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.     

改革与创新——历史发展的主要动力

本文通过对中国和世界历史上几次具有代表性的改革运动进行类型分析和作用分析 ,总结出了人类社会发展史上曾发生的三种不同类型的改革运动 ,并论述了这些改革所发挥的不同的社会作用 ,进一步指出了改革的历史回顾给我们现实社会的五种重要启示 ,断定改革和创新是历史发展的主要动力     

改革与创新——历史发展的主要动力

本文通过对中国和世界历史上几次具有代表性的改革运动进行类型分析和作用分析 ,总结出了人类社会发展史上曾发生的三种不同类型的改革运动 ,并论述了这些改革所发挥的不同的社会作用 ,进一步指出了改革的历史回顾给我们现实社会的五种重要启示 ,断定改革和创新是历史发展的主要动力     

'You'd Be Wanting to Know about the Past': Social contexts of children's historical understanding in Northern Ireland and the USA

This research reports the results of two studies of young children's historical thinking, one conducted in Northern Ireland and one in the USA. In both countries, primary/elementary students learn about history in a variety of settings, including not only schools but also family conversations, historic sites and the media. The differing nature of historical representations in the two countries, however, leads students to contrasting conclusions about the purpose of learning about the past: in the USA, students emphasise that history is important so that they will know about the origin of their country and their own place within it, while in Northern Ireland students describe the purpose of history as being to learn about those who are different from themselves. In both countries, such comparative evidence about children's thinking provides educators with the opportunity to consider how they can build on and extend students' understanding of history.     

物理实验教学与创造思维能力的培养

当今社会的快速发展,知识和技术的创新与创造是最主要的原动力.在职业学校中培养学生的创造思维能力,是历史赋于我们教育工作者的伟大使命.作为物理学教师,应用物理实验教学培养学生的创造思维能力,为新的历史时期培养合格的人才,对社会和历史都有着重要的意义.     

Engaging adolescents with LD in higher order thinking about history concepts using integrated content enhancement routines

The understanding and use of historical concepts specified in national history standards pose many challenges to students. These challenges include both the acquisition of content knowledge and the use of that knowledge in ways that require higher order thinking. All students, including adolescents with learning disabilities (LD), are expected to understand and use concepts of history to pass high-stakes assessments and to participate meaningfully in a democratic society. This article describes Content Enhancement Routines (CERs) to illustrate instructional planning, teaching, and assessing for higher order thinking with examples from an American history unit. Research on the individual components of Content Enhancement Routines will be illustrated with data from 1 of the routines. The potential use of integrated sets of materials and procedures across grade levels and content areas will be discussed.     

Multiple Sources of Evidence: An Analysis of Stakeholders' Perceptions of Various Indicators of Student Learning

This study compared different stakeholders' perceived validity of various indicators of student learning used to judge the quality of students' academic performance. Data were gathered from the questionnaire responses of 314 educators in three states that have implemented comprehensive state-wide assessment programs with high-stakes consequences both for educators and for students. MANOVA results showed that while educators generally hold similar perceptions, significant differences exist between school administrators and teachers. Administrators perceived the results from nationally normed standardized assessments, state assessments, and district assessments to be more valid indicators of student achievement than did teachers. In contrast, teachers granted more validity to classroom observations and homework completion and quality than did administrators. The implications of these differences for reform initiatives are discussed, particularly with regard to teachers' motivation to improve results.     

论角色扮演对培养历史思维的作用

本轮基础教育课程改革中,角色扮演受到许多历史教师的重视.但是,他们对角色扮演与培养历史思维的内在联系缺乏系统的认识.角色扮演对培养历史思维的作用主要体现在三个方面.首先,角色扮演有助于学生理解历史概念,便于学生把握历史文本.其次,角色扮演有助于学生重建历史事件,从而认识历史的真相.最后,角色扮演为学生阐释历史提供了巨大的空间,有助于学生追寻历史的意义.     

