Adams, Jennifer D. “The Historical Context of Science and Education at the American Museum of Natural History.” (2007)

ulrike — Wed, 12 Dec 2012 20:59:33 +0000

Citation:

Adams, Jennifer D. “The Historical Context of Science and Education at the American Museum of Natural History.” Cultural Studies of Science Education 2(2) (2007): 393-440.

Abstract/Summary:

In this article I critically examine the historical context of science education in a natural history museum and its relevance to using museum resources to teach science today. I begin with a discussion of the historical display of race and its relevance to my practice of using the Museum’s resources to teach science. I continue with a critical review of the history of the education department in a natural history museum to demonstrate the historical constitution of current practices of the education department. Using sociocultural constructs around identity formation and transformation, I move to the present with a case study of a teacher who transforms the structure of science education in her classroom and school as a result of her identity transformation and association with a museum-based professional education program.

Source/Credit:

Springer

Afflerbach, Peter, and Bruce VanSledright. “Hath! Doth! What? Middle Graders Reading Innovative History Text.” (2001)

Anne Marie — Wed, 22 Jul 2009 21:34:56 +0000

Citation:

Afflerbach, Peter, and Bruce VanSledright. “Hath! Doth! What? Middle Graders Reading Innovative History Text.” Journal of Adolescent and Adult Literacy 44(8) (2001): 696-707. http://www.reading.org/General/Publications/Journals/jaal.aspx

Abstract/Summary:

Examines adolescents who faced many comprehension challenges when studying diverse history content. Focuses on the challenges that an innovative history chapter with embedded texts presents to middle-grade students and the strategies and stances that student readers use in relation to these challenges. Examines the nature of students' historical thinking and its relationship to how students read history.

Source/Credit:

ERIC

Almarza, D. J. “Contexts Shaping Minority Language Students' Perceptions of American History.” (2001)

Wed, 22 Apr 2009 14:00:41 +0000

Citation:

Almarza, D. J. "Contexts Shaping Minority Language Students' Perceptions of American History." Journal of Social Studies Research 25(2) (2001): 4-22. http://www.thejssr.com/

Abstract/Summary:

The purpose of this study was to examine the perceptions of American history among adolescent Mexican Americans at the eight-grade level in a mid-west town's middle school. This qualitative study shows that multiple contexts influenced the process of teaching and learning history between and among a white teacher and adolescent Mexican Americans at Atkinson Middle School. Those overlapping contexts (the context of the education of minority language students, the context of social studies education, and the school's culture) created a unique totality responsible for shaping the experiences of learning American history by Mexican-American students. These experiences were detrimental for the appreciation by Mexican-American students of American history's potential meanings and significance.

Source/Credit:

journal

ulrike — Fri, 02 Oct 2009 21:14:04 +0000

Citation:

Anderson, David, and Hiroyuki Shimizu, “Memories of Expo 70: Visitors’ Experiences and the Retention of Vivid Long-term Memories.” Curator 50 (4) (2007)

Abstract/Summary:

This study reports on outcomes of an investigation of visitors’ long-term memories of the 1970 Japan World Exposition, Osaka. The paper reports in two parts the emergent outcomes of a study that provides understanding of the nature of visitors’ long-term memories of their experiences in an informal leisure-time context. First, the paper discusses the common and most dominant recollections that emerged from 48 visitors’ memories of this event 34 years ago. An overall explication of visitors’ memories of their experiences of the event reveals an interesting mix of reactions: wonderment about the world and the amazing technological advances of the era, blended with personal discomfort and frustrations associated with the memories. These mixed feelings are presented against the backdrop of Japanese national identity re-emergent on the world stage. Second, an analysis and discussion of qualitative data provides case examples of how three psychological and behavioral factors (affect, agenda fulfillment, and rehearsal) shape the vividness of episodic and/or autobiographical memories of the episodes as they are recalled 34 years later. This paper vividly illustrates the power of qualitative data to illuminate understanding of visitors’ long-term memories and presents some significant issues for museum staff to consider as they plan for visitor experiences that will have lasting impact.

Source/Credit:

Informal Science

Anderson, David, B. Piscitelli, K. Weier, M. Everett, and C. Tayler. “Children’s Museum Experiences: Identifying Powerful Mediators of Learning.” (2002)

ulrike — Fri, 02 Oct 2009 21:20:48 +0000

Citation:

Anderson, David, B. Piscitelli, K. Weier, M. Everett, and C. Tayler. “Children’s Museum Experiences: Identifying Powerful Mediators of Learning.” Curator 45(3) (2002)

Abstract/Summary:

This article reports on a study of young children and the nature of their learning through museum experiences. Environments such as museums are physical and social spaces where visitors encounter objects and ideas which they interpret through their own experiences, customs, beliefs, and values. The study was conducted in four different museum environments: a natural and social history museum, an art gallery, a science center, and a hybrid art/social history museum. The subjects were four- to seven-year old children. At the conclusion of a ten-week, multi-visit museum program, interviews were conducted with children to probe the saliency of their experiences and the ways in which they came to understand the museums they visited. Emergent from this study, we address several findings that indicate that museum-based exhibits and programmatic experiences embedded in the common and familiar socio-cultural context of the child’s world, such as play and story, provide greater impact and meaning than do museum exhibits and experiences that are decontexualized in nature.

Source/Credit:

Informal Science

Anderson, David, Barbara Piscitelli, Katrina Weier and Michelle Everett. “Competing Agendas: Young Children’s Museum Field Trips.” (2008)

ulrike — Wed, 12 Dec 2012 21:33:42 +0000

Citation:

Anderson, David, Barbara Piscitelli, Barbara, Katrina Weier and Michelle Everett. “Competing Agendas: Young Children’s Museum Field Trips.” Curator 51(3) (2008): 253-73.

Abstract/Summary:

Visitors to museum settings have agendas that encompass a wide variety of missions. Agendas are known to directly influence visitor behavior and learning. Numerous agendas are at play during a visit to a museum. We suggest that in a museum-based learning experience, children’s agendas are often overlooked, and are at times in competition with the accompanying adult’s agendas. This paper describes and qualitatively analyzes three episodes of competing agendas that occurred on young children’s field trips to museums in Brisbane, Australia. The aim is to elucidate the kinds of tensions over agendas that can arise in the experience of young museum-goers. Additionally, we hope to alert museum practitioners to the importance of considering children’s agendas, with the aim of improving their museum experience. Suggestions are also made for ways in which educators can address children’s agendas during museum visits in order to maximize learning outcomes.

Source/Credit:

California Academy of Sciences

Anderson, David, Barbara Piscitelli, Katrina Weier, Michelle Everett and Collette Tayler. “Children’s Museum Experiences: Identifying Powerful Mediators of Learning.” (2002)

ulrike — Wed, 12 Dec 2012 21:32:45 +0000

Citation:

Anderson, David, Barbara Piscitelli, Barbara, Katrina Weier, Michelle Everett and Collette Tayler. “Children’s Museum Experiences: Identifying Powerful Mediators of Learning.” Curator 45(3) (2002): 213-31.

