Historical Thinking and the Democratic Mind: An Apprenticeship Approach to Teaching Narrative Complexity in the History Classroom

Lindsay Stallones Marshall and John R. Gram illustrate how apprenticeship methods of teaching historical thinking can foster students' openness to inquiry about historical knowledge about the past and its meaning for Americans now. As students build historical skills of contextualization and chronology by exploring a single event through multiple perspectives, they encounter ambiguity and complexity. Sitting with complexity, supports an essential quality of the democratic mind. Moreover, students have applied their new analytical skills beyond classroom lessons to contemporary issues.