Sam Wineburg

Bio: Sam Wineburg is an academic researcher from Stanford University. The author has contributed to research in topics: Reading (process) & Historical thinking. The author has an hindex of 40, co-authored 81 publications receiving 8340 citations. Previous affiliations of Sam Wineburg include Washington College & University of Washington.

Historical Problem Solving: A Study of the Cognitive Processes Used in the Evaluation of Documentary and Pictorial Evidence

Abstract: History teachers are frequently urged to use primary sources in their classrooms. Yet little research exists to guide them, for history has been virtually ignored by researchers interested in cognition and instruction. The present study explored how people evaluate primary and secondary sources when considering questions of historical evidence. A group of working historians and high school seniors "thought aloud" as they reviewed a series of written and pictorial documents about the Battle of Lexington. Differences were found in how each group reasoned about historical evidence. It is suggested that these differences are due in part to beliefs that frame the act of historical inquiry. Over 70 years ago J. Carleton Bell asked in the pages of this journal: "What is the historic sense? How can it be developed? These are questions in which the educational psychologist is interested and which it is incumbent upon him to answer" (1917, p. 317). In the years since Bell asked these questions, we have witnessed an explosion of research on school learning. This explosion, part of the "cognitive revolution" in psychology (Gardner, 1985), has shed light on students' thinking in such areas as arithmetic (Nesher & Katriel, 1977; Resnick, 1982), algebra (Sleeman, 1984), geometry (Greeno, Magone, & Chaiklin, 1979), biology (Carey, 1985), physics (diSessa, 1985; McCloskey, 1983), and computer science (Sleeman, Putnam, Baxter, & Kuspa, 1986). These citations represent a tiny sample of an expansive literature on the cognitive psychology of school subjects. But amid this efflorescence of research, the subject matter of history has been ignored. The situation is not much better in the cognitive literature on expertise. Although there are detailed descriptions of the problem solving of mathematicians (Schoenfeld, 1985), radiologists (Lesgold, Feltovich, Glaser, & Wang, 1981), physicists (Chi, Feltovich, & Glaser, 1981), physicians (Kuipers, Mos

Historical Thinking and Other Unnatural Acts: Charting the Future of Teaching the Past

Abstract: Desde la antiguedad, los expertos han lamentado la falta de conocimiento historico de los jovenes y advirtieron que el desconocimiento del pasado condena a la humanidad a repetir sus errores. En los Estados Unidos contemporaneos, esta terrible perspectiva impulsa un polemico debate sobre que eventos, naciones y personas clave son esenciales para los estudiantes de historia. Sam Wineburg dice que estamos haciendo las preguntas equivocadas. Este libro destruye la nocion convencional de que hay una historia verdadera y una mejor manera de ensenarla.

On the Reading of Historical Texts: Notes on the Breach Between School and Academy:

Abstract: In this article I explore what it means to read a historical text. In doing so, I draw on my research with historians and high school students, who thought aloud as they reviewed a set of texts about the American Revolution. I begin by providing an overview of what I learned from historians, sketching in broad strokes an image of the skilled reader of history. Next, I compare this image to what emerged from an analysis of high school students’ responses to these same documents. I then speculate about the source of differences between these two groups, arguing that each group brings to these texts a distinctive epistemological stance, one that shapes and guides the meanings that are derived from text. I end by outlining the implications of this work for how we define reading comprehension and how we define the place of history in the school curriculum.

Historical Thinking and other Unnatural Acts

Abstract: Debates about national history standards become so fixated on the question of “which history” that a more basic question is neglected: Why study history at all?

How people learn: Brain, mind, experience, and school.

Abstract: New developments in the science of learning science of learning overview mind and brain how experts differ from novices how children learn learning and transfer the learning environment curriculum, instruction and commnity effective teaching - examples in history, mathematics and science teacher learning technology to support learning conclusions from new developments in the science of learning.

Content Knowledge for Teaching: What Makes It Special?

Abstract: This article reports the authors' efforts to develop a practice-based theory of content knowledge for teaching built on Shulman's (1986) notion of pedagogical content knowledge. As the concept of p...

Professional Development and Teacher Learning: Mapping the Terrain

Abstract: Teacher professional development is essential to efforts to improve our schools. This article maps the terrain of research on this important topic. It first provides an overview of what we have learned as a field, about effective professional development programs and their impact on teacher learning. It then suggests some important directions and strategies for extending our knowledge into new territory of questions not yet explored.

Improving Impact Studies of Teachers’ Professional Development: Toward Better Conceptualizations and Measures

Abstract: The author suggests that we apply recent research knowledge to improve our conceptualization, measures, and methodology for studying the effects of teachers’ professional development on teachers and students. She makes the case that there is a research consensus to support the use of a set of core features and a common conceptual framework in professional development impact studies. She urges us to move away from automatic biases either for or against observation, interviews, or surveys in such studies. She argues that the use of a common conceptual framework would elevate the quality of professional development studies and subsequently the general understanding of how best to shape and implement teacher learning opportunities for the maximum benefit of both teachers and students.

What Do New Views of Knowledge and Thinking Have to Say About Research on Teacher Learning

Abstract: The education and research communities are abuzz with new (or at least re-discovered) ideas about the nature of cognition and learning. Terms like \"situated cognition,\" \"distributed cognition,\" and \"communities of practice\" fill the air. Recent dialogue in Educational Researcher (Anderson, Reder, & Simon, 1996,1997; Greeno, 1997) typifies this discussion. Some have argued that the shifts in world view that these discussions represent are even more fundamental than the now-historical shift from behaviorist to cognitive views of learning (Shuell, 1986). These new ideas about the nature of knowledge, thinking, and learning—which are becoming known as the \"situative perspective\" (Greeno, 1997; Greeno, Collins, & Resnick, 1996)—are interacting with, and sometimes fueling, current reform movements in education. Most discussions of these ideas and their implications for educational practice have been cast primarily in terms of students. Scholars and policymakers have considered, for example, how to help students develop deep understandings of subject matter, situate students' learning in meaningful contexts, and create learning communities in which teachers and students engage in rich discourse about important ideas (e.g., National Council of Teachers of Mathematics, 1989; National Education Goals Panel, 1991; National Research Council, 1993).