Concept- And Strategic-Knowledge Development in Historical Study a Comparative Exploration in Two Fourth-Grade Classrooms

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Concept- and Strategic-Knowledge Development in Historical Study: A ComparativeExploration in Two Fourth-Grade ClassroomsAuthor(s): Bruce A. VanSledright and Lisa FrankesReviewed work(s):Source: Cognition and Instruction, Vol. 18, No. 2 (2000), pp. 239-283Published by: Taylor & Francis, Ltd.

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COGNITIONNDINSTRUCTION,8(2),239-283

Copyright 2000,Lawrence rlbaum ssociates,nc.

Concept-andStrategic-KnowledgeDevelopmentnHistoricalStudy:A

Comparative xplorationn Two

Fourth-GradelassroomsBruceA. VanSledright

Departmentof Curriculum ndInstruction

Universityof Marylandat CollegePark

LisaFrankes

Departmentof TeacherEducation

EasternMichiganUniversity

This studyexploredhow historicalconceptsandresearchstrategiesweretaughtand

made sense of by students n 2 fourth-grade lassrooms.We examinedtheteachingandlearningof auniton Native Americans ntheChesapeakeTidewaterarea n each

classroom.In 1classroom, he teacher ntentionally oughtto enhancestudents'con-

cept and strategichistoricalknowledgethrough ntegrationof historyand research

strategies basedin reading-languagearts),andin theother, he teacherdid some in-

quiry-based tudyof historybutexpressedno direct ntentionof using it to enhance

studentconceptualor strategicknowledge.Daily observationsof teachingpracticeswere conducted hroughout he units. The teacherswere interviewedboth formallyand informallyabout whatthey were tryingto accomplish.Six studentsfrom each

class were interviewedin depthdirectlyafterthey studied Native Americans and

againat the endof theschoolyearto get theirperspectiveson whatthey thought heyhadlearned,and to assess differences n concept developmentandstrategicknowl-

edge aboutresearchpractices.These data were augmentedby informants'descrip-tions of theirattitudesaboutdoingresearch.Resultssuggestthat the differencesbe-

tween theclassroomswithrespect o

theways

theteachers aught

he unitswere rather

Requestsorreprintshould esentoBruceA.VanSledright,niversityfMarylandtCollege ark,

DepartmentfCurriculumnd nstruction,ollegePark,MD 20742.E-mail:[email protected]








240 VANSLEDRIGHTAND FRANKES

obvious.However,hedifferenceseportedythe6 studentsrom ach lassroome-

gardingconcept-and strategic-knowledgeevelopmentwere quitesubtle.The

teachernthe irst lassroomoted ppearedartlyuccessfulnhelping er tudents

develophistoricaloncepts ndstrategic nowledge bout esearch ractices. he

teachernthesecond lassroomlsopromotedomedevelopmentfconceptualnd

strategicnowledge. hepartialuccessesnboth lasses swellasthebetween-class

differencesre he ocusofthediscussion. ased nthestudy esults,ommentarys

offered bout owto improve oncept nd trategy evelopmentnhistoricaltudy

alongwitha considerationf thesubjectmatter nowledge emandsuch mprove-mentswouldmakeonelementarychool eachers.

It has been suggestedthatdevelopingconceptualunderstandingsn studentswho

studyhistory s importantnmovingthemawayfromrotememorization f histori-

cal facts(Brophy,1990;Gagnon,1989;NationalCenter orHistory ntheSchools,

1994).The argumentgoes that the commonpracticeof askingstudents o memo-

rizedecontextualizedhistoricalevents lnhingedfrom student nterestsoonresults

in forgetting.Proponentsof teachingforunderstandingn social studiesmaintain

that, f studentsaretounderstand nd rememberwhattheyhavestudied, heyneed

to dealwith,amongotherthings,meatier deas suchas the conceptsthatorganizeand structure acts.

CONCEPTSANDSTRATEGIESN

HISTORICALHINKING

In historicalstudy, if conceptsare addressed n classroomsin the United States,

the ones usually consideredare such thingsas culture,democracy,commilnism,

capitalism,warfare,change, continuity,and the like. However, because they re-

late to learningto thinkhistorically,anothergroupof concepts is equally impor-tant-those involving evidence, assertion,point of view, source validity and

reliability,and so forth.They arise in the act of doing history.These conceptsoften are ignored in historical study (see Barton, 1997; Stahl, Hynd, Britton,

McNish, & Bosquet, 1996;VanSledright& Kelly, 1998;Wineburg,1991). This

is a consequenceof the typical ways in which U.S. studentsstudyhistory. Stu-

dents usually are asked to read and then commit to memorythe arrayof dates,

names, and events surroundingparticularhistoricalperiods (e.g., the American

Revolutionandthe Civil War).Fromtheseparticulars r "facts,"students(occa-

sionally) are invited to constructunderstandings f concepts such as cultureorfreedom or democracy. Seldom are students asked to actually do history by

readingandresearchingprimaryandsecondarysourcematerials, udging the va-

lidity andreliability,assessing theirsignificance,addressing heirpointof view,and then assemblingtheir own explanationsof events based on assertionswar-








DEVELOPMENTNHISTORICALTUDY 241

rantedby the evidence.1If they are asked to do history, it frequently akes the

form of gathering nformation names,dates, event details) and arranginghem

in ways that retell a common textbook story in oral or written report form.

Despite this fairly common approach o concept understandingn historical

studyin theUnited States(in which some conceptsareaddressed,whereas others

often are ignored),some analysts(e.g., McGowan,Erickson,& Neufield, 1996;Tunnell& Ammon, 1996)reported he increasinguse of multiplereadings(biog-

raphies,historical iction,short nformational ooks, Cobblestone exts,somepri-

mary accounts)as sourcesof historical nformation or studentsengagedin beingasked to do researchabout the past. By some reports,even studentsas young as

fifth gradeare beginning to employ these sources (e.g., VanSledright& Kelly,1998).Using multiplesources for research asks canraise seriousquestionsabout

concepts such as the natureof evidence, reliabilityand validity of sources, and

point of view, because sources can presentconflicting evidence and differing

viewpoints. Using multiplesourcesforresearchalso involvesquestionsaboutstra-

tegic knowledge at children'sdisposal,suchas how they search out sources,use

textorganizational ids(tablesof contents, ndexes)to locateevidence,assess and

corroboratehistoricalclaims, and constructsituationmodels based on evidence

chains.

Despite thecentralityof thisarrayof conceptsto thedevelopmentof historicalunderstandingand thinking, with a few exceptions (e.g., Barton, 1996, 1997;

Seixas, 1994;VanSledright& Kelly, 1998;Wineburg,1991), little attentionhas

beenpaidby researchersnNorthAmericaas tohow historicalconceptsaretaught

(if they are),what sense studentsmake of them,andwhatmeaningsstudentscon-

struct n the process of doingresearch hemselves andwhatthey learnabout that

process.This is especiallytrueat theelementary evel. Researchers n GreatBrit-

ain(Ashby& Lee, 1996;Dickinson&Lee, 1984)havedone far moreworkinthis

area.2

TEACHINGAND LEARNINGHISTORICALTHINKING

How do elementary eachers eachandstudentsmakesenseof theseinquiry-based

conceptsastheyencounter hem?How are heyconnected or not)totheteachingof

andsensemakingaroundconceptssuch as culture,democracy,religiouscustoms,

'Thisslessthecase nGreatBritain, here tudents-evenquite oung nes-are frequentlysked

to earn istory ydoingtthemselves. oth etsofconceptshus ome ntoplay.ThishasresultedromthesignificantnfluenceheSchoolsCouncilHistory rojectseeLee,1995;Shemilt, 980)hashadon

teaching nd earning istoryn England. tudies here uggest hatstudents'oncept ndstrategic

knowledgendhistoricalhinkingsmoredevelopedhanAmericantudentounterpartstequivalent

ages(e.g.,Ashby&Lee, 1996;Shemilt, 987).2SeeFootnote .









and conomicystems?felementaryeachers orrownd each,orexample,ead-

ing-languagerts esearch

trategiesstrategicnowledge)nd

ntegratehem nto

historicaltudy,howmight his nfluence tudents' istoricaloncept- nd trate-

gic-knowledgeevelopment?hisarticle eports studyhat xploredheseques-tions nthecontext f twofourth-gradelassroomsn theUnitedStateswhere tu-dentswerestudyingtatehistory.ThetwoclassroomettingswerepurposefullychosenoprovideontrastStake, 995).The irstwasselected ecause he eacher

said hewould tress oncept evelopmentnd trategicnowledgebout istorical

researchprocessesintegratediareading ndlanguagerts) ndtheecondbecausethe eacher lsoengaged er tudentsnhistoricalesearchut ndicatedhat hedid

notpush oncept evelopmentremphasize evelopingnowledgebout esearchstrategies er e.Theclassroomontrastrovidednavenueocompareheoppor-tunitiestudentsad olearn bout onceptualnd trategicnowledgenhistorical

studyandwhat ensestudentsmadeof thoseopportunities.

METHOD

Settings

Theclassroomettingswere ocatedndifferentchoolsbutwithinhesame arge

Marylandchooldistrict. s aresult, oth lassroomsperatedromhesameover-allcurriculumoliciesanddemands.nfourthrade,eachersrerequiredo teach

about hehistory fMaryland,eginningwithNativeAmericansnthearea typi-

callythe firstsocial studiesunittaughtn thefall)andmovingchronologically

throughhe CivilWarperiodandsometimeso the20thcenturyf timeallowed.

The socialstudies urriculumuidecallsforstudentso learn hechronologyf

eventsaffectingMarylandnd,generally,omeawaywith heabilityo recall he

facts, vent,names, nddetails f itshistory.Both eachersonoredhesecurricu-largoals.

Generallypeaking,heschooldistrictn which hestudy ccurredanbechar-

acterized ythree ypesof schoolsettings.The firstareschools hatare ocated

close toa largeurban rea,whosepoliticalborder djoinsheschooldistrict. or

allintents ndpurposes,heseschoolsarepartoftheurbanandscape. heydraw

verydiverse tudent opulations.Many tudents, ften he dominantopulation,areminorities ndpoor irst-generationmmigrants,omespeakingnlytheirna-

tivelanguages.Thesecondclusterof schoolsare ocated artherwayfrom he

center ityin whataretraditionallyeferredo as the suburbs. tudentsn theseschools also are diversebut moremiddleanduppermiddleclass. Forthese

schools, t is notuncommonor themixof studentso be approximately5%

White,30%AfricanAmerican,25%Hispanic,and 10%AsianAmerican.In some

of these schools, there also are first-generationmmigrants.Schools of the third








DEVELOPMENT N HISTORICALSTUDY 243

type inthis districtarelocated nveryrecentsuburban ubdivisionssurrounded y

farmland,distantlylocated from the center

city.Their

populationsare

typicallymiddle anduppermiddle class andpredominantlyWhite. The studyof the first

classroom mentionedwas locatedin a school that looked like this latter ype.The

otherclassroomsettingandschool fit the characterization f the secondtype.

Participants

Both teacherswereveterans,havingtaughtover25 yearsbetween them.Bothen-

joyed teachingMarylandhistoryandthoughtof social studiesas one of theirfavor-

ite subjects.The teacher from the firstclassroommentioned,Pamela Derson(allidentifyingnames arepseudonyms), aught26 studentsof whom25 wereWhite, 1

was AfricanAmerican,11wereboys, and 15 were girls.Inthe secondclassroom,the teacher,Judy Costello, taught27 students, 10 boys and 17 girls. Ten were

White,9 were AfricanAmerican,5 were Hispanic,and3 were Asian American.

Theteachersactedas informants bout heirplansfortheirclasses,theway theywouldteacha ChesapeakeTidewaterNativeAmericansunit(thefocusof thedoc-

umentationprocess), their goals and purposes,and the students in their classes

(e.g., reading evels, ethnicbackground).Each teacherwas asked to helpin these-

lection of students hatcould act as informants or comparativedata to be gener-ated abouttheirperspectiveson what they learnedfrom experiencesduringthe

unit.Derson was asked to select six students n threepairsthatrepresented ener-

ally averagereaders,with one pair just slightly above gradelevel, one at grade

level, and one pair ust slightlybelow level, a male studentand female student n

eachpair.Derson selectedAndy, Jason,and Steve (themale students)andKaren,

Stella,and Terri(the femalestudents).As it turnedout,Jason and Terriwerejustabove grade evel as readersandtheother4 were all atgrade evel, a consequenceof ourinabilityto get all theparents o consentto their child's participation.

To matchthereadingcharacteristics f the informants,we adjustedour criteriato alignwithDerson'sselection andthenrequested hatCostello choose like infor-

mants from herclass. Costello selected Zani (Hispanic),Gina(AsianAmerican),and Shana AfricanAmerican)asthefemalestudentsandJoel, John,andMack(allthreewere White) as the male students.The above-level readerswere Gina and

John.Unfortunately, t themidpointof theyear,Gina andherfamilymoved outof

theschool district,and we lost her as aninformant fter hein-depth irst nterview

session.

Procedures

Observations. To documenthow the teachers aught he NativeAmericans

inMarylandunit,we observed ntheirclasses for the durationof theirtreatment f

thatunit, andtape-recorded ach class session as a method of augmenting he ob-









servations.Detailed fieldnotes were compiled of daily classroomevents, docu-

mentsused inteaching

andstudentassignment amples

werecollected,

booksstu-

dents used for research were noted and recorded,and descriptionsof students'

classroomactivities weregenerated.Dersontaughtsocial studiesfor 60 to 90 min

onaverageabout4 daysa week. The unitwas dealtwithin 18 lessonsoverapproxi-

mately4 weeks. Costellotaughtsocial studieson average2 days perweek for 90

min eachtime,usually ntheafternoon, ftenalternatinghedayswith science.For

the Native Americansunit,Costellotaught12 lessons acrossalmost5 weeks.

