented as the main source of facts. Teachers need to be more cognizant of the sense of
power these books traditionally represent. Although using textbooks in the classroom can
prove to be useful, it is necessary to focus on the realities that textbooks commonly contain
a single account of an event, which offers one perspective, one interpretation, and one bias.
Teachers must provide students with multiple accounts of events, as well as teach students
to question nonfiction readings (Nokes, 2011; Wineburg, 1991). Historical thinking that
promotes corroboration can successfully integrate content from textbooks with primary and
secondary sources.
Nokes (2011) claimed that even when students were provided with additional materials,
they “do not spontaneously use historian’s heuristics” (p. 379). Since students do not always
naturally question authority, educators must teach students to question and constructively
argue to form their own interpretations, instead of consistently believing every word that
they read (Nokes, 2011; Wineburg et al., 2011). It is equally important to teach children that
history is interpretive and full of controversy as well as biases (Nokes, 2011). All these skills
can be taught and then acquired by constructing and applying historical thinking skills.
Teaching students to think like a historian will assist them in all subject areas, but most
importantly in their future college careers, professional careers, and lives (Breakstone et
al., 2013; Maxwell, 2019). As students develop greater agency with content and skills, they
prepare themselves for active participation in post-secondary education, as well as preparing
themselves to become engaged contributors to society. These skills will teach them to
problem solve, corroborate facts, not believe everything they read or hear, and to make sense
of real-world situations (NCSS, 2017).

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Using Inquiry to Prepare Students for College, Career, and Civic Life. (Elementary Grades)
 For this chapter, the focus will be on the following historical thinking strategies: sourcing,
close reading, corroboration, and contextualization. Ultimately, the skills students will
use during historical thinking include “analyzing, evaluating, generating, associating,
hypothesizing, clarifying, interpreting, determining, understanding, inferring, explaining,
developing, deciding, reasoning, connecting, and generalizing” (Austin & Thompson, 2014).

Why Teach Historical Thinking Strategies?

For history education to be effective when teaching elementary students, it is essential for
teachers to include not only content but also the skills students are expected to perform
when addressing that specific content. Although the focus of history education is on the past,
it is important that we think of the future, such as how to form thoughtfully engaged citizens,
respond to employability needs, analyze and interpret information in the information age,
and think critically to thrive in today’s world (Booth & Ludvigsson, 2017). Historical thinking
skills address these needs.
For instance, according to Wineburg (2015), the Internet in today’s world has “obliterated
authority.” Anyone can post anything they want on the web, create a website, or become a
self-proclaimed author. With so much information readily available, we must teach students
to think like historians, using historical thinking skills, to sift through the information for
believability, to corroborate the information, and to recognize and reconcile disparities.
Historians look for clues. Historians cultivate an understanding of history by investigating
and interpreting primary sources (documents, artifacts, artwork, audio, maps, etc.).
Many students (especially intermediate through college) are inclined to view history as a
series of facts and/or dates to be memorized (Wineburg, 1991, 2001). However, “historians
have developed powerful ways of reading that allow them to see patterns, make sense of
contradictions, and formulate reasoned interpretations when others get lost” (Wineburg
et al., 2011, p. v). Thinking as a historian thinks will allow students to create their own
arguments, based on historical evidence. These arguments may take shape as a debate,
conversation, essay, or a variety of other forms. These same skills are expected in English
language arts (ELA) and in science; and these skills prepare students for college, career, and
their future (Zygouris-Coe, 2014.)
Students are expected to have an opinion and support that opinion with text evidence.
Additionally, employing these historical thinking strategies encourages the students to
question and not just simply believe the first thing they hear or read. It also encourages
them to analyze sources, synthesize sources, corroborate sources, place historical events
into context, and identify perspectives of the people involved. With all these skills in place,
the students can engage in and begin building their own historical narratives (Barton and
Levstik, 2003; VanSledright, 2010). The students may also feel empowered because they can
create their own historical narratives and learn there is not always a right or wrong answer.
Furthermore, the students learn that history is messy. Often, there are several primary

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sources that contradict each other, or the reader does not take into consideration the
historical context. This is when history gets messy. There are many unanswered questions
throughout history for which historians do not have a straight answer. History is interpretive
and controversial and contains many biases.
To address this and many other messy pieces of history, historical thinking strategies assist
students in critically reading documents and aiding them to determine how to scrutinize and
evaluate what they read, even when it is messy. Much like the scientific thinking process,
historical thinking has principles and guidelines in place to guide one through the historical
thinking process. Wineburg (2015) stated, “We begin by paying attention. Next, we ask
questions.” As teachers prepare students to be contributors of society, students are expected
to interpret text, explore the author’s perspective, construct inferences, and determine the
author’s purpose.
Many states use the Common Core State Standards (CCSS) or an adaptation of the
standards, which require students to “analyze multiple accounts of an event, noting
similarities and differences in the points of view presented, assessing the warrant behind
people’s ideas…and to integrate information from several texts” (Calkins et al., 2012, p. 9).
Using historical thinking skills attends to the expectations placed upon students by CCSS
as well as other state standards. Furthermore, using these skills will enable students to be
able to make sense during complicated circumstances, recognize patterns in a variety of
situations, and make coherent interpretations during literacy, with personal-life details,
and finally with work-related details (Wineburg et al., 2011). Historical thinking strategies
will afford students the skills necessary to navigate and decipher information exhibited in
their world.
Most students do not intrinsically know how to think or read like a historian (i.e., use
historical thinking strategies). Many teachers also lack training on historical thinking,
which is why this chapter is crucial to teacher candidates. Students must be taught these
skills (Nokes, 2011); therefore, it is necessary to provide teacher candidates with historical
thinking education. Nokes (2011) explained that students do not question authority and view
textbooks as the authority or the truth. VanSledright (2002) also explained that students
rely on textbooks that generally reveal one perspective and view those events as what
truly happened. It is the teacher’s responsibility to instruct students to question and locate
evidence to support claims of history and not simply rely on one perspective or just the
textbook. It is a process and, with practice, will become a valuable and necessary classroom
routine.
There are several examples in the literature that support the need for this interpretive
skill. For example, in the late 1990s, Wineburg pursued research on the ability of students
to critically analyze text. His aim was to understand how people understood history, in
other words, historical thinking (Wineburg, 2001). In his book Historical Thinking and Other
Unnatural Acts, Wineburg (2001) expressed to his readers: “My claim in a nutshell is that

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history holds the potential, only partly realized, of humanizing us in ways offered by few
other areas in the school curriculum” (p. 5).
De La Paz’s (2005) study used academically diverse middle school students who were
taught historical reasoning as well as argumentative writing strategies. The control group
was not taught those same skills. After the instruction, students who were taught historical
thinking skills created essays with more historical accuracy than the students in the control
group. De La Paz (2005) also noted that students learned more about how historians use
reasoning and why historians often have differing opinions.
Wineburg and Gottlieb (2011) determined historians have a method of embedding habits
in their cognitive processes. Through use of these habits, historians can focus on the context
and add connections to their background knowledge. Several other studies conducted at
various academic levels of students from elementary to high school resulted in substantial
outcomes in historical thinking and students’ ability to transfer those skills to other subjects
and situations (Franquiz & Salinas, 2011; Reisman, 2011; Monte-Sano, 2012; Wineburg &
Gottlieb, 2011).
For instance, Purdin’s (2014) study scrutinized the factors contributing to achievement
in literacy and the influence of historical thinking on student literacy/reading achievement.
The study examined fifth and eighth grade students’ annual standardized assessment scores,
explicitly the reference/research and information text subgroups, focusing on the use of
historical thinking strategies in their elementary and middle school classrooms. These
strategies were implemented by teachers who were trained in historical thinking skills and
strategies and transferred to students through analyzing primary and secondary source
documents. Furthermore, the study compared the same fifth and eighth grade students’
state standardized scores from 2011 (students of a non-historical-thinking-trained teacher)
to their scores from 2012 (students of a historical-thinking-trained teacher) to determine
growth after being taught historical thinking skills. Results were positive in indicating
historical thinking skills promote success in reading/literacy standardized assessments.
In a demanding and intricate world, where it is imperative for people to be problem-solvers
and use critical thinking, having historical thinking skills can support managing each aspect of
everyday life (Gottlieb & Wineburg, 2012; Maggioni et al., 2009; Monte-Sano, 2011; Reisman,
2012; VanSledright, 2004). With the proper scaffolding, applying, and practicing, supporters
believe historical thinking skills can become automatic (Monte-Sano, 2012; Nokes, 2011;
Reisman, 2011; Trout & Sambs, 2020; Wineburg et al., 2011; Wineburg & Gottlieb, 2011).
One strategy or tool teachers could use to provide additional forms of scaffolding, which
would support students’ memory for analyzing and synthesizing instead of recalling certain
things, would be historical thinking skills bookmarks or historical thinking classroom posters
(Nokes, 2011). De La Paz’s (2005) study on effects of historical reasoning documented the
need for teachers’ scaffolding as crucial to developing students’ best reasoning. Students
must have frequent opportunities to practice historical thinking skills, but the teacher must

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How Do We Teach Elementary Students to Think Like Historians?
eventually remove the scaffolding materials (or modeling) when they are no longer necessary
(De La Paz, 2005; Nokes, 2011).
Elementary teacher candidates generally have fewer opportunities to learn how to teach
social studies. Unlike middle and high school teacher candidates, who complete several
college courses for a particular subject area (i.e., history, government), elementary teachers
often complete only one college course on teaching social studies. Elementary teachers must
recognize this and develop disciplinary approaches (such as historical thinking strategies)
connected with disciplinary education (Wineburg et al., 2011). This chapter will assist in
developing these critical approaches and foster confidence as well as a renewed interest in
content.

