The roles of epistemology and ideology in teachers’ pedagogy with historical ‘media’

Within the field of social studies education, disciplinary models of teaching, such as approximating a historian in asking students to ‘think historically,’ have been the emphasis of countless professional development and teacher education programs. This movement, however, has focused largely on the use of traditional primary documents and generally does not include training for teachers or students on how other forms of media construct history. This collective case study examines how two US history teachers’ epistemological beliefs about historical media and ideology and overall goals for students as citizens impacts their pedagogy with different historical media, particularly film. Data were collected on a daily basis over the course of six months, and included observations, teacher interviews, and the media used as historical sources. Findings show that teachers’ beliefs about how sources represent history affect their pedagogy with the particular media, and that epistemic development and current notions of historical thinking may be limited when it comes to media that commonly serve as historical sources for the public at large (e.g., film, television, WWW, videogames). This limitation is caused in large part by the teachers’ larger goals for students that are informed by their ideology, and difficulty in identifying bias in media that aligned with their own beliefs. Therefore, a shift in teachers’ epistemic beliefs about how different forms of media serve as sources of history, essentially a form of critical media literacy, and coinciding recognition of ideological goals needs to occur in order to better instill students with skills in historical and media literacy for the twenty‐first century.     

Stepping into other people’s shoes proves to be a difficult task for high school students: assessing historical empathy through simulation exercise

In 2011, the Finnish National Board of Education assessed the learning outcomes of history with a study whose results raised doubts about the fulfilment of the goals of history education. This article seeks to expand awareness about Finnish adolescents’ understanding of historical empathy. The study assessed twenty-two 16–17-year-old high school students’ ability to understand predecessors’ actions in particular historical situations. The study also examined how well a simulation exercise works as a tool of empathy teaching and evaluation. Students participated in the simulation and afterwards the students were interviewed. They also participated in a survey that measured their attitudes before and after the exercise, and wrote an essay at the end of the course. The results of the study show that most of the high school students did not reach the goals set for history teaching. The weak performance of students is explained by the strong tradition of history teaching which has been continuing in Finnish schools despite the curriculum reform. Teaching still concentrates on passing a meta-narrative on to students who have not yet enough experience of explaining historical events from a multiperspective point of view.     

中国高校学生管理模式的历史考察

高校学生的管理工作是各个国家都非常关注的问题,它不仅影响着学生在校期间的学习和生活,甚至对他们今后的发展都会产生深远的影响。对于这些世界观、人生观、价值观正在形成的青年学生来说,严格、合理、人性化的管理模式有利于培养他们积极向上的品德,养成良好的行为习惯,树立开拓进取的拼搏精神,为今后的学习、生活打下良好坚实的基础。主要对我国高等学校的学生管理模式进行历史考察,并归纳出各个时期的特点,从而为高等学校的学生管理模式的不断完善提供依据。     

试论马克思主义唯物史观中的和谐哲学意蕴

唯物史观是马克思主义思想体系中最重要的组成部分,唯物史观中的矛盾论、系统论、生产力理论和实践论是我们认识世界并形成世界观和价值观的逻辑起点。在当今时代,重新解读马克思主义的唯物史观,剖析其中的和谐哲学意蕴,不仅可以拓宽我们认识唯物史观的新维度,而且有助于我们深刻领会党和国家关于建设社会主义和谐社会的新思路、新举措,推动我国的现代化建设。     

National identity in the historical narratives of a morally questionable historical process / Identidad nacional en las narrativas sobre un proceso histórico moralmente cuestionable

Different studies have shown that national groups construct a positive social identity through the appropriation of heroic narratives about the national past. Within this framework, this research studied the narratives of Argentine university students (n = 27), without specific training in history about a historical process in which their national state carried out morally questionable actions. Specifically, we analysed their narratives on the ‘Conquest of the Desert’, a military campaign carried out in the late nineteenth century which entailed the genocide of the indigenous peoples who inhabited most of what is today Argentina. Through semi-structured interviews, it was revealed that although the grammar of the participants’ narratives is generally poor, it is possible to identify in them two clashing groups as agents of that historical process. Furthermore, the participants did not use the pronouns we/us to refer to any of these groups, so they did not identify with them. We conclude that the poverty of the participants’ narratives may reveal a collective attempt to forget this morally condemnable historical process, which would also have been expressed in the shift of responsibility from the Argentine state to other social groups in most of the narratives analysed. Likewise, failure to identify with the victims, even in cases in which it was considered to be the national state, shows the implementation of cognitive strategies to preserve a positive identity.     