These fieldnotesalso were used as a methodof triangulating atawe collected

from talking with studentsin the in-depthinterview sessions (describednext)

aboutthe sense theywere makingof experiences n class. Thatis, we closely ob-served the activities andtalk of the subsampleof student nformantsas they"did

research"ntheclassrooms.Thisallowedusto developa broaderunderstanding f

howthe informantswent about heirresearch asks,how muchapparent uccess or

difficultytheyhadin doing so, how each discussedtheprocesswith fellow class-

matesand with theirteachers,andhow theywent aboutseekingassistance n de-

veloping their knowledge of concepts and inquiry processes. The fieldnotes

informed he interview dataand vice versa,enablingus to drawinferencesabout

informant ense makingfrommore than one data source.

Interviews. Theteacherswere interviewed nformallybefore theunit to ob-

tain a senseof theunit'sdirectionandtime frameandthroughoutheunitas anef-

forttounderstandwhattheyweredoingandwhy ona lesson-to-lessonbasis. Often

after heytaughta lesson,we wouldaskquestionsabout he conductof thelesson,

whattheybelieved was itsgoal,andhowtheythought tudentsweredoing.Follow-

ing theunit,both teachersalso were interviewed ormallyusing a structured, ut

open-endedprotocol.We askedthemto talk abouttheirperceptionsof the six stu-

dentswe interviewed anattemptobetterhelpus understandhestudents);how theNativeAmericansunit was different romand similar o othersocial studiesunits;what historicalconceptstheywereattemptingoteachandwhy;whattheythoughtwas the purposefor teachinghistoryanddoinghistoricalresearch;andhow theyfelt aboutefforts at integrating chool subjectssuchas languagearts,reading,and

social studies(an important edagogicalintentionexpressedby Derson).These formal nterviewstookplace afterwe hadinterviewed heirsix students

directlyfollowing the unit and afterwe had transcribedhe students'responses.

Theyweregiven copies of thetranscripts ndasked to read hemprior o the inter-

view. Therefore,a portionof the formal nterviewwas used to exploretheirper-ceptionsof their six students'responsesto ourinitial student nterviewprotocol.Ourquestionsto the teachers were used to test our inferencesaboutthe student

data in light of the teachers' interpretations s a form of datatriangulationand

memberchecking.We tailored he questionsto fit theresponsesof each groupof









six students.The questionsexploredtheirview of patternswithinthe studentdata

and how students dealtwith issues or concepts such as conflicting source evi-

dence, history as interpretation, eliabilityand validity of evidence, and Native

Americanculture.

Studentswere formally nterviewed wice, once directlyafter he unit(midfall)andagainatthevery end of theschoolyear(June) n anattempt o assess how stu-

dents ideas about historicalconcepts and researchstrategies changedacross the

spanof time from the fall interviewsto June.The interviewquestionswere struc-

turedbut remainedopen ended. We encouragedstudentsto tell as much as theycould in responseto ourquestions.

As a comparative tudyof students'conceptualandstrategicknowledgeandat-titudedevelopment,the interviewprotocolswere structured round ourgeneral

categories: a)conceptual deasaboutNative Americanculture,customs, anguage

structures,nstitutions e.g., divisionsof labor,religion,economicstructures), nd

cause-effect relations(e.g., effects of European olonizationon Native American

culture); b) conceptual deas abouthistoryas interpretation, alidityandreliabil-

ity of sources, and the natureevidence; (c) ideas about researchproceduresand

strategies;and (d) attitudes about doing research.Conceptswere derived from

conversationswith theteachersconcerning hekey ideastheywerestressing nthe

units andthroughdiscussionsbetweenourselvesas researchers bout heteachers'key ideasandwhat we knewaboutcrucialhistoricalconcepts (e.g., thosethatarise

in the act of doing researchabout the past).These conversationsand discussions

were usedas a methodof delineatingandrefiningtheconceptsthatwouldbecome

a partof the studentinterviewprotocols.Here we describemore abouthow the

concepts,categories,andquestionsevolved.

For analytic and metaphoricalpurposes,we divided conceptual knowledge

taughtby the 2 teachersand conveyed in the student data into two categories:

"foreground" nd "background"oncepts.We referred o knowledge developed

aroundresearch-inquiryproceduresas strategicknowledge(e.g., searching o lo-cate information, eading, akingnotes,writingreports, ynthesizing nformation,

using sources,handling nformation onflicts).We describeattitudesaboutdoingresearchnext.

By foreground oncepts,we werethinkingof thosethatareoften usedtoanchor

writtenhistoriesandstructureheirexplanationsof pastevents.Exampleswould

include culturalcontinuityand change; linguistic, political, economic, and reli-

gious structures nd nstitutions e.g., democracy,capitalism,pantheism,divisions

of labor); culturaldifferences; and cause-effect relations (those that structure

manyhistorical extbooknarratives).We use thetermforegroundhereas a meansof representing he relationof these types of concepts(a) in part,to how they ap-

pearprominently n textbook histories of the past but, (b) more importantly, o

whatstudentswere expectedto learnas theprimary ocus of their encounterwith

thestudyof Native Americans,according o the teachers' nterpretationf district









curriculumbjectives.Forexample, tudentsn bothclasseswere asked o re-searchTidewater

hesapeakeribes

ndigenouso

Marylandnaneffort ounder-

stand he historical ontextof theircultures;heirnationandtribalsystems,customs, ndreligion; ndhow thesethingschanged vertime as theyencoun-teredEuropeanxplorersndcolonizerscause-effectelations). tudyingndat-

temptingo understandheseconceptsandthe detailsandfactsthatgavethem

substance asintheforegroundf schooldistricturriculumbjectives,hepri-

mary arget fclassroomnstructionnd tudent esearchctivity, nd n thefore-

ground f theconcepts tudents eadaboutnthesourcesheyexplored.In eachclass,however,he stressplacedondifferentoregroundoncepts ar-

ied somewhat. n constructinghe interview rotocols,we varied hequestionsslightlyomoreadequatelyit theecologyofdifferentlassroomontexts.Wedid

not askquestions bout oregroundonceptsurroundinghestudyof Tidewater

NativeAmericanribesntheyear-endnterviews,hoosingnsteado focusour

attention n backgroundoncepts,knowledge f research rocedures,ndatti-

tudes aboutdoingresearch,understandingshat coulddevelopandpossibly

change crossheschoolyearregardlessf socialstudies nit.Table1depictshe

foregroundonceptswe exploredwithstudentsn eachclassby question.

Backgroundonceptswere hose hatnevitablyrisentheactofdoinghistori-

cal research. heseconceptsnclude uch hingsas sources f evidence, alidityandreliability f thatevidence,andhistoryas interpretationf others'perspec-tives.It should e noted hat heboundarieseparatinghesebackgroundonceptsfrom heir oregroundounterpartsre luidand uzzyandcanseemperhapsrbi-

trary.However,eparatinghem ervedusefulanalytic urposesn thisstudy.As with foreground oncepts,we employed he termbackgroundn two

senses: irst,as a generalmethodof noting heroletheyplayin doinghistory,

appearings a consequencef research ractice ndbeing epistemicn nature.

As inquirersdo" esearch,heyoperate nimplicit ssumptionsbout vidence,

itsvalidityandreliabilityn relation omaking ssertions,nd heroledifferenttypesof sourcesplayin theprocessof interpretinghepast.Theseassumptionsare seldomdiscussedn history exts.Second,andmore mportantorourpur-

poses,we usedthe termbackgroundo denote heroletheseconcepts layed n

the classroom.That s, studentsn bothclassroomseceived ittleexplicit n-

struction n how to understandheseconceptsas theywent aboutscouring

sources,ooking or informationn NativeAmericans.f, forexample, tudents

encounteredonflicting videnceon thePiscatawayndian ribe,raisingques-tionsabout hevalidityandreliabilityf the sourcesheywereusing a frequent

problemn doinghistorical esearch),tudents ncounteredittle assistancendealingwiththeconcepts nd, herefore,ftenhaddifficultyorting utthe con-

flictingdata.Developing onceptualnowledgeurroundinghe act of doingre-

searchwasbackgroundedn theseclassrooms,or themostpart,becauseother

typesof concepts customs, anguage, eligion,and economic tructures) ere








DEVELOPMENTN HISTORICALTUDY 247

TABLE

ForegroundConceptsby Initial rotocolQuestions

Questions:nitialProtocol

Tidewaterative ultureNation ystems

Iangiage systems

Hunting-gatheringStructures

TransportationToolsand echnologyoradaptionDivision f labor

Money-exchangeystemFateofNativeAmericans

Religiousonversion

Americanization

ReservationsDecimation

Cause-effectelations

You ustfinished uniton NativeAmericansn Ms. 's class.Tellmeeverythingoucanaboutwhatyou earnedbouthem

(both amples f students).

Imagine ouwerea Nanticoke r a Potomackndian.Whatwould

daily ifebe likeforyou(Derson's tudents)?

Wedon'toften ee NativeAmericansroundereanymore.What

happenedo themdoyouthinkboth amples)?

aAfter eachers aughtthe units.

foregroundedand targetedfor study. Table 2 depicts the backgroundconceptswe asked students about at each interview point.

Strategicknowledgeaboutconductingresearchwas the focus of a thirdcluster

of questions hatencompassedboththeinitialandyear-endprotocols.Thetypesof

strategicknowledgestudentswereaskedabout ncluded(a) locatingevidence, (b)

using text aids(indexesand tablesof contents), c) usingevidenceto constructex-planations (i.e., reportsandpresentations),and (d) dealingwith conflicting evi-

dence. Questionsthat asked about these forms of knowledge were identical for

bothgroupsof six students.Table3 depictsthetypesof knowledgeasked aboutby

questionat each interviewpoint.Table4 shows thequestionsasked nboth classes thatwere focused aroundatti-

tudes andperceptionsstudentswere developingaboutdoing research.We ques-tioned the studentsabout their view of the importanceof doing research, its

purposes,whether hey liked the researchprocess,andhow they thoughtof them-

selves as researchers.

Analysis. Ina rotation ycle, bothresearchers bserved n each classroomon

a regularbasis andcompileddetailedfieldnotes,allowingfor the sharingof inter-

pretationsof classroomevents and teacherdata as a reliabilitycheck.Fieldnotes,

Concepts








248 VANSLEDRIGHTNDFRANKES

TABLE

Backgroundoncepts yProtocol uestion sked o BothStudent amples

Questions

Concepts InitialProtocolQuestions' Year-Endrotocol

Interpretation Doyouthinkhat t'spossibleo have wosetsof

informationbouthesame hing hatdon'tagree ndhavebothof them tillbe accuratexplanations?fyes,how's hatpossible?fno,whynot?

Validity When ouaredoing esearch ndreadingogetinformation

fromabook,howdoyouknow ftheauthors givingyou

factsorgivingyouanopinion?ReliabilitySources f evidence Where o authorsf thehistory ooksyoureadgettheir

informationrom?

Validity Howcouldyoutellif

youcould rustwhata

sourcewastellingyou?

ReliabilityEvidence

"Directlyfter heunit.

documents,and formalandinformal eacher nterviewdatawere studiedby each

researcherndependently.Wemetperiodicallyduring he datacollectionphaseand

afterward o compareournotes,analyticmemos,andgeneralperceptionsof what

we thoughtwent on inthe classroomsandwithregard o the teachers'purposesand

approaches.We used fieldnotesand teacher nterviewdatato test andtriangulateour inferences Stake, 1995).We werein generalagreementaboutourperceptionsof each classroom(the few, minorinterpretivedisagreementswere resolvedby

workingout commonunderstandings sing collected data as an arbiter).The de-scriptionsof the teachersandgeneralclassroomeventsthatfollow were writtenby

VanSledrightand checked for interpretive greementby the Frankes.

The studentinterview responseswere audiotapedand transcribedverbatim,

then editedsparselyforpunctuation ndclarity.Responseswerethen clusteredbythe fourgeneralcategoriesdescribedearlier.In the case of foregroundandback-

groundconcepts,we independently odedresponsesto each of the questionswith

respectto the presenceor absenceof expressionsaboutthe conceptand,if it was

present,assessed itby usingoneof threecodingcategories:nascent,descriptive,or

facile. Forknowledgeof researchprocedures,we codedthose questionresponsesby noting the presence or absence of ideas about locating evidence, using text

searchaids,usingevidenceto construct xplanations,anddealingwithconflictingevience. If suchideas werepresent ntheresponses,we againcodedthemusingthe

threecategories ust noted.









An absent responsewas one in which the student said thathe or she did not

know how to address hequestion,

saidthey

wereguessing,conveyed

noideas,

or

displayedone ormoremisconceptionsabout heconceptsorstrategies,or all of the

preceding.A response was coded as nascent when a student(sometimes hesi-

tantly)addressed he importof the questionbutdid not mentionany concepts bynameand indicatedonly a initialemergingsense of thenatureof conceptsor strat-

egies asked for in the questions.A responsewas codedas descriptivewhen a stu-

dent could describe the conceptualterrain(usually by identifying a concept'srelatedfacts)ora strategy byidentifying ts details orprocedures,orboth)butdid

not specifically use a concept or give name to a strategy tself. A responsewas

coded asfacile when a studentwas able to employ language fluidlyto discuss insome detail a concept(s)orresearch trategy,as thoughhe orshe was accustomed

to using the term andwas able to employ, for example,a conceptas a cognitiveconstruct o tie facts, events, details, andprocedures ogether.Here, the student

TABLE

StrategicKnowledgeby ProtocolQuestionAskedto BothStudentSamples

Questions

Strategies InitialProtocoP Year-Endrotocol

Locatingvidence Ifyoustillwantedo learnmoreabout hese

Checkingources NativeAmericans, herewould ougotofind nformation? hywouldyou ook here?

