Sam Wineburg's Historical Thinking And Other Unnatural Acts
Armitia Ryan
Book Review 1
3/17/17
Wineburg, Sam. Historical Thinking and Other Unnatural Acts: Charting the Future of Teaching the Past. Philadelphia, PA: Temple University Press, 2001.
In Sam Wineburg’s book, Historical Thinking and Other Unnatural Acts, he offers insight on how to better understand and teach history. He utilizes various studies to show how students learn the material. As he states early in the text, “I try to show that historical thinking, in its deepest forms, is neither a natural process nor something that springs automatically from psychological development.” (pg 7). Wineburg’s thesis consists of showing why it is important for students to learn history, why it is important and the struggles teachers face. …show more content…
The first part consists of why we study history. I liked that he posed the question of “what history should our children learn?” (pg 4). However, he pointed out later on the next page, that that was not the important question, but ‘why we teach history’ is the point. It is easy to get caught up on the subject matter, but not how that information is disseminated and absorbed. Historical thinking is more than memorizing basic facts, figures and dates. Children who are engaged are going to better learners. Making that connection from the information to the student, is the basis of sparking a …show more content…
This part of the book delves into the classroom, engagement and the student’s place in history. His example of following several 11th grade students and their families in a study was interesting, especially when discussing the student’s view on the Vietnam war and how they felt about their view on the war versus their parents’ generation who lived through the time. The students felt their take on the Vietnam War was better than their parents, as they did not hold an emotional attachment to the time. But this lack of emotion, or connection to the time prevents kids from connecting and questioning the information they are given. Further perpetuating the idea of history being written by specific people, and their version of history being the one perpetuated. The big thing that jumped out in the fourth part of the book, was the concept of occlusion in relation to social memory. Ideas and events are not being transmitted in memorable ways from one generation to the next or “lived memory vs learned memory” (pg 243), they are being “blocked”, but not necessarily forgotten. Students were learning the information but not absorbing it, they were not making the connections, or forming empathetic bonds. The context of importance is not necessarily what one generation remembers vs. what the next is taught. Again, it goes back to “what should they be taught” and that is often decided by a few specific people. The historical
Book Review 1
3/17/17
Wineburg, Sam. Historical Thinking and Other Unnatural Acts: Charting the Future of Teaching the Past. Philadelphia, PA: Temple University Press, 2001.
In Sam Wineburg’s book, Historical Thinking and Other Unnatural Acts, he offers insight on how to better understand and teach history. He utilizes various studies to show how students learn the material. As he states early in the text, “I try to show that historical thinking, in its deepest forms, is neither a natural process nor something that springs automatically from psychological development.” (pg 7). Wineburg’s thesis consists of showing why it is important for students to learn history, why it is important and the struggles teachers face. …show more content…
The first part consists of why we study history. I liked that he posed the question of “what history should our children learn?” (pg 4). However, he pointed out later on the next page, that that was not the important question, but ‘why we teach history’ is the point. It is easy to get caught up on the subject matter, but not how that information is disseminated and absorbed. Historical thinking is more than memorizing basic facts, figures and dates. Children who are engaged are going to better learners. Making that connection from the information to the student, is the basis of sparking a …show more content…
This part of the book delves into the classroom, engagement and the student’s place in history. His example of following several 11th grade students and their families in a study was interesting, especially when discussing the student’s view on the Vietnam war and how they felt about their view on the war versus their parents’ generation who lived through the time. The students felt their take on the Vietnam War was better than their parents, as they did not hold an emotional attachment to the time. But this lack of emotion, or connection to the time prevents kids from connecting and questioning the information they are given. Further perpetuating the idea of history being written by specific people, and their version of history being the one perpetuated. The big thing that jumped out in the fourth part of the book, was the concept of occlusion in relation to social memory. Ideas and events are not being transmitted in memorable ways from one generation to the next or “lived memory vs learned memory” (pg 243), they are being “blocked”, but not necessarily forgotten. Students were learning the information but not absorbing it, they were not making the connections, or forming empathetic bonds. The context of importance is not necessarily what one generation remembers vs. what the next is taught. Again, it goes back to “what should they be taught” and that is often decided by a few specific people. The historical