Abstract/Summary:

This article reports on a study of young children and the nature of their learning through museum experiences. Environments such as museums are physical and social spaces where visitors encounter objects and ideas, which they interpret through their own experiences, customs, beliefs, and values. The study was conducted in four different museum environments: a natural and social history museum, an art gallery, a science center, and a hybrid art/social history museum. The subjects were four- to seven-year old children. At the conclusion of a ten-week, multi-visit museum program, interviews were conducted with children to probe the saliency of their experiences and the ways in which they came to understand the museums they visited. Emergent from this study, we address several findings that indicate that museum-based exhibits and programmatic experiences embedded in the common and familiar socio-cultural context of the child’s world, such as play and story, provide greater impact and meaning than do museum exhibits and experiences that are decontexualized in nature.

Source/Credit:

California Academy of Sciences

Ashby, R., and P. Lee. “Children's Concepts of Empathy and Understanding in History." (1987)

ulrike — Fri, 16 Oct 2009 23:07:34 +0000

Citation:

Ashby, R., and P. Lee. “Children's Concepts of Empathy and Understanding in History." In The History Curriculum for Teachers, edited by C. Portal, 62-88. London: Falmer, 1987.

Abstract/Summary:

In this chapter the Ashby and Lee examine how elementary school students conceptualize empathy and use the concept of empathy to understand the past. Since this is a pilot study the authors qualify their results and conclusions as preliminary and tentative.

After asking the children “to explain Anglo-Saxon oath-helping and the ordeal,” Ashby and Lee conclude that young students move through five stages of sophistication in their use of empathy. In the first stage, “the ‘divi’ past,” students understood the past as unintelligible and people in the past as “not as clever as us.” In the second stage, “generalized stereotypes,” they provided a stereotypical account of people’s roles and actions. In stage three, “everyday empathy,” students understood the past with reference to the present and were thus unable to see the differences between the past and present. However, in stage four, known as “restricted historical empathy,” students were able to understand the past with specific reference to the situation in which people found themselves, noting that these situations must be different from similar ones in the present. Taking this one step further, in stage five, “contextual historical empathy,” children were able to apply the fourth concept to a wider picture, indicating that if a particular situation in the past differs from a similar one in the present people’s lives in general must have differed in the past. Thus, the main difference in stage five is students’ ability to use certain strategies learned in one learning context and apply it to another.

To conclude, the authors offer suggestions on how to teach empathy maintaining that the best way to do this is to allow students to present each other with conflicting views of the past.

Source/Credit:

Ana Laura Pauchulo

Ashby, Rosalyn, Peter Lee, and Alaric Dickinson. “How Children Explain the 'Why' of History: The Chata Research Project on Teaching History.” (1997)

viviane gosselin — Thu, 23 Jul 2009 18:08:25 +0000

Citation:

Ashby, Rosalyn, Peter Lee, and Alaric Dickinson. “How Children Explain the 'Why' of History: The Chata Research Project on Teaching History.” Social Education 61(1) (1997): 17-21. http://www.socialstudies.org/socialeducation

Abstract/Summary:

Describes the Chata Project, a British research project that challenged the prevalent assumption that children will construct sound causal explanations from factual information imparted during history instruction. Their research suggests that explicit instruction is required for children to understand the causal relationships among events, motives, and reasons.

Source/Credit:

History Resource

Ashby, Rosalyn. “Developing a Concept of Historical Evidence: Students’ Ideas about Testing Singular Factual Claims.” (2004)

viviane gosselin — Thu, 23 Jul 2009 17:57:15 +0000

Citation:

Ashby, Rosalyn. “Developing a Concept of Historical Evidence: Students’ Ideas about Testing Singular Factual Claims.” International Journal of Historical Learning, Teaching and Research 4, no. 2 (2004) http://centres.exeter.ac.uk/historyresource/journal8/Ashby.doc

Abstract/Summary:

This paper discusses research evidence from Project Chata (Concepts of History and Teaching Approaches) bearing on students’ understandings of the nature and status of different kinds of historical claims. It provides a detailed analysis of pupil responses to two specific questions, designed to explore one aspect of children’s concept of historical evidence. The paper provides example responses to these questions as a means of highlighting the key ideas that children appear to be working with in the context of this task. A total of 320 children from Year 3, Year 6, Year 7, and Year 9, across three primary and six secondary schools, make up the research sample. The paper relates the range of ideas apparent in the sample to the different age groups and these findings suggest that the majority of students from all age groups treat historical claims as if they were matters to be directly tested by an appeal to authority, or by identifying a link between the subject matter of the claim and material the past has left behind. However, these findings also demonstrate that some children were able to make important distinctions between the claims made by different singular factual statements, and to raise questions about the status of those claims. For these children there was a clear recognition that a test suitable for one kind of claim.

Source/Credit:

ERIC

Ashby, Rosalyn. “Students’ Approaches to Validating Historical Claims.” (2005)

ulrike — Tue, 21 Jan 2014 23:36:51 +0000

Citation:

Ashby, Rosalyn. “Students’ Approaches to Validating Historical Claims.” In International Review of History Education, Vol. 4: Understanding History: Recent Research in History Education, edited by R. Ashby, P. Gordon and P. Lee, 20-33. New York: Routledge Falmer, 2005.

Abstract/Summary:

According to Ashby, history education must include an understanding of the history discipline and evidence, which aids us in historical understanding. Through the study of students’ preconceptions and difficulties in learning and understanding history, teachers can gain a deeper knowledge of how to best teach history. Ashby discusses the Project CHATA research detailing students’ approaches to validating historical claims and the nature of historical sources. Throughout the chapter, she discusses the sample, materials, task and focus of the study. There were four different categories of how students selected their stories: story focus, matching, collecting and counting, and questioning. Ashby also details how students’ understanding shifted and stayed the same between the different questions of the research. In conclusion, she discovered that many students feel as though sources are pure information. The study highlighted how important it is for students to move from using sources solely as testimony to questioning the value of the evidence and the specific claims it makes.

Source/Credit:

Erika Smith

Bain, Robert B. "Into the Breach: Using Research and Theory to Shape History Instruction." (2000)

ulrike — Fri, 04 Dec 2009 00:13:15 +0000

Citation:

Bain, Robert B. "Into the Breach: Using Research and Theory to Shape History Instruction." In Knowing, Teaching, and Learning History: National and International Perspectives, edited by Peter N. Stearns, Peter Seixas and Sam Wineburg, 331-52. New York: New York University Press, 2000.

Abstract/Summary:

As a high school history teacher and a graduate student in history, Bain found he was torn between the disciplinary rigor of history and the passive understanding of history by students. In this article, Bain discusses his attempt at implementing a cognitive approach to history instruction in which students’ thinking about historical inquiry is privileged. He uses excerpts from students’ journals to illustrate their thoughts about their thinking as they were introduced to elements of expert historical thinking. He also emphasizes that permanent classroom resources emphasizing the process of historical inquiry and collaborative questioning of historical material aid students in maintaining a disciplinary focus throughout their study of history.

Source/Credit:

Samantha Cutrara

Bains, Satwinder Kaur. “When Old Becomes New and the Telling is Retold.” (2013)

ulrike — Wed, 03 Dec 2014 22:02:28 +0000

Citation:

Bains, Satwinder Kaur. “When Old Becomes New and the Telling is Retold.” In Diverse Spaces: Identity, Heritage and Community in Canadian Public Culture, edited by Susan Ashley, 170-87. Newcastle Upon Tyne: Cambridge Scholars Publishing, 2013.