Using extaids Howwould ouknowwhere o look n thisorthese ources?

Usingevidence YoudidresearchnNativeAmericansuringtoconstruct theunit.Tellmewhatyouknowabout oing

explanations research.

Dealingwith Whatf one source rbookyou ooked tsaidconflicting onethingabout heIndiansnMarylandndevidence another ook aidsomethinglseabouthe

(corroboration) samegroup, ut he deasweredifferentromeachother?Whatwouldyoudo then?

Locatingvidence ExplainomehowyouwouldgoUsing extaids about esearchingtopic n

Usingevidenceo social tudies

construct

explanationsDealingwith What idyoudo whenyouwere

conflicting doing esearchna social tudiesevidence topicandone source ouwere

(corroboration) readingaidonethingandanother

source aidsomethinglse?

aAfterunitsweretaught.









TABLEAttitudesboutResearch yCategoryndQuestion skedo BothSamples

Questions

Categories InitialProtocoP Year-Endrotocol

ImportanceDoyouthinkt is importanto be able odo researchonatopic ikeNativeAmericans?Whyorwhynot?

Purposes What oyouthinks thepointof doing esearch?

How aboutyourreflection ournal?b

Purpose Youdida lot of researchnsocial

studies hisyear.What oyouthink

thepurposewasfordoing hisresearch?ImportanceAttitude Didyoulikedoing esearchnsocial

studies?

Viewof What oyouthink fyourself sa

self researcher?

aAfternitswere aught. Theeflectionournalwasusedonly nDerson'slass.

frequently butnot always)mentioned he conceptor strategy tself (e.g., culture,

religiousbelief structure, conomicsystem, transportationystem,divisionof la-bor, evidence,reliability,usingtablesof contents) n the contextof anexplanation

about,forexample,daily life in a NativeAmericanvillage, interpreting vidence,or in dealingwith thatevidence in constructing xplanations.

Once we hadcompletedourindependentanalyses,we conductedan interrater

reliabilitycheck of ourcodings. Overallinterrater eliabilitywas 85%(r = .85).We worked out differencesby agreement,using studentresponsesandclassroom

fieldnotedata as arbiters.

Whatstudentssay does not alwaysdirectlyreflect whattheyknow andcan do.

However, verbal use of and facility with particular oncepts (andthe facts thatstructurehem)andresearch trategiesdoes say somethingabout hedevelopmentof a specializeddiscourse arounda subjectmatter.Thatdiscoursereflectsknowl-

edge of theconceptualandstrategic andscape nquestion.Particularasksthatask

students o work with conceptsandengage in inquiryactivitiesis anothermethod

of identifying henatureof theirknowledge.To thatend,we frequentlywentback

to fieldnotes andtape-recordings f classroomactivitiesto triangulatehecatego-rization of interviewresponseswith what informantswere doing and saying as

they engagedin researchactivities.Thisprocedureallowedus to use those datato

furthercheck the robustnessof our categorizationscheme. In several cases, theclassroomdatapermittedus to adjustourcodings of given responsesto betterfit

what we inferredto be a student'sconceptualor strategicunderstanding e.g.,

recodingan interviewresponseas facile rather handescriptiveor vice versa).









In hecaseof students'ttitudesndperceptionsfresearch, anSledrightom-

piledanalytic escriptionsfthe12students'

esponsesothe

questions,nnotatingthemwithquotationsrawnrom hetwo setsof interview ata.Frankes heckedthisanalysis gainsthe actual esponses sing heverbatimranscripts.tudents'

responsesotheattitude ndperceptionuestions ere traightforwardnddescrip-tive.As aresult, urassessmentsf thestudents'esponseswerecongruent.

RESULTS

Derson'sUnitGoals

Conceptualand strategic knowledge. Derson's rimaryoals or heNa-tiveAmericans nit nvolveda)teaching erstudentso understandheculture ftheTidewaterndians o that heywould earn o appreciatehat hosepeople nsomewaysweremore imilaroEuropeanshanheyweredifferent;b)providinga forum nwhich anguage rtsandreadingresearchtrategies,eadingo locate

evidence) ouldbe asfully ntegratedspossiblewitha social tudies-historyur-riculumich nsubstantivenowledgeforegroundoncepts);nd c) teaching er

students owto beeffective esearchers,nowledgeablebout ollectingnforma-tionfrom ources, singmultipleources, btainingacts,and oforth.Regardingthesegoals,Dersonput tthisway:

Iused[theuniton NativeAmericans]o teachanguagekills ncontext, othat hestudentsetexcitedandmotivated. here rea lot of materialsheycanaccess.It'sgreatas aresearchool.I alsothink t is importantoteachthem o accessfactsor teach hemsomestrategiesoraccessing acts,be-cause heyhad aid hingsome ike,"Well, readnthisbookand t said his,

and hen read nthisbookand t said hat,and hen readn thisherebookand tsaid heopposite."said,"Yes,wellwhydoyou hink hat s?"Wetalkaboutheauthor'sointofviewand hatkindofthing. fyouareonlyrelyingon onesourceandoneperson o give youtheinformation,hat's rouble.Factsarealways hanging. hereflectionsjournal]elpedhem ocus n onthemetacognitive,ikewhat trategymIusing?

AlthoughDersonalksmuchhereaboutacquiringacts,she also wentontonotehowcompilingactswasnecessaryogiving ubstanceoconceptsuchasTidewa-

terculture,ribal ustoms ndeconomictructures,nd heroleusingeffective e-searchtrategies layedn theprocess.However,hesaidvery ittleaboutheback-

ground onceptshatwouldarisewhenstudents onsulted variety f sources oaddressheir esearch uestions.Althoughheacknowledgedhat tudents sked









her aboutreliability ssues(dealingwithconflicting nformation),we neededto ask

heradditionalquestions

oexplore

hergoals

withregard

oteaching

heseconcepts.Concepts uchasevidence, nterpretation,eliability, ndvaliditysurfacednher

response o ourqueriesabout hem.Here showDersonexplainedherperspective:

I tell themthattheyhave tohavefactsthatsupportwhattheyarewriting.But

those factschange,even whenyou're talkingaboutscienceandtechnology,the information hatwe know. That s something hat s trueforhistorytoo.

There are always discoveriesbeing made or differentslantsbeing put on

things.Ialwaystellthem,whenever heywrite,theyneedtosupportt and he

factshave to be actual,as we know them.The factsmustbe accurate.

Asked abouthow reliable she thought he textualmaterialwas, she said:

Oh,I'd say maybe70 percent.... One of thereasonswe doso muchresearch

isbecausefacts arealways changingandyou justcan'trelyon a lot of memo-

rizinga body of facts.You arealwaysgoing to have situations hatcome upwhereyou aregoingtohavetogetnewinformation rbetter nformation nd

it's constantlycoming.

Responding o a questionaboutaskingstudents o trust hebooks,but at thesame

time assumingthat30 % of the contentwas untrustworthy,Dersonreplied

It is like what we knownow;this is it. Yes, you mustuse factsto document

whatyou have butI amcertainlynotgoingto send themto the archives o gooverprimarydocuments .. Even if youuse aprimarydocument,youhaveto

know whatpeople thoughtat the time,whatwas going on at the time. You

have to havesuchabig picture.Theymaynotbe tellingyou exactlythetruth,

but this is thebest we have to go on rightnow-but don'tbe surprised f itchanges.

Dersonnoted heproblematic ature fobtaining acts,thequestionable ccuracyof

text materialsusedinhistoricalresearch,andtheneed toaccept naccuraciesn his-

toricalresearch,alldifficultconceptual ssuesfacinghistoryresearchers.However,

shedid not saymuch abouthow shetaughtherstudents o wrestlewith andunder-

stand hesebackgroundoncepts,despiteherstressontheimportance fengaging n

researchpracticesthat would bringthem into view. Backgroundconcepts were

de-emphasizednfavorofteachingresearchprocedureshat ocusedondevelopingforeground-conceptual nowledge. Teaching strategies for dealing with back-

groundconcepts and about the conceptsthemselveseffectively were kept in the

background.The orderingof prioritiesregardingwhattypes of knowledgewould

become most important or studentswas borneoutby eventsin the classroom.









Purposeof studyinghistory. Derson escribederrationaleor he mpor-tanceof

studying istoryhisway:

Ithink istoryssuchalargepart fcurriculumor he uture,ndalsoIthink,

personally,t is so importantorunderstandinghatevershappeningntheworld. t slikemyreligion-youneed o knowwhathasgonebeforenorderto understandhat s happeningow.You can'tknowwhatyouareunless

youknow romwhenceyouhavecome.

Theanimatedature f thewayshe aught istoryo her tudents emonstrateder

enthusiasmor hesubject. healsobelievedhathistory llowed ignificantoomto wedlanguage rtsandreadingtrategieso it.Researchinghepasthelpedher

achieve his ntegrationfsubjectmattersnd, headded,motivate erstudentso

understandistory'smportancehewayshe did.

ResearchingNativeAmericansnDerson'sClass

Lesson 1. The irst essonof theunitwasan ntroductionoresearchroce-

dures.Derson eganbyaskingherstudentsoclosetheir yesandmentallyisual-ize theEasternWoodlands ativeAmericanribes he oftencalled heTidewaterIndians. hen heasked tudentso draw picture fwhat heywere"seeing"n a

pieceofpaper hepassedout.

Derson: Thousandsfyears go-we aregoingback-you are upposedobe

listening, eyes closed, imagining ... imaginethe state of Maryland

500yearsago.Peopleivedherebutnotsettlers romEurope. eopledid ivehere. amsureyouare magingNativeAmericans. ocuson

oneperson.Whatweretheywearing?Drawa picture f whatyousaw.Howdid hesepeoplegethere?Therewereno tribes roundurschoolarea.By the timewe finishstudyingNativeAmericansouwillknowwhy.Youhave5 minutes o drawyourpicture.

While tudents eredrawing, ersonwalked roundheroom,monitoringndivid-ualstudents ndaskingquestionsuchas"Howwastheirhair?Didtheywearew-elry?Whatwere heirhousesike?" heretrievedomechart aperromhebackoftheroom, apedapiecetothechalkboard, nd hencontinuedoroam heroom.

Derson: Okay, topdrawing.Doesthisremind ouof anotheraskwe havedone?

Student:Theresearchhing?Derson: How about hatresearch hing-that wastohelpfocusyourthoughts.









Derson sked tudentso turn ver hepaper n which heyhaddrawnheNativeAmerican.On twas a KWL hart. he nvited tudentso writedown

everythingtheyknewaboutNativeAmericansnMaryland.hepromptedhemwithseveral

questions: What idtheyeat?""Whatheydrink?" nd"What amesdidtheyplay?"Once heyhad inishedwriting,heclasssharedwhat heyknew.Studentsdemonstratedeneral nowledge f theTidewaterndians asedon somepreunitreadingheyhad done.Students oted hat heNativeAmericansworefringedclothing, untedwithbowsandarrows,ived nwigwams, sedcanoeso travel ywater,grewbeansandcorn,painted heir aces withberryextracts, nd,theyclaimed,used every partof the animaltheykilled.

ThenDerson sked,"Howdoyouthink heygothere?Anytheories?"

Student:Europe?Student:Africa?Derson:TheycouldhavecomefromAfricabutwouldhavehad ocross he

ocean pointso amaponthewall).Student:Greenland?Derson:Well, herewas no oneliving nGreenland.Student:SouthAmerica-therewereNativeAmericansnSouthAmerica,ut

theydidn't omefrom here.Student:Asia?Derson: (pointingothetopof themapnearBeringStrait)Russia s partof

Asia-see this ittle iny trip?twouldbeeasier ogoacross his hantosailacrossheocean. think t's about 0 miles.Think bout latetectonics.Could heyhavebeencloser?What bout he ceage?Do

yousupposef therewas an ceage,whatwouldhavehappened?Student:Itwouldhave roze.Derson: Wouldtbeeasyforagroupowalkrightacross?

Students:Yes.Derson: That sthegeneralheory-theywentdownheWestCoastpointso

themap),hen anned utacrossCanada ndntoMaryland.ouwillseesimilarities etweenAsianculturendNativeAmericanulture.That s howwe thinkpeoplecame olive here.

Dersonheldupa boundbooklethatreadReflectionsournal cross he frontn

largeetters. heexplainedhat hiswas heir eflectionsook, hat veryweek heywouldworkonresearch,nd oreveryactivityheywould illoutapage nthere-

flections ook.Shethenmoved rom he front f theroom othebulletin oard ttheback.Sheasked,"Have ouever ookedatthisbulletin oard?Whatdoesit

say?"A studenteadt out oud,"A,G,O,P."Derson,whohadmovedback othefront f theroom,wrote he etters n thechalkboardertically. henoted hat he

acronymndicatedheproceduresheywould ollow ndoing esearchboutTide-









water ndians. he hen xplainedhathe etterA tood orassign, eferringohow

topicsorresearch ere

provided.he etterG

referredo

gatheringnformation,stood ororganizinghe nformationathered,ndP indicatedhepresentationfthat nformationo theclass.

