HISTORICAL PERSPECTIVE
By Alaina Hampshire
QUESTION:
How can the concept of historical perspective
best be adapted to reflect the competency for
grade 4?
GRADE 4 SOCIAL STUDIES PLO:
A4- identify alternative perspectives on a selected
event or issue
Historical Perspective: How can we better understand the people
of the past?
• Guidepost 1 An ocean of difference can lie between current worldviews (beliefs, values, and
motivations) and those of earlier periods of history.
• Guidepost 2 It is important to avoid presentism-the imposition of present ideas on actors in the
past. Nonetheless, cautious reference to universal human experience can help us relate to the
experiences of historical actors.
• Guidepost 3 The perspectives of historical actors are best understood by considering their
historical context.
• Guidepost 4 Taking the perspective of historical actors means inferring how people felt and
thought in the past. It does not mean identifying with those actors. Valid inferences are those
based on evidence.
• Guidepost 5 Different historical actors have diverse perspectives on the events in which they
are involved. Exploring these is key to understanding historical events.
(Seixas & Morton, 2013, p. 6)
What is Historical Perspective?
• “Historical perspective-taking is the cognitive act of understanding
the different social, cultural, intellectual, and even emotional
contexts that shaped people’s lives and actions in the past.”
(Seixas, p. 7)
• “Any particular historical event or situation involves people who may
have diverse perspectives on it. Understanding multiple perspectives
of historical actors is a key to understanding the event.”
(Seixas, p. 7)
• “Historical perspective requires that we remain mindful of the
potentially profound differences between our own world view and
that of the past worldviews.” (Denos, Case, Sexias, & Clark, 2006, p. 46)
Why teach historical perspective to students?
• The past is often seen to be so different from the present that
students conclude that people in the past were foolish or peculiar. To
take a historical perspective is to “put ourselves in their shoes” using
all the evidence that we can find. Exploring the beliefs and actions of
people in the past is fascinating for students and can expand their
appreciation that not every generation has understood and
experienced the world as we do today.
(The Critical Thinking Consortium [TCTC], 2014, p. 2)
Activities: The perspectives of others
Students will be comparing their perspectives on an event, with other
people that were at the same event.
• In groups, students will talk about what happened in class that
morning and get their classmates perspective on the same event.
This is a good introduction, but does not help students learn to take the
perspectives of those who are more different from them than they are
like them.
(Ireland, 2015)
Activities: Anticipating different meanings
Meanings of words today are often different from the meanings they
held in the past.
• Students will read a few sentences from the past, looking for words
that may have had a different meaning in the past.
• Students will look at the context around each sentence to help figure
out meaning.
• After speculating about historical meaning of a word, students can
look it up in a dictionary that explains the etymology of a word.
(Denos et al., 2006, p. 48)
Activities: Exploring the “foreignness” of perspectives
In order to understand past perspectives, students need to attempt to
make sense of historical practices that may seem strange to them.
• I have heard of a cultural group that play soccer at three in the
morning, made diapers out of moss, and used fish to make runners
for a sled.
• What is your reaction to this?
(Denos et al., 2006, p. 48-49)
Activities: Exploring the “foreignness” of perspectives
These Inuit practices make sense within a harsh northern environment.
• After being restricted during the long winter, playing soccer at night
makes sense in the few summer months when there is endless daylight.
• Moss was used traditionally as a form of diaper because it was free,
biodegradable, widely available and had hygienic properties.
• Frozen fish was a cheap and replaceable source of material when building
a traditional sled to travel on ice and snow.
These initially “foreign” practices made sense when we understood their
context and rationale.”
(Denos et al., 2006, p. 48-49)
Activities: Explain a historical person’s perspective
A way to involve students in historical perspective taking, is to have them
explain a historical persons perspective.
• Give students multiple documents by someone from another time and ask
them to try to explain the authors perspective.
Some guiding questions to help the students are:
• What limitations did they face?
• How did they handle various situations?
• Why did they handle them that way?
• How would their world view and values differ from those of students
today?”
(Denos et al., 2006, p. 49)
Activities: Historical Perspective Unit
Students can do a unit study that address the Canadian immigration boom from multiple perspectives to
create opportunities for them to confront alternative accounts. This allows students to re-imagine a topic that
is typically taught from the perspective of pioneer life in Canada.
• Teacher compiles a variety of items for the unit including: maps, photographs, posters and certificates as
primary sources of evidence.
• Using the primary sources of evidence, the class studies the treaties that were made with the Aboriginal
people and the implementation of the reserve system, European settlers such as the Mennonites, the
Home Children, the Komagata Maru incident, and the Chinese Head Tax.
• Students study the above through engaging in a photo study, whole-group lessons, role-plays, and drawing
activities, as well as before-and-after interviews.
• During the role play, students play four different versions of the game, with the students taking a different
perspective each time: the Canadian government, the First Nations peoples, the Mennonites, the Home
Children, the people on the Komagata Maru, and the Chinese railway workers.
This unit model could also be used with a different history topic.
(Ireland, 2015)
Final Note
One Social Studies teacher notes:
• Levstik (1997) notes that looking at multiple perspectives with young students
can be difficult and takes thoughtful planning: “One problem is that perspectival
history runs counter to children’s perceived need to know ‘the truth’” (p. 50).
She also points out that children, as well as parents and institutional agents, may
feel threatened by this approach, not only because they are taught to avoid
conflict and controversy but also because they generally adhere to a
right/wrong, winners/losers paradigm (p. 50). Egan’s perspective that
beginning with binary opposites and fostering children’s ability to mediate
between them, thus opening learning up to a wide spectrum of possibilities, may
be a solution. This is something I continue to explore in my current work.
