This article shares findings of how two third-grade children who have systematically studied history in grades K-3 analyzed historical sources on a topic about which they had no prior knowledge. In think-aloud interviews, the children analyzed written documents on the 1887 Dawes Severalty Act. One of the children, who tested on the third-grade…

"Contextualization", the act of placing events in a proper context, allows teachers to weave a rich, dynamic portrait of a historical period for their students. As teachers strive to identify enduring themes and patterns, they must teach students to appreciate the particular policies, institutions, worldviews, and circumstances that shape a given…

Teaching a way of thinking requires making thinking visible. Educators need to pull back the curtains from historical cognition to show students not only what historians think, but "how" they think. Given that many students believe that history is a single story to be committed to memory and that texts speak for themselves, teaching historical…