Derson:Open our eflectionook opageone.Just ookover hebook.Lookatthetableof contents.Whatpartof theresearchrocesswereyouworkingntoday?Eachdaywe willtakeabout 5minutesofill outa

page nour eflection ook.Everydaywedoresearch,willalsodoa

languagertsmini esson:Howcouldyouuseheadings,ableofcon-

tents,usinganencyclopedia?willbuildmylessons ormwhatyouwrite nhere.Nowfliptothetableof contents. ynumber ,pleasewrite his:Tidewaterndians.Write ournames nthecoverand akethenext10minutes opersonalizeourbooks.

Thereflectionsournalsontained 0pagesofthesame1-pageormanda tableofcontents age o be filled nbythestudents stheyproceededhroughheunit.Atthetopof each denticalorm, tudents ere oindicateheirnameand hedateonwhich heyengagedna researchask. tem1asked tudentso select he ypeofre-

search rocesshat heyhadworked nthatday roma list of 13possibilitiese.g.,formingesearchuestions,aking otes,drafting,ublishing,valuating).tem2

providedwoboxes nwhich tudents ereasked o writehow heywentabouthe

process. tem3requestedhat tudentsdentifyhedifficult ndeasyaspects f the

particularesearchrocess, nd tem asked ora sentence escribing hat hestu-dent hought goodtopicwouldbe forthefollowingday'smini esson.

Lesson 2. This lessondealtwiththequestion, owdowe knowwhatwe

know? twasprimarilynintroductiono thebackgroundonceptsnterpretationandevidence, utreliabilityndvalidity oncepts nd ssuesalsodanced bout hebackof the classroomtage.Dersonbeganby posing heepistemologicalues-tion-how do we know what we know?--concerninghe natureof historical

knowledge.Hergoalwas ohelp tudentsnderstandhathistoricalnowledge asindeterminateecause istoriansad orelyontraces f thepast hat eftonlyapar-tialpicture f lifelongago.

Once heaskedhequestion bout owwe knowwhatweknowabout hepast,studentsmmediatelyespondedy referringoarcheologicaligsand heartifacts

that suchdigsunearth.This,they thought,providedhe windowhistorical e-searcherssed orepresenthepast ifeof, forexample,Tidewater ativeAmeri-cans.Studentsalkedaboutarrowheadsndbroken hardsof pottery ound nexcavations.Dersonpointedout that herealsowereotherwaysof findingoutabout hepast,namelyhroughookresearch,ieldsurveys, ndoralhistories.All









methods,she noted, gave researchersonly a partial dea of past events and cul-

tures,implyingbutnot

statingdirectlythat,n the act of

doingresearch, nquirersneeded to confrontseriousquestionsaboutmissingdataand thereliabilityand va-

lidityof the sourcestheydid have. With indeterminate istoricalknowledgeas the

crucible,Derson toldherstudents hattheythereforeneededto researchcarefullyand consulta numberof sources.Havingmadeherplea forcarefulresearchhow-

ever,shestopped he discussionshortof delvingmoredeeplyinto howresearchers

deal with the difficultepistemological ssues such as decidinga source'svalidityandreliability,adjudicating onflictingevidencewhen it was found,andhandling

gaps in evidence trails. Studentswere left to theirown strategiesfor sortingout

thesemattersandunderstandingheir nterrelatedoncepts.The classendedwithavideotapedescribing he lives of severalTidewater ribesnativeto Marylandand

the ChesapeakeBay region. Studentswere asked to take notes as a prologueto

thinkingabout a tribe on which theywould focus theirresearch.

Lesson 3. Thislessonwas devotedto showingstudentshow to access com-

puterdataaboutNative Americans.Students'missionwas to learn o use the com-

puterprogramand its database o explorecustomsand anguagesof Native Ameri-

can tribes ntheMarylandidewaterarea.Essentially, heexercisewasa search askthatwould laterbenefitstudentsastheydidresearchonatribe heywouldstudy.

Aftergroupsof three studentshad rotated hrough heir 10-min ntervalsat the

computer,Derson calledtheirattention o thefrontof the room.She hadbrought o

class hercollection of EasternWoodlandsIndians'artifacts arrowheads, ottery

shards,beads,anarrow,an Indiandoll, andseveralobjectsthatappearedunidenti-

fiableto the students).She held themup, showedthemoff, andthenpassedthem

out one by one. As she did this, she askedstudents o think aboutwhat eachwas

andhow itmighthave been used.Thensheusedtheremainder f class time for the

purposeof having studentswrite a storyabout one of the artifactsandspeculatewhat it mighthave been used for.The lesson revolvedprimarilyaround eachingresearch trategies computer earch ask)andwriting,an efforttomorefully inte-

grate languageartsand social studies.

Lessons 4 through 5. Both these lessons centered on mounting the re-

searchprojects hatwould consumemostof whatremainedofthe unit.The focusin

Lesson4 wasonlearning o ask whatDersoncalledgood questions, hose thatwere

researchableand could generatea sizable collection of conceptualinformationaboutthe cultureof theNativeAmericans.She illustratedwith,"What ortof life

did aparticularribe ead?"Overthe courseof the twolessons,Dersonhandedout a

stapledresearchpacketthat asked students o answerquestionson food, clothing,

shelter, language,customs, and technology (space to write answersnext to the









questionswereprovided)withreferenceo the tribes tudentswereresearching.Derson lso

explainedowstudents

mightse tables f contents nd ndex

ystemsin themanybooksshehadbroughto classassourcematerialsoquicklyind heinformationheyneeded oransweringuestionsntheresearchacket.She llus-trated ypicking ooksoff thepileofsources ndpointingo the ables f contentsand ndexes.Shethenhadstudents ickbooks rom hesourcepileandbeginex-

ploring.Theclassendedwithselections f researchopics atribal roup, rapar-ticular spect ftheTidewaterribes uchastheirechnologyrfoods)and hedivi-sionof theclass ntosmallresearchroups f twoor three tudents ach.

Lesson 6. Students ook a briefvocabulary uizon whattheyhad been

studyingboutNativeAmericanustoms nd ribalifeto date.ThenDerson ntro-ducedanddiscussed he NativeAmerican raftproject.Studentswere asked othinkaboutwhat heymightiketodo forthisproject,hat s,themaking f a fac-simile onghouse rwigwam,heconstructionf adollNativeAmerican hildrenintheTidewateregionmighthaveplayedwith,orthepreparationfsome ypeofauthenticribal oodsuchassuccotash. hisprojectwould erveas oneof thecul-

minatingctivities f theunit.

Lesson 7. Dersonbeganwith a minilessonon researchtrategies. pe-cifically he talkedmoreabouthow to locate nformationntextsusing extaidssuchastables fcontents,ubject ndnamendexes, ndalphabeticalrdering.healso ndicatedhat hiswouldbe thefirstday hat tudents ouldbe asked o writeintheir esearchournalsnd hat hefollowing ayshewouldbegin eachingminilessons hatwereresponseso issuesstudents aisednconductingesearch. tu-dents henwere reed obegin heir esearchctivitiesngroups, mployinghecat-

egoriesandresearch uestions rovidedntheresearchacket.

Lessons 8 through11. These essonswerespentdoing esearch,sing he

computeratabasend he booksDersonhadbroughtoclass.Students sedthe

computern grouprotation, onsultedmanyof the tradeand nonfiction efer-

ence-type ooksonthesource ile,andoccasionallyonsultedheclassroomncy-clopedia etastheysystematicallyddressedhe researchacketquestionse.g.,"Whatropsdid heIndians lant?"Howdid heycatchish?" What id heIndi-

ansuse formoney?" WhydidtheIndians uild heirvillageneara stream rariver?").

InLesson9, Derson'smini essoncentered nproblemstudents ncounteredin usingindexes o locate nformation.pecifically,he focusedonhow to use

pagenumbersistedadjacento asubject rnameheadinge.g.,thedifference e-









tweenpages 46, 48, 51 andpages 46-51). Derson also provideda shortexplana-tion of the

foreground onceptof

gendereddivisions of laborfound n a numberof

Tidewater ribes(mentypicallyhuntedandfished,and womengathered,cooked,and were primarychildcareproviders)and noted that some tribes practiceda

matrilinealsocial organizationthat put women at the head of the tribal deci-

sion-makingprocess.InLesson 10,the mini lesson involvedhelpingstudentsplanfortheircraftpro-

ject. She returned o the KWL exercise she hadconductedearlierand askedstu-

dents to thinkabout whatthey wantedto know, or whatthey were interested n.

Theywereto use this as a basis fordecidingthenatureof theircraftproject.After

10min of brainstorming ifferentpossibilities,in which both Dersonandherstu-dentsoffereduppossibilities,students eturnedotheirresearchpacketwork.Dur-

ing that time and also duringthe same post-mini lesson period in Lesson 11,

Dersonmet withgroupsof students o identifycraftprojects.A numberof students

had decided to makefood dishes nativeto theTidewater ribes,thanks n part o a

seriesof recipesDerson hadbrought o class fromher home collection. Onegroupof boys decided to make a tomahawkand anothergroupanaddle addle.Themini

lessonheld as theprologueto Lesson 11involved Dersonin teachingher students

procedures or organizingandcreating heircraftprojects.By the end of Lesson

11, studentswere to have finishedaddressing he questions n theirfive-pagere-searchpackets.This marked he end of the formalresearchactivityfor theunit,the

dailywritingin thereflection ournal,andthemini lessons thatbridgedfromstu-

dents'researchdifficulties of theprecedingday.

Lessons 12 through 15. These lessons were consumedwith craftprojectwork.Moreresearchwas done, recipes anddatafrom the researchpacketswere

consulted;chartswere made on posterboard;a tomahawkwas carved;and sev-

eral students workedon buildinga longhouseout of toothpicks, popsicle sticks,andgrass.For fourclass periods, the roomwas filled with animatedvoices and

sometimes franticenergy as studentshurried o constructandprepare heirpre-sentations.

Lessons 16 through 17. These two class periodswere spentmakingoral

presentationsof craftprojects.With some relish, small groupsof studentstook

turns llustratingwhattheyhad done.Becausea numberof studentshadprepared

food,theroomwas filled withinteresting romas.Students ampled he foodsinter-mittently.After a numberof recipefoodprojectshadbeenpresentedandthe class

was busy tastingthe fare,Dersonsaid,"Nowisn't history ust delicious?"

At theendofthese two classperiods,Dersonhadthe studentsengageinwritingletters to a sister school in the district.Studentswere to explain in their letters









aboutdoingresearch n NativeAmericansnMarylandndespecially bout henature f their eflection

ournals,what

heywroten

them,andhow

heyservedo

helpDersonunderstandhedifficultiesheyencounteredn doinghistoricale-search e.g.,troublewithindexing, agenumbers,ndunhelpfulablesof con-

tents)andpreparemini essons.The etterswere ustthat,descriptiveccounts fhowtheresearchournalworked nd hepurposest served.

Lesson 18. This was test day.Studentspent1 hr working hroughhe

four-pageest. It consisted f five true-falsetems,sevenmatching, three-part

short ssayquestion, vocabularyection,andamap-labelingctivity.The temsonthe testweredrawnrom tudents' esearch orkand heir esponsesoques-tions ntheresearchacket.The estwasaneffort o assessstudents' ecallofkeyculturalustoms ndnorms ommonotheTidewaterribes hathadbeenstudied.Theessayquestion sked tudentsochooseacustomoundn 17th- ndl8th-cen-

tury ribal ulturee.g.,building omes, btainingmeat,and ransportation)romalistprovidedndcomparettotheways nwhichweengagenthesame ustom o-

day,aneffort o address istoricalhange.Onaverage, tudents idreasonablywellon thetest-all attained5%orbetter orrectesponses.

Costello'sUnitGoals

Cultural ppreciation. Costello'smainunitgoalshinged nhelping er tu-dents ome oappreciateheculturefNativeAmericanssimportantnd nterest-

inginits ownright.Shesaid,"Iwant hem students]oappreciateheir ife and

customs,orespectheirntelligence,nd o understandowindustrious,reativeand nventiveheywere."When sked bout hecentraloncepts nd trategieshe

would tressntheunit,Costello eiteratedhis mportantheme fculturalppreci-ation.Forher tmeanthat tudents oulddig nto hepast researching)o findoutwhat heycouldabout heseculturallyifferenteople.Thepurposewouldbe forherstudentsolearn smuchastheycouldabout arious spects f Indianulture,

includinguch hings s theirood,clothing,helter,eligion,echnologynd ools,art,and anguage ystems.

Although hearticulatedhemdifferently,n manywaysCostello hared hesame oregroundonceptualedagogical oalsas Derson.However,orCostello,research ppearedmoreasapractical edagogical pproachimedatgenerating

informationbout,and evokinginterest n, conceptual nowledgeof NativeAmericansn Maryland,ather hanas an importantet of strategiestudentsneeded o learnaspartof theirbroader ducation ndas a wayto integratean-

guagearts,reading, ndsocialstudies. n thisway,DersondistinguishederselffromCostello's pproacho,andmore imited tresson,teaching trategicnowl-









edge.Usuallyon aone-to-one asiswhen heyaskedher,Costellohelpedherstu-dents

navigatehetext aids found n

thebooks.However, he did little directteaching bouthow to readanduse different istoricalources,manipulaten-dexesand ablesof contents, ndgenerally nderstandhefinerpointsandprob-lems involved n doinghistorical esearch.These lessons were reserved or

language rtsandtaught s general esearch kills notdirectly onnectedo re-

searchinghehistory fNativeAmericansnMaryland.tudents ere eftto makethetransfer.

Because hestudy ocused nboth eachers' iewsabout ackgroundonceptsandstrategiesorunderstandingnddealingwiththem,we alsoaskedCostello

aboutherview of thepastandhow sheunderstoodoncepts uch as evidence,proof,validity, ndreliabilitynhistorical esearch.

