Copyright © 2009 Heldref Publications
The Thought Experiment: An
Imaginative Way into Civic Literacy
MYRA ZARNOWSKI
ABSTRACT. Thought experiments
enable students to think about persistent social issues by drawing on both
knowledge and imagination. In this
article, the author provides examples of
thought experiments found in literature
for adults and middle school students,
a rationale for doing thought experiments in the classroom, a step-by-step
procedure to follow, and a rubric for
evaluating student work. A sample of
one student’s work illustrates the process. The author also recommends several nonfiction books that can be used
to jump-start thought experiments. By
encouraging students to link past experiences with present concerns, thought
experiments illustrate the relevance of
the social studies.
Keywords: children’s literature, civic
literacy, history, thought experiment
I
magine that your students are doing
an experiment in history. That’s
right—not a science experiment—a
history experiment. As with a science
experiment, they do not know exactly
MYRA ZARNOWSKI is a professor in the
Department of Elementary and Early Childhood Education at Queens College, CUNY.
She is the author of History Makers (2003)
and Making Sense of History (2006).
how it will turn out; that is why they
are doing it in the first place. Students
are curious. They want to know about
the world around them. They realize
that knowing the results from an experiment might benefit them in some way.
Perhaps it will change the way they act
or what they believe to be true. It might
even affect the decisions they make on
a daily basis.
Because a history experiment takes
place in our thoughts, it is referred to as
a thought experiment. It does not require
a laboratory, but it does require imaginative thinking. Students are encouraged to think about what might have
happened. They use words like possibly,
perhaps, maybe, and probably as they
think about the options. They engage
in “what if?” speculating and ask questions such as, What if this happened and
not that? They shake up the variables to
consider new alternatives.
In this article, I first provide examples of thought experiments found in
literature for adults and middle school
students. These examples will not
only lead to a better understanding of
thought experiments, but they also can
be shared with students and used to
guide their efforts. Second, I provide
a rationale for using thought experiments in the classroom, highlighting
what can be achieved by using this
strategy. This rationale includes helping students develop a specialized type
of literacy known as civic literacy.
Sometimes the strategy involves filling
in gaps in information through speculation. Other times it involves drawing
on ideals and values demonstrated in
the past and applying them to current civic issues. Finally, I describe a
process for using one type of thought
experiment with middle school
students—a process that has been
called both “entertaining” and “informative” (Meacham 2006, 19)—and
suggest quality nonfiction literature to
use with students as a source of background information about the past.
Thought Experiments in Nonfiction
Literature
What does a thought experiment
look like? In the adult book Will in
the World: How Shakespeare Became
Shakespeare (2004), author Stephen
Greenblatt begins with a thought experiment. Noting that any explanation of
Shakespeare’s success is based largely
on speculation, he raises this perplexing question: “How did Shakespeare
become Shakespeare?” (10). The preface to his book begins as follows:
THE SOCIAL STUDIES
MARCH/APRIL 2009
55
A young man from a small provincial
town—a man without independent wealth,
without powerful family connections, and
without a university education—moves
to London in the late 1580s and, in a
remarkably short time, becomes the greatest playwright not of his age alone, but of
all time. . . . How is an achievement of
this magnitude to be explained? How did
Shakespeare become Shakespeare? (10)
Once the question is raised, Greenblatt draws on what is known to speculate
on what is unknown. When discussing
Shakespeare’s fascination with language, he writes, “Let us imagine that
Shakespeare found himself from boyhood fascinated by language, obsessed
with the magic of words” (23; italics
added). Greenblatt then considers how
the words from an early nursery rhyme
that Shakespeare might have heard from
his mother—“Pillycock, pillycock, sate
on a hill / If he’s not gone—he sits
there still”—found their way much later
into King Lear, where a madman named
Poor Tom chants “Pillycock sat on Pillicock-hill” (23).