(Ireland, 2015)
REFERENCES:
• Denos, M., Case, R., Seixas, P., Clark, P., British Columbia Teachers' Federation. Lesson Aids
Service, & Critical Thinking Consortium. (2006). Teaching about historical thinking: A
professional resource to help teach six interrelated concepts central to students' ability to think
critically about history. Distributed by British Columbia Teachers' Federation, Lesson Aids
Service: Critical Thinking Consortium.
• Seixas, P. Teacher notes: Benchmarks of historical thinking A framework for assessment in canada
UBC.
• Seixas, P., & Morton, T. (2013). The big six historical thinking concepts. Toronto: Nelson Education.
• The Critical Thinking Consortium. (2014). Tips for teachers, enriching projects with historical
thinking concepts (http://www.proteacher.org/c/731_Point_of_View.html ed.)
• The Historical Thinking Project. Retrieved January/25, 2015, from
http://historicalthinking.ca/historical-perspectives
• Ireland, K. Incorporating multiple perspectives in elementary history teaching. Retrieved January
25, 2015, from http://www.thenhier.ca/en/content/incorporating-multiple-perspectiveselementary-history-teaching
The End
KEY POINTS WHEN
• Use primary source evidence when exploring multiple historical perspectives in the
classroom.
• The more you use oral engagement to teach history to students, the more receptive they will be
to alternative perspectives, and will as a result continue this oral discourse in doing history.
• Levstik (1997) notes that looking at multiple perspectives with young students can be difficult
and takes thoughtful planning: “One problem is that perspectival history runs counter to
children’s perceived need to know ‘the truth’” (p. 50). She also points out that children, as well as
parents and institutional agents, may feel threatened by this approach, not only because they are
taught to avoid conflict and controversy but also because they generally adhere to a right/wrong,
winners/losers paradigm (p. 50). Egan’s perspective that beginning with binary opposites and
fostering children’s ability to mediate between them, thus opening learning up to a wide
spectrum of possibilities, may be a solution. This is something I continue to explore in my
current work.”
• http://www.thenhier.ca/en/content/incorporating-multiple-perspectives-elementary-historyteaching
• “Historians are most concerned with uncovering how things change
over time”
• http://hist.ucalgary.ca/atimm/writing-advice/what-historicalperspective
• compiled a variety of items for the unit: including maps, photographs, posters and
certificates as primary source evidence.
• Class studies the treaties that were made with the Aboriginal people and the
implementation of the reserve system, European settlers such as the Mennonites, the
Home Children, the Komagata Maru incident, and the Chinese Head Tax.
• students engaged in a photo study, whole-group lessons, role-plays, and drawing
activities, as well as before-and-after interviews.
• During the role play, students played four different versions of the game, with the
students taking a different perspective each time: the Canadian government, the First
Nations peoples, the Mennonites, the Home Children, the people on the Komagata Maru,
and the Chinese railway workers.
• http://www.thenhier.ca/en/content/incorporating-multiple-perspectives-elementaryhistory-teaching
Historical Perspective
• “Historical perspective requires that we remain mindful of the
potentially profound differences between our own world view and
that of the past worldviews.” p. 46 Teaching about historical thinking
• Understanding the foreignness of the past is a huge challenge for students. But rising to
the challenge illuminates the range of human behaviour, belief and social organization.
It offers surprising alternatives to the taken-for-granted, conventional wisdom, and
opens a wider perspective from which to evaluate our present preoccupations.
• Taking historical perspective means understanding the social, cultural, intellectual, and
emotional settings that shaped people’s lives and actions in the past. At any one point,
different historical actors may have acted on the basis of conflicting beliefs and
ideologies, so understanding diverse perspectives is also a key to historical perspectivetaking. Though it is sometimes called “historical empathy,” historical perspective is very
different from the common-sense notion of identification with another person. Indeed,
taking historical perspective demands comprehension of the vast differences between
us in the present and those in the past.
• http://historicalthinking.ca/historical-perspectives
“EXPLORING DIFFERING HISTORICAL PERSPECTIVES”
• Encourage examination of the diversity of historical perspectives by
inviting students to assume different sides on a conflict. Provide
students with primary or secondary sources representing
perspectives on a given sheet. Invite students to identify and explain
their differences.” p 51 Teaching about historical thinking
• Example on page 51 if needed
Activities: Anticipate a historical person's perspective
• “ask students to anticipate an assigned person’s views or thoughts
on a particular topic. Typically, students are asked to write a letter or
diary entry, or create a drawing or poster from that perspective.”
“encourage students to focus on the broader social norms, and
beliefs that underline the person’s perspective and less on the
particular emotions the individual might feel.” “students locate their
assigned person’s attitudes on a range of broad social issues prior to
developing a perspective on a particular matter.” p 49 Teaching about
historical thinking
• “historical perspective taking requires suspending moral judgement . This
does not imply that students endorse the meanings, values and ideas of
the past, but rather that they understand why people and societies from
other times might have held them and how their views informed their
perspectives on the events and people of the time.” p 47 Teaching about
historical thinking
• “we must try to understand a world where “inferiors”- those with less
education and wealth- were expected to show deference to their seniors.
The point of assuming historical perspective is not to dismiss Moodies’s
expectations as acts of snobbery but to understand what these values
were and what it meant to those who held them to have these values
challenged by others.” p 47 Teaching about historical thinking
• “Students should not presume that the words used in historical
documents mean the seam to the people who wrote them as they do
to us who read them now.” pg 46-47 Teaching about historical
thinking
• “Getting inside the collective mindsets of the time” p 47 Teaching
about historical thinking
• “”There are two sides to every coin”, and the same can be said of
historical perspectives.” pg 47 Teaching about historical thinking