Historical thinking

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Historical thinking

historical significance

Historians have to choose what periods or aspects of history are important to thoroughly document and teach. Some parts may be more, or less important to building an understanding of the past. You could ask these questions: 1. Did the event, person or development create a long lasting change? 2. If so, how many people were affected, and were they affected profoundly or deeply? 3. Was this the first time that an event such as this occurred, or an idea such as this was introduced? 4. Does this event, person, or development reveal something about the past that is different from the present? 5. Has the significance of this event, person, or development changed over time?

Continuity and change

When looking at the past, historians try to look at how peoples lives changed over time, and the historical events that impacted these changes. They look at the economic, social, political, cultural and environmental changes that places and people went through. They also identify the speed of these changes. Finally, the identify the continuity as well, like What aspects have stayed the same through the years? you could ask the following questions: 1. What has changed? 2. What has stayed the same? 3. how quickly or slowly do these changes occur? 4. Do the changes indicate progress for some groups or individuals, and decline for others? 5. What can we learn from comparing 2 different time periods?

historical perspective

Historians try to find evidence that help them grasp a better perspective or feeling towards what it was like in the past. A phrase you could use, and did use way back in kindergarten was "putting yourself in someone else's shoes". They consider the ideas and values that were common in the past, and yet are careful not to judge and create misconceptions. You could ask these questions: 1. What were the beliefs, values perspectives and motivations of the people who lived in that time? 2. How do these beliefs and values differ from today's beliefs and values? 3. Did the people make understandable decisions based on the information they had available to them? 4. What beliefs values and ideas do I already have that affect how I think about this event, period or person? 5. What inferences can I make about the persons thoughts feelings and motivations from the evidence I have?

cause and consequence

When trying to better understand a historical event, historians try to discover all the causes related to this event. And more specifically the most significant and important causes. They also try to find all the consequences of this certain event. Including short-term, long-term, positive, negative, planned and unplanned consequences of the event. If you were to think about the causes and consequences, you could ask these questions: 1, what were the causes of the event? 2. Who were the people that influenced the event?. 3.What were the social, political or economical conditions that influenced the event? 4. What were the ideas and beliefs that influenced the event? 5. What were the consequences of the event? 6.What were the intended, and unintended consequences of the event.

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