Later on in the book, Greenblatt
continues to speculate that Will was
probably exposed to plays at a young
age, since schoolmasters at that time
believed that reading and performing
ancient plays would help students learn
Latin. Greenblatt writes:
No surviving records indicate how often
the Stratford teachers during Will’s school
years had the boys perform plays or which
plays they assigned. Perhaps there was a
time . . . when the teacher decided to have
the boys perform Plautus’s frenetic farce
about identical twins. . . . And perhaps
on this occasion, Jenkins [the teacher],
recognizing one of his students was precociously gifted as both a writer and an
actor, assigned Will Shakespeare a leading role. (27; italics added)
From here, Greenblatt makes an imaginative leap to suggest that later, when
Shakespeare became a young playwright, he remembered this play from
his boyhood and used the idea of identical twins and mistaken identity as the
basis of his own play The Comedy of
Errors.
In each case, Greenblatt uses what is
known about Shakespeare to imagine
what is unknown. When hard evidence
exists, he uses it to support speculation
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and build his case. When hard evidence
does not exist, he fills in the gaps with
speculation. In this way, step-by-step,
he is able to explain how Shakespeare
became the greatest playwright of all
time even though both of his parents
were only minimally literate and could
not write their names.
Besides filling in gaps in information, another type of thought experiment involves looking to the wisdom of
the past for help with today’s problems
and concerns. In the book What Would
the Founders Do? Our Questions,
Their Answers (2006), historian Richard Brookhiser consults our founding
fathers for advice about today’s issues.
How is this possible? Brookhiser argues
that the founders are surprisingly accessible. Not only are their words familiar
to us, they were people who “invited
discussion while they lived” (9). They
loved a good conversation or a spirited
debate. That is why, when it comes to
their publicly stated ideas, “we believe
that we can hit the reply button” (5).
Brookhiser, author of many books
about the founders, knows that pulling people out of their historical context and asking them to weigh in on
current issues is not common practice
among historians. His goal, however, is
not to write academic history. Instead,
he is engaging in a playful, stimulating
intellectual exercise (J. Freedman 2006)
that involves examining the ideals and
actions of the founders.
When Brookhiser asks questions of
the founders, he is tapping into what he
knows about their ideals and actions.
When he asks, What would the founders
think of gun control? he finds they would
not be in favor of it. In a letter, Thomas
Jefferson advised his young relatives to
take walks with a gun: “While this gives
moderate exercise to the body, it gives
boldness, enterprise and independence
to the mind” (qtd. in Brookhiser 2006,
37). Brookhiser concludes, “The founders lived among guns; they would never
make them illegal” (38). When Brookhiser asks, Would the founders support
private-school vouchers? he finds mixed
support. “They worried less about who
paid for education and who ran it than
the end result: well-informed citizens
THE SOCIAL STUDIES
who could sustain a republic” (130).
Every founder who became president
supported the idea of a national university, but no Congress that included founders among its members ever set one up.
When Brookhiser considers whether the
founders believed that women and men
are of equal intelligence, he finds evidence that they did, because they took
large doses of advice from women. John
Adams took advice from his wife Abigail, Gouverneur Morris from his lover
Adelaide de Flahaut, and George Washington from the Philadelphia hostess
Eliza Powel. When Mrs. Powel learned
that Washington was considering retirement at the end of his first term as president, she wrote to him, appealing to
his character and sense of duty: “You
have frequently demonstrated that you
possess an empire over yourself. For
God’s sake, do not yield that empire
to a love of ease” (qtd. in Brookhiser,
150). Brookhiser concludes that this letter helped Washington understand the
issues involved in running for a second
term. The founders, Brookhiser shows
us, valued the counsel of women and
respected their intelligence. In each
case, Brookhiser taps into the values
and actions of the founders to think
about today’s issues, such as gun control, school vouchers, and equality.
