Process and Product: Examination of a Student's Historical Thinking While Writing and Thinking Aloud in History

• In Event: 52.084 - Roundtable Session 20
  In Roundtable Session: 52.084-4 - Reimagining Social Science Learning

Abstract

Research examining students’ historical thinking regularly rely on evidence in students’ essays to make claims around the types and complexity of the historical thinking students engage in to generate those products. However, it is still unclear whether and to what extent the written historical essay is an accurate or representative window into the historical thinking students engage in. Through think-alouds utilized as students read sources and compose historical essays, this study addresses the question of the ways in which a student’s historical thinking processes are reflected in their historical writing. Analysis indicated that while students’ essay provided accurate traces of the student’s historical thinking, the historical thinking the student engaged in to create the essay was more complex and varied.

Author

• Michael J Bolz, University of Illinois at Chicago