Modeling, Modeling, Modeling…

Historical Thinking Skills
The emphasis on modeling historical thinking strategies aligns with Vygotsky’s theories
which led to the term “scaffolding” (Martin & Wineburg, 2008; Nokes, 2011). Martin and
Wineburg (2008) explain, “Teaching a way of thinking requires making thinking visible” (p.
317). Nokes (2011) applied Vygotsky’s zone of proximal development (ZPD) to his assertion
that “engaging young people in historical thinking is developmentally appropriate” (p. 381)
after proper teacher modeling, along with assistance for the specific learning at hand
(scaffolding). Students as young as those in kindergarten possess the cognitive ability
to engage in historical thinking skills (Nokes, 2011). When students as young as those in
kindergarten received appropriate accommodating instruction, they were able to use
historical thinking skills and think like a historian (Nokes, 2011). The creators of the Historical
Thinking Matters website, Roy Rosenzweig and staff from George Mason University, along
with Sam Wineburg and staff from Stanford University, reinforce this theory with their ideas
that the most beneficial way to learn something is by observing it being modeled.
One way to provide modeling is the method referred to as a think-aloud. A think-aloud is a
teaching strategy used to model what the teacher is thinking as they are reading. The teacher
verbalizes their thoughts. Martin and Wineburg (2008) stated that think-alouds were what
students need to repeatedly see prior to doing their own think-alouds, so that they can
begin formulating their own historical interpretations, and thus thinking like a historian and
reading like a historian.
After conducting several different studies on think-alouds, where historians were studied
while they were in the act of historical thinking, Martin and Wineburg (2008) explained that
the Historical Thinking Matters project group determined a need for additional commentary
explaining the individual think-alouds. This is helpful for training teachers as well as providing
scaffolding and guiding the students’ understanding of specific historical reading strategies.
To learn more about think-alouds, visit Teacher Educator Lesson, Making Thinking Visible on
the Historical Thinking Matters project website.

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 Let Us Discuss the Importance of Discussion

Throughout this chapter, the reader will notice the words discuss or discussions frequently
mentioned in several activities. This is not meant to be redundant, but instead to highlight
the significance of discussions. It is important to mention that productive discussions are
necessary in elementary classrooms (Boyle-Baise & Zevin, 2014). Boyle-Baise and Zevin
affirmed that democratic interchange is significant and allows the students opportunities
to speak civilly to one another, listen respectfully, respect others’ perspectives, freely offer
their own perspectives, reach a common ground, and eventually find common solutions.
Furthermore, Benjamin Barber (1984) asserted that “at the heart of a strong democracy is
talk” (p. 173). CCSS emphasize the practice of classroom discussions in the development to
advance necessary literacy skills (National Governors Association Center for Best Practices,
Council of Chief State School Officers, 2010). Discussions centered around texts, such as
primary sources, also align with inquiry instruction as outlined in the College, Career, and
Civic Life (C3) Framework for the Social Studies State Standards (NCSS, 2013). According to
research, classroom discussions promote student engagement, student understanding, and
problem solving in various subject areas (Murphy et al., 2009). Another example is a study
conducted by Hess and McAvoy (2015) in which they found that students who practiced
productive discussions on a regular basis were more likely to be active civic members of
society by voting, following the news, or participating in political discourse. And that is what
educators are trying to do—prepare students to become active civic members of society.

It Is Important to Note…

The following sections will provide insight into each of the four historical thinking skills
(sourcing, close reading, corroboration, and contextualization) as well as short activities to
allow the teacher candidate to have insight in unpacking the skill for instruction. Although
it is not necessary to use the full C3 Framework, each activity notes aspects of the C3
Framework.
Manipulating a variety of sources is necessary to build the students’ skills needed to defend
their opinions, such as discussing, expressing, and being persuasive about a variety of issues
from history (Salinas et al., 2012). However, when first teaching these skills, students must
acquire the skills to analyze one document (Wineburg et al., 2012) prior to following through
with corroboration and using multiple documents. Therefore, the activities in this chapter
are intended to be simple and focus on teaching each specific, discrete skill in isolation:
sourcing, close reading, corroboration, and contextualization. The intention is not to follow
any specific order when introducing and practicing these discrete skills in the classroom, as
they are not part of a unit or specific topic. After the students are proficient at sourcing, close
reading, corroboration, and contextualization, the teacher should include a variety of sources

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How Do We Teach Elementary Students to Think Like Historians?
in lessons and inquiries that include questions that incrementally increase in depth and
complexity, as well as focus on specific grade level content.

Historical Thinking Skill: Sourcing

Figure 2. Sourcing Poster

SOURCING
Before reading the document
ask yourself:
• Who wrote this?
• What is the author’s perspective?
• Why was it written?
• When was it written?
• Where was it written?
• Is it reliable? Why? Why not?

Note. From Stanford History Education Group.

[Link]

The skill of sourcing requires students to ponder who created a primary source, as well as
the environment of its creation. Stanford History Education Group’s (SHEG) sourcing poster
(Figure 2) reminds students, when reading a document, to ask: “Who wrote this (or who
created this)?” “What is the author’s (or artist’s) perspective?” “Why was it written (created)?”
“When was it written (created)?” “Where was it written (created)?” “Is this source reliable?”
“Why?” “Why not?” A few points teachers may want students to consider are that sources
may be incomplete or perhaps may be considered contradictory.

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Using Inquiry to Prepare Students for College, Career, and Civic Life. (Elementary Grades)
 The following activity intends to be simple and to focus specifically on the skill of sourcing.
After the students are proficient at sourcing, it is recommended that the teacher include
a variety of sources into lessons and inquiries and use the C3 Framework as a structure to
practice any and all historical thinking skills as well as focus on specific grade level content.

Sourcing Activity #1: Trail of Tears,

Grades 3–5 (some parts K–2)

“Would this painting help a researcher understand the emotions

the Cherokee Native Americans were feeling and the conditions the
Cherokees experienced during the Trail of Tears? Why or why not?”

This activity is focused on teaching the historical thinking skill sourcing. However, it is
necessary to share some historical context with the elementary students, as they may not
have any knowledge of the Trail of Tears. The teacher should begin the lesson with a close
read of Chief Little John and the Trail of Tears.1 The teacher should be sure to stop and
present the questions listed in the passage so the students can discuss the questions with
a partner or a team. For instance, the first questions mentioned in the passage are “What is
something sad that you have had to do?” and “Did it make you cry?” These questions will offer
the students a connection and therefore encourage engagement in the topic. The teacher
should continue reading the passage onto page 2 and stop to allow for ample discussion time
to respond to the remainder of the questions.
The next part of this activity presents the students with an opportunity to understand and
experience sourcing, and includes using the 1942 Trail of Tears painting by Robert Lindneux
titled The Trail Of Tears, 1838. The removal of the Cherokee Native Americans to the West in
1838. It is recommended that the teacher display the painting and the caption at the same
time and have the students complete a teacher-guided analysis. The teacher should ask the
following sourcing questions, allowing the students to discuss each question with a partner
prior to moving on to the next one: “Who created this painting?” “Why do you think it was
created?” “When was the painting created?” “When did the event portrayed in the painting
actually happen?” (Answering this question may mean the teacher needs to return to the
Chief Little John passage.) “Is this source reliable?” “Why, or why not?” Initially, the students
may be consumed with the content of the image and not focus on the date (Breakstone
et al., 2015). Allow them to grapple with possible responses but make sure to finally bring
their attention to the dates. An anticipated student response could include “the artist was

1
The America’s Library website was originated and is maintained by the Library of Congress, the nation's library.
Their intentions are to provide engaging stories that would be entertaining, educational, and useful. The site is
intended for young people, but these stories are for people of all ages.

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How Do We Teach Elementary Students to Think Like Historians?
not there when this event happened, so how would he know what to paint?” or something
similar. It is possible for responses to take a different perspective. For instance, a student may
respond with “although the author was not alive during the time displayed in the painting, he
may have done some research to properly create the painting.” The correct response would
include students recognizing the date of the event and the date the painting was completed,
discovering that the painting would not be useful to a researcher trying to understand the
emotions of the Cherokee Native Americans at the actual time of the event. However, this
painting could be useful for a researcher to understand the artist’s interpretation of the
event about 100 years after the event, in 1942. It could also be used to contextualize what
was happening in 1942 and what context from 1942 provided the artist with a purpose for
portraying the Native Americans the way he did.
This could be an opportune time to discuss with students the difference between a
primary source and a secondary source. The Trail of Tears painting is most often considered a
secondary source (but is also considered unreliable when it comes to portraying the emotions
of the Native Americans in 1838.) However, in some specific cases, the Trail of Tears painting
could be considered a primary source for depicting how a 1942 painter portrayed the Trail
of Tears when it was painted in 1942. “In 1942, why did the painter paint Native Americans
looking like they were content and not incredibly sad? What events were happening in
1942 that may have encouraged the way Lindneux painted the Trail of Tears painting?”2 In
1942, the biggest mass exodus of Native Americans occurred since the Trail of Tears. This
time, the exodus was a choice and opportunity for the Native Americans to be outside of
the reservation world. This painting could also be considered a primary source if the person
observing it were analyzing paintings.
Now have students take the skill of sourcing a step further and integrate the skill of
contextualizing. Reread the Chief Little John passage, briefly stopping to ask the students
about their emotions. Then display the painting once again. Ask the students what emotions
they notice in the painting. Emotions are a topic covered in primary elementary, and this part
of the activity could be accomplished by K-5 students. Students may struggle with identifying
emotions, so probe them to state an emotion and the evidence that makes them think that
way. For example, they may say “content,” because the Native Americans look well-equipped
and like they may be on a positive journey. They may say “happy,” because they notice some of
the Native Americans, like the little boy holding the puppy or the baby on the woman's back,
have a smile on their faces. Once again, the teacher should pose the questions “Is this source
reliable?” “Why or why not?” If you started the activity at the emotion part, the teacher could
review emotions and what they look like for primary, English Language Learners (ELL), or
Exceptional Student Education (ESE) students. Finally, to conclude the lesson, the teacher

2
For a deeper look into sourcing, the teacher could guide the students to delve deeper by asking “who is this
artist? (White? Black? Indigenous?)” “What is the history of this painting? Was it commissioned by someone for a
particular purpose?”