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.     

Using representational tools to support historical reasoning in computer-supported collaborative learning

Abstract

In this article the authors focus on how features of a computersupported collaborative learning (CSCL) environment can elicit and support domain-specific reasoning and more specifically historical reasoning. The CSCL environment enables students to collaborate on a historical inquiry task and in writing an argumentative essay. In order to support historical reasoning the authors compared two representational tools: a graphical representation (argumentative diagram) and a linear representation (argument list). As it is assumed that an argumentative diagram can support both cognitive and interaction processes, it was expected that using this tool would result in more qualitative historical reasoning, in the chat as well as in the essay. However, the results of this study did not show a significant difference in the amount of historical reasoning between the two conditions. A possible explanation can be found in the way the students make use of the representational tool while executing the task. The tool does not only function as a cognitive tool that can elicit elaborate activities, but also as a tool through which students communicate.     

‘I Saw Angry People and Broken Statues’: Historical Empathy in Secondary History Education

Tasks which invite students to identify with historical actors and describe their perspectives are a common phenomenon in history education. The aim of this study is to explore the differences in students’ answers when completing a writing task in first person (‘imagine you are in the past’) or in third person (‘imagine someone in the past’), or a task in which such imagination is not explicitly asked. Furthermore we investigated the effects of the type of task on topic knowledge and situational interest. Students in Dutch secondary education (N = 254) participated by completing a task on the Dutch Iconoclasm. Our analysis of student answers focused on aspects of historical empathy: historical contextualization, affective elements and perspective taking.

Results were that all students gained some knowledge from the task, regardless of the type of task they completed. Students’ situational interest also did not differ between the three tasks. However, students’ written work showed that the first- and third-person writing tasks stimulated students to imagine concrete details of the past and emotions of historical actors. Students who were not explicitly asked to imagine themselves or someone in the past included more perspectives into their writings. Students who completed the task in first person tended to show more presentism and moral judgements of the past than students who completed a task in third person.     

A Model of Historical Thinking

Abstract

‘Historical thinking’ has a central role in the theory and practice of history education. At a minimum, history educators must work with a model of historical thinking if they are to formulate potential progression in students’ advance through a school history curriculum, test that progression empirically, and shape instructional experiences in order to maximize that progression. Where do they look, and where should they look, in order to construct such models? Over the past several decades, three major strands have developed, one based in the empirically minded and instruction-oriented British Schools Council History Project, a second through the more philosophically oriented German field of history didactics and historical consciousness, and a third in the US. All three had roots in the historiography and philosophy of their own national traditions. Canadian history educators have been working with a pragmatic hybrid defined around six ‘historical thinking concepts.’ While this model has both been highly influential in the reform of Canadian history curricula and prompted adaptations elsewhere, there has been only minimal theoretical discussion exploring the relationship of these concepts to each other or to the three traditions which helped to shape them. This article is a contribution towards filling that gap.     

Making history relevant to students by connecting past,present and future: a framework for research

History teaching usually focuses on understanding the past as an aim in itself. Research shows that many students don’t see the point of this and perceive history as not very useful. Yet history plays a major role in the orientation on present and future. If students fail to see this, the question arises whether this is due to a lack of explicit attention in history classes on the application of knowledge about the past to the present and the future. This article explores two questions: (1) If history is to be more relevant to students, what kind of objectives should play a central role in history teaching? (2) What kinds of teaching strategies align with these objectives in history teaching? The first question is answered by means of historical and educational theory. The second is answered by exploring a number of teaching strategies that have been described in the literature, as well as a small-scale experiment conducted by the authors. This article aims at providing a basis for developing meaningful history curricula as well as for research into educational strategies which can be deployed to teach students how to make connections between past, present and future.     

思想政治理论课历史人物教学对策研究——以“中国近现代史纲要”课为例

通过对“中国近现代史纲要”课程历史人物教学问卷调查分析,从历史人物入手,精选教学内容、精心设计教学过程、积极拓展教学空间,充分调动学生学习的积极性,还学生以鲜活的历史人物,培养学生的创新能力,培育学生的民族精神。     

浅谈历史课堂上学生提出的“意外问题”

在中学历史课堂教学中,学生有时会对教师的讲述或教科书的叙述提出一些意外性的问题,使教师不知道如何解答。根据问题的特点,可以将其大致分为两种类型:史事类的问题和认识类的问题。学生在课堂上提出意外问题的原因,一是同学生的认知习惯及思维特点有关,二是同中学历史知识的特点有关。学生提出意外问题这一现象,有着一定的教学上的意义,为此,教师应不断调整教学策略,更好地与学生共同完成教学的任务。     