Authors of children’s and young
adult nonfiction history books also deal
in thought experiments. Like Stephen
Greenblatt in Will in the World, children’s book authors use speculation as
a means of filling in the gaps. In the
picture book Pocahontas: Princess of
the New World (2007), author Kathleen
Krull speculates about the life of the
favored princess:
Princess Pocahontas probably avoided
certain jobs. She couldn’t be seen burying garbage. Perhaps she helped to make
pottery, stitch beadwork, or weave baskets. Or perhaps she just cartwheeled and
joked her way out of chores. (unpaginated; italics added)
When discussing that famous event when
Pocahontas put her head over Captain
John Smith’s, thereby saving him from
being clubbed to death by her father’s
warriors, Krull speculates about what
this act meant: “What had Pocahontas
just done? She may have been playing
a role in some strategy or ritual” (italics
added). In other words, things might not
have been what they seemed to the English. As the author reminds us, the only
account of this event was written by
Captain Smith, and he was notorious for
exaggeration and self-promotion. Smith
believed that he was about to be killed,
but others—including the author—are
not so sure.
Like Richard Brookhiser in What
Would the Founders Do? some children’s book authors consult the wisdom
of the past and apply it to today’s issues.
In The Forbidden Schoolhouse: The
True and Dramatic Story of Prudence
Crandall and Her Students (2005),
author Suzanne Jurmain describes how
Crandall closed her elite school for
white girls in 1833 and immediately
reopened it as a school for black girls.
This act infuriated her neighbors in
Canterbury, Connecticut, and sparked
a series of increasingly hostile retaliatory acts, culminating in setting the
school on fire and dragging Crandall to
jail. An epilogue to the book connects
Crandall’s struggle against racial discrimination in education in the 1830s
to the 1954 Brown v. Board of Education case, the Civil Rights movement
of the 1960s, and current educational
opportunities. Noting that black children today are “likely to receive less
education and go to poorer schools than
whites” (120) and that “only 11 percent
of all U.S. college students are black”
(120), the author has Crandall weigh in
on the situation. Jurmain concludes, “If
Prudence were alive today, she would
probably still be fighting to ensure that
all African-American children receive a
good education” (120). In other words,
Crandall would act on her ideals and
would not be satisfied with the gains
made so far. She would tell us there is
more to be done.
A Rationale for Using Thought
Experiments in the Classroom:
Promoting Civic Literacy
Before embarking on thought experiments, teachers should understand the
benefits of using this strategy. What
exactly is it designed to teach? The
major benefit of thought experiments
is that they help students understand
contemporary social issues by tapping
into the wisdom and the experience of
the past and linking it to the present.
Our society is awash in many complex
problems—poverty, environmental hazards, insufficient national health care,
and war. Understanding these problems
ies for comprehension and skill development does not address social studies
goals or the civic mission of schools”
(621). To promote civic competence,
McGuire suggests that when learning
about the founding of our nation, we
should also consider the relevance of
this information for today:
What connections can be made to life
today and how we respond to the events
When teachers address both literacy and social
awareness as aspects of reading comprehension,
they do more than teach children to read the words
and get the gist of a text—they address the civic
mission of schools.
means more than just learning facts
about them. It means considering what
we believe is the right thing to do to
solve these problems and then acting on
our ideals. Thought experiments begin
by looking at how others have dealt with
similar problems in the past and then
considering the usefulness of this experience for the present. Teachers play a
major role in this process by “guiding
students to identify and analyze values
as they may pertain to their own lives”
(Sanchez 2006, 3). To do this requires a
specialized type of literacy—a literacy
that connects language learning with
civic learning to create civic literacy.
