ABSTRACT
Current conversations in history education emphasize the importance of historical thinking as a means of developing the critical thinking skills necessary for active and thoughtful participation in today’s pluralistic and democratic society (Barton & Levstik, 2004; Gagnon, 1988, 1989; Miner, 1994; Wineburg, 1991). However, too oft en, these conversations take place in the context of middle and secondary teaching and learning. Not enough scholarship has explored children’s early exposure to historical content and the extent to which this experience serves as a foundation for their later eff orts to engage in critical historical and democratic thinking. Th e overemphasis in the K-3 curriculum on national symbols, holidays, and famous fi gures seems to imply that young children are either not able or not ready to engage in constructing their own meanings of history, yet there is mounting evidence to the contrary (Henning, Snow-Gerono, Reed, & Warner, 2006; VanSledright, 2002).