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should ask the students “Would this painting help a researcher understand the emotions
the Cherokee Native Americans were feeling and the conditions the Cherokees experienced
during the Trail of Tears? Why or why not?” Again, this could be posed to primary, ELL, or
ESE students by reminding them what sad looks like, as well as asking how would they feel if
they had to move away from the place they called home. Based on the level of the students,
this question can be answered verbally, in a sentence, in two sentences, or in a paragraph.
Either way the question is answered, the teacher should give specific instructions to include
evidence from the sources (painting or passage) to support their answer.
Through the activities mentioned in this chapter, the teacher is providing questions,
because the focus of this chapter is for the teacher to model and teach what historical
thinking is and what it looks like in action. However, it is important for students to come up
with their own questions too. At the end of this activity, the teacher should ask the students
what they wonder about: “Now that we have practiced sourcing and looked at the context of
the topic, what do you wonder about?” Allow the students a minute or so to think about this
and then ask: “What questions do you have about this topic? What sources might provide
you with answers?” If further scaffolding is needed for ESE students, provide additional
questions: “If you were asked to research this topic further, what questions might you
research?”
For more advanced students or a more advanced studying of sourcing, the teacher could
take this lesson a step further regarding sourcing. Some questions to investigate could be:
“Who is the artist (not just his name)? Is he an indigenous person? A white person?” “What
is the history of this painting?” “Was it commissioned by someone for a particular purpose?”
Eventually, this skill will not exist in isolation from another skill.
For further inquiry, the American Indian Smithsonian Institute website has a wealth of
information. Specifically, the Cherokee Nation Case Study offers guided questions and
walks the students through several primary sources: treaty, Lindneux’s painting, quotation,
map, image, and an object. The guided questions accompanying the painting/image could
easily be adapted by the teacher paraphrasing the questions and could work for the primary
elementary-level students. For instance, the initial question seen in the case study would
not need paraphrasing for younger students. A kindergarten student could answer: “What
story does this painting tell?” The teacher may need to guide the young students to stay on
topic, meaning the students need to be sure their “story” is related to the painting. However,
the next two questions may need some paraphrasing: “Select three people in the painting.
Based on what you see, what might each be saying or thinking?” The teacher could
elaborate, select a specific person from the painting, and ask “What do you think this
person could be saying or thinking?” For example, point to the person on the upper right,
wearing something red on their head and sitting next to the person with a white hat on
their head. Ask the primary leveled students: “What might this person be thinking? Why
do you think so?” Based on the painting, expect to hear that the person may be thinking

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How Do We Teach Elementary Students to Think Like Historians?
about how cold they are because they seem to have a blanket wrapped around them. For
the next questions, the teacher would need to explain what a “forced march” is: “Imagine
that you are walking in this forced march. What would you see? How would you feel?
What might you hear?” A teacher could set a detailed scenario for younger students:
Imagine you must grab a few things from your home that you can carry all by
yourself. You are being told you must leave your house forever and walk to a new
house that is very far away. You will be walking for many days and there are no
hotels to spend the night., etc.
Intermediate elementary-level students would be able to answer the questions as they are
asked. However, to meet the needs of students with learning disabilities or speakers of other
languages, using the teacher strategies mentioned above for primary students could work.
The painting itself provides an accommodation that meets a variety of learners needs, as it is
visual, without text.

Sourcing Additional Activities and Resources

Another useful resource to use for practicing the sourcing skill is the Stanford History
Education Group (SHEG) website. Although the website includes lessons for middle and high
school, some lessons may be adapted to accommodate elementary students. At the very
least, the teacher could use the primary sources SHEG shares as well as the ideas presented
based on each of the four historical thinking skills: sourcing, close reading, corroboration,
and contextualization, along with the historical thinking chart (Figure 1) for teacher prompts.
For instance, The First Thanksgiving mini-lesson is a sourcing mini-lesson using Library of
Congress’s The First Thanksgiving painting (Figure 3). The teacher could share this painting
with students in kindergarten through fifth grade and ask guiding historical thinking
questions from Figure 1. The teacher could print out the image and cut it into four quadrants,
handing out only one quadrant at a time for the students to practice historical thinking skills.
The students could carefully observe each quadrant and then practice sourcing the image.
In order to source the image, the students would need to have some background knowledge
on what many Americans view as the first Thanksgiving. The students would also need to
see the caption and title for this painting. The First Thanksgiving 1621 is a reproduction of
an oil painting of Pilgrims and Natives gathering to share meal; This painting was created
between 1912 and 1915. The teacher should allow time for the students to determine that
the painting was painted over 300 years after the event and allow them to have discussions
about this. Some student conversations may include, “How could the artist know what to
paint?” or “Why did the artist choose to paint this?” or “Why is it so nice…pretty colors, the
people all seem to be well dressed?” Using this piece offers the students an opportunity to
share their opinion, supported by evidence, as to if they think the source is reliable. SHEG
offers sample student responses. SHEG also has numerous other lessons and assessments on
all historical thinking skills.

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Using Inquiry to Prepare Students for College, Career, and Civic Life. (Elementary Grades)
Figure 3. The First Thanksgiving, 1621

Note. Ferris, J. L. G. (1912-1915). The First Thanksgiving, 1621. [Painting]. Library of Congress.
[Link]

One more incredible (and free) resource for practicing the skill of sourcing is Kid Citizen.
Kid Citizen is an online interactive program for students in kindergarten through fifth
grade. The program offers a variety of episodes that explore Congress and promote civic
engagement through the use of primary source photographs and personal connections. The
episodes use primary sources to engage students in history, through interactive activities,
which foster visual literacy and historical inquiry. The episodes also offer teacher guides,
which include NCSS Standards, as well as correlations to the C3 Framework. Although
the site and episodes do not explicitly state the four historical thinking strategies, they
are implied. For instance, in the episode Rosa Parks: A Proud Daughter, the students are
encouraged to act as history detectives and analyze a primary source. Throughout this
interactive activity, the students are encouraged to use sourcing by asking “Why was it
written?” and “When was it written?” as well as close reading strategies by asking “What
claims does the author make?” and “How does this document make me feel?”
More specifically, one of their episodes, Snap a Photo: Agent of Change, meets the needs
for grades three through five, and focuses on sourcing.

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How Do We Teach Elementary Students to Think Like Historians?
 Historical Thinking Skill:
Contextualizing
Contextualization (Figure 4) is a historical thinking strategy that involves students in thinking
about the time and place of where a document originated (or is being referred to) and to
understand how the time and place influence the content of the primary source (Huijgen
et al., 2017; Reisman & Wineburg, 2008; Wineburg & Reisman, 2015). Contextualization is
really the heart of solid historical thinking. This is where students are making the deepest
connections. According to the Historical Thinking Chart from the Stanford History Education
Group, when reading a document, students should think “when and where was the document
created; what was different then; what was the same; and how might the circumstances in
which the document was created affect its content?” (see Figure 1). This helps the student
understand the document by providing a larger context and by not comparing it to other
events. The purpose is to aid in clarifying why the topic is transpiring within the specified time
period.

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Using Inquiry to Prepare Students for College, Career, and Civic Life. (Elementary Grades)
Figure 4. Contextualization Poster

CONTEXTUALIZATION

• When and where was the

document created?

• What was different then?

What was the same?

• How might the circumstances

in which the document was
created affect its content?

Note. From Stanford History Education Group.

[Link]

The next activities will also be simple and specifically focused, but this time on the
skill of contextualizing. After the students gain some competency in contextualizing, it is
recommended that the teacher include a variety of primary and secondary sources, using
inquiry-based learning (such as the C3 Framework) to practice historical thinking skills, as
well as focus on specific grade-level content.

Contextualizing Activity #1: Waiting for the Signal,

Grades K–5
“Does one photo provide the whole picture?”

First and foremost, teachers need to model the strategy of contextualizing and be
specific about verbally sharing what they are thinking. It is the same teaching strategy used
when teaching students reading skills, and the teacher models thinking aloud. To teach
contextualizing, a possible primary source to use for modeling thinking is Waiting for The
Signal. Newsboys, starting out with base-ball extra (Figure 5).

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How Do We Teach Elementary Students to Think Like Historians?
Figure 5. Waiting for the Signal

Note. Hine, L. W. (1908). Waiting for the Signal. Newsboys, starting out with base-ball extra. 5pm, Times Star Office.
Location: Cincinnati, Ohio [Photograph]. Library of Congress [Link]

There are different ways a teacher could present this source, such as offering historical
context first or observing the picture first.
For this activity example, the teacher should present only the photograph first, without
any background information or caption. The caption should be hidden to give the students an
opportunity to look at the events through the eyes of the people in the photograph. This will
help build context for the students. The teacher will model thinking by sharing aloud what
they see (making sure to stress that the teacher is only mentioning things they observe with
their eyes and not to be confused with inferencing what they think is happening): “boys, lined
up on a sidewalk, a few men, buildings, boys are holding newspapers, some have shoes on and
some do not, many are wearing hats, photo appears old, black and white boys and men, etc.”
Then the teacher should mention what they are thinking:
Some boys may not have enough money for shoes; the boys know someone is
taking a photo, because they are looking at the camera; a few of the men may not
know their photo is being taken, because they are not looking at the camera; the
boys will have to do something with the newspapers they are holding, etc.