Regardingerview ofhistory,Costelloaid,"Thenature f historicalvidenceis constantlyhanging.Ourpresentmethods f researchmake t easier oobtainandverify nformation.pecialization,orexample,n aspecific ieldofstudy an

providenewandmoreaccuratenformation."earchingut andpossessingn-

creasingly ccuratenformationeemed o be at the centerof Costello'sviewofhistorical ork.However,hedidrelate hatuncoveringccuratenformationasa difficult ndproblematicask,notinghatittleofwhatwe know"is 100% ccu-

rate."Later hestated, I ry oimpress ponmystudentshathistorysnotalwaysfactual, hathistorians reconstantlyrying o makemoreaccuratenterpreta-tions." hedidnotdiscuss hebackgroundoncepts xplicitly, nd hedidnotex-

plainwhatcorrespondingtrategieshewould eachherstudentso assist hem n

sorting utaccurateromnaccuratenterpretations.sinDerson's lassroom,it-tle timewouldbespent eaching bout trategieselatedobackgroundoncepts.Suchconcepts evidence,nterpretation,ndvalidity)andstrategiesordealingwith hemwouldremainn thebackground.

Purposes of studyinghistory. Costello's iewson thepurposesoraskingfourthradersostudyhepastwerebound p nherculturalppreciationoalsandinherdesire oexcite tudents bout ocial tudies ndhistory.Returningo theap-preciationheme, hesaid:

Just o appreciatehelife thatwentbefore hem. t'speople. t is peopleandhowtheylived,theirpersonalitiesndwhat hey iked.Butthenyoulearna lotabout theraspectswhenyoulearnaboutpeople. think t is moreof anorienta-tion.Because think heyareat theagewhere heycanappreciatet-it isjustan

appreciation. lot of it is abstract ut heycanappreciatet.I thinktis importantbecause f that. t is abeginningoward ppreciatinghatpeoplehavedone, n-

ventions, ow far heyhavecome.With espectoexciting tudents bout istory nd ocial tudies enerally,he

noted:









I find hat his sthe ime ogetthem. fyoucangetthem nterestednlearn-

ingabout

istory,heywillcontinue.thinkhat'srue ora lotofthesekids.

find hem aying,"Arewehaving ocial tudiesoday?" might ayno,butIknow hey ike tbecausehey'reasking.

Askingstudentso do research ndgathernformationbout hepastwas a keymethod orengagingheir nterests.

ResearchingNativeAmericansnCostello'sClass

Lesson 1. Costello ntroducedheunitonNativeAmericansnMarylandyexplainingowstudents ouldbeengagednconductingesearchnthese ndige-nouspeoples.TheMarylandndians,henoted,were he irstAmericans nownoinhabitheTidewater hesapeakeayarea.Shewentonto describe owhistoriansbelievethatAmericanndians riginallyamefromAsia andhadcrossed land

bridgenwhat s today heBeringStrait. he llustratedypullinga largemapoftheworlddownacrosshechalkboardndpointingo theBeringStrait. he urther

explainedhathisareamayatonepointhavebeenconnectedyland, llowingmi-

gratoryAsians o cross,perhapss longagoas 10,000years.The fourth radersseemed urprisedo hear his.

Costellopassedoutathree-pageandouthe andanothereacher t herschoolhaddesigned, alleda ResearchOutline,hatcontained uestions boutNativeAmericansnMarylandtudentswere o research singa textbookCostello hen

helduptitledOurMaryland;aten&McGinnis,987),romwhichstudentsoulddrawmostoftheir esponsesothequestions.This esearchutlinewasvery imilarinformat ndquestionso theresearchacket sedbyDerson.)Costello hen aidthat hewouldbebringingeveral ther ooks o class orstudentso use.Shewent

throughheresearchutlinewith tudentsriefly.Then henoted xcitedlyhat tu-dentsalsowouldgetopportunitiesuringheunit o do somesandpainting,nan-cientNative ormofcommunicationndartisticxpression,ndmakewampum,form fNativeAmericanmoney.Finally,hedescribedstory tudents ouldneedtowriteabout MarylandativeAmericanribe hat heywould henpresenti.e.,read)o theclassat heendof theunit.Students ouldusethe nformationheycol-lectedntheiresearcho writeheir tories.The esson ndedwithCostello assingoutcopiesof the extbook ndaskingtudentsolook hrought,find hechapternNativeAmericansnMaryland,nd kim t.

Lesson 2. This essonopenedwith hepassing utofpocket olders o eachstudent.Costello old studentsoputtheirnameson themand abel hemNativeAmericansnMaryland. hesefolders, heexplained,wouldserveas theplace









where tudentstored llthematerialsheywould egivenand ollectacross f the

unit.Costello henaid,

"Asanexample,

'mgoing

ogiveyouamap holding p

a

copy] hat want ou oworkontoday.Youprobably on'tgeta chance ofinisht,sokeep t inyour olders orournext ocial-studiesesson.Then oucan aket out

and inish t."She henpassed ut hemapactivity ndexplainedo studentshat t

wasamapofMaryland.hewanted tudentsousetheir extbooknd everal ther

books hat hehadputontheshelfnearhebackoftheroomo locateheTidewater

tribes istedonthereverseideof thesheet.Thatistcontainedbout12 ribes. tu-

dentswere o findamapnthebooksand henwrite he ribe ver heplace hat he

bookssaidthat heywereknown o inhabit. tudents ulledouttheirbooksand

spentheremaininglass ime illingntheirmaps.Near heendoftheclassperiod,Costello oldstudentswhowerealmost inishedwith heexercisehat heycould

use markersrcolored encils o"decorate"heirmaps.Shecautionedhem obe

carefulnot to usecolors hatwereso dark hat t becamempossibleo read he

namesof thetribes.As theclassended, tudents ereaskedoplace heirmapsn

their olders longwith heir esearchutlines.

Lesson 3. Studentssed he firstpart f thisclass ofinishupworkon their

maps.Costello oted hat hosewhowere inishedhould etout heir esearchut-linesandbegin heir esearch nthequestionst contained.hemoved otheback

of theroomand,onebyone,helduptheadditionalnformationalooksshe had

broughtoclass(e.g.,Maryland istory;Michael,1983), xplaininghat tudents

shoulduse themas well.Shealso heldupthetextbookOurMarylandEaton&

McGinnis, 987)andnoted hat tudentsould inda listof all themajorribesn

theTidewater hesapeakeegionby turningopage27.Activity n themaps on-

tinued orsomestudentswhileothers roceededn tocollectingnformationnd

answeringhequestionsn the outline.

Lesson 4. Costello eganhis essonbypassing utafive-pageollection f

informationndifferentspects f Tidewaterndianulture. he opics overedn

thehandoutsncludednformationnfoodpreparationnd ypesof toolsused or

thatpurpose,ources f meatand oolsused o obtainhem,gamesNative hildren

played,andhowtheycreatedanoes or ravel.Thepagescontainedrawingse-

signed oillustratehe activities escribedythetextsurroundinghem.Costello

alsopassedout a three-page ritten extthatreiterated uchof theinformation

containedn the otherbooksstudentswereusingfortheir esearch. hetoldstu-dentso consult hesehandoutsstheyansweredhequestionsntheoutline.None

of thesesourceswerereferenced.Before allowingstudents o pursuetheirtask of collecting nformation,

Costellodescribednmoredetailhestory tudents ouldbewriting fterhey in-









ished heir esearch. heexplainedhat tudentswouldbepickingatribe,assum-

ing theywerea childor adult n that

ribe,andthen

writinga

storyabout ife

experiencenthatNativegroup.Shetalked bouthowtheywouldwritean initialdraft f their tory,howshewould ead t andhelp hemdonecessary diting, ndthen heywouldwriteafinalpolished ersionhatwouldbe read o theclass.All ofthiswritingwouldbedoneon thecomputer. oneof thestudents skedquestionsabout heword-processingask,buttheydidhavequestions boutwhich ribes

theymightchoose romandhowtotell thestory e.g.,"Can be a childand alkabout he gamesI played?").Afterspending everalminutesaddressinghese

questions,Costelloasked tudentsobeginworkcollectingmore nformationor

theiroutlinesandsuggestedhat ome studentswho were finishedwiththeirre-searchbegincraftingheir tories.Costellobegancirclingheroom, toppingoaddress uestions,monitoringtudent ctivity, ndhelpinga female tudentwhohad mmediatelyoneto thecomputerobegincomposing story.Occasionally,shewould nterruptlassroom ctivity o address pointshethoughtheentireclass shouldbeprivy o. Here s anexample:

Costello: Class,class!Letme haveyourattentionoraminute.Didthese ndi-ans nMarylandive intipis?

Students:[several]No!Costello: Whatwere heirhousescalled?Student:Wigwams.

Costello: Yes. And wigwamsand tipis are not the same.Wigwamsare

longhousessedbyIndiansnMaryland. ood.Now,whatdid heyusethebonesof thedeer or?

Student:Needles.Necklaces.Costello:Yes,good.Ijustwantedo make ureyouweregettinghis.

Althoughheirwereno formalizedroups orthe researchask,students' eskswerearrangednclusters f fourand ive.Effectively,heseclusters ecamework-

inggroups nd tudentseated tthem reely harednformationheywere ogginginto heir esearchutlines.

Lesson 5. Over hecourse fteachingboutNative mericans, ostello addoneafairamountf researcherselfnanefforto locate ources hecoulddeployintheclassroom. saresult,hehadbecomentrigued ithseveral spects fNa-

tiveNorthAmericanulture:heir rtand anguage.hewasparticularlynterestedinNativeAmericanignand ymbolanguage.hebeganhis essonby attemptingtobaither tudents'nterests swell.Shecirculatedhandouthehadpreparedhatcontained storywrittennacombinationfEnglishwordsandNativeAmerican

symbols.TheNativeAmericanymbols orrespondedoEnglish ouns n thesen-









tence hathelped ellthestory e.g.,symbolsorboy,forest, ish,etc.).Theclassreadand tudiedhe

story ogether.henCostello skedhem o makeasetof their

own NativeAmericanymbols, onstruct storyaroundhemwithsomeoneat

home,andbringt to classtoshareduringanguagerts ater hatweek.Studentsthenwere toldto flipthepageandexamineheNavajoalphabetwrittenhere.Costellouggestedhat tcouldbeusedas anexample.Theremainderf class imewasspentworkingnsearchingourcematerialsnd illingntheresearchutline.

Lesson 6. Several ayselapsed etweenLessons and6,duringwhich ime

Costellohadcollected ndexaminedwhatstudents adbeenwriting n their e-search utlines ndontheirmap xercise.The irstportion fthis essonwasspentina reviewofwhatCostellohad oundand, npart,markederattemptocorrect

misinformation.

Costello: DidanyoneeadnthereadingshatMarylandndiansived n caves?Students:[several]No.Costello: Whatdidthey iveinthen?Student:Longhouses.

Costello: Yes. But someof youputcavesand ipis.Didyouread hissome-where?Well,other deasabout helter?

Student:Loghouses?Costello: Didanyone lseread his?Students:[several]No.Costello: Makesureyoucheck hisif youwrotedowncavesortipisorlog

houses.Someof youputcorn orfood?Anyotherusesof corn?

Student:Beadsonclothing.Student:Baitforfish.

Costello: Yes. Howdidtheyfish?Student:Witha weir.

Theclasscontinuednthisvein oranother 0min.ThenCostello iscussedheduedate or hestory tudents ereworkingn.Theclassvoted omakeheduedateon

the ollowingFriday,bout1 2weeksaway.Studentspenthe astpart ftheclass

timeontheir esearchfforts.

Lessons 7 through8. These essons nvolvedanactivityCostellocalled"sandpainting."ostellogaveeachstudent pieceof sandpaperndsomeglue.She laid out small dishes containingdifferentcoloredpieces of stone andplastic.She demonstrated o studentshow to draw a commonNative Americansymbol

(e.g., aneagle or a deer)on thesandpapernpencil andthenhow to use theglue to









coatcertain ortionsf thedrawingnorder oplacecoloredtoneorplastichere.

By alternatingolors,tudents ould reat rilliant

esigns,henoted.Shealsoex-

plained hattherewas no evidence o indicate hatthe Tidewaterribesmade

sandpaintingsut hat ribesn thewest(Navajo) addoneso. She hensuggestedthat,becauseherewassand nmanyplaces ining hewater reas roundheChes-

apeakeBay,itwaspossible o imaginehat heTidewaterribesalsoengagedn

sandpainting.tudentspentheclassdecoratingheirpiecesofsandpaper,singaseriesof sheetscontaining varietyof NativeAmericanymbolscopiedfrombooksby Costelloandhanded utto students. hefollowing lass involved tu-dents akingurnsdescribingheir andpaintingymbolsandwhytheychose he

colors heyhad.

Lesson 9. This essonwasspentn aquestion-by-questioneviewof there-

search utline.Students ereasked otakeout he extbookOurMarylandEaton&McGinnis, 987) ouseas aquick eferenceuringhereview.Costello alledon

various tudentswhowere asked o reada research utlinequestion ndsupplywhat heyhadwritten.Occasionally, ostellowouldaskstudentso use their ext-books oprovide vidence ndproofofparticularlaims heyweremakingnre-

sponse o outlinetems.Here s anexample f thedialogue:

Student:[reading tem9] "Compare ative Americawomen's obs with

women'swork oday." responding]ook,do thelaundry,omegotowork,bothdo childcare.

Costello:Anyothers?Student:Gogetgroceries.Student:Childcare,cook,makeclothing.Student: Sew andwashdishes.

