Episode 39: What “History” Means, and How to Think It

After thirty-odd Historically Thinking conversations, we thought it was about time to have a conversation about…thinking historically. (We’ll do just about anything for show ideas.) Think of this as a sort of editorial manifesto; the ideas behind the ideas; the spinal column that connects the varied conversations of this podcast.

There are few better to discuss history and how to think historically than Lendol Calder, colleague in Augustana’s department of history, and a recognized authority in the scholarship of teaching and learning. A Carnegie Scholar, and the 2010 Illinois Professor of the Year, Calder shares these insights with history teachers around the country. Today, we’re delighted to have him share them with us. Enjoy!

For Further Reading

Lendol Calder, “But What is Our Story?” (teachinghistory.org)

Sam Wineburg, “Reading Abraham Lincoln: An expert/expert study in the interpretation of historical texts.”
Cognitive Science, Volume 22, Issue 3, Pages 319-346.

—-Historical Thinking and Other Unnatural Acts: Charting the Future of the Teaching of the Past (Temple University Press, 2011.

Sam Wineburg, Daisy Martin, and Chauncey Monte-Sano, Reading Like a Historian: Teaching Literacy in Middle and High School History Classrooms Paperback (Teachers College Press, 2012).

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