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 Finally, the teacher should model wondering:
I wonder why the kids are all gathered on the sidewalk. I wonder why they are all
holding newspapers. I wonder what the men are doing. Are they telling the boys
what to do? I wonder where this photo was taken. etc.
At this point, the teacher should reveal the title of the photograph with details regarding
the sourcing details, such as date and location, found on the Library of Congress website,
and begin asking contextualization questions. The teacher should continue to model their
thinking by answering the questions: “What else was going on at the time this photo was
taken?” (Children were expected to work, and the working conditions were not acceptable.)
“What was it like to be alive during this time?” (People were poor and had to do whatever it
took to be able to buy food and pay their bills, including send their children to work.) “What
was different back then?” (There were no child labor laws.) “What was the same back then?”
(They had newspapers, and we still do.)
At this point, the teacher should reinforce the skill of contextualizing. It is necessary for
the teacher to explain that child labor was an acceptable practice at the time this picture was
taken. It was not illegal, and therefore, the photographer did not need to concern themselves
with any repercussions from witnessing these children preparing for their daily jobs.
To conclude the lesson, have the students in all grade levels verbalize their response to one
of the following prompts by discussing with their partner or their team: “From this document,
I would guess that people at this time were feeling…” or “This document might not give me
the whole picture because…” Then, for grades 1-5, have the students write or draw their
answer to the compelling question: “Does one photo provide the whole picture?” For primary
students, ESE students, or ELL students, the teacher may need to provide additional prompts,
such as “What might be happening over to the left of the picture, past what we can see?” or
“If you were the photographer, what might be happening behind you?” It is a good strategy
to allow students to verbalize their responses and share them prior to writing. This is a good
scaffolding tool for use with ESE students, ELL students, or any student struggling with what
to write.
For further research, third, fourth, and fifth graders could peruse over 5,000 additional
sources from the Library of Congress’s National Child Labor Committee Collection and
practice completing the contextualization skill as well as questioning skills. The students
could create questions they have and then complete the research to build context. For
kindergarten, first graders, second graders, ESE learners, or ELL learners, the teacher could
pull up a few additional sources for the students. Additionally, the teacher could share the
short passage about Grace Abbott and how she used informed action to fight for children’s
rights and against child labor. Also, National Archives has teacher resources available for
further lessons on child labor.
As mentioned previously, SHEG offers many free resources, such as lesson plans,
assessments that do not contain multiple choice, and primary source documents that

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How Do We Teach Elementary Students to Think Like Historians?
correlate with the lessons and assessments. A useful SHEG lesson that offers additional
contextualizing skill practice is Edison and the Kansas Housewife Assessment. This activity
allows students to practice both contextualizing and sourcing by reading a letter from a
housewife in Kansas to Thomas Edison. The website also offers a short video (less than 3
minutes) to prepare the teacher to teach this lesson. Using this lesson, the teacher should
guide students through a contextualizing practice. The resource includes a section of
additional facts which will provide background information that some elementary students
may not know. The teacher should guide the students’ discussion by asking one question at
a time and allowing for partner discussions or small group discussions in which each student
is responsible for contributing to the conversation. After plenty of conversation, have the
students complete the activity by responding to “Which two of the four facts above help you
determine whether Mrs. Lathrop was typical or atypical of American women in the 1920s?”
This contextualization activity will teach the students to think beyond the specific, given
topic; and consider the bigger picture of events and conditions in which that specific topic
occurred. The students will realize that it is easy to have tunnel vision, but it is important
to keep contextualization in mind, or what else was going on at the specific time period.
This activity will strengthen the students’ ability to put things into context, have productive
discussions with substantiated supporting evidence, and become better historical thinkers.
At this point, students are becoming historical thinkers and developing democratic skills.

Figure 6. Free Food distribution, Corona Seventh Day Adventist Church, 35-30 103rd St.,
Queens

Note: Vergara, C. (2020, May 11). Free Food distribution, Corona Seventh Day Adventist Church, 35-30 103rd St.,
Queens. A family of three gets enough food to last for three days. The bags include a chicken, meat, fruit, cereal
and milk and they are donated by the food bank [Photograph]. Library of Congress.
[Link]

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Using Inquiry to Prepare Students for College, Career, and Civic Life. (Elementary Grades)
 Contextualizing Activity #2:
COVID-19 Food Distribution photograph,
Grades K–5
“Why might the people be standing in line for free food?”

Using the Teacher’s Guide to Analyzing Photographs & Prints (Figure 7), the teacher will
guide the students through a verbal analysis of Figure 6. The teacher should share the
photograph only, and not the title or the notes from the webpage which explain this photo
was taken during the COVID-19 pandemic. The teacher should ask at least three questions
under each of the three sections of Figure 8: observe (see), reflect (think), and question
(wonder). As mentioned previously, the teacher must make it clear that “observe” means they
can only mention items they see in the image, not what they think is happening in the image.
For instance, they can see the people have on jackets and hats, but they cannot see that it is
cold out. However, once the questions are coming from the “reflect” portion of the analysis
tool, the students may then state that they think it is cold out.
After the teacher has guided the students through all three sections of the analysis tool,
the teacher should pose the question: “What more do you want to know, what questions do
you have, and how can you find out?” (This question is located at the bottom of the analysis
tool.) Questioning is perhaps the most valuable aspect to historical thinking. Now that
students have engaged in strategic thinking, they are able to develop greater agency over
content. Allow the students time to discuss this question with a partner or team. Then the
teacher should elicit some responses, which will be questions, from the whole group.
To differentiate for learners such as primary, Exceptional Student Education (ESE), or other
language elementary learners, give students specific criteria to write a caption for the image.
For kindergarten students, the teacher could dictate their response, the students could
act out their response, the students could verbalize their response, or the students could
draw their response. Depending on the level of the learner, the criteria could include the
following: one sentence, must have a capital letter, must have end punctuation, must contain
evidence from the photograph. For upper elementary or advanced/Gifted students, have
them predict what will happen one hour after the scene shown in the image and “explain the
reasoning behind your predictions.” (This is also located at the bottom of the analysis tool.)
Again, be sure to include specific criteria. For upper elementary or advanced/Gifted learners,
the criteria could include the following: write at least one paragraph, but no more than two;
grammar, punctuation, and capitalization count; include details from the photograph; etc.
Finally, the teacher needs to share the title of the photo with the students. Allow them
to discuss their captions or predictions with other students and discuss if their caption was
correct or if their prediction could have happened. At this point, ask the students to discuss
with their partner or team: “Given what we know about the COVID pandemic and what has

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How Do We Teach Elementary Students to Think Like Historians?
happened recently (contextualization), why might the people be standing in line for free
food?” Follow this by a class discussion responding to the question posed. The teacher should
accept any answer as long as the student can support it. The idea is that the students will
have some contextual knowledge that some parents were out of jobs and businesses were
shut down, causing families to have little or no income. However, it would be acceptable for
them to answer, “They were standing in line for food because they were hungry.” The teacher
could offer additional probing questions, such as “Why might they be hungry?”
To encourage informed action, the teacher could encourage the students to organize
a donation drive to attend to the hungry people in their community, or the teacher could
encourage students to create their own community project exemplifying informed action.
The teacher should allow the students to brainstorm and create their own ideas. However,
for students who need support, the teacher may need to guide the brainstorming with ideas
such as: a peanut butter and jelly drive (plastic jars only), a non-perishable food drive, a
Thanksgiving food drive (more specific foods), a canned food drive, etc. The teacher could
also guide the students on how to research and advocate for a local food bank, learn about
childhood hunger and programs in their community, or find out how to collaborate with a
group, assess their needs, and move forward.

Figure 7. Teacher’s Guide Analyzing Photographs & Prints

TEACHER’S GUIDE O
BSERVE

Guide students with the sample questions as they respond to the

Analyzing Photographs
ION

primary source. Encourage them to go back and forth between the

REFL

& Prints columns; there is no correct order.

ST

E
E

C
QU T

OBSERVE REFLECT QUESTION

Have students identify and note details. Encourage students to generate and Have students ask questions to lead to
test hypotheses about the image. more observations and reflections.
Sample Questions:
Describe what you see. · What do you notice first? Why do you think this image was made? · What’s What do you wonder about...
· What people and objects are shown? · How happening in the image? · When do you think it who? · what? · when? · where? · why? · how?
are they arranged? · What is the physical setting? was made? · Who do you think was the audience for
· What, if any, words do you see? · What other this image? · What tools were used to create this?
details can you see? · What can you learn from examining this image? ·
What’s missing from this image? · If someone made
this today, what would be different? · What would be
the same?

F U R T H E R I N V E S T I G AT I O N

Help students to identify questions appropriate for further investigation, and to develop a research strategy for finding answers.
Sample Question: What more do you want to know, and how can you find out?

A few follow-up Beginning Advanced For more tips on using primary

activity ideas: Write a caption for the image. Have students expand or alter textbook or other printed sources, go to
explanations of history based on images they study.
[Link]
Intermediate
Select an image. Predict what will happen one minute after the
scene shown in the image. One hour after? Explain the reasoning
behind your predictions.