Costello: How dothe obs compare?Student:Bothcook, bothdo childcare.Student:Both akecareof thefamily.Student:Bothsew.

Costello: DoIndianwomenwashclothes?Didthey?Students:[several]Yes.Costello: Canyouprovet?Showme.Inscience,fyouhavean dea,youhave

toprove tand nhistoryoyouhave oprove t too.Inourbook, tdoesn't ay.Youwouldhave o find t in another ook oget proof.

Didanyonedo that? silence)Costello: [readinghenext tem]"ComparendevaluateheNativeAmerican

food o thefour oodgroups."responding] as here nythingmiss-

ingfrom heNativeAmerican iet?Whatdidtheyeatmost?Student:Meat.









Student: Vegetables.Costello: How aboutbreadand

grain?Corn s a

grain; heyalso ate rice. What

aboutdairy?Theyhad none.Theyusedbeargreasefor fat.

Costello hadstudentsuse theremainingclass time to begin workon a homework

assignment. twas calledaResearchPage andwas to assiststudents n selectinga

tribeaboutwhichtheywould write theirstory.The sheet containedninequestionsthataskedforbasic information bout he tribe tself.Thelastitemaskedstudents o

drawa pictureof a person n thetribein theirNativeAmericanregalia.Manystu-

dentsbeganwith this last item.

Lesson 10. Studentsengaged ntheactivityof replicatingNativewampum,aformof currencyusedby Tidewater ribes.Costellobeganby explaining he vari-

ety of ways wampumwas used as a vehicle forexchange.She describedhow she

originallyhadmany questionsaboutwampumand consulteddifferentbooks as a

formofresearch oanswerherquestions.Shesaid shephotocopiedaseriesofpagesso she couldhandthemoutinclass. Studentswere to usethemasguidesforcreatingtheirwampum acsimiles. Students ook turnsreadingaboutwampum n thephoto-

copies Costello hadpassedout. Thentheyembarked nusingthe rest of class timeto make their own versions. Costello ended class by remindingthem that theywould be finishinguptheirNativeAmericanstoriesduring anguageartsover the

next severaldays andbegin presentations n the nextFriday.

Lessons 11 through 12. As a cullminatingactivity, students took turns

comingtothe frontof classandreading heirstoriesto the class. Some storieswere

quite short,numberingonly a handfulof sentences,whereas otherswere long,

spanningseveral double-spacedpages. Many beganwith a phrasesuch as, "Myname is SilverMoon, andI'd like to tell you a little aboutmyself. I am a youngPatuxent ndiangirl."Costellomoderated he event from hebackofthe room,nod-

ding approvingly o each studentas he or she read.After studentshadfinishedin

Lesson 12,Costello collected theirstories.These,she latersaid,servedas theunit

assessmenttool and were graded.

Comparisons

Derson andCostellowere comparablen manyways. Both were veteran eachers

who lovedhistory,enjoyedreading tandteaching heirstudentsabout t,andwere

concernedabout he factualaccuracyof historicalaccounts.Theyshared hegoalof

teachingstudents o appreciatehecustoms, anguage, ood,clothing,andtechnol-









ogiesofTidewaterativeAmericanribes.Theyalsosharednthepedagogicalp-

proach fusingresearchs

awayof

interestingheir tudents bout he

pastandasa

methodorchallenginghem olearn.Bothstressedatheringacts-occasionallynotingkey concepts-andhaving tudents evelopheirownaccounts fthepast,butneithermademuchdirectmention fbackgroundoncepts rtaughttrategiesfordealingwith hemother hanhow ousetextaids tables fcontents,ndexes)olocate nformation. ach eftstudentsntheirownwhendealingwithconflictingsources ndudginghenature fevidencewithregardo itsvalidity nd eliabilityas aknowledgelaim.

Despite imilarities,he teachers id differ nimportant ays.Derson ried o

place equalemphasis nlearningactsandconcepts ndbecoming neffectiveandstrategicesearcherasdefinednlanguage rts-readingerms),while inte-

gratinghe woasoftenandasexplicitly spossible.Costello, ycontrast, as ess

apt ostress trategic-knowledgeoals,placingmoreof heremphasisnlearningaboutandappreciatinghenature f Tidewater ativeAmerican ultures.n sev-eralways, theirdefinitions f researchwere different:Dersonmoreactivelystressedtsproceduralndrigorous ature ndsometimes oted tsproblematicaspects,whereasCostello iewed t moregenerallys apedagogicaltrategy, e-

signedto keepstudentsnterestedn getting he factsand detailsaboutNative

American roupsandsometimes ssemblinghemaround oncepts elevant oNativeAmericanulture.Thesedifferenceslayedoutin theclassroomn fairlyobviouswaysand n moresubtleones relative ohowstudentseportedmakingsenseof whatoccurrednclass.

StudentResponses to LearningOpportunities

Foreground oncepts. As thedata n Table5 indicate, nforegroundon-

ceptual nowledge f NativeAmericanribesnMaryland,hetwogroups fstu-dentswere airly venlymatched. pproximately0%of thestudentesponsesneachclassweredescriptivennature,ndicatinghat tudents oulddentify eyel-ements f Tidewaterativeculturend,npart,alkabouthemnconceptuallus-ters without sing heconceptshemselves irectly).Another 0% r soofthe12students'esponseseflected more acileuseof theterminology,oting ighterconnectionsetween actsanddetailsandarranginghem ntoconceptualtruc-tures.Therelativelymallnumber f facileresponseswas notsurprisingecauseboth eachersended ofocusmoreof theirpedagogicalttentionndirectingtu-

dents ogetthefactsanddetailsabouthetribes ia theresearchrocess e.g.,theresearchacketoroutlinequestionsachused)andonlyoccasionallytressed yname heconceptualdeas hat hesedetails onverge round.However, asonnDerson'sclass andJohnandJoelin Costello's lassfrequentlyesponded ith

quitedetailedunderstandingsf the concepts dentified,using language hat








TABLE5

Foreground Concepts: Protocol Responses by Student, Class, and Type of Res

Derson's Studentsa Totals C

Concepts Andy Jason Karen Stella Steve Terri F D N A Zani Gina

Tidewaternativeculture

Nationsystems D F

Language ystems A F

Hunting-gathering D F

Transportationystem A D

Divisionof labor N D

Tools-technology D F

Money-exchange A A

Religion A A

Fate of nativeculture

Religiousconversion A F

Americanization D A

Reservations A N

Decimation D D

Cause-effectrelations N D

Totals

Percentages

D D D D 1 5 0 0 D A

A D N A 1 1 1 3 A A

N D D F 2 3 1 0 N D

D A A D 0 3 0 3 A D

D N D D 0 4 2 0 A D

D D D F 2 4 0 0 D DD A A A 0 1 0 5 A A

F A D D 1 2 0 3 D D

A A A D 1 1 0 4 A A

A N D A 0 2 1 3 A D

A N A N 0 0 3 3 D F

D A D A 0 4 2 0 A A

N N N N 0 1 5 0 N N

8 31 15 24

10 40 19 31

Note. Typesof responseknowledge:F = facile; D = descriptive;N = nascent;A = absent.

an= 6. bn= 6.









showedconsiderable acilitywith theconceptual erraindealt with in the unit. For

example,in

describinghe structure f TidewaterNative Americantribal

groups,Jason stated:

[I learned]what kind and how manytribes therewere in Maryland.There

were actuallynations thatwere madeup of different ribeslike [those]that

belongedto the Piscataway,which were partof theAlgonquinnation.And

thereweredifferent anguages .. that f onepersonfromtheIroquoisnation

tried o talkto [an]Algonquin, hey probably ouldn'tunderstand ach other.

Roughly50% of the students'responses n eachclass represented ithera nascentidea of theconcepts nquestion,or little orno ideaat all. Thismaysuggestthateach

teacherwas only partiallysuccessfulin teaching foreground oncepts, likely a re-

sult of theirtendencyto focus studentattentionon gathering acts.However, an-

otherway to understand his is by examiningwhat studentschoseto focus theirat-

tention on in responseto the openendedprotocolquestions.Forexample,in both

classes therewere anumberof studentswho didnot mentionor discussroughlyhalf

ofthe concepts(Andyand Stella n Derson's class andZaniand Shana nCostello's

class).However,with theexceptionof money-exchangeandreligiousconversion,

talk thatneglected key conceptstended o be scatteredacrossthe 13concepts,pos-sibilityreflecting responsechoices rather han lackof knowledge.

Background concepts. A similar,evenly-matched esult turnedup in stu-

dents'responses o questions hataskedabout heirknowledgeof background on-

cepts (see Table6). However,the responsesherewere qualitativelydifferent han

those withrespect o foreground oncepts.Fifty-threepercentofDerson's students

and43%of Costello'shadonlyanemergingor nascentsense of conceptssuch as in-

terpretation, alidity,reliability,and evidence sources.Thirtypercentof Derson's

studentsand39%of Costello's studentshad little or no languageto discuss thesebackground oncepts n response o thequestions.Over 80%of the six students n

each classhad eitherno discourseavailable o discusstheconceptsor hadonlya na-

scentsense of them.Thiscontrasted irectlywithstudents' alkandunderstandingf

foreground oncepts, n whichgreaterhan60%of the studentsnboth classeshad a

nascent,descriptive,or facile sense aboutthemajorityof the 13 conceptsstudied.

Therewere no studentswho discussedbackgroundoncepts n any way resemblingfacilediscourse.Also, only 17%of Derson'sstudentsand18%of Costello's talked

aboutthebackground onceptsdescriptively,demonstrating nowledgeof key de-

tails embedded ntheconcepts.Most ofthe descriptivediscoursearose nconnectionwith the way studentsdiscussedsources of evidence, such as differentgenres of

text-fiction, nonfiction,encyclopedias,CD-ROMs-used to locateinformation n

topics theywereresearching,omethingnotedoften nclassbyboth eachers,but es-

pecially by Derson.








TABLE6

Background Concepts: Protocol Responses by Student, Class, and Type of Re

Derson's Studentsa Totals C

Concepts Andy Jason Karen Stella Steve Terri F D N A Zani Gina

InitialProtocol

Interpretation N N A A N D 0 1 3 2 N N

Validityandreliability N N N A N N 0 0 5 1 N A

Sources of evidence N D D D N D 0 4 2 0 D DSubtotals 0 5 10 3

Year-endprotocol

Validity/Reliability A A A N N N 0 0 3 3 A _-C

Evidenceuse A A A N N N 0 0 3 3 A -c

Subtotals 0 0 6 6

Totals 0 5 16 9

Percentages 0 17 53 30

Note. Typesof response knowledge:F = facile; D = descriptive;N = nascent;A = absent.

"n= 6. bn= 6. cGinamoved away midyear,reducingthe informants o five for theyear-endprotocol.









Although oth eachers oted hat heycontinuedo doresearch rojectswith

theirstudentsollowing

he NativeAmericannit,

studentshowednogain

in

theirknowledgef thesebackgroundoncepts crossheyearasindicatedytheir

responsesoquestionsttheendoftheNativeAmericansnitandattheendoftheschoolyear. nfact, he evel of discourse s measuredytheresponse ategoriesindicatedhat tudentsostsomeof their enseof,and anguage bout,hesecon-

ceptsastheyearprogressed.hese esultshould otbe consideredspeciallyur-

prising.Duringhe NativeAmerican nit,neither eacherpentmuchclassroomtimediscussing ackgroundoncepts irectly, revenalludedothemmuchndi-

rectly,with the exceptionof Derson's essonon "Howdo we know whatwe

know?" ndCostello's equesthat tudents btain roof or heir esponsesotheresearch utlinequestions.Thissuggests hatbothteachers ontinuedo followthispatternf deemphasizingrignoring ackgroundonceptsmost ikely nfa-

vorof continuedtressonforegroundoncepts ndcollectingnformation,bjec-tiveshighlightednthedistrict urriculum.

Strategicknowledge. Derson's mphasis nteaching trategiesordoingresearch asmostevidentnresponsestudentsegisteredoncerningheirunder-

standingf researchrocedures.ere,Derson'stress nbecomingneffective e-searcherlayed ut nthedifferences etween erstudents'esponsesnd hoseofCostello's.Asthedata nTable indicate,0%of Derson's tudentsatboth nter-viewpoints) oulddescriben detail number fresearchtrategies,rwere acilewith hatdiscourse,rboth,particularlyhen tcame otalkabout sing extaids,

something erson epeatedlytressed.Only25%of Costello's tudentsellwithinthedescriptive-facileesponse ange.UnlikeDerson,Costello ontinuedostresscultural ppreciationndgathering nowledge bout pecificevents ntheclass-room.Employingesearchtrategiess awayforherstudentsogainknowledge

about, ndearn ppreciation,orNativeAmericanultureemainedpedagogicalapproachatherhananend nitself.

