Decoding Primary Sources and Historical Arguments: Defining what Students Have to Do The History Learning Project Arlene Díaz, Joan Middendorf, David Pace, and Leah Shopkow History in Higher Education Conference, April 1, 2009 This project has been funded by the Teagle and Spencer Foundations, and by the Vice- Provost for Undergraduate Education, the College of Arts and Sciences, and the History Department of Indiana University

2 Step 1: Defining the Bottleneck: Primary Sources © David Pace & Joan Middendorf, 2004 What is a Bottleneck to Learning in this class? Identify a place where many students encounter obstacles (bottlenecks) is mastering the material

3 Discussion Question Define a bottleneck where your students get stuck in their learning Think and write Pair and Share

4 Step 2: Defining Expert Thinking: Primary Sources © David Pace & Joan Middendorf, 2004 How does an expert do these things? Explore in the depth the steps that an expert in the field would go through to accomplish the tasks identified as a bottleneck

5 Step 1: Defining the Bottleneck: Argument © David Pace & Joan Middendorf, 2004 What is a Bottleneck to Learning in this class? Identify a place where many students encounter obstacles (bottlenecks) in mastering the material

6 Step 1: Defining the Expert Thinking: Argument © David Pace & Joan Middendorf, 2004 How does an expert do these things? Explore in the depth the steps that an expert in the field would go through to accomplish the tasks identified as a bottleneck

7 Step 2: Defining the Expert Thinking: Argument They don’t actually make the argument. They don’t take you through the parts. They don’t show you where the evidence is. They don’t explain why they believe this to be true.

8 Step 2: Defining the Expert Thinking: Argument They don’t actually make the argument. How should they go about making an argument? They don’t take you through the parts. They don’t show you where the evidence is. They don’t explain why they believe this to be true.

9 Step 2: Defining the Expert Thinking: Argument They don’t actually make the argument. How should they go about making an argument? They don’t take you through the parts. How do they know what the parts are? They don’t show you where the evidence is. They don’t explain why they believe this to be true.

10 Step 2: Defining the Expert Thinking: Argument They don’t actually make the argument. How should they go about making an argument? They don’t take you through the parts. How do they know what the parts are? They don’t show you where the evidence is. How do they select evidence? They don’t explain why they believe this to be true

11 Step 2: Defining the Expert Thinking: Argument They don’t actually make the argument. How should they go about making an argument? They don’t take you through the parts. How do they know what the parts are? They don’t show you where the evidence is. How do they select evidence? They don’t explain why they believe this to be true. How do they make the connection between evidence and argument clear?

12 Step 2: Defining the Expert Thinking: Argument 1. What is the subject matter of the article? 2. What is the argument presented by the author or the author’s point? 3. What counter-arguments does the author acknowledge? 4. What evidence does the author use in support of his or her position?

13 Step 3: Modeling how to create arguments © David Pace & Joan Middendorf, 2004 How can these tasks be explicitly modeled? Show the students the steps that an expert would complete to accomplish these tasks.

14 Step 3: An assignment modeling how to create arguments Day 12 Web Assignment: You are writing a paper on male and female gender roles, based on the readings. Briefly state the thesis that you will defend in the paper. Make a list of three basic propositions that you need to support in order to make your interpretation credible to readers. Give one piece of evidence that supports each proposition. Explain how this evidence makes this proposition more convincing.

15 Step 4: Practice and Feedback © David Pace & Joan Middendorf, 2004 How will students practice these skills and get feedback? Construct assignments, team activities and other learning exercises that allow students to do each of the basic tasks defined above and get feedback on their mastery of that skill

16 Discussion Question Given the evidence presented here, how well are the students doing on creating an argument? How might the process be made more visible to them?

17 Step 5: Motivation © David Pace & Joan Middendorf, 2004 What will motivate the students? Consider principles of student motivation that will enhance the learning environment.

18 Step 6: Evaluation © David Pace & Joan Middendorf, 2004 How well are students mastering these learning tasks? Create forms of assessment that provide specific information about the extent of student mastery of the particular learning tasks defined in Step 2. Are there other bottlenecks?

19 Step 6: Evaluation -- Have students learned to make arguments? Student 1, Assignment 1, a class on the Holocaust “History is a which can be viewed in. For example, the underlying causes of the extermination of Jews can be viewed in. The book The Origins of Nazi Violence by Enzo Traverso approached the Holocaust in a material and ideological way…On the other hand, the book The Roots of Evil by Ervin Staub approached the Holocaust from a psychological point of view.” “History is a relative subject which can be viewed in different lights. For example, the underlying causes of the extermination of Jews can be viewed in many theoretical approaches. The book The Origins of Nazi Violence by Enzo Traverso approached the Holocaust in a material and ideological way…On the other hand, the book The Roots of Evil by Ervin Staub approached the Holocaust from a psychological point of view.”

20 Step 6: Evaluation -- Have students learned to make arguments? Student 1, Assignment 3, a class on the Holocaust “This paper seeks to discuss why much of the German population willingly conformed to extermination during World War II. Three specific aspects of this question will be analyzed: The effects of post-World War I and anti-Semitic feelings before extermination began the experience of duress felt by the German population brought on by the Nazi regime the effect the role of power has on an ordinary person. These aspects created an environment in which ordinary people could commit atrocities. Specifically,. This was a large group of ordinary Germans who were assigned to the task of killing and deporting Jews and Poles in Poland.” “This paper seeks to discuss why much of the German population willingly conformed to extermination during World War II. Three specific aspects of this question will be analyzed: 1) The effects of post-World War I and anti-Semitic feelings before extermination began 2) the experience of duress felt by the German population brought on by the Nazi regime 3) the effect the role of power has on an ordinary person. These aspects created an environment in which ordinary people could commit atrocities. Specifically, examples of ordinary people committing atrocities will be taken from Police Battalion 101. This was a large group of ordinary Germans who were assigned to the task of killing and deporting Jews and Poles in Poland.”

21 Why Bother with all of This? Develops basis for targeted evaluation of student learning Provides a map for interventions to foster student learning Provides a frame and a common language for curricular development

22 To work with this paradigm (14:30) Session 1: Using decoding to better evaluate students’ learning Session 2: Using Decoding to Develop Curricula and Departmental Response Teaching Challenges

23 Choose a topic for discussion: Strategies for using these methods for departmental change: go to the RIGHT side of room Using these methods for individual courses: move to the LEFT side of room