The 1960's and American Education: An Examination of Textbooks and Analysis on the Use of Primary Sources to Foster Critical Thinking Skills

Abstract

In education today, the Common Core State Standards have moved to the forefront in setting academic expectations for our students. These standards focus on better preparing students for college and the real world by requiring teachers to promote higher order thinking skills through more rigorous content. In particular, Social Studies educators will use the Common Core Standards to promote historical thinking skills that allow students to both comprehend information, as well as analyze different texts and perspectives. With these new standards, simply using a textbook to guide instruction is not enough to prepare our students for success in college. This project seeks to provide teachers with primary sources that supplement instruction and the use of a text book in order to provide students with a better knowledge of history through differing perspectives and varying resources. Additionally, it provides research based learning strategies that can be used in guiding teachers through lesson planning, to better promote historical learning skills within middle school students.