Standards
in history make explicit the goals that all students should have opportunity
to acquire, if the purposes just considered are to be achieved. In history,
standards are of two types:
1. Historical thinking
skills that enable students to evaluate evidence, develop comparative and
causal analyses, interpret the historical record, and construct sound historical
arguments and perspectives on which informed decisions in contemporary
life can be based.
2. Historical understandings
that define what students should know about the history of their nation
and of the world. These understandings are drawn from the record of human
aspirations, strivings, accomplishments, and failures in at least five
spheres of human activity: the social, political, scientific/technological,
economic, and cultural (philosophical/religious/aesthetic). They also provide
students the historical perspectives required to analyze contemporary issues
and problems confronting citizens today.
Historical thinking and understanding
do not, of course, develop independently of one another. Higher levels
of historical thinking depend upon and are linked to the attainment of
higher levels of historical understanding. For these reasons, the standards
presented in Chapters 3 and 4 of this volume provide an integration of
historical thinking and understanding.
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