How can you teach students to think critically about historical controversies?

1 Choose relevant and diverse topics

One of the first steps is to select historical controversies that are relevant to your students' interests, curriculum, and context. You want to choose topics that are meaningful, engaging, and connected to current events or issues. For example, you could explore the causes and consequences of the American Civil War, the debate over the atomic bombings of Hiroshima and Nagasaki, or the role of colonialism in shaping global inequalities. You also want to choose topics that reflect the diversity of historical actors, experiences, and perspectives. For example, you could include the voices of women, minorities, indigenous people, or marginalized groups in your discussions.

2 Provide multiple and varied sources

Another key step is to provide your students with multiple and varied sources of evidence that represent different viewpoints on the historical controversy. You want to expose your students to primary and secondary sources, such as documents, images, artifacts, maps, graphs, videos, podcasts, or websites. You also want to vary the types, formats, and origins of the sources, such as official and unofficial records, personal and public accounts, factual and opinionated statements, or local and global perspectives. You can use online databases, libraries, museums, or archives to find and access diverse sources.

3 Teach source analysis skills

A crucial step is to teach your students how to analyze the sources critically and systematically. You want to help your students develop the skills of sourcing, contextualizing, corroborating, and evaluating the sources. Sourcing involves identifying the author, purpose, audience, and bias of the source. Contextualizing involves situating the source in its historical time, place, and situation. Corroborating involves comparing and contrasting the sources for consistency, reliability, and accuracy. Evaluating involves assessing the strengths, weaknesses, and limitations of the sources.

4 Facilitate discussion and debate

A final step is to facilitate discussion and debate among your students about the historical controversy. You want to create a safe and respectful environment where your students can express their opinions, listen to others, and respond to arguments. You can use various formats and strategies, such as whole-class discussions, small-group discussions, fishbowl discussions, Socratic seminars, or structured academic controversies. You can also use various prompts and questions, such as open-ended questions, essential questions, or historical thinking questions, to stimulate and guide the discussion and debate.

5 Here’s what else to consider

This is a space to share examples, stories, or insights that don’t fit into any of the previous sections. What else would you like to add?