[Link]/teachers

Note. From Library of Congress.

[Link]

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Using Inquiry to Prepare Students for College, Career, and Civic Life. (Elementary Grades)
 Historical Thinking Skill:
Corroboration
Figure 8. Corroboration Poster

CORROBORATION

• What do other documents say?

• Do the documents agree?

If not, why?

• What are other possible

documents?

• What documents are most

reliable?

Note. From Stanford History Education Group.

[Link]

The historical thinking strategy corroboration (Figure 8) is a skill that is needed by everyone.
In today’s information-rich society, with information available in seconds, it is crucial to
teach students to corroborate this information and encourage them not to simply believe
everything they read on the Internet. Corroborating is the historical thinking strategy of
determining what is true by using other documents to corroborate, as well as being able
to determine discrepancies between documents (Wineburg et al., 2011). This skill helps
students create their own plausible narrative of the historical event. It is also an opportunity
to explore different perspectives of the same event.
The next activities, again, are meant to be simple and specifically focused, but this time
on the skill of corroboration. After the students gain some capability in corroboration, the

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How Do We Teach Elementary Students to Think Like Historians?
teacher should include a variety of primary and secondary sources, based on specific grade-
level content, using inquiry-based learning (such as the C3 Framework) to practice historical
thinking skills.

Corroboration Activity #1: General Grant at City Point,

Grades K-5
“Are all photographs to be trusted? Why or why not?”

Using the photo General Grant at City Point (Figure 9), have students (primary, intermediate,
ESE, ELL) analyze the photo using the Library of Congress’s primary source analysis tool
(Figure 10).

Figure 9. General Grant at City Point

Note. This photograph is a merging of several images and does not truly display General Grant at City Point.
Portions of three photographs were used to create this one photo: (1) his head, from an image of Grant
at Cold Harbor, Va. headquarters; (2) the horse and man’s body, from an image of Maj. Gen. Alexander
McDowell McCook; and (3) the background, from an image of the Battle of Fisher’s Hill. Handy, L. C.
(ca. 1902). General Grant at City Point [Composite Photograph]. Library of Congress. [Link]
item/2007681056/

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Using Inquiry to Prepare Students for College, Career, and Civic Life. (Elementary Grades)
 This analysis tool can be printed or downloaded and completed on a device. Once
completed, it can be uploaded, emailed, or printed. Depending on the students’ level, this
could be completed as a whole group, in teams, with a partner, or independently.

Figure 10. Primary Source Analysis Tool

REF
NAME: L

PRIMARY SOURCE ANALYSIS TOOL

EC
SERVE

T
OB

QU
ES
TION

OBSERVE REFLECT QUESTION

FURTHER INVESTIGATION:

ADDITIONAL NOTES:

[Link]/teachers

Note. From Library of Congress.

[Link]

Although this photo has been altered (in a nineteenth-century fashion), this is useful
practice for analyzing documents. Based on the learners’ needs in the classroom, the teacher
can guide the students through the analysis process or allow them to work in small groups
or with partners. Pairing students with different abilities together could be beneficial for
students who need support or for learners of other languages. Because this activity is visual,
primary grade levels can benefit from visual literacy in the sense that they are using visual
evidence to draw conclusions. Allow for discussion among students and guide them as
needed.

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How Do We Teach Elementary Students to Think Like Historians?
Figure 11. Ulysses S. Grant’s horses: Egypt, Cincinnati, and Jeff Davis

Note. Cold Harbor, Virginia. U.S. Grant’s horses: on left, EGYPT, center, CINCINNATI, right, JEFF DAVIS. (1864).
[Photograph]. Library of Congress. [Link]

After this analysis, the teacher could have the students repeat the analysis process with
the photo of Grant’s three horses (Figure 11), or if time is an issue; the teacher can just share
the photo. Have the students compare the horses in both photos (Figure 9, General Grant at
City Point and Figure 11, Ulysses S. Grant’s horses). Now, the intention is for the students
to corroborate, or determine the consistencies and/or discrepancies, between the horse in
the City Point photo and the three horses in Grant’s horses’ photo. The teacher may want to
provide magnifying glasses for a closer look at the photos.
Finally, have the intermediate students do a close read of the article “Solving a Civil
War Photograph Mystery.” The teacher could also read this with the students and have
them continue to use the term corroborating to demonstrate what the research assistant
was achieving. The research assistant discovered that if you look very close at the
photograph, small scratch marks are found around the horse’s body. This is an example of
nineteenth-century photoshopping. The research assistant discovered this by comparing,
or corroborating, the City Point image to other primary sources, such as photographs and
written sources. Depending on the level of the students, the teacher may need to define
photoshopping in today’s world.
The students should walk away with corroborating experience. Additionally, the students
should realize the importance of corroboration and of not believing everything at face value.
This activity should help them understand the importance of multiple sources to provide
ample support for their claim and strengthen their conclusion/argument.
To wrap up this practice activity, the students should answer the following question
through verbalizing their response, complete with supporting evidence: “Are all photographs

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Using Inquiry to Prepare Students for College, Career, and Civic Life. (Elementary Grades)
to be trusted? Why or why not?” Then the teacher should encourage the students to create
their own questions on the topic. The teacher should ask “What questions do you have?” or
“What do you wonder about regarding this activity’s topic?” The teacher should encourage
students to create a list of sources they would research to determine the answers to their
questions.
To take this activity a step further, intermediate students could determine how they could
take what they learned from this activity and take informed actions. For instance, they could
complete a project to share their new knowledge and encourage others to find supporting
evidence prior to believing everything they hear or read. This would require sharing their
project with others beyond their classmates. For instance, they could be required to share
with one adult outside of school, share with another class, share on the school news, etc.

Corroboration Activity #2: Abraham Lincoln,

Grades K-5
Another intriguing and engaging example of corroborating is shown with a famous photo of
Abraham Lincoln, titled Abraham Lincoln (original photograph by A. H. Ritchie.) The print can
be found on the Library of Congress website and is a composite (see Figure 12). The head of
Abraham Lincoln is photoshopped onto John C. Calhoun’s body and background from a prior
print by A. H. Ritchie, 1852 (see Figure 13).
This activity not only addresses the need for corroborating but is also a perfect way to
get the students to wonder. The teacher should ask the students: “After learning about this
nineteenth-century photoshopped photo, what do you wonder about?” As necessary (as
scaffolding for any students, or ESE and ELL students), the teacher should guide them to
wondering “Why do you think the photographer chose to photoshop President Lincoln onto
Calhoun’s body?” Again, the teacher should emphasize the importance of corroboration,
especially with so much fake news circulating in the world. The teacher should share with
students what Lum (2020) explains about the photograph trickery in his essay “From Analog
to Digital: A Consideration of Photographic Truth”:
A famous photo portrait of Abraham Lincoln has his head placed upon the photo
of another politician, John C. Calhoun. The trickery is attributed to Thomas
Hicks, although no one knows for certain—a portrait painter from that era who
had painted Lincoln before and who was thought to have created this composite
in the early to mid-1860s. Many historians believed that the photo was created
after Lincoln’s assassination because there were hardly any heroic, presidential-
looking portraits of Lincoln at that time. Calhoun’s image is a woodcut while the
image of Lincoln is more detailed, because it was taken from Matthew Brady’s
portrait of Lincoln, the same one later used for five-dollar bills. Lincoln’s head is
actually flipped such that his famous facial mole appears on the wrong side of his

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How Do We Teach Elementary Students to Think Like Historians?
 face. In the Calhoun image, the papers on the table say “strict constitution,” “free
trade,” and “the sovereignty of the states.” In the Brady image, these words have
been changed to read, “constitution,” “union,” and “proclamation of freedom.”
Despite the oddness of this chimera, it continues to be widely cited as one of
the most important Lincoln presidential images. What is revealed here is that
a dignified, full-bodied image of Lincoln in presidential pose was needed when
there was in fact an absence. When an image is needed, it does not matter the
means. In this case it presents Lincoln in the manner everyone expects Lincoln to
be presented. The image fulfills a collective desire. Or it reflects the power of the
state to conjure a collective desire to be fulfilled. (p. 214)

To inspire students to seek out additional primary sources and encourage inquiry, prepare
a list of kid-friendly, appropriately leveled, so-called facts currently circulating on the
Internet. Either assign or allow students to choose one of these “facts.” Have the students
conduct research to find at least three reliable sources to either support the fact or dispute
or challenge the fact. Another option is to use the website Fakeout. The teacher can select an

Figure 12. Abraham Lincoln Figure 13. John C. Calhoun

Note. This print is a composite of Abraham Note. Ritchie, A. H., Hicks, T., & Brady, M. B.
Lincoln’s head, John C. Calhoun’s body, and (ca. 1852). John C. Calhoun/painted by T.
the background of an 1852 print by A.H. Hicks; likeness from a dage. by Brady; engraved
Ritchie. Pate, W. (1865). Abraham Lincoln by A.H. Ritchie, ca. 1852. [Engraving].
[Engraving]. Library of Congress. https:// Library of Congress. [Link]
[Link]/item/2003654314/ item/2003679757/

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Using Inquiry to Prepare Students for College, Career, and Civic Life. (Elementary Grades)
age group for age appropriateness. It is a game to determine which Internet posts are true or
fake. The site also offers strategies in the form of short videos on how to verify the claims.
It is necessary for the teacher to share the difference between a reliable source and an
unreliable source. For instance, Facebook is not necessarily reliable for research, but instead,
if something is read on Facebook, it must be substantiated by additional sources. Another
source frequently used by students is Wikipedia. For intermediate students, the teacher
should recommend bib-hopping, or using the bibliographies on Wikipedia to go to the original
sources to determine the accuracy and reliability of a fact. Ultimately, their resource will be
the original sources, not Wikipedia. For instance, Wikipedia mentions the Civil War photo
mystery in the article “Photograph manipulation.” At the bottom of the website page, the
bibliography lists Library of Congress, “Solving a Civil War Photograph Mystery” as one of
the references. Now a researcher can corroborate what Wikipedia has stated, but instead
use a reputable website as their source. A good way to explain this to students is to make the
distinction of using the Internet for searching versus research. If a student wants to know the
Super Bowl winner from 1992, conduct an online search.
To finish, the students could take informed action by creating a podcast, a poster, or a video
recording which includes modeling an analysis of one of the sources used in the activities,
concluding “fake news” or “Photoshopping,” where appropriate, and pointing out the
importance of corroboration. Finally, the students will share their informed action project
with another class, their family, or on the school news.

