On historical thinking and the history educational challenge

Abstract

The notion of historical thinking has in recent years become popular in research on history education, particularly so in North America, the UK and Australia. The aim of this paper is to discuss the cognitive competencies related to historical thinking, as expressed by some influential Canadian researchers, as an history educational notion from two aspects: what is historical thinking and what does it mean in an educational context, and what are the consequences of historical thinking for history education? Our discussion will focus on possible implications of this approach to history education regarding what should be taught in history classrooms and why. By focusing on the notion of historicity, we want to argue that while a focus on a more disciplinary approach to history education is welcome, we think that more attention should be given to what could qualify as a disciplinary approach. We further argue historical thinking and the history educational challenge should be understood as wider and more complex than what history education informed by historical thinking entails.     

浅析历史故事在初中历史教学中的应用

本文从历史故事在初中历史教学中的重要性出发,分析了选择历史故事的原则:真实性、趣味性、针对性。在此基础上,从通过有悬念的历史故事导入新课;通过小故事来化解课堂教学难点;课末巧妙设置历史故事增加兴趣三个方面重点介绍了在初中历史教学中如何有效地使用历史故事,以此来提升历史课的气氛,提高教学质量,增强学生对于历史知识的掌握。     

高中历史创新教学的设想与实践

笔者在解读高中历史新课程标准的基础上,结合阅读与教学实践的思考,对高中历史教学进行了教学的创新。     

论心理史学取向的中国教育史研究

心理史学理论与方法是研究中国教育史的新视角。从西方心理史学及其研究领域和发展方向看,心理史学理论与方法在中国教育史研究中也是可行的,心理史学理论与方法在中国教育史研究中已见端倪,但在研究过程中应把握心理学理论与中国教育史实的关系、个性与共性的关系、局限性与广泛性的关系等问题。     

Historical thinking about sources in the context of a standards-based curriculum: a Swedish case

The increased interest in basing teaching on disciplinary thinking has had a profound impact on the syllabus for history in Sweden. Within this context, we examine how students demonstrate one aspect of disciplinary thinking in history, namely reasoning about historical sources. The material used is written answers to an assignment about historical sources in the national test in history for year 6. The analysis shows that many students are able to show at least some aspects of disciplinary thinking about sources, though the vast majority has problems with contextualising the source in the assignment. One explanation put forth is that the syllabus is not yet fully enacted in teaching practices.     

对《中国近现代史纲》学科体系和课程功能的思考

基于我校开设<中国近现代史纲>课程两年的实践,对这门课的学科涵义、起止时段、涵盖内容、教育功能、教学目的,以及理论联系实际的基本要求等,进行了思考.     

历史教师如何适应新课改的探索与实践

历史即是一面镜子,学生受到良好的历史教育,将照亮学生的一生。为此,我们历史教师须真正认识到其中的重要性,知晓自身肩负的担子有多重!随着社会经济的发展,科技的日新月异,历史教师须深刻领会新课改精神,树立终身学习理念,以最饱满的热情迎接新课程改革,进而适应新课程改革。     

The teaching of literature in a Singapore secondary school: disciplinarity,curriculum coverage and the opportunity costs involved

Set against the backdrop of reinvigorating the study of literature and concerns about the adequate preparation of students for the world of work, this paper explores how a Singapore teacher presented a literary text in the classroom. Drawing on data from a large-scale representative sample of Singapore schools in instruction and assessment practices, we discuss some of the potential consequences of instructional choice-making from a disciplinary perspective. Our findings suggest, for example, that when teacher-dominated discourse and interpretations dominate, instructional flexibility and responsiveness are correspondingly limited and restricted. These courses of action, we contend, may occur contrary to teachers’ plans and expectations. The paper closes by making a call for further longitudinal research across multiple research sites into the nature of literature pedagogy that has a strong disciplinary focus.     

Institutionalising racial segregation in the South African school: the School Board Act, 1905

ABSTRACT

This essay attempts to show how the Social Darwinist thinking of white racial superiority, and so, ultimately, white supremacy, came to be institutionalised in law in South Africa. It looks specifically at the making and institutionalisation of the School Board Act (SBA) of 1905 of the Colony of the Cape of Good Hope. It argues that the SBA contains one of the first constitutive moves that are made in the South Africa that is to emerge with the Act of Union in 1910 with respect to classification, ranking, and ordering in the country’s long history of race-making. It precedes better-known pieces of legislation such as the Population Registration Act of 1950 which the apartheid government institutes almost 50 years later. Through the SBA, “race” as a social fact is entrenched in legal and juridical terms. The essay examines how this process is institutionalised through legal judgements provided by the courts of the Cape Colony.     

