Minor Adjustments for Major Benefits: Using History to Teach Teens to Think

The high school years should include plenty of opportunities for teens to practice thinking critically. This doesn’t have to mean adding Thinking 101 as an elective, or even adding more books to those already in use. Instead, a simple adjustment can be made to the approach used to cover content in required courses such as history.
Students typically read a history text looking for facts they must memorize in order to pass tests. Instead, you can have them read in order to form (and defend) positions and opinions. This small adjustment to the way the subject is approached not only alters their thinking from passive to active, but actually makes it easier for them to remember what they’ve learned (and to pass the tests). As students read they should decide which side of an issue they would favor and why. They should determine the philosophies or worldviews behind trends, policies, and movements. They should recognize what has contributed to a problem, why a particular solution may have been offered or even acted upon, and what affect those “solutions” had on the future.

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