Reading like a Historian

Reisman, A. (2012). Reading like a historian: A document-based History curriculum intervention in urban high schools. Cognition and Instruction, 30(1), 86-112.

Background

The author emphasized the need for an intervention study to assess the effectiveness of using primary source instruction in real history classrooms. The present study represents the first extended curriculum to measure the efficacy of document-based lessons in schools in San Francisco.

Aims

The study aimed to test the effectiveness of a six-month document-based history curriculum.

Sample

Two hundred and thirty-six eleventh graders from five high schools participated in the study. Each school contributed one intervention and one control classroom.

Method

Teachers in the intervention group were observed and assessed using a scale of 0 (i.e., insufficient use of document-based materials) to 3 (i.e., successfully facilitated a whole-class discussion about students’ interpretations of the documents).

The students’ factual knowledge of history in both conditions was assessed using the tenth-grade history California Standards Test (CST), a standardized end-of-year exam in world history. The Historical Thinking Test (HTT) was used to assess students’ historical thinking in general and their ability to practice the historical reading strategies that were taught in classroom. Lastly, the Gates-MacGinite Reading Test (GMRT) was used to measure students’ reading comprehension.

Findings

The use of materials in the two conditions differed. Some teachers in the intervention groups designed PowerPoint lectures replete with images and videos to deliver the lessons’ background information. One teacher in particular extended explicit strategy instruction to include students thinking aloud while reading documents in front of the whole class. In contrast, teachers in the control classrooms occasionally used primary sources but the materials were not specifically used in the service of historical inquiry. Students in the intervention classrooms performed better than the students in the control groups on the CST and HTT. These students also scored significantly higher on measures of factual knowledge and reading comprehension.

Implications

Additional research is needed to determine which elements of the intervention were responsible for gains in student reading comprehension and historical thinking. Future studies must examine how to best support history teachers as they implement new materials.

Original article retrieved from Taylor & Francis Online.