Stories of self,stories of practice: enacting a vision of socially just pedagogy for Latino youth

This narrative inquiry examines how one Latina novice teacher articulates and implements a vision of teaching for social justice within the contexts of her teacher education program and her practice as a bilingual resource teacher. Informed by Latino/a critical race (LatCrit) theory, the analysis traces connections between stories of self and practice, focusing on her development of an innovative middle school literacy course for Spanish speakers. This article highlights the ways in which she recruits her experiences as a member of a marginalized group and brings them to bear on practice in the crafting of a critical pedagogy that takes learners’ interests and concerns as central while encouraging social action. Findings are discussed in light of the following themes: critical questioning and resistance; analysis of systems of oppression and positioning; and encouraging social action and practicing democracy. This study has implications for teacher preparation committed to socially just pedagogies for all children, but especially for Latino/a youth.     

历史比较与类型比较在汉语史研究中的意义

语言的历史比较和类型比较有两种不同的研究方法。在汉语史研究中，把这两种方法有机地结合起来，可以弥补传统方法的不足，并解决一些疑难问题，能收到较好的成效。     

提高初中历史教学效果的探讨

教学是一项须由老师和学生共同完成的活动,虽说在这个过程中,老师有着举足轻重的作用,但如若没有台下学生的积极响应,也算不得是一次良好的教学尝试,因此,在探讨如何提高教学效果时,"教"与"学"这两个方面理应同时顾及,决不能盲目侧重,下面,笔者就从"教"与"学"这两个角度来切入,做一番探讨。     

Teacher adaptation of document-based history curricula: results of the Reading Like a Historian curriculum-use survey

Although most teachers adapt curriculum, we know little about teachers’ rationales for modifying materials, how these rationales align with actual modifications, nor whether any patterns exist in the modifications that teachers make. This is especially the case in history/social studies, where research on curriculum is scant and research on teacher adaptation of curriculum is virtually non-existent. This paper addresses that gap. We report the results of a large-scale survey on curriculum use with over 1900 history teachers. The online survey focused on how and why teachers use and adapt lesson materials from a free online history curriculum and prompted teachers to upload examples of curriculum materials they had modified. We found that individual differences among teachers correlated with particular types of modifications. Moreover, we found that teachers were motivated to modify materials to address their students’ needs, and that their modifications rarely affected the core structure – or theory of content – of the lessons. We argue that such alignment between teachers and curricular materials represents an example of curricular fit. We discuss what curricular design features may have contributed to the high level of curricular fit among users as well as the implications of this construct for curriculum implementation efforts across subject areas.     

Returning history to the educational formation of health professionals in Australia

History has practically vanished from allied health professional education. We ask, what kind of problem does a ‘history of the professions’ pose for health sciences curriculum? What are the implications of graduates being unschooled in the history of their profession? Literature on knowledge in the curriculum, is used to interrogate how historical knowledge has come to be constituted in professional education fields. We develop a sketch of two particular health professions – occupational therapy and physiotherapy – and ask why it might be difficult to include a history of the profession in these curricula. Our view is that by helping students to cultivate an historical imagination, they can see how their experiences are framed by a fascinating collision of ideas, politics and practices. Furthermore, attention to history can help students better situate their own uncertainties about transitioning to practice enabling them to tackle professional quandaries with hindsight, foresight and insight.     

小学社会课历史知识创造性教学研究

本文主要围绕小学社会课历史知识内容阐述了实施创造性教学的具体方法.     

At the interface: academic history,school history and the philosophy of history

How history is learnt and taught must to some extent be shaped by conceptions of what history is. Historians tend to conceptualize what something is by investigating what it has been and what it has meant in different contexts. This article explains how a debate in the philosophy of history between positivism and intentionalism provided the context for history to be defined as a distinct school subject. It traces the epistemological underpinnings of history pedagogy over the past century, illuminating the close relationship between attempts in the philosophy of history to defend history’s disciplinary autonomy and the formulation of a disciplinary model of school history education. Eschewing a one-way account from the philosophy of history to the school history classroom, it attributes the interest of leading history educationalists to use philosophical analyses of history to an educational paradigm eager to distil the disciplinary essence of the school subjects. At the interface of academic history, school history and the philosophy of history, it describes a process whereby these separate threads became part of a common fabric, shaping conceptions of what it means and what it takes to be educated in history.