Promoting historical contextualisation in classrooms: an observational study

The aim of this observational study is to explore how history teachers promote historical contextualisation in their lessons. Historical contextualisation is the ability to situate phenomena and individuals’ actions in the context of time, historical location, long-term developments, or specific events to give meaning to these phenomena and actions. Using the Framework for Analysing the Teaching of Historical Contextualisation (FAT-HC), five trained raters observed eight history teachers twice. To further analyse the observation scores, the FAT-HC items were divided into eight categories while distinguishing between items that demonstrate historical contextualisation and items focusing on engaging students in historical contextualisation processes. The results indicate that the teachers in the sample did not explicitly promote historical contextualisation in their lessons. No teacher obtained a mean FAT-HC score >2.00 on a four-point scale. The teachers mainly demonstrated historical contextualisation, while engaging students in historical contextualisation processes was observed far less often. The findings can be used to help teachers formulate domain-specific instruction to promote students’ ability to perform historical contextualisation.     

An inquiry-based augmented reality mobile learning approach to fostering primary school students’ historical reasoning in non-formal settings

This study investigated the contribution of a location-based augmented reality (AR) inquiry-learning environment in developing 3rd grade students’ historical empathy and conceptual understanding. Historical empathy is an important element of historical thinking, which is considered to improve conceptual understanding and support the development of democratic citizens by helping students interpret, understand and connect patterns of human activity across time. Fifty-three 3rd grade students, grouped in two research conditions, participated in this study. Students visited an archaeological site with and without the support of an AR learning environment on mobile tablet devices. Data from all students were collected following a pre- and post-test design. Twelve students from the AR condition participated in individual interviews and all AR students took a delayed post-test. The results showed that students’ conceptual understanding and historical empathy increased from pre to post for both conditions. Statistically significant differences were found between the AR field trip and the traditional field trip students in the development of empathy and conceptual understanding. These results add to the literature by supporting the potential of AR technologies for the development of students’ historical empathy; several design implications are also discussed.     

中职历史教学之思考

伴随新课程改革的不断深入以及教学理念的改变、教学手段的创新,对历史科目而言,历史教学效果有了很大的改观,但是问题和难点依然不少,尤其中职的历史教学情况仍然不容乐观。文章主要是在分析中职历史教学现状的基础上,从学生、教师现状以及对历史的认识上谈谈自己的一些建议和思考。     

实验史学:后现代主义在史学领域的诉求

效用、真实和时间构成了历史认识结构的基本要素 ,而历史认识史中的结构变迁经历了前现代 (从古代到 1 8世纪末职业化历史学产生之前 )、现代 (职业化历史学时期 ,即 1 8世纪末到 2 0世纪 70年代初 )和后现代 ( 2 0世纪 70年代后 )三个阶段 ,效用、真实、时间依次成为这三个阶段历史认识结构的中心。以时间为结构中心的后现代主义史学表现出历史主义的极端化 ,并进一步强调了时间、变化对于历史真实和历史意义的决定性作用 ,有鉴于此 ,历史叙述和阅读的私人化将促使历史学成为一种实验史学 ,即它不再是那种宣告历史真实的史学 ,而致力于在历史性情境下提供个体史学家认可的文本 ,并交由读者阅读、判断 ,随后通过该文本产生的效用来确认其是否真实。这样 ,任何一种史学实践都将是历史学家当下进行的一项追求历史真实的实验 ,而实验成功与否 ,完全取决于实验环境即阅读环境所提供的条件     

关于历史活动课的几点思考

历史活动课意义深远,它有利于学生更好地掌握历史知识,有助于学生综合素质的培养,也有助于学生历史价值观的养成。因此,学校本应该重视历史活动教学。但是由于各种原因,现阶段历史活动课进展情况并不理想。     

重视阅读教学提升学生“史料实证”能力摭探

在高中历史教学中,学生的"史料实证"能力会直接影响其历史学习能力。文章分析提升学生"史料实证"能力的重要意义,探讨高中历史教学的现状,指出在阅读教学中有效提升学生"史料实证"能力的策略:从阅读教学入手,培养学生的史料观;科学选择阅读素材,充分把握课堂教学节奏;以问题引领史料的阅读。     

高师《地质学基础》地史教学中若干问题的讨论

本文对《地质学基础》地史部分的教材进行了分析,指出教材的特点,并对如何使学生学好该部分的内容,进行了探讨。