The Case for Civic Literacy
What is meant by civic literacy? Why
do we need it? A civic literacy approach
enables us to make use of true stories to
promote civic learning—learning that is
essential for participation in a democratic society. Civic literacy means knowing about individual rights and social
responsibilities and having the skills to
make decisions that promote social justice (Hart 2006). Learning about what
happened in the past is a beginning, but
it is a beginning seriously lacking in
focus. As Margit McGuire (2007)—past
president of the National Council for
the Social Studies—points out, “Simply
reading about topics in the social stud-
of our time? These connections are important for two reasons: they give purpose for
learning about our nation’s past, and they
reinforce the important role individuals
have in a democratic society. (622)
Teacher-researchers’ experiences in
elementary and middle school classrooms confirm the need to include a
civic orientation to literacy. Alison
Lobron and Robert Selman (2007) found
that when youngsters read books with
socially significant information—for
example, a book about segregation—
they need teacher support to develop
both literacy skills and social awareness.
Literacy skills consist of learning new
vocabulary words, summarizing and
synthesizing information, and making
inferences. This might mean learning
the words needed to understand and discuss what one is reading—words such
as segregation, civil rights, or prejudice.
Social awareness consists of learning
about the historical context described in
a book and the competing ideas about
how people can and should act. This
might entail knowing about the Civil
Rights movement, the impact of Jim
Crow laws, or acts of nonviolent resistance. When teachers address both literacy and social awareness as aspects of
reading comprehension, they do more
than teach children to read the words
and get the gist of a text—they address
the civic mission of schools. According
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57
to Lobron and Selman, teaching should
tackle “the interplay between literacy
and social awareness in comprehension” (529).
Pursuing civic literacy is essential
if we want students to participate in a
democratic society. Learning about the
past—especially when it involves difficult moral choices, compelling characters, and complex situations—helps
students deal with the present. That is
because well-written history is “good
to think with” (Levine 2005). Learning about the experiences of others can
guide us as we make difficult decisions.
According to Peter Levine, Director of
the Center for Information and Research
on Civic Learning and Engagement at
the University of Maryland, “we need
detailed ‘thick’ descriptions that give us
portraits of whole situations over time”
to guide us as we think about today’s
problems. These stories from the past
can be interrogated. We can ask: How
have people in the past tried to promote
the common good? Are these values
still relevant today? Can this information help me think about the present?
Can this information help me decide
how to act?
The next section describes a process
for working with middle school students to do thought experiments that
promote civic literacy. To illustrate the
process from start to finish, I draw on
my work with one student. However, in
social studies classes, students can work
together in groups to pursue a variety of
thought experiments related to topics
they are studying.
Doing Thought Experiments with
Middle School Students
Maeghan, a seventh grader, completed a thought experiment involving Jane
Addams. By following the steps outlined below, she was able to draw on the
wisdom of the past to think about the
present. She followed these four steps:
1. Decide on a question for a thought
experiment.
2. Write a description of a current
issue.
3. Read about a person from the past.
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4. Describe what that person would
think about the current issue.
Throughout this process, but especially during step 4, it is essential to emphasize that thought experiments require
responsible speculating as opposed to
impractical ideas such as intervention
by superheroes or using technology that
was not available at the time. Students
should suggest only plausible or believable ideas based on historical reality. If
they suggest implausible ideas, teachers can direct them to photographs and
written material that explain the historical context (Zarnowski 2003, 11).
Another helpful practice is to complete
one thought experiment with the class,
taking time to demonstrate the process
for students before they are asked to do
it by themselves.
Step 1: Decide on a Question for a
Thought Experiment
When planning a thought experiment
based on past-to-present connections,
the general format is the following.
Question: What would _________ (person from the past) think about _________
(current event)?
To begin her thought experiment, Maeghan dealt with the following question:
What would Jane Addams think about
the war in Iraq? Raising this question
does not imply that Addams would be
familiar with the specific events related
to the war. Addams lived between the
years 1860 and 1935. Instead, the question draws on the ideals and values she
held that we can still apply today. The
war is a pressing issue and appears every
day in the newspaper and on television
and radio. And while there is no shortage
of information on the war, it is controversial. It is not a topic Maeghan can just
learn about and be done with. We are
all concerned about it, but we do not all
agree about what should be done.
