Historical Thinking Concepts

Historical Significance

Questions to ask to determine historical significance:

“How notable was the event at the time it was happening?”

“How widespread and lasting were the consequences after the event?”

“Has the event become symbolic or representative of key historical issues or trends?”

Some issues have more historical significance because “they come to symbolize a bigger issue or development.” → 9/11 comes to symbolize international terrorism in Canada.

Criteria is for something to happen to a lot of people and the reach of what happened

Constructed stories

What is scale/reach?

• Global → everyone should know about it.

• National→  events that everyone in the country

• Regional → everyone in the region or that belongs to a specific group (women, religious groups)

• Personal → only you and your family and descendants.  

• Did people take note of it at the time?

 (Prominence)

• How many people were affected? The more people affected, the more significance (impact).

• Priorities and certain realities. Alliances, fights and relationships (revealing)

Building a narrative to fit a specific mould. Not 100% accurate. Moving away from old narratives with new people and inclusivity. FACTS DON'T CHANGE THEY JUST GET IGNORED. History gets written by the winners, and we get crooked history. 

What do you think this artifact was used for? Who might have used it? Why do you think it was important during World War I?

Identifying important events: Determining which events had a significant impact on history.

Assessing the long-term consequences: Understanding the lasting effects of historical events.

Considering multiple perspectives: Recognizing that the significance of events can vary depending on perspective.

Continuity and Change

Continuity = “how lives and conditions are similar over time.” → same

Change = “how things were different between time periods.” → different

Questions to get a better understanding:

• “For each aspect of life, how have things stayed the same? How have they changed?”

• Are the changes and similarities positive or negative?

• Were the changes slow or fast?

• “Did any of the changes mark turning points?”

• Turning points = notable or important changes

Keep a keen eye on what is progress to which group → rich people living in the distillery district pushing others out due to price. → lose of jobs for shipping people there. CLASS/ECONOMIC CONFLICT it can be progressive, but it also causes decline.

Ex: women getting jobs (yay), women not being paid (boo), birth rate down (boo).

Not all change is good, if you make it too quick it can be reversed faster.

 Is change happening? → fighting for it and getting it but nothing is changed for any of the groups affected. 

Cause and Consequence

Questions to ask:

• “What are the range of factors that contributed to the event?” → immediate and underlying causes

• “Which of the causes are the most influential?”

• “ What were the intended as well as the unintended consequences of the event?”

Answer to #2 is to ask…

• If the event is likely to happen if some factors were taken out of the equation 

Factors that can contribute to an event:

• People→ Actions if one or a group (small or big)

• Ideas and beliefs → they are the cause of events, maybe religion or politics.

• Institutions and organizations → People taking action for maybe justice

• Events → what happened in history causing people to react in other times to come.

Types of causes:

• Immediate → occurs right before a particular event

• Underlying → events that happened a number of years earlier

Historical Perspective

Meaning: Understanding the past through the intellectual, social, historical and emotional perspective of people living back then. 

• You need to understand that we might have a different way of understanding topics than the people who actually experienced them, so we must not make a fool of those just because now we have more information and reasoning.

Ex: The perspectives of Chinese people about the head tax in Canada.

We don’t want to look at one specific person, but the people and their feelings on the topic as a group. We do this as we might not represent them properly just from one experience alone.

“Are we using our knowledge of the values and beliefs existing at the time to interpret the people, events and practices of the past?”

“Are the interpretations representative of the beliefs, values and practices at the time?”

• Presentism = looking at history from today's lens. In some cases, it can be harmful because it can distort the view of the past.

We must consider the people at the time's point of view.

• Stereotyping =  “is the oversimplified generalization of a group of people based on limited information or preconceived notions.”

1911: more classism than racism

Trying to make evidence-based inferences 

It is easy to judge, but that is presentism and not cool, we have to look at the context.

How could someone have new ideas if all the other people around them? It wasn't right, but we aren't looking for right and wrong, and we have to look at the past to understand where we came from. 

Don’t condone the people of the past. We can if they were being ignorant if there was change happening around them and they still didn't like it.

Empathizing with historical figures: Trying to understand the thoughts and motivations of people from the past.

Considering historical context: Understanding the social, cultural, economic, and political factors that shaped events.

Avoiding presentism: Avoiding judging the past through the lens of the present.

Ethical Judgment (AP required)

The fairness of the events, just not assessing what happened but if what happened was right and fair rather than wrong and unjust.

“Are the ethical judgments included in the historical accounts you are studying?”

• Praise or condemn 

• Recommend to do or not to do

• Using words with a positive or negative meaning

Factors:

• “Are these judgments reasonable or justifiable?”

→ “Has the historian fairly considered the perspective and interests of key groups when making the judgment?”

Looking for different perspectives

• “Knowledge and belief at the time?”

• “Consider all evidence.”

Historical Evidence/Interpretation

Original artifacts, drawings and documents, and written and oral descriptions are the best sources to get information from. - Primary sources (“raw materials" in which all historical conclusions are based)

Textbooks and any historical account that is constructed from primary and other secondary sources - Secondary sources

“Can we trust this source of information? Should we believe what it reveals about the past?”

“Are the artifacts authentic?”

“Are the authors qualified to report on this topic?”

“Do the sources provide relevant evidence of the question we hope to answer?”

“Does the evidence support the interpretation offered?”
Evaluating sources: Assessing the reliability and credibility of historical evidence.

Interpreting evidence: Drawing conclusions based on the available evidence.

Recognizing bias: Understanding how personal beliefs or perspectives can influence interpretations.