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How Do We Teach Elementary Students to Think Like Historians?
 Historical Thinking Skill:
Close Reading
Figure 14. Close Reading Poster

CLOSE READING
• What claims does the author make?

• What evidence does the author use?

• What language (words, phrases,

images, symbols) does the author
use to persuade the document’s
audience?

• How does the document’s language

indicate the author’s perspective?

Note. From Stanford History Education Group.

[Link]

The historical thinking skill of close reading (Figure 14) forces the reader to take a close
look at what the author is attempting to portray to the reader. Close reading is a historical
thinking strategy that involves identifying the author’s claims, evaluating evidence, and
evaluating and dissecting the author’s language. However, all these elements do not need to
be addressed in every close reading lesson. This strategy is accomplished through purposeful
rereading of text, focusing on what the author states, what the words mean, and what the
structure of the text communicates to us (Fisher & Frey, 2012).

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Using Inquiry to Prepare Students for College, Career, and Civic Life. (Elementary Grades)
 For instance, questions a teacher could ask include “What claims does the author make?”
“What evidence does the author use?” “What language (words, phrases, images, symbols)
does the author use to persuade the document’s audience?” and “How does the document’s
language indicate the author’s perspective?” Close reading places the meaning in the text
itself. The author’s intentions are not what readers should be probing, but the author’s words
are the focus.
According to Shanahan (2013), a leading literacy scholar, close reading means
understanding the meaning of the text with little or no outside information. Close reading
includes reading and rereading, thinking about the words and structure used to write the
text. Close reading generally involves a minimum of three readings of the same passage. For
instance, the first read is a read for comprehension. When the student has read the passage
once, they should be able to reiterate what they read or answer comprehension questions.
The second read involves the reader taking a closer look at what the author is attempting to
do with the words they selected, what types of literary devices were used, or how the writing
was organized. The second reading does not always include rereading the entire article but
could instead mean rereading specific parts.
For example, take the Declaration of Sentiments (Figure 15), alongside the Declaration of
Independence. For elementary-level students, specifically intermediate, this document would
need to have passages extracted, and then the teacher would need to provide students with a
“translation” of those passages. More advanced elementary students may see the similarities
without the teacher’s assistance.

Figure 15. Declaration of Sentiments

Note. Stanton, E. C. (1848). Scrapbook on the Woman’s Rights Convention, prepared by Elizabeth Cady Stanton, 1848
[Manuscript/Mixed Material]. Library of Congress. [Link]

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How Do We Teach Elementary Students to Think Like Historians?
 The Declaration of Sentiments lists male oppression toward women as well as suggests
possible solutions. It was signed by 32 men and 68 women during the first American women’s
rights convention that was also organized by women, held in Seneca Falls, New York, in
July 1848. The Declaration of Sentiments eventually became the foundation for the 19th
Amendment, in which women received the right to vote in 1920.
The authors of the Declaration of Sentiments used the Declaration of Independence as the
backbone of their document. But why did they opt to use the same layout and many of the
same words from the Declaration of Independence to create the Declaration of Sentiments? Of
course, the authors’ intentions were to parallel the two documents based on the struggles
of the Founding Fathers and the struggles for women’s rights. Using this literary maneuver
provided a powerful declaration for women. This second reading could be comparing what
pieces of the declarations were similar or the same and what was different. For a third
reading, the reader would go deeper and determine what is meant by the words selected,
what the authors’ point was in writing this text, and what textual connections can be made.
The next activities are simple and specifically focused on the skill of close reading. After
the students practice close reading, the teacher needs to continue offering historical thinking
practice by including a variety of primary and secondary sources, based on specific grade-
level content, using inquiry-based learning (such as the C3 Framework).

Close Reading Activity #1: The Important Stuff,

Grades K-5
“Why did Ashman use the word choices he used?”

Use a copy of The Important Stuff, which are notes written in the hand of Howard Ashman for
Disney’s Beauty and the Beast, ca. 1989. This piece may not meet specific content standards,
other than the use of primary sources. However, the intention of this selection was to provide
engagement to elementary students who can relate with this animated story. To begin the
activity, have the students focus on the first section which ends with the word “period.”
Guide the students through a close reading exercise. Have the students read it once (or for
emerging readers, students who need support, ESE learners, or ELL learners, the teacher
may need to read it to them) and discuss what they read (reiterate) with a shoulder partner.
Keep in mind that it may be necessary for the teacher to read it due to the handwriting. Many
students enjoy the challenge of deciphering the handwriting. Allow for plenty of discussion
and put procedures in place so that the students will have respect for each other’s thoughts
and ideas (Boyle-Baise & Zevin, 2014). All students will benefit from this, and it will meet
the needs of all learners through listening to other students’ responses, as well as offering
their own interpretations in a comfortable environment. Additionally, for students who need
support, allow them to restate what they heard from another classmate if they cannot come
up with their own response.

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Using Inquiry to Prepare Students for College, Career, and Civic Life. (Elementary Grades)
 Next, have the students read (or have the teacher read, based on academic levels) the
document a second time to closely inspect each word to determine why Ashman used certain
words (see Figure 1, SHEG’s chart, “evaluate author’s word choice; understand language is
used deliberately”). For instance, “Why did he choose ‘handsome, brutal hunk’ to describe
Gaston?” “Why did he write down two different names, ‘Gaston’ and ‘Gerard’?” “Why did
he choose to use so many adjectives?” “Why did he decide to write a one-word sentence?”
Reading documents multiple times is natural for historians (and maybe even some teachers).
Students will struggle with understanding and appreciating the need to read a source more
than one time. Teachers must remind students that the purpose for each close read varies
and that they are using a different lens each time. In this case, they are not always unpacking
vocabulary or main ideas as in traditional reading lessons but instead analyzing the document
using historical thinking.
For the third read, have the students focus on “What was Ashman’s point in writing this
piece?” Also, have the students discuss how this text corroborates with other primary
sources. The teacher could guide students to seek additional primary sources, or for
kindergarten through third grade, the teacher could supply the students with additional
primary sources. Fourth- and fifth-grade students could determine the primary sources
for themselves. However, as the teacher is teaching this skill, they will need to provide
guidance and possibly even suggestions. For this activity, an easy option for an additional
source is a copy of Disney’s Beauty and the Beast book. They can compare and contrast,
or corroborate, the notes with the actual literature. Additionally, they could corroborate
the notes with the video (clips) of Disney’s Beauty and the Beast. Assign students to have
a discussion with their partner or team based on the question: “Why did Ashman use the
word choices he used?” The students need to use specific evidence from Ashman’s notes,
as well as a video clip or book used in class. Finally, have students create a social media
post responding to the question: “Why did Ashman use the word choices he used?” Most
intermediate students will know what a social media post is if it is referred to by a specific
name: Instagram, Facebook, or Twitter. However, the teacher may need to give a brief
explanation to primary students. Students may choose to draw a picture or use words
for their post. For example, kindergarten students may draw a picture and caption using
phonetic spelling or verbalizing their caption to the teacher. For intermediate grade levels,
the teacher may offer a sentence starter, such as: “Did you ever wonder why Ashman used
the word choices he did for Beauty and the Beast? He used ______ because…” In either case,
the teacher should hang up the end products and have other classmates comment on their
posts.
Once students have completed this activity, they will have experienced distinguishing
author’s claims, assessing evidence, and evaluating and analyzing the author’s language.
Close reading is accomplished through purposefully rereading text, concentrating on what
the author specifically states, what the words indicate, and what the structure of the text

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How Do We Teach Elementary Students to Think Like Historians?
conveys to the reader (Fisher & Frey, 2012). With further similar activities, students will
have a better understanding of close reading and reap the benefits of this specific skill.
Again, the teacher should note the importance of students questioning and prompt the
students to create questions. The teacher could simply ask the students, “What questions
do you have?” However, in the beginning stages of using historical thinking strategies, as
well as questioning, the students may need additional prompting, such as “If you were given
the opportunity, what questions would you ask Howard Ashman?” or “After completing this
activity, what do you wonder about? As a sentence starter, please use ‘I wonder…’”

Close Reading Activity #2: A Happy Day in Birmingham,

Grades K-5
“Why did the author, Dr. Martin Luther King, Jr., choose the words he
chose in his speech ‘A Happy Day in Birmingham,’ May 10, 1963?”

