The following model examines progression in learning within a particular domain - cause and consequence.  The Teaching History Research Group produced a series of stage descriptions which they tell us were based on a mixture of "personal experience, observation in many schools, discussions with teacher and research findings". It is elaborate and analytic, based on clear views about what constitutes quality in historical thinking.  The group does not report any systematic method for arriving at their stages and they emphasise the limitations of their model, suggesting modestly that it will "offer some suggestions of a developing competence, emphasising above all else that this is based on the quality not the quantity of thought". They say that progress in history is dependent "on advancing the depth and sophistication of the conceptual understanding". (Scott 1990)

This extract is taken from: From Scott, J. (ed) (1990) Teaching History Research Group, Understanding Cause and Effect: Learning and Teaching about  causation and consequence in History, Harlow: Longman.