Before developing historical thinking skills, students approach the past with common sense, including presentism — seeing past people as sharing contemporary values¶
Claim · All claims
Evidence · 1 study · designr2·q2
Currency · newest study 2021 · not yet checked against its sources · not reviewed by a person · recheck by 2026: baselines and conditions change
Subclaims¶
Reading the evidence codes
q is the design tier, i the impact, n the sample, and the kind with its r
the rigour judged within that kind: what each code means.
This claim: no standardized effect is recorded in observations/ for it yet, so no benchmark reading is possible.
q2 i? Novices may see the past through the lens of the present, believing people in the past shared the same values and belief systems as contemporary humans. → Hardy 2021
Evidence¶
Hardy 2021¶
Hardy, A., Iwatani, E. (2021). Rubrics for examining historical thinking skills in high school world history activities and student work: Construct validity evidence from the literature. Digital Promise. https://doi.org/10.51388/20.500.12265/113
q2 · i? · design · r2
Narrative review of research on novice historical understanding (citing National Research Council 2005, Lee 2011, Wineburg 2001) in the progression section; the report says it drew on this research to draft scorer notes on possible student misconceptions.
"For example, they may see the past through the lens of the present, believingthat people in the past shared the same values and belief systems as contemporary humans,but were simply too stupid to make the 'right' choices"
Discussion¶
Related Claims¶
- Collingwood argues historical knowledge differs from natural-science knowledge because historical events have both an observable 'outside' and an unobservable 'inside' of thought — related
- British empirical research concluded that students do not naturally progress in historical understanding with age but progress because of targeted instruction designed to support it — related
- Collingwood's ideas about how historical knowledge is produced offer teachers sound reasons for using constructivist approaches in their classrooms — related
- Imagining (imagined past self) may give learners a greater feeling of entry into a historical situation than hypothesizing — related
- Children's ideas about historical evidence progress through six identifiable steps between ages seven and fourteen — related
Page metadata
| Field | Value |
|---|---|
type |
claim |
id |
novice-presentism-common-sense-historical-understanding |
title |
Before developing historical thinking skills, students approach the past with common sense, including presentism — seeing past people as sharing contemporary values |
description |
Before developing historical thinking skills, students approach the past with common sense, including presentism — seeing past people as sharing contemporary values |
status |
review |
evidence_strength |
weak |
newest_evidence |
2021 |
recheck_by |
2026 |
generated |
by process:wiki-ingest on 2026-10-09 |
trust |
unverified — no one has confirmed this page's content |
sources |
1 — hardy-2021 |
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