As a Baptist minister and activist, Dr. Martin Luther King, Jr., became the most noticeable
orator and leader in America’s Civil Rights Movement. For this next activity, the students
will have an opportunity to listen to a short clip of Martin Luther King, Jr., giving a speech,
A Happy Day in Birmingham, May 10, 1963. However, a transcription of the clip is provided
to offer a visual of the specific words and phrases. To begin the activity, the teacher should
share with the students that they will be focusing on the following question, as they listen
to the clip: “Why did the author, Dr. Martin Luther King, Jr., choose the words he chose in his
speech?” The teacher should play the clip from the American Archive of Public Broadcasting3
two or three times for the students, without any discussion or information. Then, the teacher
should have the students read the transcript:
Without a doubt, the world will never forget the thousands of children and
adults who gave up their own physical safety and freedom and went to jail to
secure the safety and freedom of all men. I must say this…. (King, 1963)
The teacher should guide a discussion, asking each of the following questions, one at a time,
and allowing for ample time for the students to discuss each question with a partner: “What
claims does Dr. King make?” “What language (words, phrases, images) does Dr. King use to
persuade the audience he is speaking to?” “Why did he use the words ‘all men’?” “Why did he
use the word ‘never’?” “How does the document’s language indicate Dr. King’s perspective?”
For kindergarten and first grade children, the teacher may want to break it down into simpler
language, such as: “What is Dr. King telling us about?” and “What words do you think are most
important?”

3
American Archive of Public Broadcasting is a collaboration between the Library of Congress and WGBH to
preserve the most significant public television and radio programs of the past 60 years, including audio, film, and
video history.

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Using Inquiry to Prepare Students for College, Career, and Civic Life. (Elementary Grades)
 At this point, the teacher should share some background information with the students
regarding the march to which Dr. King is referring. Remember that most children will be
unfamiliar with the needed context. In the spring of 1963, children marched in Birmingham,
Alabama, to show their civic action against segregation. These children were later arrested.
Let the Children March, by Monica Clark-Robinson with art by Frank Morrison (2018), is a
great children’s book to provide additional historical context and close reading practice.
Other books regarding Dr. King and his peaceful actions include the following: We March, by
Shane W. Evans (2016); As Fast As Words Could Fly, by Pamela M. Tuck (2013); Martin’s Big
Words: The Life of Dr. Martin Luther King, Jr., by Doreen Rappaport (2007); and Kadir Nelson's
illustrated version of I Have a Dream, by Dr. Martin Luther King, Jr. (2012).
It is also important to continue having the students practice questioning. It is their turn to
create questions. For instance, provide them scaffolding on creating their own questions by
asking them “After completing this activity, what questions do you have? What sources would
help you to determine the answers to your questions?” If further prompting is needed for ESE
or ELL students, ask them “If you could ask Dr. Martin Luther King a question or two, what
would they be?”
Although this lesson was specifically focused on using the historical thinking skill of close
reading, the content addresses civic skills to promote educated citizenry. The teacher
could probe students to respond to: “How should conflicts about diversity (differences) be
prevented or managed?” and “How can people work together to promote the values and
principles of American democracy?” It may be necessary for the teacher to address the
definition of the word “diversity.” For primary or lower-level learners, the teacher could use
this prompt instead: “How can we help people be nice to each other, even if they are different
than each other?”

Addressing Bias
Instruction regarding bias (being partial to something or some idea) is critical to historical
thinking in the classroom. A reader’s bias has a way of influencing how reliable a source is
and readers need to take this into account. Teachers need to recognize their own biases and
make the best attempt not to show their biases when providing appropriate instruction.
Although being unbiased is an impossibility, recognizing our own biases is possible and is
a crucial element of critical thinking (Friesem, 2018.) Even elementary students come to
school with various biases, such as biases on current events; or biases based on family values
and traditions. It is necessary for the teacher to prepare the students to experience this
and teach them to look at a variety of perspectives so they can process the sources without
involving their personal biases. Teachers and students must recognize their biases, consider
other perspectives, and conduct research to reach informed decisions. Teachers need to
teach students to have an open mind and locate information that will support their responses

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How Do We Teach Elementary Students to Think Like Historians?
to assigned questions and inquiries. Often, the word “bias” is viewed as a derogatory term.
However, for the purpose of teaching students to be historical thinkers, the word “bias”
should be focused on perspective. As students are developing critical thinking, teachers
should model open-mindedness and encourage them to embrace open-mindedness as well
as intellectual humbleness (Scheibe & Rogow, 2012). Ultimately, teachers want to prepare
students to be optimistic about making the world a better place, to become inquiring lifetime
learners, and to understand how to communicate ethically and how to be active listeners
(Sperry, 2010).
Conversely, bias should be recognized as giving primary and secondary sources value.
Without bias, sources would be void of opinion, and primary sources with this type of bias are
needed to help us understand history (Lang, 1993). Teachers should ask guiding questions
such as “What is this source’s bias?” and “How does the bias add to our picture of the past?”
Recognizing the different biases will help students to develop critical thinking skills. These
learned skills will transfer over to other academic areas, as well as their personal lives.

Conclusion
Standardized testing has created a weakness for schools to provide adequate instruction in
social studies (Heafner, 2020), especially at the elementary level. The marginalization at the
elementary levels has affected the complexity of the subject and has decreased the students’
abilities to be problem solvers and critical thinkers (Heafner et al., 2007; Heafner, 2020;
Heafner & Fitchett, 2012). Other scholars argue that social studies has deteriorated due to
traditional instructional strategies, such as lecturing, use of textbooks, and teacher direction
(Cuban, 1982; Thacker et al., 2017; Saye, 2013).
Teacher candidates who are learning what historical thinking is, how to use historical
thinking strategies paired with primary sources, and how to teach historical thinking
strategies using primary sources, will help to fill the gap created by this marginalization. It is
essential for students in the elementary, middle, and high school classrooms to be equipped
with the necessary skills, knowledge, intellectual processes, and democratic dispositions to
be actively engaged citizens in society (Golston, 2010; Herczog, 2010; NCSS, 2010; NCSS,
2013). When social studies is properly taught, students will become active members of a
democratic society (Heafner, 2020). Historical thinking will ultimately prepare students
for their future careers and their responsibilities as active citizens of the United States
(Breakstone et al., 2013; Monte-Sano, 2011; Reisman, 2011; Reisman, 2012; Wineburg et al.,
2011).

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Using Inquiry to Prepare Students for College, Career, and Civic Life. (Elementary Grades)
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evaluation of documentary and pictorial evidence. Journal of Educational Psychology, 83(1), 73–87.

Wineburg, S. (2001). Historical thinking and other unnatural acts: Charting the future of teaching the past.
Temple University Press.

Wineburg, S. (2015). Why historical thinking is not about history. Stanford Digital Repository, 13–16.
[Link]

Wineburg, S., & Gottlieb, E. (2011). Historians meet thanksgiving: What would George do? Historically
Speaking, 12(5), 6–8. [Link]

Wineburg, S., Martin, D., & Monte-Sano, C. (2011). Reading like a historian, teaching literacy in middle and
high school history classrooms. Teachers College Press.

Wineburg, S., & Reisman, A. (2015). Disciplinary literacy in history: A toolkit for digital citizenship.
Journal of Adolescent & Adult Literacy, 58(8), 636–639.

Wineburg, S., Smith, M., & Breakstone, J. (2012). New directions in assessment: Using Library of
Congress sources to assess historical understanding. Social Education, 76(6), 290–293.

Zygouris-Coe, V. (2015). Teaching discipline-specific literacies in grades 6–12: Preparing students for college,
career and workforce demands (1st ed.). Routledge.

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Using Inquiry to Prepare Students for College, Career, and Civic Life. (Elementary Grades)
 Appendix
Annotated Resources
Source Citation
Resource Description
and Link

This is a print of Lincoln, and it is a composite.

Pate, W. (1865). Abraham
The head of Abraham Lincoln is superimposed
Lincoln [Print]. Library of
Abraham Lincoln on a John C. Calhoun’s body and has the
Congress. [Link]
background of an earlier print by A. H. Ritchie
gov/item/2003654314/
from 1852.
This website (NK360°) provides educators
and students with new perspectives on Native
American history and cultures. Most Americans
have only been shown part of the story,
generally from a single perspective through
the lenses of media and textbooks. The website
provides educational materials, virtual student
American Indian
[Link] curricula, and professional development for
Smithsonian
[Link]/nk360/ teachers that incorporate Native narratives,
Institute
more comprehensive histories, and accurate
information to inform teaching and learning
about Native America. NK360° confronts
popular assumptions about Native peoples
and presents a view that includes not only the
past but also the vivacity of Native peoples and
cultures today.
America’s Story from America’s Library wants
the readers to have fun with history while
learning at the same time. Their intention is
to put the story back in history and display
some things that have never been heard or seen
America’s Story [Link]
before. The site offers letters, diaries, records
from America’s [Link]/index.
and tapes, films, sheet music, maps, prints,
Library html
photographs, and digital materials. Much of
what is seen on America’s Library will be non-
book items, and many of those materials are
found only in the collections of the Library of
Congress.

