The Historical Thinking Gap: Teacher Self-Reported Practices, Beliefs, and Identities

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Abstract

The purpose of the study in this paper addressed two main questions related to history education: How is history being taught in high school, and why is history being taught the way it is? Using theories of historical thinking, community of practice, and discourse community, the quantitative anonymous survey study of history teachers used descriptive and correlation statistical analyses. Results show teachers report using historical thinking practices, such as primary sources, as well as traditional methods, with significant relationships between teacher practices and their education and beliefs but only limited relationships between their communities and identities. The results of this study will guide those interested in helping high school students learn how to “think like historians.”

Author

• Marla Doughty, University of Portland