Lessons · Teaching · the questions historians disagree about
The questions historians argue about, and how to run that argument
Some questions in history have settled answers: what happened, when, and in what order. Others are genuinely contested: which cause mattered most, whether a decision was justified, how a period should be judged. The second kind is argued with evidence, and an honest classroom treats them differently.
Hone is a place to practise a career, one idea a day. This is one of its lessons, written out in full and free to read without an account.
In beta. This lesson was written for Hone and has not yet been checked by a state certification officer. Practice material, not professional advice. What that means.
What it is for
A candidate is examined on the first kind and has to be able to run a discussion of the second, and those are different skills. Presenting a contested question as settled is a way of teaching that history is a list, and it is also how a lesson goes wrong in front of parents.
How to think about it
Say out loud which kind of question is on the table. For a settled one, teach the answer and the evidence. For a contested one, give the class more than one account, ask which evidence supports which, and require them to state a position and say what would change their mind.
Worked example
Settled: the order of events, the text of a document, what a law saidCheckable, and taught as an answer.
Contested: which cause weighed most, whether an action was justifiedArgued from evidence, and taught as an argument.
Give more than one account of a contested question and let the evidence be comparedWhich is the lesson, rather than a conclusion handed over.
Require a position AND what would change itThe second half is what makes it thinking rather than choosing a side.
Your turn
Name what a pupil should be able to state alongside their position on a contested question.
State a position, and what would your mind
Solve one, graded on the server
The trap
Treating every question as having two equal sides. Whether slavery caused secession is not contested by the evidence; how much weight to give each of several causes of a war can be. Confusing the two teaches that nothing is knowable.
Now you try
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