EDUCATIONAL PSYCHOLOGY

Chapter 7, page 163

study of historians and high school students, historians sought to corroborate details from one document
with other documents; high school students did not. When reading a textbook account of the battle at
Lexington Green that said that the rebels were ordered to disperse but stood their ground, one historian
said, “It's not clear that they were ordered to disperse, the depositions don't indicate that, the British
accounts do indicate that. Let me check back to Barker [the author of another document] for a second--
yeah, Barker doesn't even say there was any dispersal.” Thus, the historian was trying to use the different
available historical documents to corroborate each other as well as to corroborate what the textbook said.
In contrast, a high school student said in response to the same document, “It seems in a way [to be] just
reporting the facts, ‘The rebels were ordered to disperse. They stood their ground,’ just concise, journalistic
in a way, just saying what happened there” (Wineburg, 1991, p. 81). The student did not notice that there
were historical documents that did not corroborate the textbook account, nor did the student seem at all
disposed to search for corroboration.
By seeking corroboration for evidence, students are more likely to arrive at an accurate picture of
events (Brem, Russell, & Weems, 2001; Britt & Aglinskas, 2002). If multiple sources agree on a claim,
that claim is more likely to be true. In a jury trial, three eyewitnesses who agree that they saw a person rob
a store is more credible than a single eyewitnesses, because the eyewitness corroborate each other. Finding
fingerprint evidence at the scene of the crime provides further corroboration. The more corroboration there
is for a claim, the more trustworthy the claim is. Thus, an important goal of teaching is to help students to
appreciate the value of corroboration and to actively seek corroboration for claims.

Problem 7.12.

Evaluating teaching: A teacher-constructed questionnaire

A teacher gives out a questionnaire to his high school history students. Here is the questionnaire

and one student’s responses. Evaluate the questionnaire; does it do a good job of determining

what strategies students use to study for tests? Then evaluate what you can learn from the

student’s responses.

(^)
Name: Jarrod Williams Period: 3.
Think about how you studied for your last history test.
Rate your agreement with each statement. Circle one number.
1 = you completely disagree
5 = you completely agree

1. I studied a lot. 1 2 3 4 5


2. I reviewed the textbook. 1 2 3 4 5


3. I reviewed my notes. 1 2 3 4 5


4. I asked myself questions as I studied. 1 2 3 4 5

Now describe your approach to studying for the test.

I studied my textbook in the evening, and I reviewed my

notes during study hall before class.

Response: At least three of the four questions with ratings are very ambiguous. What does it

mean to study a lot? Different students will interpret “a lot” very differently, so it is difficult to