Abstract/Summary:

In 1894 the first Sikhs, primarily land owners from the Doaba region of Punjab, arrived on the coast of British Columbia. Attracted by the offer of work in a raw and newly colonized land many intended to earn enough money in Canada to buy more land in their home country, and essentially return home in a short amount of time. For many returning home never became a reality, thus creating vibrant and well established communities despite being subjected to experiences and negotiations that resulted in both assimilation and hybridization. This article explores the story of the Sikh Heritage Museum located in Abbotsford, BC, as told by the author who undertook research on the Sikh pioneers who arrived in Canada in the early 1900s. The museum building itself holds significant importance; Sikh immigrants in Abbotsford originally built this permanent structure in 1911 as a gurdwara. This gurdwara has received designation as a National Historic Site in Canada and is the only one to receive such designation in any Sikh diaspora settlements in the world. Upon gathering ideas in 2007, of opening a museum in the gurdwara’s recently renovated and vacant langar hall, the community confronted the challenge of (re)telling the story as they established this first Sikh ethnographic museum in Canada. This article explores how the Sikh Heritage Museum takes on the colonial heritage discourse questioning how history is portrayed and the relationships between myth, memory, colonized and colonizer. The museum dedicates itself to the Sikh pioneers of the community through telling stories, and to correct inaccuracies by portraying another aspect of Canadian history. It also takes a pro-active role within the cultural community of Sikhs towards a more complete self-realization.

Source/Credit:

Kelsey Wood-Hrynkiw

Baird, Olga A.. “I Want the People to Observe and to Learn! The St. Petersburg ‘Kunstkamera’ in the Eighteenth Century.” (2008)

ulrike — Fri, 02 Oct 2009 21:27:59 +0000

Citation:

Baird, Olga A.. “I Want the People to Observe and to Learn! The St. Petersburg ‘Kunstkamera’ in the Eighteenth Century.” History of Education 37(4) (2008): 531-47.

Abstract/Summary:

The radical reforms of Peter the Great of Russia (1672-1725) transformed the whole country. Among his educational reforms, the establishment in 1714 of the first public museum as a tool for public education had no precedents in Russian history. Its functions were formulated as "teaching and enlarging knowledge of nature, dead and alive, and of artistic human creations". It was opened for all classes of the public, regardless of their wealth or social position. Its name "Kunstkamera"--a chamber of arts and curiosities--was coined in Europe as early as the Renaissance period, but free admission, a logically arranged display, guided tours and free access to the museum library made it more of a modern museum than a princely "cabinet of curiosities". Along with the Ashmolean and the British Museum, the "Kunstkamera" was one of the most important European educational and academic centres of the eighteenth century.

http://www.tandf.co.uk/journals/titles/0046760X.asp

Source/Credit:

ERIC

Baker, Catherine. "The Frames We Use: Narratives, Ethnicity, and the Problem of Multiple Identities in Post-Conflict Oral Histories (Bosnia-Herzegovina)." (2015)

ulrike — Wed, 27 Jan 2016 19:59:38 +0000

Citation:

Baker, Catherine. "The Frames We Use: Narratives, Ethnicity, and the Problem of Multiple Identities in Post-Conflict Oral Histories (Bosnia-Herzegovina)." In Beyond Testimony and Trauma: Oral History in the Aftermath of Mass Violence, edited by Steven High, 285-310. Vancouver: UBC Press, 2015.

Abstract/Summary:

Baker’s chapter focuses on how oral history narratives can be “framed” by examining accounts of interpreters who were involved in peace support operations in 1990s Bosnia-Herzegovina. These accounts were collected as a part of Languages at War: Policies and Practices of Language Contacts in Conflict. She acknowledges that “All possible frames exist within certain configurations of power… [so the interview can be] a struggle for power to interpret and represent.” This presents oral historians with immense difficulties. Various choices regarding how an interview is conducted can change the “frame,” such as the specific project design, questioning techniques chosen, method of translation, and interview room layout. She concludes: “A critical practice in representing mass violence should take as its target ethnic entitlement and the use of ethnicity as an instrument in gaining and exercising power… Only then are interviewers most able to fulfill their ethical responsibilities.”

Source/Credit:

Shannon Leggett

Baker, Catherine. "The Frames We Use: Narratives, Ethnicity, and the Problem of Multiple Identities in Post-Conflict Oral Histories (Bosnia-Herzegovina)." (2015)

ulrike — Thu, 07 Jul 2016 19:24:52 +0000

Citation:

Abstract/Summary:

Source/Credit:

Shannon Leggett

Baquès, Marie-Christine. “History Textbooks in France: between national institutions, publishers and teaching practice” (2006)

ulrike — Mon, 21 Oct 2013 22:33:00 +0000

Citation:

Baquès, Marie-Christine. “History Textbooks in France: Between National Institutions, Publishers and Teaching Practice.” In School History Textbooks Across Cultures: International Debates and Perspectives, edited by Jason Nicholls, 105-18. Oxford: Symposium Books, 2006.

Abstract/Summary:

In this chapter, Baquès describes the way in which French history textbooks are connected to national curricula, educational institutions and the practices of teachers. Traditionally, in French secondary schools and universities, geography and history have been connected, while in elementary schools history, geography, civil education and science have been separate subjects. History is a compulsory subject and considered one of the most important subjects in France, after only French and mathematics. History education, like all education in France, is highly centralized. The National Council of Programmes (Conseil National des Programmes, CNP) develops the history course that begins in the third year of school, as well as secondary level national exams. History textbooks are inspected and revised by professional inspectors, professors, teachers or trainers. At the secondary level inspectors are typically historians; at the elementary level they may be generalists.

In the last two decades secondary history has changed considerably. There has been a move from a linear to a thematic study of history with emphasis on European cultural and global studies. At the primary level changes included the study of antiquity, increased emphasis on local and global studies, and an interest in developing students’ competencies in various areas. Primary history tends to be more concerned with pedagogy, while secondary with knowledge. Furthermore, in secondary education the CNP curriculum is the basis of studies and the heart of the textbook, whereas in elementary education it is only a referent.

According to Baquès, in France, all exercises in history textbooks relate directly to examinations, and publishers are encouraged to support the pedagogical vision of the CNP. In the past two decades this has included a shift from providing encyclopedic knowledge to an attempt to evoke student interest. Texts contain various exercises and emphasize teaching strategies as much as content. Baquès explains that the textbook market has become commercially driven. Teams of authors work together under the direction of an editor, and commercial appeal is sometimes valued over pedagogical relevancy. Though teachers do not appear particularly influential in this process, teachers’ unions in France often impact the content of textbooks, as well as a given school or district’s textbook selection decisions. Social pressure also has a significant impact on textbook content. Academics, educational authorities, and the media in France engage in ongoing debates that tend to determine high school history more than academic historiographical debates.

In the past five to six decades, textbooks have been structured with an emphasis on the contemporary period. At the secondary level, textbooks became more pedagogically oriented in the 1950s, but this has been on the decline since the mid-1990s. Typically secondary textbooks include a two-page spread with a chronology line, maps or images, an exposition, and questions, followed by pages of documents and narrative. The documents play a central role in developing the students as historians. At the primary level, there has been disagreement between those who favour knowledge and traditions that focus on the student. Textbooks vary, with some covering history alone, others history and geography, and still others bring together history, geography, science and civic education. In general, primary level textbook exercises are designed to foster creativity. Differences between primary and secondary level textbooks reflect differences in teaching practices.