The question—What would Jane
Addams think about the war in Iraq?—
provided a focus and a purpose for reading. Maeghan read about Addams to consider her past decision making related
to World War I, and she read about the
war in Iraq to think about decisions our
THE SOCIAL STUDIES
elected officials are making now. Our
politicians are debating whether we
should intensify our efforts in Iraq or
withdraw as soon as possible. We are all
dealing with fears related to terrorism.
We are wondering if the terrible tolls of
death and destruction are necessary to
protect our way of life or whether they
are unnecessary hostilities.
Faced with these important decisions, literature dealing with similar—
although not identical—situations is
“good to think with” (Levine 2005).
Like us, Addams lived at a time when
our nation made decisions about war
and peace, sending our soldiers into battle or keeping them home, and spending
our money on equipment to fight the
war or investing in projects and social
services at home. What would she think
if she were alive today? What advice
would she give us?
Step 2: Write a Description of a
Current Issue
To begin to answer her question,
Maeghan had to understand the situation facing us today. To find out more
about the war in Iraq, we read one or
two articles from the newspaper every
day for five days. In this way, Maeghan
built up her background knowledge
and encountered new vocabulary words
needed for discussing the war. Over the
course of a week or so, we read the New
York Times front-page articles on Iraq
and one feature article from the “Week
in Review” section.
From our reading, three topics surfaced that we discussed: First, we found
that many people considered the war
in Iraq to be a civil war. Second, we
learned that a bipartisan committee had
issued a report on Iraq with suggestions
on how to proceed. Third, we examined
the range of opinions that people have
suggested about how the war should be
handled. All of this emerged from our
reading of the newspaper, but as this
reading and discussion was happening,
Maeghan’s mother reported to me that
she became more interested in the nightly news on Iraq reported on television.
This was most likely due to the foundation she was developing for understand-
ing the war. So television news, too,
added to her fund of information. It was
a topic that was not only on her mind,
but one she could comprehend and discuss with others.
Putting information about a current
issue into writing helps students like
Maeghan consolidate and shape their
understanding. As her description,
which is titled “The War in Iraq: What’s
Happening Now,” shows, Maeghan’s
three paragraphs consist of the big ideas
that surfaced during our reading of the
newspaper (see figure 1). In paragraph
1, she explains that there is a civil war
occurring in Iraq. In paragraph 2, she discusses the bipartisan committee report
on Iraq. Paragraph 3 discusses the range
of opinions on the war. This paragraph
also contains an original comment in
which Maeghan expresses her agreement with one of the ideas suggested in
the report, namely that “an international
conference is a good idea.”
Step 3: Read about a Person from
the Past
With background knowledge about
the present war in Iraq, we turned our
attention to the past and began reading
about Addams. Jane Addams: Champion of Democracy (2006) by Judith
Bloom Fradin and Dennis Brindell
Fradin features the life of a woman
who dealt with complex social situations and made compelling moral
decisions. This biography not only
deals with Addams’s exemplary work
at Hull House, a place she founded
to help needy people in Chicago in
all sorts of ways including education,
recreation, and child care, but it also
details Addams’s deep commitment to
promoting world peace.
An ardent pacifist, Addams headed
the Women’s International League
for Peace and Freedom (WILPF) and
strongly opposed the United States’
entry into World War I—even when
doing so was unpopular and provoked
a great deal of criticism. After the
United States entered the war, when
people referred to Addams as unpatriotic and even as a traitor for suggesting we should engage in dialogue with
our enemies, she steadfastly retained
her pacifist beliefs. She did so because
she valued world peace above all and
believed that peace could be realized
through dialogue, or what WILPF
referred to as “continuous mediation”
(Fradin and Fradin 2006). In the face
of considerable criticism, Addams
championed the values of cooperation, brotherhood, and peace. She
believed that women needed to take
an active role in convincing governments of the supreme value of human
life. Addams was clearly a model of
FIGURE 1. Maeghan’s description of the current status of the war in Iraq.
civic engagement in the compelling
issues of her time.
