Historians employ sourcing and contextualization to deeply consider an author’s background and the time and place in which the author lived (context) to better understand the point of view, meaning, and argument of a primary source. When analyzed in this way, understanding the point of view is often called historical perspective, which Sexias and Morton (2013) define as “attempting to see through the eyes of people who lived in times and circumstances far removed from our present-day lives.” In The Big Six: Historical Thinking Concepts, Sexias and Morton provide guidance to teachers to help students in this type of primary source analysis.
Select the link that follows to see how helping students understand historical perspective/point of view is also important for meeting CA Historical and Social Sciences Analysis Skills.Teaching students to source and contextualize aids in developing deep understanding of historical perspective. Students who actively engage in these strategies are more likely to ascertain the author’s point of view or purpose described in Reading Standard 6.