Source/Credit:

Katie Gemmell

Barca, I. “‘Till New Facts are Discovered’: Students’ Ideas about Objectivity in History.” (2005)

ulrike — Thu, 08 Oct 2009 22:59:43 +0000

Citation:

Barca, I. “‘Till New Facts are Discovered’: Students’ Ideas about Objectivity in History.” In International Review of History Education, Vol.4: Understanding History: Recent Research in History Education, edited by R. Ashby, P. Gordon and P. Lee, 68-82. New York: Routledge Falmer, 2005.

Abstract/Summary:

The purpose of this study is to understand how students apply notions of objectivity when judging the adequacy or correctness of one explanation about why something happened in the past over another. This chapter draws from data collected from 119 students in grades seven, nine and eleven randomly selected from two schools in northern Portugal. The students were first asked to choose from five explanations to answer the following question: “Why did the Portuguese manage to establish a maritime empire in the Indian Ocean during the sixteenth century?” A follow up interview was then conducted with twelve randomly selected students to clarify the written answers.

The data were analyzed into three conceptual clusters: “access to truth” (can we know the past?), “methodological detachment” (can we remain neutral in our judgments?), and “explanatory consistency” (do explanations coincide with logic and evidence?). Results indicated that students responded in one of the following five ways. Students understood each explanation as “all the same thing” noting that while they varied in form they did not vary in content. Explanations were judged in terms of truth or falsity and a “more correct version” was determined. Students argued for gathering information from each explanation to make “a more complete version” of the past. Some participants maintained that a “definitive explanation” was possible only if the reader was completely neutral and, finally, students argued for “provisional explanations” maintaining that the adequacy of each explanation depended on the point of view of the reader. The results suggested that students drew from access to truth, methodological detachment, and explanatory consistency at varied levels of sophistication.

Source/Credit:

Ana Laura Pauchulo

Barca, Isabel. “ ‘Till New Facts are Discovered’: Students’ Ideas about Objectivity in History.” (2005)Even when challenged in history, students often overlook objectivity in their assumptions of historical explanations. The study discussed in this chapte

ulrike — Tue, 19 Nov 2013 22:53:17 +0000

Citation:

Barca, Isabel. “ ‘Till New Facts are Discovered’: Students’ Ideas about Objectivity in History.” In International Review of History Education, Vol. 4: Understanding History: Recent Research in History Education, edited by R. Ashby, P. Gordon and P. Lee, 62-76. New York: Routledge Falmer, 2005.

Abstract/Summary:

Even when challenged in history, students often overlook objectivity in their assumptions of historical explanations. The study discussed in this chapter focuses on two main points, students’ use of objectivity in historical explanation and the extent and the meanings students assign to them. The author makes two assumptions in her study: that students employ tacit second-order concepts of history, and that these can be traced in a progressive manner. Also employed is an explanation of three different approaches to objectivity: the access to truth, detachment from methodology, and a consistency in explanations. The author states that Portuguese students’ notions of historical objectivity are similar to those of students in the UK as discussed in CHATA. They applied the notion of truth and consistency at varying levels of sophistication, and developed tacit ideas in either an objectivist or relative manner. In conclusion, Barca states that teachers should aid students in moving beyond naïve arguments concerning whether or not a historical account is valid.

Source/Credit:

Erika Smith

Bardige, B. “Things So Finely Human: Moral Sensibilities at Risk in Adolescence.” (1988)

ulrike — Thu, 03 Dec 2009 22:03:51 +0000

Citation:

Bardige, B. “Things So Finely Human: Moral Sensibilities at Risk in Adolescence.” In Mapping the Moral Domain, edited by C. Gilligan, J. V. Ward, and J. M. Taylor, 87-110. Cambridge, England: Harvard University Press, 1988.

Abstract/Summary:

In this chapter Bardige examines how certain moral sensitivities used by younger students to understand past violence may be at risk as students shift from elementary to high school education. To do so, she draws from analyses conducted on journals kept by young adolescents as they studied the Holocaust in the course “Facing History and Ourselves” – an eight to ten week unit that asks students to explore their own moral opinions and responsibilities.

Students’ journals reflected three ways of understanding this historical violence which were coded using Piaget’s stages of thinking. Some entries told a one-sided story without analysis of alternative possibilities and thus exhibited a way of thinking known as “face value thinking.” Other students told a story that included “both sides” and delved below the surface to understand people’s motivations for their actions. This type of response was labelled “composite picture thinking.” Finally, students’ entries recognized multiple points of view showing an ability for “multiple lens thinking.”

To conclude, Bardige notes that while teachers may promote multiple lens thinking for higher level learning, fostering this type of thinking can serve to rationalize inaction and to evade decisions. Thus she argues that teachers must first and foremost be concerned with helping students maintain their moral sensibilities in the face of the realities and complexities of violence.

Source/Credit:

Ana Laura Pauchulo

Barton, Keith C. "Challenging the Familiar." (2008)

ulrike — Thu, 21 Oct 2010 23:52:23 +0000

Citation:

Barton, Keith C. "Challenging the Familiar." In Researching History Education: Theory, Method and Context, edited by Linda S. Levstik and Keith C. Barton, 292-99. New York: Routledge, 2008.

Abstract/Summary:

In this chapter, Keith Barton reflects on how he came to do research in Northern Ireland and what he learnt about the role context plays in influencing ideas related to identity and history. He stresses that doing international research is a special blend of luck and planning and that his research in Northern Ireland taught him how even the best laid plans will not produce the results you are looking for. As part of a collection that aims to make apparent the process and product of history education research, this reflection contextualizes Barton’s previously published articles “’You’d be Wanting to Know About the Past’: Social Contexts of Children’s Historical Understanding in Northern Ireland and The United States,” and “A Sociocultural Perspective on Children’s Understanding of Historical Change: Comparative Findings from Northern Ireland and The United States.” Barton reflects on the insights he gleaned while looking for the results he expected and what he learnt when he put those expectations away.

Source/Credit:

Samantha Cutrara

Barton, Keith C. "History, Humanistic Education, and Participatory Democracy." (2006)

ulrike — Thu, 10 Dec 2009 23:54:10 +0000

Citation:

Barton, Keith C. "History, Humanistic Education, and Participatory Democracy." In To the Past: History Education, Public Memory, and Citizenship in Canada, edited by Ruth W. Sandwell, 50-69. Toronto: University of Toronto Press, 2006.

Abstract/Summary:

In this chapter, Keith Barton begins by arguing that if we are not clear in our purposes for teaching history, decisions about the content and process of history education will be made for convenience rather than for a directed goal. Following his own advice, he explicitly emphasizes that history education should contribute toward citizenship and emphasize plurality, participation, and deliberation. He shows that this goal can be achieved by structuring history education on a humanist framework that incorporates reasoned judgement, an expanded view of humanity, and opportunity for public deliberation. By giving students the opportunity to reach conclusions by examining a variety of viewpoints found in historical evidence, history education can create the conditions for responding to and accepting difference in society, which, as Barton emphasizes, is the goal of humanist education.

