Beyond the Bubble

The Stanford History Education Group is an award-winning research and development group that seeks to improve education by conducting research, working with school districts, and reaching directly into classrooms with free materials for teachers and students.

Beyond the Bubble unlocks the vast digital archive of the Library of Congress to create History Assessments of Thinking (HATs). Explore over 100 easy-to-use assessments that measure students’ historical thinking rather than recall of facts. There are 10 “flagship” assessments, each marked with a ribbon. Flagship assessments (e.g., The First Thanksgiving) have extended features, including annotated sample student responses and “Going Deeper” videos that provide insights into the assessments and ideas for how to use them.

The rest of the assessments are “alternative version” assessments (e.g., Napoleon’s Retreat). Each alternative version assessment features different Library of Congress documents but takes the same form as its flagship. Even if you don’t use the flagship assessment, the student responses and videos are useful for understanding the alternative versions.

Beyond the Bubble is the cornerstone of SHEG’s membership in the Library of Congress’s Teaching with Primary Sources (TPS) Educational Consortium.

Click here for a complete list of History Assessments of Thinking, HATs.