World War I is in many ways different from the war in Iraq. Yet the
question posed by the thought experiment enabled Maeghan to thoughtfully consider whether Addams’s values
are relevant today. What reasonable
speculation could Maeghan make
about Addams’s views on the war
in Iraq? Could Addams’s ideals provide us with useful guidance, direction, and support for our own thinking? After reading and discussing the
biography of Addams, Maeghan was
ready answer the question raised by
the thought experiment.
Step 4: Describe What That Person
Would Think about the Current Issue
Maeghan’s response to the question—What would Jane Addams think
about the war in Iraq?—consists of
three parts (see figure 2). In the first
paragraph, she identifies Addams and
provides background information
about her life and times. The second
paragraph describes Addams’s pacifist
beliefs and activities. The final paragraph explains what Addams would
think about the war in Iraq.
If we look closely at Maeghan’s
writing, we can see how—paragraph
by paragraph—she builds a case for
answering the question. In paragraph
1, Maeghan provides the reader with
a context for understanding who
Addams was by commenting on her
substantial community work at Hull
House, where she helped the poor
and immigrant population of Chicago, and her strong, caring family
ties. Addams was dedicated to helping others, whether or not they were
related to her. In her second paragraph, Maeghan narrows her focus by
making the case that Addams’s peace
activities are a logical outgrowth of
her work at Hull House. She notes
that Addams “believed that if people
from different ethnic backrounds [sic]
could get along at Hull House, why
couldn’t everyone else in the world
get along the same way?” In her final
paragraph, Maeghan applies what she
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59
add interest and complexity to students’ thinking about the war.
Above all, as students engage in
thought experiments, it is important to
remember that these experiments are
speculation, not history. Although the
process requires background knowledge
in history and current events—recall that
Maeghan read the New York Times and
a biography and watched the evening
news—the end result requires the writer
to connect the dots and hypothesize.
This speculation is original and creative,
but it is also reined in by the need to be
responsible and reasonable. By following the steps described in this article,
students build the content knowledge
they need for informed speculation.
FIGURE 2. Maeghan’s answer to the question, What would Jane Addams think
about the war in Iraq?
has learned about Addams to conclude
that she would be against the war. She
speculates that Addams would draw
on her belief in “continuous mediation” as the appropriate method for
stopping the war. She even suggests
that Addams would encourage other
women to speak out against the war,
perhaps counseling them to go on
national television. She concludes
with the strong statement, “She would
never back down even if people criticized her.” This paragraph is a fine
example of reasonable speculation.
Maeghan’s engagement with information about the war in Iraq and
Addams shows that she, like Richard
Brookhiser, can raise thoughtful questions and extract relevant ideas and values from the past to deal with today’s
concerns. A thought experiment like
this one is a powerful way of showing
that social studies—while requiring a
foundation of factual knowledge—is
about analyzing and applying knowledge. Of course, thinking along with
Jane Addams provides only one perspective. Other students might consider what someone with a less pacifist
bent—say, Teddy Roosevelt—would
think about the war in Iraq. Adding
competing ideals and actions would
Evaluating a Thought Experiment
A simple way to evaluate a student’s
work on a thought experiment is to rate
each of the four steps involved in the
process. The rubric in the appendix
shows how this might be done.
Using Nonfiction Literature to
Jump-Start Thought Experiments
There are many books that can provide the factual knowledge needed to
jump-start thought experiments. Table
1 lists a few current titles as examples
of the range of titles and questions that
can be pursued. For each title, I provide
a brief summary and suggested question that focuses on civic issues—that
TABLE 1. Nonfiction Books That Middle School Students Can Use in Conjunction with Thought Experiments
Book
Black and White Airmen: Their True
History by John Fleischman (Houghton,
2007)
Summary of content
Question
Even though Herb Heilbrun and John Leahr
went to the same elementary school and
were in the same third grade class, their
experiences during World War II were distinctly different because the U.S. Air Force
had separate units for whites and blacks. It
was not until fifty years after the war that
they rediscovered each other, established a
friendship, and learned of the many parallels
in their lives. This book tells the story of a
friendship that reached across racial divides.