Source/Credit:

Samantha Cutrara

Barton, Keith C. "Making Connections." (2008)

ulrike — Thu, 21 Oct 2010 23:46:29 +0000

Citation:

Barton, Keith C. "Making Connections." In Researching History Education: Theory, Method and Context, edited by Linda S. Levstik and Keith C. Barton, 148-56. New York: Routledge, 2008.

Abstract/Summary:

Keith Barton’s previously published articles “’Bossed Around by the Queen’: Elementary Students’ Understanding of Individuals and Institutions in History,” “Narrative Simplifications in Elementary Children’s Historical Understanding,” and “I Just Kinda Know’: Elementary Students’ Ideas about Historical Evidence,” were based on his dissertation research looking at students’ historical understanding. This article, as part of a collection that aims to make apparent the process and product of history education research, is a reflection of that research with a particular focus on the process of collaboration with teachers during data collection and the role of theory in developing research questions and analysing data.

Source/Credit:

Samantha Cutrara

Barton, Keith C. "Visualizing Time." (2008)

ulrike — Thu, 21 Oct 2010 23:45:25 +0000

Citation:

Barton, Keith C. "Visualizing Time." In Researching History Education: Theory, Method and Context, edited by Linda S. Levstik and Keith C. Barton, 61-70. New York: Routledge, 2008.

Abstract/Summary:

Keith Barton reflects on the early relationship between him and Linda Levstik in which he, as a graduate student under Levstik’s supervision, came to review the literature on children’s concepts of time and history. Together they identified gaps in the predominate theory in this field and designed a research project that they felt would show a different dimension of students’ concepts of time and historical chronology. This article is part of a collection that aims to make apparent the process and product of history education research and contextualizes Barton and Levstik’s previously published articles “’Back When God was Around and Everything’: The Development of Children’s Understanding of Historical Time,” and “’They Still Use Some of their Past: Historical Salience in Children’s Chronological Thinking.” Barton also touches upon the role of professional collaboration and theoretical development in relation to this research.

Source/Credit:

Samantha Cutrara

Barton, Keith C. “A Sociocultural Perspective on Children's Understanding of Historical Change: Comparative Findings from Northern Ireland and the United States.” (2001)

viviane gosselin — Thu, 23 Jul 2009 19:14:18 +0000

Citation:

Barton, Keith C. “A Sociocultural Perspective on Children's Understanding of Historical Change: Comparative Findings from Northern Ireland and the United States.” American Educational Research Journal 38(4) (2001): 881-913. http://www.aera.net/publications/?id=315

Abstract/Summary:

This research examines the extent to which specific forms of historical representation in Northern Ireland and the United States serve as “cultural tools” that shape understanding of change over time. On the basis of classroom observations and interviews with children in Northern Ireland, and using comparisons with previous U.S. research, this study found that children in the two locations differed in their explanations of how and why social and material life has changed over time. These distinctions correspond to differing historical representations; children in Northern Ireland are less likely, for both political and pedagogical reasons, to encounter the kinds of national narratives common in the United States. These findings suggest that educators should consider how reliance on a single format for presenting historical information influences and limits children’s historical thinking.

Source/Credit:

American Educational Research Journal

Barton, Keith C. “Did the Devil Just Run Out of Juice? Historical Perspective-Taking among Elementary Students.” (1996)

viviane gosselin — Thu, 23 Jul 2009 18:31:30 +0000

Citation:

Barton, Keith C. “Did the Devil Just Run Out of Juice? Historical Perspective-Taking among Elementary Students.” Paper presented at the Annual Meeting of the American Educational Research Association (New York, NY, April 8-12, 1996).

Abstract/Summary:

This study examines the ability of students to develop empathy for peoples of the past and to avoid the belief that people in the past were no different than today. The paper reports the results of a year-long qualitative investigation of fourth and fifth graders' attempts to understand the values, attitudes, and beliefs of people in the past. The study was conducted in two classrooms in a suburban community near Cincinnati (Ohio). Although some students initially attributed past behavior to deficiencies of intelligence or education, most came to understand that people in the past had different outlooks than people of today. The paper concludes that the active attempts by students to make sense of the different behaviors and attitudes they encountered in history should suggest that meaningful historical perspective-taking is not beyond the ability of fourth- and fifth-graders, and that they benefit from sustained attention to the topic.

Source/Credit:

ERIC

Barton, Keith C. “History is about People: Elementary Students’ Understanding of History.” (1997)

viviane gosselin — Thu, 23 Jul 2009 18:15:29 +0000

Citation:

Barton, Keith C. “History is about People: Elementary Students’ Understanding of History.” Paper presented at the Annual Meeting of the National Council for the Social Studies (Phoenix, AZ, November 1994).

Abstract/Summary:

This study examines the historical understanding of 22 fourth-graders and 11 fifth-grade students in two classrooms in a suburban community near Cincinnati (Ohio). The classes were homogeneous racially, with no students of Hispanic, African-American, Asian, or Pacific Island descent in either class. The school reflects primarily middle and upper-middle income families. Data were collected through participant observation, open-ended interviews with 29 different students, and analysis of 278 written compositions. The classrooms studied were innovative with activity-oriented instruction. A consistent feature of students’ historical thinking was their tendency to explain all historical events and trends in terms of the attitudes and intentions of individuals. Consistent with research on children’s understanding of economics and politics, these students did not understand the roles of political or economic institutions in history. This research suggests that exposing elementary students to increased historical content is unlikely to be effective unless instruction also focuses on helping students understand societal institutions and forces.

Source/Credit:

ERIC

Barton, Keith C. “Narrative Simplifications in Elementary Children’s Historical Understanding.” (1996)

ulrike — Fri, 16 Oct 2009 23:02:32 +0000

Citation:

Barton, K. C. “Narrative Simplifications in Elementary Children’s Historical Understanding.” In Teaching and Learning History. Advances in Research on Teaching 6, edited by J. Brophy, 51-83. Greenwich, Connecticut: JAI Press, 1996.

Abstract/Summary:

This chapter is based on a year long study in which Barton examined fourth and fifth graders’ development of historical understanding in two American elementary school classrooms. Data collection involved interviews with the students, classroom observations including frequent conversations with the teachers, and analysis of students’ written assignments.

Results indicated that students’ understanding of history could be categorized into three narrative patterns: 1) students understood historical changes as following a logical trajectory towards the present; 2) historical developments were thought to progress linearly; and 3) students understood important historical events as being the result of a small number of people’s actions. Overall, the results of this study coincided with the results of previously conducted research which has concluded that students learn better when history is presented in story form.

To conclude, the authors provide suggestions for history educators. First, to counter students’ assumptions that all historical changes occur for logical reasons teachers should highlight the specific events that have brought about particular changes. Second, to counter students’ understanding of historical developments as a result of a linear progression teachers should highlight the diversity of experience in each time period. Finally, to counter students’ limited perception of historical changes teachers need to focus on long-term social, economic, and political changes rather than on specific people.

