Explaining History In A Nutshell

Abstract

This essay offers an approach that introduces undergraduate students to the nature of historical inquiry. Samuel Wineburg and Janice Fournier have shown that merely taking a number of history courses will not automatically mean that students will think historically.¹ Many high school and college history courses and the textbooks they use are infonnation-driven,² and unless they are specifically designed to immerse students in the mindset and methodology of the discipline, thinking historically will remain out of reach.

This approach can also be used in classes with future secondary history teachers, many of whom have little or no background in history and yet will have the responsibility of teaching the subject. A disturbing 53.9 percent of seventh- to twelfth-grade students who take courses in United States history and world history have teachers who have not majored or even minored in history.³