It is worthnoting hatmanyof thenascentdeasor absent esponsesecorded

bybothDerson'sandCostello's tudents ccurredn relationoa question skedin bothprotocols,hatdealingwith howto handle onflicting vidence.Appar-ently, xperiencescrossheyearwithresearch orkdid ittle oprovidetrategiesstudents ouldarticulaten dealingwithconflictingources.NeitherDersonorCostello ppearedoprovideheir tudents ithproceduresorconfrontingnd e-

solving heseconflicts.Nevertheless,ason n Derson's lass(atboth nterview

points) ndJohn nCostello's lass inonly he nitialnterview)idnote hat heywouldcontinueoconsult dditionalources f informationnaneffort o resolvetheirdifficultieswithconflictsalludingoa formoftext"corroboration"ngagedin by historians s theybuildhistorical ituationmodels;see Wineburg, 991,1994).However,whenwe asked hem oexplainhowtheywouldeventually e-








TABLE7

Strategic Knowledge: Protocol Responses by Student, Class, and Type of Res

Derson's Students Totals

Strategies Andy Jason Karen Stella Steve Terri F D N A Zani Gina

Initialprotocol

Locatingevidence

Using text aids

Using evidenceto

constructexplanations

Dealingwith

conflictingevidenceSubtotals

Year-endprotocol

Locatingevidence

Usingtext aids

Usingevidenceto

constructexplanations

Dealingwith

conflictingevidence

Subtotals

Totals

Percentages

N

F

N

D

F

N

D

D

A

N

D

A

N

F

A

D 0 33 0 N

F 4 20 0 N

D 0 1 2 3 A

D

F

N

N D N N N A 0 1 4 1 N N

4 7 9 4

N

F

N

D

A

N

N

N

N

N

F

N

D

F

N

D 0 3 3 0 N -

D 3 1 1 1 A -C

N 0 0 6 0 A -

N D A N N N 0 1 4 1 N _-C

3 5 14 2

7 12 23 6

15 25 48 12

an= 6. bn= 6. cGina eft midyear,reducingthe informants o five.









cide on what to includein theirreports,both seemed somewhat unsureandsaid

thingssuch

as, "Well,I would

justchoose one"without

beingableto

explainhow

they would make theirselections.

Otherstudents n bothclasses, whentheywere pressedto talk abouthow theywould decide, occasionallysaid thatthey would simply"choose the one that had

more information,"withoutelaboratingon how this would resolve the conflict.

This information-quantity riterion also was frequently invoked by the fifth

graders n the VanSledrightand Kelly (1998) study. Consistentwith the teach-

ers' pedagogical decisions and school district curriculumguides, studentsap-

pearedto place considerableemphasison obtaining nformationandignoringor

using the quantitycriterion o choose theirway aroundconflictingsourceswith-out actuallyaddressingthe matter.This left them without a strategyfor resolv-

ing evidence conflicts when informationquantitywas relatively equal amongsources.

Attitudes, interests, and views on purposes. In the first protocol, we

queriedstudentsabouttheirviews of the importance f doingresearch, tspurpose

bytheir ights,andwhattheyfoundmostinterestingntheirstudyofNative Ameri-

cans. Wereturnedo severalof these themes(purposes, mportance)ntheyear-endinterviewprotocolandalso addedquestionsaboutwhetheror notthey enjoyeddo-

ingsocial-studiesresearchandhowtheyviewed themselvesas researcherssee Ta-

ble 4 for the questions).Generally,we were interested n augmenting he concep-tualandstrategicdataandingettinga sense of possiblechanges nattitudesneach

class because bothteacherscontinued o ask themto do research n social studies

across the year.

Purposes. Regarding purposes for doing research, students in Derson'sclass saidthe following.

Andy: It couldbe good foryourlearningskills. Probably t would improve

you. Well, probably every time you do researchyou would learn

more.

Jason: To find outmore. It's either hatwe are nterested,or we have to learn

about hem ... becauseyou couldbebeingforcedto learnabout hem

andyoumightnotwantto,butif you are nterestedyou are ust doing

it for fun.It's notbecauseyourteachersays, "Iwantyou to researchthisthingaboutEast CoastIndians."Forme, it was a littlebitofboth.

I wasn't always the happiestdoing it.

Stella: Theremightcome a time whenyou would havewished thatyou had

learnedabout them. Well, sometimes if you are doing stuff about









them nadifferentgrade,youprobablywantto know a little bit about

theminsteadofnothing.Steve: So you know moreaboutwhathappeneda long timeago.

Terri: I think tis to learnmoreabout hat opic,sothatyouwill know it when

you aregrown, n caseyou havekids andtheyaskyou about[it].

LearningmoreaboutNativeAmericans,gainingknowledge,seemedtobe thecon-

sensusamongDerson's studentsas thepurposeof engagingin research.Jasonap-

peared to be somewhat disaffectedby doing research.Later,we were told byDersonthatJasonwas oftenmoreinterested n being given correctanswersrather

thandiggingabout orinformation imself andmakinghis ownjudgments.Terri'sresponsewas poignant:"More information o be used to answeryour own chil-

dren'squestions ater n life."Interestingly, tthepointof the firstinterview,none

of the studentsmentionedbecomingmore effective researchers r informationo-

cators as a principalgoal, despiteits importance o Derson.

Costello's studentsalso indicated hatthe purposeof the researchwas to helpobtain more informationand gain a degree of understandingrom it. However,

they addedadditionalpurposesnot indicatedby Derson's students.

Zani: I don't know. I think that it's because, if you have a paperandtheteachersays, like she gives us a test andgives a paperandyou onlyhaveonethingdown;youwon'tknow it soyouhave toputas muchas

you can.

Gina: To learnmore aboutNativeAmericans hanwe knowrightnow. For

instance,Iknow thatIndianswerethe firstpeoplein America.MaybeIdidn'tknow thatIndiansputondeerskin o huntandI learned hat n

theresearch,and I can say, "Oh,that s interesting." actually earn

more.

Joel: So you canunderstandomethingbetterandlearnabout t.John: Thepointis to learnstuff andhave fun. That's about t.

Mack: Maybethe teacherwantsus to knowstuffso we canteach ourkidsto

do it.

Zanithought hatdoingresearchwas a methodone used to prepare ora test,and

Johnaddedthat it might increase the level of fun he was having as he learned.

Mack'sresponsewas very similarto Terri's.

Importance. Initially, all the studentsin both classes, except Jason from

Derson'sclass,thought hat earninghow todo researchwas important. ason,still

thepessimist,said,"Idon'tsee what's thebiggee aboutresearchingNativeAmeri-

cans. I don't see what's so greataboutthem butwe learneda lot aboutthem."For









theremaining tudents,differencesdidemergewhenstudentswere askedwhy theyfound

doingresearch

mportant.Responsesfrom Derson's students ncludedthe

following.

Andy: It could be good foryour learningskills.

Stella: Because theremightcome a time whenyou would havewished that

you hadlearnedaboutthem.Well, sometimesif you aredoing stuff

about hemina differentgrade,you probablywantto knowa littlebit

about them instead of nothing.Steve: Yes, so you can findoutwhathappeneda longtimeago aroundhere.

Youmightfindoutsomething hat s kindof interestinghatwe mightuse today.

Responses fromCostello's students ncluded he following.

Zani: Because as soon as you get older and olderandolder,maybewhen

you arein college, they mighthave a test on Native Americans...

Gina: I think t is importanto learn hehistoryof Maryland o see what the

pastin Marylandwas like. I'm the kindof personwho likes to know

more about one thinginsteadof just thepresent.I want to knowthepast.

Shana: Yes. Soyouwould know howtheylivedbackthenand f somepeopledidn'tcomeandgive themdiseases,howyouwouldlive rightnow. If

the settlers didn't come then andthey stayedwherethey were, theywouldprobablystill be more Native Americanshererightnow.

Joel: Yes, so you can learn abouthow Marylandbecame a state and what

they did before there was cars and how they survived.

The culturalappreciationheme was evident in several students'responses nbothclassesbut was morepronouncedand embedded ntheresponsesof Costello's stu-

dents.Andywas theonlystudent o stress heimportance f gainingresearch kills,

perhapsreflectingDerson's emphasison strategicresearchknowledgeas impor-tant nitself. Zanicontinued o seeresearchas a formof gainingknowledge nprep-aration or a test. Shana'sreactionarguablywas one of the moresophisticatedre-

sponses,withreferences otheconceptual andscapeofunderstanding ause-effect

relations nhistory.Thiswasunusualbecause Costellodidverylittle to stressthese

sorts of understandings.

Purpose and importance of doing research at year's end. At the end

of the year,Derson's students,moreso thanCostello's, had a tendencyto refer to

the importanceof gainingknowledgeaboutresearchprocedures, uchas locating









and gathering nformation, akingnotes, and constructingwrittenreports.Andymentioned hatthe

purposeor

doingresearchwas to learnhow to

getinformation

frombooks andwritereportsabout t.Jason ndicated hat thelpedhim"becomea

betterreaderandresearcher."Karensaid,"To learnhow to lookthingsup, findin-

formation .. howtoread, ikeImean,getbetter kills inreading."StevesuggestedthatDersonhadtaught hemhow todigformore andbetter nformation,o go intoa

topicmoredeeplythansimplyreading t out of the textbook.He thought hatthis

pushedhim closer to gettingat the truth,what he called "thereal stuff."

None of Costello's studentssaidanythingaboutlearninghow to researchand

exercise thosesorts of skillsexceptShana.Zaniwas not surewhatthepurposewas

or how itwas important. oel tied thepurposeof learning o doresearch o gettingajob withoutelaboratingmuchexceptto mention t in relation obecominga geolo-

gist. In a ratherpenetratinganalysis,Johnsuggestedthatit helpedhim to under-

stand hepastinawaythatallowedhimtomakebettersense outof his currentife.

He said,"It s like it showswhy you are thisnow, likewhy you do this.Whathap-

penedinthepastaffectsyou today." Foramore detailedanalysisof thesetypesof

rationales,see Steams, 1998;VanSledright,1997.) Mackthoughtthepurposeof

doing researchwas to get studentsto learnsomethingwell the first time so that

theywouldnot have "to learn t againandagain."Mack also addedthat whatone

learnedfrom doing researchcould be used to help his own children,a purposecitedby TerriandMackhimself in the earlier nterviews.

The responsesby students n both classes tended to be more elaborate n the

year-end nterviews.Derson's students endedto reflecther stresson developingandhoningtheirresearch kills. Costello'sstudentsweremoreaptto registerava-

rietyof responses,manyof whichtheyclaimedweredevelopedontheirownwith-

out reference to anything Costello had done. Only Shana said much about

obtaining mprovedresearchknowledge.

Attitudes about doing research at year's end. In theyear-end nterviews,

fourofDerson's six students Andy,Steve,Terri,andStella)reportedhat heyliked

doing research n social studies. These four concurred hat it was because they

thought hatDersonhad madeit fun and nteresting ndthat heyenjoyed hetopicsthatshehelped hemselect. Jasonreiteratedhatheactuallydidnot caremuchforso-

cial-studies esearchbecausehe lacked nterestnthetopics.Karenwas ambivalent.

Shesaid,"sometimes, like it. Iwasjuststuckat first.I didn'treallycareforit then,

but whenwe startedt, we learnedmorethingsabout t, thenI liked it."

Costello's five students Ginahadmovedaway)all indicated hat heylikeddo-ing research in social studies. Zani, Shana, and Joel enjoyed it because they

thought t was fun. Like Karen n Derson'sclass, Mackwas ambivalent, hinking

that,whereas he likeddoing historyresearch,he was not very good at it. He also

thought hathisexperiencewithit in fourthgradehelpedhim to improve.John, ni-









tiallypositiveaboutt, said hathedidworryaboutgetting"untrue"nformationand hathefeltunsure boutwhathe coulddoto resolve t.Inaratherncisiveanal-

ysis,hesaidat onepoint:

I likelearning ew stuffbutI don't ikefindingt, looking or t.Well, t is

pretty eathow, n thepast, herewereallthesewarsandyouwishyoucouldhavebeen neveryoneofthem-you could eealltheanimals,he andscape,likeeverything,utyoucan'tdo hatanymore. oucanonlyread boutt anditmightnot be true.Becausepeopleback here, heyonlyhadnoteswherenotescouldbelying.From ikethepeoplewhowereback hen, heykepton

passingdownnotesormaybe dairy, nd heykeptonpassinghemdown otheir hildrennd tfinallygotto thisauthor ndhe didabook,but hediarymightnotbe true.WhatamI supposedo dowith hat?

John'sworrys the sameonefacinghistorians ndothernquirersntothepast,aconcern eggedbytheprocess f doinghistorical esearchngeneral ndonenotaddressedystematicallyyeither eacher.ohnwas heonlystudentoarticulatet

clearly, lthoughason romDerson's lasshinted tit severalimes.

Viewofselfas researcher tyear'send. Generallypeaking, erson'sstudentseportedelieving heyhadbecomemoreeffectiveas researcherscrosstheyear.Several eportedaining onsiderableenefits nderDerson'sutelage,tribute o herconcerted fforts.Here s asample f herstudents'esponses:

Andy: Igotkindof better t t. Iaskedmorenterestinguestions.thinkmyreports rea littlebitbetter oo.

Karen: I thinkhat learned lot.Likeat hebeginningftheyear wasn't e-

allysurehow o lookupthings. twasmoredifficult tthebeginningof theyearandnow t isreally asy,because had o writenotes,anIhad o lookup things,ike ookingntheindex, ookingosee whatkindof stuffwasinthebook.

Steve: I think amamuchbetter esearcherhan wasbefore.Because t he

beginningf theyear twould akemealong ime ofindwhat nfor-mation am ookingorbutnowIcanfind treal astand henwritedownwhat s importantndwhat s not.

Terri: I think 'ma littlebetterbecause .. shetaught s how to research

stuff, ikeshe aught s how otakenotesand o writedownwherewegotthem ncaseweneeded o lookback ormore.

Costello's tudents lsoreportedhinkinghat heyweregoodresearchers.ow-

ever,unlikeDerson's tudents,heydidnotattributenysuccesseso Costello er-









self.BecauseCostellousedresearch ctivities sapedagogicalpproachnddidnotstress tsbenefits r

procedurespecificallyrregularly,

tudents' iewsproba-bly aremoreattributableo theirown experientialnddevelopmentalrowth

across heschoolyear.Hereareseveral esponsesromCostello's tudents:

Shana:Well, amapretty oodresearcher. hen ouare esearchinghings,youcan'tcopyexactlydownwhatyousaw.Youhave o takeout hemost mportanthingsand henrewritet inyourownwords.

