Historical Methods & Research

This professional development seminar explores the methods professional historians use to generate knowledge of the past. Participants will examine how historians locate, interrogate, and corroborate sources, as well as the intellectual frameworks that help them interpret evidence and construct historical narratives. By engaging directly with these authentic disciplinary practices, K-12 teachers gain practical tools they can adapt into scaffolded, age-appropriate activities. This strengthens their ability to teach historical thinking skills, such as sourcing, contextualization, and evidence-based reasoning, so students learn to investigate the past like historians rather than simply memorize content.