A basic belief advocated by this website is that history requires more than learning about the names, places and events that promote a pre-determined idea of what “Americans should know” about the collective past. Instead, we encourage teachers to provide opportunities for learners to engage in purposeful inquiry with peers, to seek out and critically examine multiple sources of information (both primary and secondary), and to work to enter into the mindset of people long ago and far away.

Through this website and the professional development that these resources derive from, we propose a variety of pedagogical methods that we feel will foster an approach to history teaching and learning—an approach that foregrounds the use of investigation and critical inquiry. While these approaches are important, they do not necessarily, by themselves, lead to learning that addresses misconceptions and requires students to elaborate and synthesize their developing understandings. Thus, we are currently undertaking to investigate, in collaboration with a cohort of teachers, how we might use history notebooks (similar to the sorts of notebooks that elementary teachers sometimes use to amplify their literacy instruction) to provoke and document active and rigorous history learning in grades 4 and 5.

We have drawn upon the work of History Alive! interactive notebooks for middle and high school students and on the work of science educators who have studied the use of science journals to encourage students to integrate and elaborate upon their learning from multiple experiences.

History Alive! interactive notebooks are designed to provide students with experiences that require them to use visual and linguistic intelligences, become engaged in the organization of and engagement with the material they are learning, and provide an on-going portfolio of what students are learning.

Daniel Shepardson and Susan Britsch propose a framework for structuring content-based notebooks in the February 1997 issue of Science and Children.

Content-based Notebooks' Four Phases of Learning

1. Pre-investigation where students explain prior thinking and understandings of the content and purpose of a unit;
2. Investigation, where students record observations during investigations, reflect on prior thinking in light of the investigation, and create charts, drawings, and other visual documents to organize their data;
3. Post-investigation, where they answer questions using observations, data, and other resources to explain findings, continue to reflect on developing understandings, and propose new questions; and
4. Communication. It is at this stage that students “come out of notebooks” to produce a final document through with they share their learning with others. This sharing can take many forms-- including a book, poster, postrong, feature article for a school newspaper, report, or presentation. The authors strongphasize that “by creating a presentation, poster, or other work, students are engaged in exploring the genre of scientific narrative.” The communication phase is also essential because it results in notebooks that are used as tools for further learning rather than repositories of curriculum covered.

We decided to adapt this four-phase approach to social studies content explorations during our professional development sessions.  In these institutes and study groups, we ask teacher-participants to enage in a series of critical thinking activities and exercises within these notebooks--sometimes in response to specific prompts designed by us, and sometimes in a less structured, more individual way.

Planning for Notebooks

Through our investigations into using notebooks in history, we have determined some criteria for structures and prompts that can be useful in promoting critical, inquiry-based learning for students. 

Notebook structures 

Include non-fiction text features such as a table of contents, an atlas section (with maps to reference), a glossary of key words, images with captions, timelines, and "chapters" for each new unit.  Chapters can be differentiated by collages on a "title" page.

A "tool kit" at the back of the notebook with templates for analyzing primary sources, samples of graphic organizers, and rubrics.   As the tool kit is built upon through out the year, students can be given the opportunity to select and try out different tools for assignments and to build independence.

Notebook prompts 

Frame learning with guiding questions that focus students on key historical concepts of the unit. Use these questions to encourage students to synthesize and reflect upon learning.

Prompts that are specifically designed to tap and make visible prior knowledge and provoke initial questions, to provide multiple modes of responding to new information, and to link to relevant NYS Social Studies and ELA standards. 

Consider using a variety of writing-to-learn activities such as using two-column charts, graphic organizers that support different thinking skills (compare/contrast, sequencing, summarizing, etc.) 

Printing notebook prompts onto mailing labels can be useful.  It minimizes copying instructions and can also be useful in helping students who are absent to complete make up work.