A Position Paper about

Why Historical Thinking is not about History

By Sam Wineburg

Critical thinking and historical thinking are inextricably linked. Almost every
history teacher has heard, seen, or used the term, although there are several
conflicting interpretations of what it signifies. One of the most distinctive features
of historical philosophy is that it is basically educational. Historical thinking must be
distinguished from "history," or else "historical thought" would encompass all of
historiography and be hard to describe as a distinct concept. Only when
attempting to teach students how to conduct history does historical thought
become necessary and successful. History is more than just an "informational"
topic focused on learning facts and fixed grand narratives; it is an "educational"
subject that emphasizes acquiring important disciplinary processes, concepts,
and procedures required for active involvement in society. If historical thinking is
to be taught, learned, and assessed in schools, it must be clearly expressed, simply
transmitted, and pedagogically useful.

Why Historical Thinking is not about history? There are several explanations
and proofs given in the article. It showcases different accidents where historical
thinking is critical in acquiring different facts and information on the internet.

First, the fourth grader book called “Our Virginia, Past and Present.” that
contains a description of the role played by African American soldiers during Civil
War. It claims, “Thousands of Southern blacks fought in the Confederate ranks
including two battalions under the command of Stonewall Jackson.” (Our
Virginia, Past and Present, 1951) which was rejected by historians because there
was no documentation, or records to back up the claim.

Second, the author performs an experiment where he tested sophomore

students about an information about the birthplace of President Obama. He
asked the students if they are sure about the fact that the birthplace of President
Obama was in Kenya. However, when he asks if they already watched the tape
about Obama’s paternal grandmother, Sarah Obama, the students said no and
immediately raised their hands down. The students were then lectured that before
we judged something, we must first look at the evidence to provide more backing
facts toward the claim.

Furthermore, the article discusses how people nowadays can easily

acquired information on the internet. However, there comes the problem if the
information acquired was truly reliable or not. We must be aware how to judge
an information given on the internet.

Lastly, the author provides a thought experiment about being a carpenter

who could only bring two hand operated tools on the work site. The article
correlated this thought experiment about a student or a teacher surfing on the
internet. We can relate the word “tool” to the word “sites”. We must know what
site reliable and what site we is should avoid in acquiring information.

The Historical Thinking is Not About History by Sam Wineburg discusses how
people of different generations find credible sources that help them understand
and decide if it is credible or not. During the time that there were no internet
people believe that if the book was in the library, it is credible because many
people criticize that book before it is published in public. Nowadays, people go
to some websites on the internet to research, and it says in the “Historical Thinking
is Not About History” by Sam Wineburg, the students must be sure about the
websites that they search on Google if they are credible sources or just a bluff. In
doing reading like a historian, we need to get many citations to prove that the
information we get from different sources is credible. To avoid being victimized by
the misleading information that is circulating on social media, we conclude that
everyone should fact-check what they encounter on social media.
References:

Gibson, L. (2020, September 7) What is Historical thinking?

Wineburg, S., 2015. Why Historical Thinking is Not about History. Stanford University.