139
How Do We Teach Elementary Students to Think Like Historians?
 The result of a three-year state-led
collaborative effort, the College, Career, and
Civic Life (C3) Framework for Social Studies
State Standards was developed to serve two
audiences: for states to upgrade their state
social studies standards and for practitioners—
local school districts, schools, teachers, and
[Link] curriculum writers—to strengthen their
C3 Framework
org/standards/c3 social studies programs. Its objectives are
to a) enhance the rigor of the social studies
disciplines; b) build critical thinking, problem
solving, and participatory skills to become
engaged citizens; and c) align academic
programs to the Common Core State Standards
for English Language Arts and Literacy in
History/Social Studies.
Chief Little John and A short passage from America’s Library about
[Link]
the Trail of Tears, Chief of the United Cherokee Nation, who
[Link]/jb/
October 3, 1790 repeatedly tried to resist the 1830 Indian
nation/jb_nation_tears_1.
(America’s Library) Removal Act, but later ended up guiding his
html
people to unfamiliar Oklahoma.
Cold Harbor, Virginia.
U.S. Grant’s horses: on
Cold Harbor, Virginia.
left, EGYPT, center,
U. S. Grant’s horses:
CINCINNATI, right,
on left, EGYPT, Photograph of Ulysses S. Grant’s three horses.
JEFF DAVIS. (1864).
center, CINCINNATI,
[Photograph]. Library of
right, JEFF DAVIS
Congress. [Link]
gov/item/2018670732/
Stanton, E. C. (1848).
Scrapbook on the Woman’s
Rights Convention, prepared
Declaration of by Elizabeth Cady Stanton,
Sentiments 1848 [Manuscript/Mixed
Material]. Library of
Congress. [Link]
gov/item/mss412100152/
[Link]
Edison and the edu/sites/default/
A specific lesson/assessment from the Stanford
Kansas Housewife files/download-pdf/
History Education Group for contextualizing
Assessment (SHEG Edison%20and%20the%20
skill practice.
lesson) Kansas%20Housewife%20
Assessment_1.pdf
Fakeout is a website to bring awareness to
fake social media posts. The teacher can select
an age group for age appropriateness. It is a
[Link]
Fakeout game to determine what social media posts are
fakeout/
true or fake. The site also offers strategies in
the form of short videos on how to verify the
claims.

140
Using Inquiry to Prepare Students for College, Career, and Civic Life. (Elementary Grades)
The First [Link] Stanford History Education Group mini-lesson
Thanksgiving mini- edu/history-lessons/first- using The First Thanksgiving painting from
lesson thanksgiving-mini-lessons Library of Congress.
Ferris, J. L. G. (1912-1915).
The First The First Thanksgiving, The painting intended to portray what
Thanksgiving 1621. [Painting]. Library of Thanksgiving looked like with the Pilgrims
painting Congress. [Link] and Native Americans in the 1600s.
gov/item/2001699850/
Vergara, C. (2020, May
Free Food
11). Free Food distribution,
distribution, Corona
Corona Seventh Day
Seventh Day
Adventist Church, 35-30
Adventist Church, 35-
103rd St., Queens. A family
30 103rd St., Queens.
of three gets enough food to
A family of three
last for three days. The bags Photograph from 2020 depicting people
gets enough food to
include a chicken, meat, standing in line waiting for food donations.
last for three days.
fruit, cereal and milk and it
The bags include a
is donated by the food bank
chicken, meat, fruit,
[Photograph]. Library
cereal and milk and
of Congress. https://
it is donated by the
[Link]/pictures/
food bank
item/2020633003/
This photograph is a merging of several images
and does not truly display General Grant at
Handy, L. C. (ca. 1902).
City Point. Three photographs were used to
General Grant at City Point
create this one photo. The Library of Congress
General Grant at City [Composite Photograph].
has negatives or prints that show (1) Grant’s
Point Library of Congress.
head, from Cold Harbor, Va. headquarters;
[Link]
(2) the horse and man’s body, from Maj. Gen.
item/2007681056/
Alexander McDowell McCook; and (3) the
background from the battle of Fisher’s Hill, Va.
[Link] This is a 22-second clip of a speech given by
A Happy Day in
org/catalog/cpb-aacip-500- Dr. Martin Luther King, Jr., regarding children
Birmingham, May 10,
r785p02p?start=1239.73&e and adults giving up their safety to support the
1963
nd=1262.39 rights of all.

141
How Do We Teach Elementary Students to Think Like Historians?
 Roy Rosenzweig and staff from George Mason
University, along with Sam Wineburg and
staff from Stanford University, reinforce that
the most beneficial way to learn something
is by observing it being modeled. Historical
Thinking Matters provides high school
students with a framework that teaches them
to read documents like historians. Using
these “habits of mind,” they will be able to
Historical Thinking [Link] question historical sources and use them to
Matters [Link]/ shape reasoned conclusions about the past.
Additionally, through use of this website and
resources offered, students will become critical
users of the vast historical archives on the web.
Historical Thinking Matters equips students to
navigate the uncharted waters of the World
Wide Web. The site is the winner of the
American Historical Association’s 2008 James
Harvey Robinson Prize for an Outstanding
Teaching Aid.
Ashman, H. (1989).
Important Stuff [Manuscript/
Mixed Material]. Library of These are notes, written in the hand of Howard
Important Stuff Congress. [Link] Ashman for Disney’s Beauty and the Beast, ca.
gov/exhibits/music-and- 1989.
animation/beauty-and-the-
[Link]
Ritchie, A. H., Hicks, T.,
& Brady, M. B. (ca. 1852).
This is a painting of John C. Calhoun, by T.
John C. Calhoun / John C. Calhoun/painted by
Hicks. Calhoun was a member of the House
painted by T. Hicks; T. Hicks; likeness from a dage.
of Representatives (1811–17), Secretary of War
likeness from a dage. by Brady; engraved by A.H.
(1817–25), Vice President (1825-32), Secretary of
by Brady; engraved by Ritchie, ca. 1852. [Print].
State (1844–45), and U. S. Senator (1832–43 and
A.H. Ritchie Library of Congress.
1845–50).
[Link]
item/2003679757/
Kid Citizen is an online interactive program
for students in kindergarten through fifth
grade. The program offers a variety of episodes
that explore Congress and promote civic
engagement through use of primary source
photographs and personal connections.
Kid Citizen [Link]
The episodes use primary sources to engage
students in history, through interactive
activities, which foster visual literacy and
historical inquiry. The episodes also offer
teacher guides, which include NCSS Standards,
as well as correlations to the C3 Framework.

142
Using Inquiry to Prepare Students for College, Career, and Civic Life. (Elementary Grades)
 A great children’s book to provide additional
historical context and close reading practice.
Let the Children In 1963, Birmingham, Alabama, African
Clark-Robinson, M. (2018)
March, by Monica American children undertook to march for
Let the Children March (F.
Clark-Robinson their civil rights after hearing Dr. Martin
Morrison, Illus.). Houghton
with art by Frank Luther King, Jr., speak. They protested the laws
Mifflin Harcourt.
Morrison that kept black people separate from white
people. Facing terror, hatred, and peril, these
children used their voices to make changes.
This is a lesson for teacher candidates.
Making Thinking [Link] Candidates are introduced to the nature
Visible (Teacher [Link]/ted/lessons/ of historical reading and thinking and the
Educator Lesson) making/ necessity of making these ways of thinking
visible and explicit in their classrooms.
[Link]
This section of the National Archives offers
National Archives education/lessons/hine-
resources for further lessons on child labor.
photos
Working as an investigative photographer for
the National Child Labor Committee (NCLC),
Lewis Hine (1874-1940) documented working
and living conditions of children in the United
States between 1908 and 1924. The NCLC
National Child photos are useful for the study of labor, reform
[Link]
Labor Committee movements, children, working class families,
collection/nclc/
Collection education, public health, urban and rural
housing conditions, industrial and agricultural
sites, and other aspects of urban and rural
life in America in the early twentieth century.
The collection consists of more than 5,100
photographic prints.
Students and teachers can use this simple tool
to examine and analyze any kind of primary
[Link]
Primary Source source and record their responses. Students
teachers/primary-source-
Analysis tool can download and fill in this PDF, then save,
analysis-tool/
print, e-mail, or upload it. Or, they can print it
and fill it in by hand.
Reformer Grace
[Link]
Abbott Was Born A short passage about how one woman used
[Link]/jb/
(America’s Story informed action to fight for children’s rights
gilded/jb_gilded_abbott_1.
from America’s and against child labor.
html
Library)

143
How Do We Teach Elementary Students to Think Like Historians?
 The Stanford History Education Group
(SHEG) is an award-winning research and
development group that comprises Stanford
faculty, staff, graduate students, post-docs, and
[Link] visiting scholars. The site offers the Reading
The Stanford
edu/sites/default/ Like a Historian curriculum and the Beyond
History Education
files/download-pdf/ the Bubble assessments, as well as research
Group, Historical
Historical%20Thinking%20 publications and journal publications. SHEG’s
Thinking Chart
[Link] current work focuses on how young people
evaluate online content. SHEG has created a
Civic Online Reasoning curriculum to help
students develop the skills needed to navigate
the current digital landscape.
[Link]
programs/teachers/getting- This is a tool offered by Library of Congress
Teacher’s Guide
started-with-primary- to assist teachers, so they may guide students
Analyzing
sources/documents/ with possible questions as the students analyze
Photographs & Prints
Analyzing_Photographs_ primary source documents.
and_Prints.pdf
Lindneux, R. (1942). The
Trail of Tears, 1838. The
This oil on canvas painting intended to portray
removal of the Cherokee
the removal of Native Americans in 1838 was
Trail of Tears Native Americans to the
painted in 1942 by Robert Lindneux titled The
painting West in 1838. https://
Trail of Tears, 1838. The removal of the Cherokee
[Link]/
Native Americans to the West in 1838.
nk360/removal-six-nations/
cherokee/[Link]
Hine, L. W. (1908). Waiting
for the Signal. Newsboys,
Waiting for The starting out with base-ball Photograph of “newsboys,” created by Lewis
Signal. Newsboys, extra. 5pm, Times Star Office. Wickes Hine (1874–1940), photographer,
starting out with base- Location: Cincinnati, Ohio August 1908. This is a photographic primary
ball extra [Photograph]. Library of source depicting child labor.
Congress [Link]
gov/resource/nclc.03201/

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Using Inquiry to Prepare Students for College, Career, and Civic Life. (Elementary Grades)