History Standard Three:

Students will interpret historical data [Interpretation].

Historians collect and analyze both primary and secondary sources in order to describe, compare, and interpret historical phenomena. The same phenomenon or event may be presented from a variety of perspectives by different historians because they choose different questions to guide their inquiries, may have varied access to historical materials, analyze those sources differently, and are led by their own beliefs and points of view to weigh causes in distinct manners. Any comparison or evaluation of competing historical interpretations has to take these factors into account.

The complexity of the standard will increase at each succeeding grade cluster:

• K-3:
  • Students will understand that historical accounts are constructed by drawing logical inferences from artifacts and documents.
• 4-5:
  • Students will explain why historical accounts of the same event sometimes differ and will relate this explanation to the evidence presented or the point-of-view of the author.
• 6-8:
  • Students will compare different historians' descriptions of the same societies in order to examine how the choice of questions and use of sources may affect their conclusions.
• 9-12:
  • Students will compare competing historical narratives, by contrasting different historians' choice of questions, use and choice of sources, perspectives, beliefs, and points of view, in order to demonstrate how these factors contribute to different interpretations.