Causal explanation

If our planning is to be coherent, accessible and challenging we need to decide upon the success criteria for an explanation and analysis of a causal process. These criteria, gleaned from professional, historical and philosophical literature are familiar to modern history teachers:

• pertinent selection and deployment of evidence and examples; • sorting and categorizing evidence and ideas into broader themes and

factors; • informed and logical explanation of how a particular point answers the

question; • drawing causal links between events and themes; • deciding upon a hierarchy of causes; • sustaining an argument which is consistent, persuasive and logical; • addressing alternative views and interpretations of events or particular pieces

of evidence. (Evans, 1997, 129, 142; Carr, 1984, 89-90;

Chapman, 2003; Leonard, 1999; Woodcock, 2005)

Chronology and connections

The order of events is fundamental to any causal analysis: errors in chronology will lead to confused, unsustainable explanations. However, ordering events only takes us so far. Events have multiple causes: nothing in history is so simple as to have a single, isolated cause. Nor does history happen through a series of events acting on each other in a linear chain. Nor does history happen through a series of factors acting in parallel isolation towards a key event. History as it happens is an infinitely tangled web of cause and effect, of reinforcement and negation, reflection and refraction, acceleration and hindrance (Woodcock, 2005). Consequently, our teaching must allow students to perceive, explore, comprehend and unravel this complexity.