What would Herb Heilbrun and John Leahr
think about the Supreme Court decision prohibiting school districts from explicitly using
race to achieve or maintain integration?
(table continues)
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THE SOCIAL STUDIES
TABLE 1. (continued)
Book
Summary of content
Question
How High Can We Climb? The Story of
Women Explorers by Jeannine Atkins, illus.
by Dušan Petričić (Farrar, Straus, Giroux,
2005)
Jeanne Baret, an orphan girl living in Burgundy, France, became the first woman to sail
around the world. Determined to accompany
her employer, Dr. Commerson, on an expedition around the world, Baret disguised herself
as a cabin boy and was hired by the ship’s captain. On this trip lasting two years, she helped
Dr. Commerson collect more than 3,000 species of plants, seashells, snake skins, and more
and filled notebooks with drawings of plants
and animals. These specimens became part of
the collections of natural history museums in
London and Paris. This is one of several true
stories featured in this book.
What would Jeanne Baret think of the
NASA program for space exploration?
The Many Rides of Paul Revere by James
Cross Giblin (Scholastic, 2007)
Patriot Paul Revere did not make one ride;
he made many—all in support of the Sons of
Liberty and the ensuing American Revolution.
He rode to alert nearby seaports that British tea
ships might try to unload at their docks; he rode
to New York and Philadelphia to tell supporters
what had happened in Boston; and he rode to
Philadelphia for the First Continental Congress.
His many rides “played a key role in America
eventually winning its independence” (67).
What would Paul Revere think about new
technology that makes rapid communication possible? For example, what would he
think about the iPhone?
With Courage and Cloth: Winning the
Fight for a Woman’s Right to Vote by Ann
Bausum (National Geographic, 2004)
Although Alice Paul is not as well known as
What would Alice Paul think about universal
other women suffragists, her determination
health coverage for all Americans?
to get the vote for women was a remarkable
effort. She was the founder of the National
Woman’s Party and practiced nonviolent
protest well before Martin Luther King Jr.
She organized the “silent sentinels,” women
picketing the White House with cloth banners
that displayed messages demanding the right
to vote. Frequently jailed, and even force-fed,
Paul did not stop protesting once the Nineteenth Amendment was ratified, finally giving
women the right to vote. Instead, for the rest
of her life, she championed what became
known as the Equal Rights Amendment.
Freedom Walkers: The Story of the Montgomery Bus Boycott by Russell Freedman
(Clarion, 2006)
The success of the Montgomery bus boycott
depended on citizens who actively supported
the cause. One active citizen was Jo Ann Robinson, head of the Women’s Political Council.
With several of her friends and colleagues, she
spread the word about the boycott. They wrote
a letter to the black community, using a mimeograph machine at Alabama State College to
make copies for distribution.
What would Jo Ann Robinson think about
political blogs?
John Muir: America’s First Environmentalist by Kathryn Lasky, illus. by Stan
Fellows (Candlewick, 2006)
From his earliest years in Scotland through
his later life in America, John Muir was passionately drawn to nature. His travels took
him across the United States. He journeyed
to the Gulf Coast of Florida and later studied
the glaciers in Yosemite and the Sierras. In his
later years, Muir devoted himself to efforts
to conserve the American wilderness. One of
these efforts was the founding of the Sierra
Club in 1892.
What would John Muir think about allowing rather than preventing wildfires in our
forests?
THE SOCIAL STUDIES
MARCH/APRIL 2009
61
is, issues related to participating in a
democratic society.