Source/Credit:

Ana Laura Pauchulo

Barton, Keith C. “Primary Children’s Understanding of the Role of Historical Evidence: Comparisons between the United States and Northern Ireland.” (2001)

viviane gosselin — Thu, 23 Jul 2009 19:09:21 +0000

Citation:

Barton, Keith C. “Primary Children’s Understanding of the Role of Historical Evidence: Comparisons between the United States and Northern Ireland.” International Journal of Historical Learning, Teaching, and Research 1(2) (2001): 21-30. http://centres.exeter.ac.uk/historyresource/journalstart.htm

Abstract/Summary:

This study examines similarities and differences in the ways primary children in Northern Ireland and the United States understand the role of historical evidence. Although limited in scope, the research reported here points to critical issues in developing and expanding children’s perspectives on this fundamental topic in history education, and it has implications for educators in both locations. The comparative dimension of this effort is particularly important, because studies that examine similar issues in differing national contexts can shed light on the relative importance of the variety of influences on children’s understanding. Research conducted in only one setting may give the impression that identified features of children’s thinking are invariant or age-related characteristics of their developments; comparative studies of students who grow up in different societies, and who have been exposed to differing curricula, can expose distinctions between the particular and the general. In Northern Ireland and the United States, children learn about history from similar kinds of sources - schools, relatives, the media, and historic sites - but the content of what they learn there is very different. A comparison of students’ ideas in the two locations, then, holds promise for illustrating how these sources may interact to influence children’s ideas about history.

Source/Credit:

History Resource

Barton, Keith C. “Research on Students’ Historical Thinking and Learning.” (2004)

ulrike — Wed, 27 Apr 2011 23:37:50 +0000

Citation:

Barton, Keith C. “Research on Students’ Historical Thinking and Learning.” Perspectives.42(7) (2004). Accessed March 31, 2011. http://www.historians.org/Perspectives/issues/2004/0410/0410tea1.cfm

Abstract/Summary:

This article urges historians to become more familiar with a growing body of research examining the historical knowledge of students at the secondary and elementary school levels. Providing an overview of this research, Barton outlines that from a young age students have been found to think of themselves as historically knowledgeable and aware. For example, even at the elementary levels, students can correctly arrange chronological images. Much of this knowledge is gathered from sources outside the classroom including interactions with relatives, museums, historic sites or media. Barton argues that prevalent stereotypes of young people as ignorant or apathetic stem from differences in what students know and what educators think they should know. He concludes that educators must build on what students already know by starting historical inquiries with attention to how people lived in the past, and then helping students to understand the broader developments that shaped their lives. This includes expanding student’s understandings of politics, society and the economy to recognize how these forces affect people’s lives.

Source/Credit:

Mary Chaktsiris

Barton, Keith C. “Wars and Rumors of War: The Rhetoric and Reality of History Education in the United States.” (2012)

ulrike — Tue, 21 Jan 2014 23:45:07 +0000

Citation:

Barton, Keith C. “Wars and Rumors of War: The Rhetoric and Reality of History Education in the United States.” In History Wars and the Classroom: Global Perspectives, edited by R. Guyver and T. Taylor, 187-202. Charlotte, NC: Information Age Publishing, 2012.

Abstract/Summary:

History education is often misconstrued and many false assumptions are made in U.S. history education. In this chapter, Barton aims to challenge these misconceptions. He focuses on three common myths. His intent is to educate U.S. citizens but also to impact international audiences concerning the supposed wars in US history and how many of these “wars” were little more than “rumors of war.” The chapter is organized in order to discuss and dispel each of the three myths in turn. The first rumor or myth is that history is not a major focus in school curricula and is struggling to remain relevant. According to Barton, this is not the case as students’ knowledge of history is not declining from generations past; students today know as little about his or her own history as the generations before them. The second myth he aims to dispel is that history and social studies are vying for space within the school curriculum. According to Barton, teachers view history and social studies the same as chemistry and science; they are a part of the same subject. The final myth that Barton discusses concerns the politics of liberals and conservatives in the United States battling for control of school history curriculum. He states that while these myths may be persuasive, they are little more than rumors in practical classroom application. Barton discusses the tensions, such as differing purposes of history and the difficulty in understanding history, in history classrooms that affect the content and practice of the curriculum in the United States. Any reform should be based on the veracity of lived experience of teachers and not the perpetuated myths and purported wars.

Source/Credit:

Erika Smith

Barton, Keith C. “‘Best Not to Forget Them’: Secondary Students' Judgments of Historical Significance in Northern Ireland” (2005)

viviane gosselin — Thu, 23 Jul 2009 21:41:04 +0000

Citation:

Barton, Keith C. “‘Best Not to Forget Them’: Secondary Students' Judgments of Historical Significance in Northern Ireland” Theory and Research in Social Education 33 (2005): 9-44. http://www.socialstudies.org/cufa/trse

Abstract/Summary:

This study investigated Catholic and Protestant students' ideas about historical significance in Northern Ireland. The research was conducted in two secondary schools in a medium-sized rural town, and data were derived from a ranking task and semi-structured interview with 40 students, aged 12-17, equally divided between the two communities. Students of both backgrounds emphasized the importance of community conflict and remembrance; in addition, Catholics emphasized fairness and equal rights, while Protestants focused on the political origin and status of Northern Ireland. These findings differ substantially from previous research in the U.S., and students' responses point to the role that societal context plays in their developing frameworks of historical understanding. Northern Ireland students' perspectives, however, were not simple reflections of either Unionist or Nationalist viewpoints; instead, students often drew from vernacular traditions to construct criteria of significance that crossed community boundaries. The following are appended: (1) Interview Protocol; and (2) Students' Responses and Explanations.

Source/Credit:

ERIC

Barton, Keith C. “‘Bossed Around by the Queen’: Elementary Students’ Understanding of Individuals and Institutions in History.” (1997)

viviane gosselin — Thu, 23 Jul 2009 18:35:26 +0000

Citation:

Barton, Keith C. “‘Bossed Around by the Queen’: Elementary Students’ Understanding of Individuals and Institutions in History.” Journal of Curriculum and Supervision 12(4) (1997): 290-314.

Abstract/Summary:

A yearlong, qualitative investigation of fourth and fifth graders in two elementary classrooms refines an emerging conclusion about children's historical thinking--their tendency to see historical events in terms of individuals' personal intentions and interactions and to ignore the role of societal institutions (government and the economy). An integrated social studies curriculum may help dispel such misconceptions.

Source/Credit:

ERIC

Barton, Keith C. “‘I Just Kinda Know’: Elementary Students' Ideas About Historical Evidence.” (1997)

viviane gosselin — Thu, 23 Jul 2009 19:05:00 +0000

Citation:

Barton, Keith C. “‘I Just Kinda Know’: Elementary Students' Ideas About Historical Evidence.” Theory and Research in Social Education 25(4) (1997): 407-30. http://www.socialstudies.org/cufa/trse

Abstract/Summary:

Examines fourth and fifth graders' ideas about historical evidence through a year-long qualitative study of two classrooms. Discusses the results, focusing on understanding the reliability of sources, evaluating evidence and reconciling conflicting accounts, and using evidence to reach conclusions. Addresses the implications for instruction.