The Structure of Historical Inquiry

Abstract

History educators find themselves in the peculiar situation of wishing to introduce students to the history discipline while lacking a clear conception of the features intrinsic to historical inquiry across its various specialisations and subject matters. In affirming that no one methodological charter hangs in the corridors of academic history departments, we fail to provide an adequate justification for an education in history. The doctrine that history is an exercise in disciplined knowledge, a specific way of knowing, is weakened by disciplinary disquietude and dissimilitude. Three features impress themselves upon all who inquire into the past. In the learning and teaching of history, these three features assume a distinct structural shape. First, colligation consists in grouping the events and concepts to be studied according to their shared purposes. Second, historical distance, intimately tied up with tradition and collective memory, provides the means for identifying a past separate from the present to be studied in its own right. Third, reconstruction describes the process of supplying individual content to the general categories illuminated by the earlier stages. To work knowingly in this structure of historical inquiry offers no solutions to the problems of historical thinking, it is to work productively within these problems.     

让计算思维为智能时代的教育赋能--ISTE《计算思维能力标准(教育者)》解读及启示

国际教育技术学会(ISTE)于2018年发布了《计算思维能力标准(教育者)》,这是国际范围内首个以计算思维命名的标准文本,对指引智能时代的计算思维教学具有里程碑意义。《计算思维能力标准(教育者)》旨在为智能时代的教学变革提供路线图,分别从智能时代计算思维教育者的五种身份——计算思维学习者、教育公平的领导者、围绕计算的协作者、创新者与设计者、计算思维与课堂教学融合的促进者入手,围绕计算思维、公平的领导者、围绕计算的协作、创新与设计及融合计算思维,界定了教育者应具备的计算思维能力。该《标准》的启示在于:就教师专业发展而言,要明确计算思维教育者的多重身份,履行相应职能;构建教育者计算思维能力发展框架——CTPACK,在学科教学中有效落实计算思维;以计算思维为牵引,带动数据素养与人工智能素养的共同提升。就学科建设而言,在信息技术学科中有效落实计算思维,促进计算思维与学科教学的深度融合,加深跨学科活动设计,从而推进学科间的协同发展。     

历史研究与现实关怀——张海鹏先生的学问人生

张海鹏先生的学术研究领域主要是中国近代史。他的各种研究论著,虽不乏具体而微的史实考辨,但更多的是有关中国近代史研究理论与方法的宏观思考与评论。事实上,他的主要学术旨趣正在于探索近代中国的历史进程,建构中国近代史的学科体系。他不是一位纯粹书斋式的学者,既有传统士人的入世精神,又有现代知识分子的参与意识。作为历史学家,他研究历史,不是为学术而学术,而是立足现实,既从现实社会中发现历史研究的问题意识,又力图从历史研究中寻求解决现实社会政治问题的思想资源。研究历史,观照现实,是其基本的学术品格。     

课程史研究:课程理论创新的历史自觉

课程史研究在课程理论与实践中具有重要的学术价值,它是传承课程思想的根基、创新课程理论的依托、课程改革的借镜和构建教育学中国学派的源头。我国课程史研究有着悠久的历史,在20世纪二三十年代,课程史研究形成了第一次高潮。新中国成立后,课程史研究相对沉寂。改革开放以后,随着课程论学科的发展和课程实践的推进,我国课程史研究逐步深入。当前课程史研究还存在诸多问题:课程理论研究中不重视历史思维和历史方法,研究方法论亟须完善,研究队伍有待加强。课程史研究处于相对“冷门”的状况,既不利于课程改革的现实需要,也不利于课程理论创新的需要。课程史研究应构建适切主题,加强史实挖掘,重视理论构建,关注现实发展,使其在课程理论完善和课程实践探索中发挥更大的作用。     

Cognition in history: A British perspective

In this article, I trace the teaching of history in schools from the subject's establishment as a university discipline in the 1870s through the crisis in school history in the 1960s. A number of factors prompted this heart searching: the questioning of the heavy emphasis on British national history, the changing nature of the discipline, and the increasing emphasis on technical and scientific education. The response of history educators was profoundly influenced by the views of Bloom (1956) and his associates, with their concern for taxonomies of educational objectives, and of Bruner (1960), with his stress on the need for teachers and students to be clear about the underlying principles that give structure to the subject; these ideas provided the organizing structure for the main history curriculum development project of the 1970s, the Schools Council History 13-16 Project (SCHP). Research into children's historical thinking based on the Piagetian developmental framework, however, seems to suggest that the SCHP was setting itself impossible goals; children were not really able to construe history in the ways the project demanded much before the age of 16. More recent research, which has adopted a different methodology, has advanced a much more optimistic view and points to the potential of children for real historical thinking. I conclude by examining the recently imposed History National Curriculum and the extent to which its assessment arrangements are underpinned by research, and I speculate on the likely effects of the new regime on the teaching and learning of history in England and Wales.     