Conclusion
Using books like those featured in
table 1 to engage in thought experiments provides students with opportunities to think creatively about social
issues. To face the challenges that confront us today requires access to both
knowledge and imagination. Knowledge provides us with the substance of
past experience. It is the content we
need to make sense out of the past and
the present. Imagination moves us from
the realm of what was to the realms of
what might have been and what could
be in the future. It enables us to draw
on enduring values and apply them to
current situations. Addressing problems
such as war and peace, social equity,
and poverty requires deep thinking. The
thought experiment is one step we can
take right now to show students what
it means to think about persistent and
pressing social issues with imagination
and knowledge.
REFERENCES
Atkins, J. 2005. How high can we climb: The
story of women explorers. Illus. D. Petričić.
New York: Farrar, Straus, Giroux.
Bausum, A. 2004. With courage and
cloth: Winning the fight for a woman’s
right to vote. Washington, DC: National
Geographic.
Brookhiser, R. 2006. What would the founders do? Our questions, their answers.
New York: Basic Books.
Fleischman, J. 2007. Black and white airmen:
Their true history. Boston: Houghton.
62
MARCH/APRIL 2009
Fradin, J. B., and D. B. Fradin. 2006. Jane
Addams: Champion of democracy. New
York: Clarion.
Freedman, J. 2006. Review of What would
the founders do? Our questions, their
answers, by R. Brookhiser. Booklist 102
(16): 22–23.
Freedman, R. 2006. Freedom walkers: The
story of the Montgomery bus boycott.
New York: Clarion.
Giblin, J. C. 2007. The many rides of Paul
Revere. New York: Scholastic.
Greenblatt, S. 2004. Will in the world: How
Shakespeare became Shakespeare. New
York: Norton.
Hart, S. 2006. Breaking literacy boundaries
through critical service-learning: Education for the silenced and marginalized.
Mentoring & Tutoring 14:17–32.
Jurmain, S. 2005. The forbidden schoolhouse: The true and dramatic story of
Prudence Crandall and her students. Boston: Houghton.
Krull, K. 2007. Pocahontas: Princess of
the new world. Illus. D. Diaz. New York:
Walker.
Lasky, K. 2006. John Muir: America’s first
environmentalist. Illus. S. Fellows. Cambridge, MA: Candlewick.
Levine, P. 2005. Why Dante is “good to
think with.” http://www.peterlevine.ws/
mt/archives/2005/02 (accessed June 23,
2007).
Lobron, A., and R. Selman. 2007. The interdependence of social awareness and literacy instruction. Reading Teacher 60 (6):
528–37.
McGuire, M. E. 2007. What happened to
social studies? The disappearing curriculum. Phi Delta Kappan 88 (8): 620–24.
Meacham, J. 2006. Original intent. Review
of What would the founders do? Our questions, their answers, by R. Brookhiser. New
York Times Book Review, June 25, 19.
Sanchez, T. R. 2006. The man who could
have been king: A storyteller’s guide for
character education. Journal of Social
Studies Research 30 (2): 3–9.
THE SOCIAL STUDIES
Zarnowski, M. 2003. History makers: A
questioning approach to reading and
writing biographies. Portsmouth, NH:
Heinemann.
APPENDIX
EVALUATING A THOUGHT EXPERIMENT
Directions: This form is designed to help
you evaluate thought experiments. Read the
statements below. Then indicate the number
from the following scale that reflects your
assessment of the student’s work on this
assignment.
1 = Beginning
2 = Developing
3 = Accomplished
1. The question for the thought experiment
raises an important social issue.
1
2
3
2. There is a clear description of the social
issue.
1
2
3
3. The student consulted several sources
about both the current issue and a person
from the past when preparing this thought
experiment. A bibliography is included.
1
2
3
4. The description of what the person thinks
about the social issue is based on responsible imagining.
1
2
3
Additional Comments:
Suggested Grades: 11–12 = A
10 = B
9=C
Total Points/Grade: __________