Joel: Ithink ampretty oodbecause knowwhere o lookupstuffand v-

erything.know heencyclopediasndeverythingnd heyalways

havestuffabout tuffI'mlookingup.I'mgoodat likewriting ro-jectsabout tuff-like stories. 'magoodreaderoo.

John: Ithink ampretty ood.Well,even houghMs. Costelloellsyoutolookupstuff, goahead nddo t and find herighthing. don'task

anyoneo do it forme,butI askpeople ohelpme.AndI mixstuffaround.Like ... whenthePilgrimscameover, if you took andcom-

pared tuff rom hepast onow,you'dknowhow twouldbe.

Mack: Um,I'mgoodatlookingupthingsandputtinghemonpaper. am

notgoodatmakingt intoaprojectikethat; can'tput t together

verywell.

Zaniwas heonlystudentrom ither lasswhosaid hat hewasapoor esearcher.Shedescribederself s"terrible,"ecause,hesaid, he"messedhewhole hingup,"andwasunableopull nformationogetherntoa coherenteport rstory. nthewakeof hercomments, e reexaminedhestoryZaniwrote orCostello s the

culminatingctivityor heNativeAmericannitand oundttobe as coherentndwellwritten smostof theother ourth raders'tories.n his ight, t isdifficultomake enseof herself-assessment.

Overall,heself-assessmentsfDerson'sstudentswere mbuedwithagreatersenseofconfidencehan hoseofCostello's, resulthoped orbyDersonhroughherefforts tdevelopingtrategicourth rade esearchnthusiasts. owever,tis

importantonote hatmostof Costello's tudents lsodisplayed degree f confi-dence nthemselves orne utbyresearchxperiencetself.A few students crossbothclassesdidcontinue o evince omeself-doubte.g.,Zani)or toquestionhe

efficacyof doingresearche.g.,Jason, ohn).

DISCUSSION

Theresults uggesthat hedifferencesetweenheclassrooms ithrespecto the

ways heteachersaughtheunitswereratherizable ndapparent,consequenceofthedifferencesnthe eachers' oalstructuresndemphases.However,hedif-









ferenceseportedythesix studentsrom achclassroomegardingoncept evel-

opment, trategic nowledge ain,andattitudinal

rowthweremoresubtle.This

suggestshatDerson's pproach as somewhatuccessfulnhelping tudents e-

velop nitialknowledgefa numberfanthropologicallyased oregroundistori-calconcepts, ain trategic nowledgebout esearchractices,nd eeresearcht-self and hemselves sresearchersnapositive ight.Derson's ttemptsointegratelanguage rts-strategiesndreading racticeswith hestudyofhistory aid airlygooddividends.However,heresultsalsoindicate hat heteaching racticesnCostello's lassroomromotedomegains nconceptualnd trategicnowledgeand nattitudes bout esearch.

Having aid his, t is importantoobservehat tudentsnbothclassesobtainedlittle n thewayofinitialunderstandingsfbackgroundoncepts, ndparticularly,about trategiesordealingwithsomeof themwhen heyarose.This s ironicbe-causeDersonmentionedt onepoint hatherstudentswereaskingherhow tore-solve discrepanciesn the datatheywereresearchingndcollecting see hercommentarlier),ndJohn,romCostello'slass,was roubledbyavingoengagein aresearchrocesswherein e lacked ffective trategiesorunderstandinghattodowhenhe couldnot rust issources. ohn's esolution: ave omeoneustgivehimthe facts.This s hardly sought-afterolutionnthecontext f activities e-

signed-at leastimplicitly-to give studentsmoreresponsibilityor theirownlearning ndstimulateheir esearchnterests ndoverall eadingngagement.

Although arton1996, 1997) eportedhat oung tudentsestudiedn north-ernKentuckyendedo oversimplify ackgroundoncepts uchas evidenceand

knowledgelaimsnhistory,hismaybea function f whatandhowstudents ere

taught.twouldappearhat,fyoung tudents reasked oengagena formofhis-torical esearch,hen twouldbenefit hem odevelopwaysof thinkingarefullyabout henature fevidence,vidence-useules, eliabilityndvalidity fsources,and trategiese.g.,howto readexts,assess ources,udgebias).Suchknowledge

couldhelp hemunderstandndperhapsesolve he ssues hat hesebackgroundconcepts nd heactofresearchingaise.This dea s tightlybound p n Bruner's

(1960)notionof teachingubjectmatternintellectuallyonestways.Intheir tudyof fifthgraders, anSledrightndKelly 1998) oundhat everal

of themoreablereaderswerecapable f assessingbias nhistoryextsandwere

beginningo build"situation odels" ogauge herelative rustworthinessf two

conflicting ccounts f the BostonMassacre. ecausehistorical ataareso slip-pery, ragmented,ndoftenelusive, ituationmodelsareuseful ools nquirersan

deploywhen heyconsultavariety f sourcesntheir esearch ork.Skilledhis-

torical nquirers ften use the disparatenformationheycollect aboutpeople,events,andchoicesmade o construct ifferent ossiblementalmodelsof how

thingscouldhavehappened istorically.With a healthydegreeof skepticism,theseresearchersssess hesources neagainst nothernan effort ohone heirmodels.Theyalso work rompriorknowledge f thequality f differentypesof









sources,henature fauthors'rames freference,nd he rustworthinessf theirclaims

Wineburg,991).Now fourthgraders renot fifthgraders, ndtheydo notpossessthepriorknowledge f theexperts.However,t doesmake ense o borrowromwhatweknowof theexpertiseoassistyoungearnersnmovingromnovitiateothought-fuland killed, speciallyf theseyoung earners rebeingasked oengagenac-tivities hat equire eveloping onceptualnd trategicnowledge. hisdoesnotmean hatwewould xpect ourth-gradeesearchersodisplayullresearchxper-tise at theendof fourth rade.Rather,hese tudents ould eceivenitial pportu-nities o meet heseconcepts ndstrategiesnd earnhowtheymightwork,nthe

context f theirourth-gradeesearchractice. fterall,asDerson ndJohnnoted,the issues hatgiverise to theconcepts ndstrategieslready representn,and

pressing n,their eaching-learningnvironments.Itisencouraginghat ome ifthgradersohaveanemergingenseof situation

modeling,uthorias,and trategiesorworkingwith hemVanSledrightKelly,1998).Apparentlyuch orms fcognition renotnecessarilyeyondhereach f

fifthgraders. herefore,t would eem hat ourthradersmight rofitablye ntro-

duced o theseconcepts ndstrategiess well. As apotentialesult, tudentsike

Johnmightbe lessquick o fretaboutwhat odo withsources hat heyareunsure

about ow otrust, referringnsteadobespooned he acts,and elinquishinghethinhold heyhaveon theresponsibilityheyexercise ortheirown earning.

Onewayto assiststudents uchas Johnand he ones towhichDerson eferswouldbe to constructessons around xplicitlyconflicting istorical ccounts

(e.g.,atextbookxposition nda historicalictionnarrativereatmentn,forex-

ample, neventcovered n a unit obestudied). hesemightbe read arefully ystudents,erhaps rallynturns.The eacher ould acilitate conversationboutthenature f thetextual onflicts, sking tudentso describewhichaccountheythoughtwasmore rustworthyndwhy.This, nturn,wouldopenadoorwaynto

a variety f backgroundoncepts, ffectivelybringinghem ntotheeducationalforeground.hequestionouldbeposed:So whatdo wedo with hissortofthingifwe encountertin ourresearchctivities? heclasscould ake imeandexplorepossible trategiess solutions.Talkcould urn oconstructingituationmodels,

trying o imaginehowthe details ittogethernthe contextof thepast.Abstract

conceptualerminologysed nprofessionalistoricalirclesneednotevenbe de-

scribed nddefined,butthe ideasand ssuesaroundwhich heycohere ouldbe

thesubstance f whatstudentsearned.These ypesof lessonsmightbe strategi-

callyplacedacross he schoolyear n social-studies nits n whichstudentswere

asked o do historical esearch.Armedwithdeeper,morerobust onceptualndstrategicunderstandings,tudents-evenyoungones we wouldthink-could

learn o become venmoreengaged eadersndeffectiveandseasonedesearch-

ers and hinkers s a result.









However, there is a rub.Elementary chool teachersarethoughtto be subjectmatter

generalists.As

such,manyoften

possess relativelythin

understandingsf

the disciplinary knowledge they are called on to teach. Neither Derson nor

Costelloarticulated he sort of depthof conceptualandstrategicknowledgeneces-

saryto offer theirstudents heintellectuallyhonest versionof historicalstudythat

Bruner (1960) described and that is suggested in the foregoing discussion.

Teachinga subjectmattersuch as history,with its rich,deep,and fluidconceptualandsyntacticalstructures, laces significantknowledgedemandsonteachers,par-ticularelementary eacherswho are introducing he subjectto novices who mayneed special assistancemakingsense of it. Add to that the emerging practiceof

weddingseveralaspectsof the curriculumogether ntoanintegrativewhole, andthe knowledgedemandson teachersonly increase.

Currently,most elementary eachersare asked to takeonly a smatteringof dis-

ciplinarybackground oursesaspreparationo teachthem.By most state icensure

provisions,elementary eacherscancompletean academicmajor n education,be-

cominglicensedteacherswithoutattaining he equivalenceof amajor n anysub-

ject theymight actually each(unless,perhaps,one thinksof"reading"asa subject

matter).Becausemoststates' certification equirements llow for thispractice,el-

ementary eachersaretypicallyundeipreparedo teachsuchsubjectsasmathemat-

ics, naturalscience, and historyand social studies. As a result,they are seldomfullyequipped o providetheirstudentswithmuchmore thana lighttreatment f a

subjectsuch as history.To theircredit,DersonandCostello offered more. How-

ever, they areveteranteacherswho haveyearsof teaching experience.Yet, their

studentsstill did not develop much richknowledge of key backgroundconceptsbecause both teachers created few explicit classroom opportunities or dealingwith them.Add to this thecomplexityof teachingsuchconceptsin the contextof

the typicallytruncated ime framesteachersreportenduringwhen it comes to the

historyandsocial-studiescurriculum, ndyouhavearecipeforsuperficialknowl-

edge development.If young studentsare to develop deeperunderstandings f the disciplinesthey

studyas preparationormorecomplex efforts lateron, they will need opportuni-ties to explore the full rangeof conceptualand strategic andscapes n historical

study.This will place increasingsubjectmatterknowledgedemandson elemen-

taryteachers,who will be pressedto become much moreknowledgeable.There-

fore,teachereducationand certificationpracticesalongwithongoing professional

developmentprogramswill need to change nways thatallow teachers o dealwith

the knowledge demands that developing those deeper understandings equire.

However,suchprograms ikely will be more ambitiousandtimeintensive andde-mandadditionalresources.At present,few policymakersappearpoised to supplythose resources,particularlyn lightof impending eachershortages.Therein ies

perhapsa moreimportant ub.









CONCLUSIONS

ThegrowthnDerson's tudents'ocial tudies oncept nowledge,nd speciallytheir trategicnowledge,uggests romiseor uture fforts obring eading,an-

guage rts, nd onceptualomainsuchashistoryogethernan ntegratedurricu-lum.Because achofthese ubjectmattersmore r essrelieson heothersoreithersubstancerprocedure,ntegratinghemmakesense.Yet,each oncept-ladenub-

jectmatteruchasbiology, arthcience,history, rgeographyas tsownuniqueand ometimesroblematiconceptualndproceduralerrain,swehave eenwith

respectohistoricalnowledgenthis tudy.Creatingducationallyobustearning

opportunitiesorchildrenhatare ntellectuallyonestBruner, 960)willrequiretakingheseunique spects ftheconcept-ladenubjectmatterseriously. ecauseoftheslipperynd ndeterminateaturefhistoricalnowledge,tsheavydepend-enceoninterpretation,nd hebackgroundonceptualssues o which heformer

giverise,areading-languagerts-historyntegration,herefore,ouldneed opro-ceeddifferentlyntheclassroomhan ne nvolving discipline itha muchighter

concept-generalization-principle-lawtructuree.g., plant cience)as the central

substantive-knowledgeomain. erhaps ostmportantly,hat re eferredohere

asbackgroundoncepts, nd heuniquetrategiesordealingwith hem nhistory,

wouldneed obeforegroundedor tudentsnorderoclaimhat he ntegrationasrepresentingnd eaching istorynanintellectuallyonestway.In thisregard,Derson's fforts, articularly,rebeginningopoint nausefuldirectionuthave

somedifficultndbumpy isciplinary,urricular,ndpedagogicalandscapeset o

traverse.heknowledgeemandshatmovingnthisdirectionmakenboth ovice

andseasonedeacherss onlythe eastof these.

ACKNOWLEDGMENTS

Thisworkwassponsoredy theNationalReadingResearchCenter,whichwasfunded ytheU.S.Departmentf Education, fficeof Educationalesearchnd

ImprovementPR/Award 17A20007). heviewsexpressedn thisarticle onot

necessarilyeflect heposition, olicy,orendorsementftheagency.We hank oth

teachersortheirlwayshelpful ndkindparticipationn heresearchprocesses,nd

wealso hankPeteree or nsightfulommentsnanearlier raft fthisarticle.

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Documents

Concept- And Strategic-Knowledge Development in Historical Study a Comparative Exploration in Two Fourth-Grade Classrooms