A SENSE OF HISTORY

In this article, we briefly sketch out the four strands of our program of research: the nature of history classes; historical reasoning and thinking in discourse and writing; other dimensions of history; and th e thinking, reasoning, and discussion of both students and historians. We then focus on one particular aspect: What is history? We discuss t he definitions of history offered by published historians, two high sc hool history teachers, and practicing historians. By contrasting the c ore elements of what constitutes history for the teachers and the prac ticing historians, we explicate the similarities and differences that inform their respective practices. We offer a definition of history th at synthesizes the two groups; one primarily concerned with teaching t he subject and the other primarily concerned with the production of it .