Home › About The Historical Thinking Project

About The Historical Thinking Project

The Historical Thinking Project is an initiative of the University of British Columbia’s Centre for the Study of Historical Consciousness.  It was initiated in partnership with the Historica Foundation, and has received support from The History Education Network/Histoire et Éducation en Réseau (THEN/HiER), Canadian Council on Learning, and the Canadian Studies Program, Department of Canadian Heritage. The opinions expressed do not necessarily reflect the views of the Government of Canada.

Contact

Jill Colyer, National Coordinator
519-741-0079, jillcolyer@rogers.com

  • Dr. Peter Seixas, University of British Columbia

    Dr. Peter Seixas, University of British Columbia
    Director, The Historical Thinking Project

    Dr. Seixas taught social studies in Vancouver schools for fifteen years before coming to UBC. Currently, in addition to teaching in the graduate and undergraduate programs, his major activities stem from his role as the founding Director of the Centre for the Study of Historical Consciousness.

    Read full bio
  • Penney Clark

    Dr. Penney Clark, University of British Columbia
    Advisory Board Member

    Dr. Clark's research interests centre on the areas of social studies education; history teaching and learning; the historical development of curriculum in Canada; the political and economic contexts of curriculum development and textbook production; and deconstruction of text.

    Read full bio
  • Carla Peck

    Dr. Carla Peck, University of Alberta
    Assistant Professor of Social Studies Education

    Dr. Peck's research interests include students’ understandings of democratic concepts, diversity, identity, citizenship and the relationship between students’ ethnic identities and their understandings of history.

    Read full bio
  • Bio Photo

    Jill Colyer, Coordinator, The Historical Thinking Project

    Jill has been a teacher and a writer of curriculum materials since 1991. As an educator, she has taught both secondary school students and adults. Her secondary school experience has been gained at a number of schools within the Waterloo Region Board of Education in Ontario, and at Taylor’s College in Malaysia.

    Read full bio
Close

What is a Benchmark?

<p>John W. Hartman Center for Sales, Advertising &amp; Marketing History,<br />Duke University Rare Book, Manuscript, and Special Collections</p>

A surveyor cut a "benchmark" into a stone or a wall when measuring the altitude and/or level of a tract of land. A bracket called a "bench" was secured in the cut to mount the surveying equipment, and all subsequent measurements were made in reference to the position and height of that mark.

The term "benchmark" was first used around 1842 to refer to a standard of quality by which achievement may be measured.

The foundation documents available through the Benchmarks site attempt to help teachers establish standards for assessing student learning of the modes of thought that constitute historical thinking.

John W. Hartman Center for Sales, Advertising & Marketing History,
Duke University Rare Book, Manuscript, and Special Collections