Beyond Evolution: Addressing Broad Interactions Between Science and Religion in Science Teacher Education

Science and religion are two indisputably profound and durable cultural forces with a complex history of interaction. As ASTE members are aware, these interactions often manifest themselves in classrooms and in the surrounding communities. In this essay, we encourage science teacher educators to broaden their perspectives of science–religion interactions so that they may better assist pre- and in-service science teachers with addressing topics such as the age and origins of the universe and biological evolution in an appropriate manner. We first introduce some foundational scholarship into the historical interactions between science and religion as well as current efforts to maintain healthy dialogue between perspectives that are frequently characterized as innately in conflict with or mutually exclusive of one another. Given that biological evolution is the dominant science–religion issue of our day, in particular in the USA, we next summarize the origins and strategies of anti-evolution movements via the rise and persistence of Christian Fundamentalism. We then summarize survey and qualitative sociological research indicating disparities between academic scientists and the general public with regard to religious beliefs to help us further understand our students’ worldviews and the challenges they often face in campus-to-classroom transitions. We conclude the essay by providing resources and practical suggestions, including legal considerations, to assist science teacher educators with their curriculum and outreach.     

El Colegio Altamirano (1897–1958): New Histories of Chicano Education in the Southwest

In the history of education, every generation brings forth someone who has a lasting impact on the current and future generations of educators. Ralph Winfred Tyler was one of those people. His life spanned nearly the entire 20th century, and his concepts of curriculum and instruction transcended this long and fruitful existence. They are found today embedded in the accountability and reform movements. This article is a short celebration of his contributions and life lest, in our hurry to improve our schools, we forget this bit of heritage.     

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.     

Typical practices of lesson study in East Asia

As countries worldwide aim to reform their education systems and improve teaching and learning, lesson study (LS), which originated in East Asia, has recently attracted great attention. In order for international educators and policy makers to better understand the history and the state of the art of LS in East Asia, this article introduces three typical models in Japan, Mainland China and Hong Kong. First, they are described with regard to their distinct features, historical origin and development, goals and objectives, mechanisms of implementation, actual achievements, and structural constraints. Their commonalities and differences are then compared, and especially how and why these differences emerge in the specific sociocultural contexts of the regions. Finally, policy implications are discussed to provide insights for the other education systems in their policy making and implementation of similar reform practices.     

Rooted in resistance: women teachers constructing counter‐pedagogies in post‐authoritarian Brazil

This study focuses upon the narratives of women educators (educadoras) who contributed to radical democratic school reforms in post‐authoritarian Brazil. We illustrate through three of the teachers’ narratives how their professional identities and actions were shaped partly by their experiences of resisting the military regime and by their participation in professional development opportunities that grew from liberatory social movements. Our analysis focuses on their efforts to construct counter‐pedagogies in their disciplines of history, mathematics, and physical education that resisted colonizing, authoritative practices and moved toward more liberatory, humanizing pedagogies. We consider how these counter‐pedagogies reflect both women’s ways of knowing that emphasize dialogue, collaboration, community, and the value of personal knowledge and relationships, as well as feminist principles of consciousness‐raising and social action. This analysis highlights possibilities and challenges of radical democratic reform in education by focusing on the work, experience, and identities of women educators engaged in the day‐to‐day efforts to bring about lasting change.     

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。     

“碎片化”思维与教育研究——托马斯·波克维茨教授访谈录

近些年来,"碎片化"思维受到了越来越多教育研究者的关注。从哲学的角度来看,"碎片化"思维是一种反思性思维,它包含了"去自然化"或者说"去常规化"的过程。遵循这种思维方式,针对教育中一些习以为常的观念或是现象,通过使用"当下的历史"这种具体的研究方法,可以帮助研究者重新审视教育领域中所谓"毋庸置疑"的观念是如何在人们的头脑中历史地产生的。在此基础上,教育工作者可以获得关于学校运作秩序的知识,进而为指导教育实践、推动教育教学改革提供更多的可供参考的选择。