Source/Credit:

ERIC

Barton, Keith C. “‘Oh, That's a Tricky Piece!’: Children, Mediated Action, and the Tools of Historical Time.” (2002)

viviane gosselin — Thu, 23 Jul 2009 21:30:18 +0000

Citation:

Barton, Keith C. “‘Oh, That's a Tricky Piece!’: Children, Mediated Action, and the Tools of Historical Time.” The Elementary School Journal 103(2) (2002): 161-85. http://www.journals.uchicago.edu/loi/esj

Abstract/Summary:

This study examined the understanding of historical time among elementary school students ages 6-12 years in Northern Ireland. Findings indicated that students relied on two effective tools (factual information about material history and their own experience) and two ineffective tools (looking for examples of progress/development, and anchoring and adjustment) to arrange historical pictures in chronological order and explain the arrangements. Children were familiar with key aspects of historical time.

Source/Credit:

ERIC

Barton, Keith C., and Linda S. Levstik. “‘Back When God was Around and Everything’: Elementary Children's Understanding of Historical Time.” (1996)

viviane gosselin — Thu, 23 Jul 2009 21:46:48 +0000

Citation:

Barton, Keith C., and Linda S. Levstik. “‘Back When God was Around and Everything’: Elementary Children's Understanding of Historical Time.” American Educational Research Journal 33(2) (1996): 419-54.

Abstract/Summary:

In order to investigate elementary children’s understandingof historical time, we conducted open-ended interviewswith 58 children from kindergarten through sixth grade. In orderto overcome the limitations of previous research in this area,we asked children to place pictures from various periods ofAmerican history in order and to talk about their reasoning.We found that even the youngest children made some basic distinctionsin historical time and that those became increasingly differentiatedwith age. Dates, however, had little meaning for children beforethird grade, and, although third and fourth graders understoodthe numerical basis of dates, only by fifth grade did studentsextensively connect particular dates with specific backgroundknowledge. At all ages, children’s placement of most picturesrevealed substantial agreement with one another and with thecorrect order; this agreement indicates a significant body ofunderstanding of historical chronology. History instructionin the elementary grades, then, might productively focus onhelping students refine and extend the knowledge they have gainedabout history; information which relies on dates, however, isunlikely to activate their temporal understanding.

Source/Credit:

American Educational Research Journal

Barton, Keith C., and Linda S. Levstik. “‘It Wasn't a Good Part of History’: National Identity and Students' Explanations of Historical Significance.” (1998)

viviane gosselin — Thu, 23 Jul 2009 21:50:11 +0000

Citation:

Barton, Keith C., and Linda S. Levstik. “‘It Wasn't a Good Part of History’: National Identity and Students' Explanations of Historical Significance.” Teachers College Record 99(3) (1998): 478-513. http://www.tcrecord.org/

Abstract/Summary:

Investigated middle graders' understanding of the significance of distinct U.S. history events using interviews with fifth to eighth graders. Students noted steadily expanding rights and opportunities as a central theme in history but had difficulty incorporating some historical patterns and events into their image of progress. Most described little difference between official and vernacular histories.

Source/Credit:

ERIC

Barton, Keith. C. “‘You’d be Wanting to Know about the Past’: Social Contexts of Children’s Historical Understanding in Northern Ireland and the United States.” (1998)

viviane gosselin — Thu, 23 Jul 2009 19:31:40 +0000

Citation:

Barton, Keith. C. “‘You’d be Wanting to Know about the Past’: Social Contexts of Children’s Historical Understanding in Northern Ireland and the United States.” Paper presented at the Annual Meeting of the American Educational Research Association (San Diego, CA, April 13-18, 1998).

Abstract/Summary:

This study examines the influence of differing social contexts on the historical understanding of primary and elementary students in Northern Ireland and the United States. Although children in both locations learn about the past not only at school but from relatives, historic sites, literature, and the media, the U.S. emphasis on a narrative of national development leads students to emphasize inventions, rational progress, and individual achievements in attempting to explain change over time. Primary students in Northern Ireland, however, encounter history not as a story of national development but a series of portrayals of social and material life in other times and places; as a result, they are more likely to explain historical change in terms of economic factors, legal and institutional developments, or changing fashions. U.S. students conclude that the purpose of learning history is to understand themselves and the national community with which they identify; primary students in Northern Ireland think history is important to learn about people who are different than themselves.

Source/Credit:

ERIC

Barton, Keith. C., and Alan W. McCully. “History, Identity, and the School Curriculum in Northern Ireland: An Empirical Study of Secondary Students’ Ideas and Perspectives.” (2005)

viviane gosselin — Thu, 23 Jul 2009 21:55:47 +0000

Citation:

Barton, Keith. C., and Alan W. McCully. “History, Identity, and the School Curriculum in Northern Ireland: An Empirical Study of Secondary Students’ Ideas and Perspectives.” Journal of Curriculum Studies 37(1) (2005): 85-116. http://www.tandf.co.uk/journals/tf/00220272.html

Abstract/Summary:

This study reports results of an empirical investigation of secondary students' conceptions of history and identity in Northern Ireland. Interviews with 253 students from a variety of backgrounds indicate that they initially identify with a wide range of historical themes, but that these identifications narrow as they study the required national curriculum during the first 3 years of secondary school. Often, they draw selectively from the formal curriculum in order to support their developing identification with the history of their own political/religious communities. This process is most apparent among boys, at predominantly Protestant schools, and in schools located in areas of conflict. These findings suggest that to address history's role in ongoing community conflict, educators may need to challenge more directly the beliefs and assumptions held by students of varied backgrounds, as well as to provide a clearer alternative to the partisan histories encountered elsewhere.

Source/Credit:

ERIC

Bastel, Heribert, Christian Matzka and Helene Miklas. “Holocaust Education in Austria: A (Hi)story of Complexity and Ambivalence.” (2010)

ulrike — Thu, 12 Sep 2013 23:36:57 +0000

Citation:

Bastel, Heribert, Christian Matzka and Helene Miklas. “Holocaust Education in Austria: A (Hi)story of Complexity and Ambivalence.” Prospects 40(1) (2010): 57–73.

Abstract/Summary:

In Austria, activities for teaching about and remembering the Holocaust have concentrated mainly on National Socialism and its atrocities. Austria’s history of political anti-Semitism goes back to the 19th century, however, and has been widely and publicly acknowledged. It has always been linked to nationalistic tendencies that are still present today and rarely reflected upon, including the anti-Slavic and anti-Turkish attitudes that right-wing parties use to gain supporters. Vienna’s special place of remembrance, the Heldenplatz, with its monuments and history, is a useful place to begin examining Austrian identities and the course of collective Austrian ways of thinking. Based on that examination, we then consider Austria’s daily politics and treatment of the past. We next turn to Holocaust education after the war, which has had an impressive impact after a late start, and mention some of its drawbacks and problems. We next discuss the lack of serious research about memorials in Austria, as compared with Germany, and present initial results from a project that started in spring 2009 to examine knowledge gains and attitude changes among students after they visit the Mauthausen concentration camp.

Source/Credit:

Springer Link

Beardsall, Ken. "Full Interview with Louie Kamookak, The Franklin Mystery: Life & Death in the Arctic." (2015)

ulrike — Tue, 17 Nov 2015 00:23:18 +0000

Citation:

Beardsall, Ken. "Full Interview with Louie Kamookak, The Franklin Mystery: Life & Death in the Arctic." Great Unsolved Mysteries in Canadian History, 2015. http://www.canadianmysteries.ca/sites/franklin/interpretation/experts/interpretationKamookakLong_en.htm.

