“WHY WON’T YOU JUST TELL US THE ANSWER?”

Author Bruce A. Lesh, an experienced classroom teacher, shows how to get students to ask questions about evidence and develop their own historical explanations in order to break the cycle of "lecture-memorize-test-forget." Lesh targets key historical thinking skills—causality, chronology, multiple perspectives, contingency, empathy, change and continuity over time, influence/significance/impact, contrasting interpretations, intent/motivation, and source work—then presents seven curriculum units that use case studies from U.S. history to get students to learn these skills and really engage with whatever historical topic they study.