Critical Thinking in United States History series

by Kevin O’Reilly

The Critical Thinking Co.

History textbooks tend to be rather bland in their presentations, rarely exposing students to conflicting viewpoints or interpretations. Consequently, most students rarely are exposed to the idea that there are numerous ways to interpret historical events. Because they have not been trained to examine conflicting viewpoints, they are in a weak position when they are challenged on issues of historical interpretation, questions like “Was the American Revolution in keeping with Biblical precepts?” and “Were the southern states within their rights to secede from the Union?”

This series of four books can be used along with almost any history course to train students in critical analysis. (Along the way they will also learn a significant amount of history.) The four volumes in the series are Colonies to Constitution, New Republic to Civil War, Reconstruction to Progressivism, and Spanish-American War to Vietnam War.

Unit One of each book is dedicated to teaching critical thinking skills themselves: evaluating sources, logical fallacies, cause and effect, etc. From that point on, lessons revolve around selected topics such as “Did Pocahontas Really Rescue Captain John Smith?”, “What Caused the Salem Witch Hysteria?” and “Should the Government Role be Laissez-faire or the General Welfare State?” Students are provided with background and relevant information, quotes from mostly primary and secondary sources, maps and charts when appropriate, and worksheets.

Teachers may photocopy student pages for single classroom use so one student book will suffice for two or more students that you might be teaching. Occasional outside research might be helpful. Students can work through these lessons on their own, but some discussion time is essential. The teacher’s guides help you guide discussion, so I deem them essential.

A major concern with any critical thinking course is the author’s point of view and his even-handedness in presentation. Kevin O’Reilly, author of this series, does a fairly good job with that delicate task. He treats the Salem witch trials far more open-mindedly than others, presenting numerous possible explanations, including the idea that witchcraft was a reality in Salem. I have trouble with his treatment of the Great Depression when students are presented a worksheet with ten proposals; eight of the proposals are dependent upon government action, one is to institute communism, and only one suggests a private solution, in this case private charity to help the poor survive. All in all though, he does a credible job.

You can begin this series with mature junior high students, tying in lessons as they correlate with your other history studies, but you might also use them as the core curriculum for a U.S. History class at high school level if your children already have sufficient historical background.

The ideal way to use these books is in a group setting. If you lack a group, a parent-student discussion will do. Lessons vary in the amount of time required; many lessons will require two or more class sessions. The lessons are both interesting and challenging. Even if students feel stretched mentally, I expect they will enjoy such lessons far more than reading textbooks.