Abstract
When teachers align their curriculum goals with authentic teaching of history, their instruction moves beyond the use of textbooks. In this chapter, the authors lay out how historical thinking constitutes an authentic social studies curriculum. Historical thinking requires the use of critical analysis skills while constructing a deep understanding of the past. The authors present the findings from a mixed methods action research study they conducted in which seventh grade students in self-contained special education classes were taught to "think like historians." Like historians, students interrogate primary and secondary sources' believability and look for corroboration of evidence before making a narrative interpretation of the past. The authors embedded formative assessment as an instructional approach to the teaching of historical thinking. Furthermore, the authors measured the mastery of skills using an on-demand writing task that served as an authentic assessment.