Using History Assessments of Thinking from Stanford History Education Group in Survey Courses

Jack Norton - Normandale Community College

I am not affiliated with, paid by, graduated from, or Facebook friends the Stanford History Education Group.

1. Welcome and Thank you!

Jack Norton – Normandale Community College – Bloomington MN

In the chat: why are you here? Be honest. Example: “I hate my current quizzes and am desparate for anything that won’t leave me drowsy or enraged.”

Welcome and Thank you!
Welcome and Thank you!

2. Normandale in the World

I’m coming to you from the anscestral lands of the Dakotah.

Normandale in the World
Normandale in the World

3. Let’s reorient history assessments

An example.

Let's reorient history assessments
Let's reorient history assessments

4. On back

Please answer the question to yourself.

On back
On back

5. Rubric- How’d you do?

Rubric- How'd you do?
Rubric- How'd you do?

6. SHEG- Stanford History Education Group

Register for free account to access materials.

SHEG- Stanford History Education Group
SHEG- Stanford History Education Group

7. History Assessments | Stanford History Education Group

Note: many more US history assessments and they heavily skew to the modern era.

History Assessments | Stanford History Education Group
History Assessments | Stanford History Education Group

8. Historical Thinking Chart

Historical Thinking Chart
Historical Thinking Chart

9. Historical Thinking Chart.pdf

“Students should be able to… ” are learning outcomes. You can use these in your History Assessments

Historical Thinking Chart.pdf
Historical Thinking Chart.pdf

10. Switching to web demo.

Switching to web demo.
Switching to web demo.

11. Examples from Normandale D2L Course

Question 8 and 5

12. Advantages of HATs

  1. Attentive to class chronology, subject, scope, and historical thinking skills.

  2. Easy to generate, assess, and explain.

  3. Provides strong diagnostic and formative assessment for you and the students.

13. Disadvantages of HATs

  1. Can be challenging to assess high-quality answers that fail to address skill.

  2. When students miss a historical thinking skill, they miss wildly, not a little.

  3. Require clear guidance for what will earn a minimum grade.

14. Process for creating a HAT

  1. Identify the historical thinking skill (historical thinking practice) you want to assess
  2. Identify a source or topic.
  3. Craft an open ended question that can be fully answered in a paragraph or less
  4. Craft a rubric that identifies Basic, Emergent, and Competent answers, focussed on demonstrating the historical thinking skill.
  5. Consider how you wish you assessment to be a part of your grading (if at all).