ABSTRACT
Imagine a classroom in which students are gathering information about a historical topic or period. Let's say that they are investigating the bloody encounter between Boston townspeople and British troops on the evening of March 5, 1770. While taking notes from their textbook and other materials, these students are doing more than collecting information. They are analyzing what they have found out as they gather it. How trustworthy is Paul Revere's depiction of the incident in his famous engraving? Do the contemporary accounts by the townspeople of Boston that their teacher has provided them tell the full story or are there other possible perspectives? What about the British soldiers’ point of view? They also are evaluating the information they have at hand. Is it sufficient to make a compelling argument about the causes of the Boston Massacre or should they look for more? Which pieces of information are relevant? Several students, no doubt, are wondering why they are doing this assignment in the first place. This hypothetical classroom allows us to make several observations about analysis and evaluation in historical learning.
