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Citation: 

Seixas, Peter. “Assessment of Historical Thinking.” In New Possibilities for the Past: Shaping History Education in Canada, edited by Penney Clark, 139-53. Vancouver: UBC Press, 2011.

Abstract/Summary: 

In this chapter, Seixas discusses the topic of assessment in relation to historical thinking. There are two types of assessment, summative assessment (accountability) and formative assessment (student learning). Seixas also adds that a prior component to assessment has been goals that are seen as a progression to some end. These goals are inextricably linked to assessment with different aims and consequences, dependent upon the student’s school level. The goals for historical consciousness and historical thinking are different than the more generic student goals. According to the Canada-wide Benchmarks of Historical Thinking Project there are six assessment goals: establish historical significance; use primary source evidence; identify continuity and change; analyze cause and consequence; take a historical perspective and understand the ethical dimension of historical interpretation. Seixas continues with a discussion of a cognition and learning model of historical thinking and a developmental model. He illustrates tasks teachers can undertake to elicit historical thinking and cognition in their students. He concludes with a case study analyzing how students’ performances of historical cognition can be assessed. Seixas, cognizant of the pressures on present-day teachers, understands the need to work with teachers to develop ways to assess historical thinking that are practical for the classroom.

Source/Credit: 
Erika Smith