UNIT ESSENTIALS
“Thinking Like a Historian”
Subject(s)
Grade/Course
Unit of Study
Unit Title
Pacing
Social Studies
9th Grade
Historical Thinking Skills
Unit 1:Thinking like a Historian
3 days
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Key Concepts
Historical Thinking
Perspective
Primary Source Analysis
Continuity and Change
Unit Overview
Students will be able to decode and analyze historical documents (primary sources, secondary
sources, maps, charts, artwork). Students will be able to read, analyze and evaluate historical
arguments; apply and compare historical models, and construct arguments based on historical and
modern sources.
Points of focus in this unit include the skills and tools that historians use to understand and write
about history. Students will develop a understanding of:
 Timelines, and use of significant periods, dates and cause and effect
 Differentiate primary and secondary sources
 Identify and interpreting bias
 Analyze data in historical maps
 Access to and availability of reliable historical resources
Unit Enduring Understanding(s)
1. Chronological thinking is the foundation of
historical reasoning—the ability to examine
relationships among historical events and
to explain historical causality.
2. The study of history is subject to an
individual’s interpretation of past events,
issues, and problems. There is usually no
one right answer, one essential fact, or
one authoritative interpretation that can be
used to explain the past.
3. Formulate historical questions by
deconstructing a variety of sources, such
as historical narratives and passages,
including eyewitness accounts, letters,
diaries, artifacts, photos, historical sites,
art, architecture, and other records from
the past
Unit Essential Question(s)
1. How do historians use chronological
thinking to interpret and create timelines?
2. How do historians understand history from
maps, graphs and primary sources?
3. How do historians compare and analyze
historical narratives to identify issues,
causes and effects?
3. How do historians use research to
interpret, analyze and combine data into a
cohesive narrative?
Topics
Essential Factual
Content
Lesson Essential Questions
Atlas
Map
Political map
Physical map
Cardinal directions
BC/AD: BCE/CE
What is geography?
Timeline/ Chronology
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Cause & Effect
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Cause & Effect
What makes an event significant?
What is History?
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Political
Economic
Social
Technology
Culture
Primary Source
Secondary Source
Context
Theory
Model
Research
Analysis
How do historians evaluate the past?
World Map
Determining Bias
&Historical Theory
How is time measured?
How do context and perspective effect
interpretation of past events?