Abstract/Summary:

In this interview with Inuit historian Louie Kamookak, Ken Beardsall transcribes Kamookak’s perspective regarding the unique nature of growing up in the community of Gjoa Haven, Nunavut, and specifically on the search for the missing last expedition of Sir John Franklin and his party who were searching for the Northwest Passage. As the individual considered to have been the most involved in the search, Kamookak discusses that his main goal has always been to find Franklin himself (who died June 11, 1847), and that finding the ship occurred as a part of that still unachieved goal. Kamookak’s theories about where Franklin’s crew, the rest of his ships, and his final burial place and/or vault are have been based on Inuit oral histories which have been corroborated with European writings from and about the explorers, as well as his own extensive investigations. He concludes that he hopes to find Franklin so that he can be returned to England to be buried next to his wife, and that “the vault would be a tourist benefit for the community or for students to go see.”

Source/Credit:

Shannon Leggett

Beck, I. L., and M.G. McKeown. “Outcomes of History Instruction: Paste–up Accounts.” (1994)

ulrike — Fri, 16 Oct 2009 21:21:43 +0000

Citation:

Beck, I. L., and M.G. McKeown. “Outcomes of History Instruction: Paste–up Accounts.” In Cognitive and instructional processes in history and the social sciences, edited by J. F. Voss & M. Carretero, 237-56. Hillsdale, New Jersey: Erlbaum, 1994.

Abstract/Summary:

Beck and McKeown examine elementary school students’ learning of American history from texts such as commonly used history textbooks. The authors conducted a textbook analysis, examined fifth grade students’ background knowledge and their relative engagement with the texts, and analyzed interviews completed with twenty six of these students before fifth grade instruction and after eight grade instruction of American history.

Generally, the authors found that by eighth grade most of the information that students had learned in grade five had been forgotten or contaminated. However, after grade eight students seemed to have gained knowledge about the significant actors in history and the causes behind important conflicts that they did not have previously. Beck and McKeown conclude that the text books did not provide students with coherent accounts of history and that it is the teachers’ responsibility to fill in the missing information. Teachers must therefore draw from texts and resources other than the text book.

Source/Credit:

Ana Laura Pauchulo

Beck, Isabel L. “Revising Social Studies Text from a Text-Processing Perspective: Evidence of Improved Comprehensibility.” (1991)

viviane gosselin — Thu, 23 Jul 2009 21:59:06 +0000

Citation:

Beck, Isabel L. “Revising Social Studies Text from a Text-Processing Perspective: Evidence of Improved Comprehensibility.” Reading Research Quarterly 26(3) (1991): 251-76. http://www.reading.org/general/Publications/Journals/RRQ.aspx

Abstract/Summary:

Uses a cognitive processing perspective to revise fifth grade social studies texts, to describe those revisions, and to demonstrate their effects empirically. Finds that students reading the revised text recalled more material and answered more questions correctly than did those reading the original text. Concludes that a text-processing approach to creating comprehensible text is feasible.

Source/Credit:

ERIC

Beck, Isabel L., Margaret G. McKeown, and Jo Worthy. “Giving a Text Voice Can Improve Students’ Understanding.” (1995)

viviane gosselin — Thu, 23 Jul 2009 22:08:37 +0000

Citation:

Beck, Isabel L., Margaret G. McKeown, and Jo Worthy. “Giving a Text Voice Can Improve Students’ Understanding.” Reading Research Quarterly 30(2) (1995): 220-38. http://www.reading.org/general/Publications/Journals/RRQ.aspx

Abstract/Summary:

Examines effects on recall and comprehension of a passage from a fourth-grade textbook and versions revised for greater coherence or to exhibit voice. Finds that, immediately after reading, the voiced coherent passage held significant advantage over all other passages in both recall and comprehension. Finds similar, though statistically insignificant, results after a delay.

Source/Credit:

ERIC

ulrike — Wed, 12 Dec 2012 21:30:50 +0000

Citation:

Berry, Amanda. “Reconceptualizing Teacher Educator Knowledge as Tensions: Exploring the Tension Between Valuing and Reconstructing Experience.” Studying Teacher Education 3(2) (2007): 117-34.

Abstract/Summary:

This paper reports my efforts as a teacher educator to improve our understanding of the process of learning to teach. It illustrates how the nature of the knowledge developed by teacher educators about their practice is often embedded in complexity and ambiguity. This knowledge is explored as a source of tensions that teacher educators can learn to recognize and manage within their work. By examining one of these tensions within my practice, that of valuing and reconstructing experience, I consider how conceptualizing knowledge as tensions can enhance teacher educators’ understandings of practice and contribute to the professional knowledge base of teacher education.

Source/Credit:

Taylor and Francis Online

Bertulli, Margaret M., Lyle Dick, Peter C. Dawson, and Panik Lynn Cousins. "Fort Conger: A Site of Arctic History in the 21st Century." (2013)

ulrike — Wed, 07 Oct 2015 21:42:40 +0000

Citation:

Bertulli, Margaret M., Lyle Dick, Peter C. Dawson, and Panik Lynn Cousins. "Fort Conger: A Site of Arctic History in the 21st Century." Arctic 66, no. 3 (2013): 312-28.

Abstract/Summary:

Fort Conger, located at Discovery Harbour in Lady Franklin Bay on northern Ellesmere Island, Nunavut, played an intrinsic role in several High Arctic expeditions between 1875 and 1935, particularly around 1900-10 during the height of the Race to the North Pole. Here are found the remains of historic voyages of exploration and discovery related to the 19th century expeditions of G.S. Nares and A.W. Greely, early 20th century expeditions of R.E. Peary, and forays by explorers, travelers, and government and military personnel. In the Peary era, Fort Conger’s connection with indigenous people was amplified, as most of the expedition personnel who were based there were Inughuit from Greenland, and the survival strategies of the explorers were largely derived from Inughuit material cultural and environmental expertise. The complex of shelters at Fort Conger symbolizes an evolution from the rigid application of Western knowledge, as represented in the unsuitable prefabricated Greely expedition house designed in the United States, towards the pragmatic adaptation of Aboriginal knowledge represented in the Inughuit-influenced shelters that still stand today. Fort Conger currently faces various threats to its longevity: degradation of wooden structures through climate and weathering, bank erosion, visitation, and inorganic contamination. Its early history and links with Greenlandic Inughuit have suggested that the science of heritage preservation, along with management practices of monitoring, remediation of contamination, and 3D laser scanning, should be applied to maintain the site for future generations.

Source/Credit:

ARCTIC journal

Biao, Yang. “The Development of History Teaching Curricula in China.” (2001)

ulrike — Fri, 12 Jul 2013 18:51:44 +0000

Citation:

Biao, Yang. “The Development of History Teaching Curricula in China.” In International Review of History Education, Volume 3: Raising Standards in History Education, edited by Alaric Dickinson, Peter Gordon, and Peter J. Lee, 168-80. London: Woburn Press, 2001.

Abstract/Summary:

The development of history as a formal education class in China did not occur until the final years of the Qing Dynasty in 1903 and was listed as a required course for the five years of high school. Most of the history taught focused on Chinese and Asian countries although there were some courses that focused on the history of Western countries. In 1922, with the overthrow of the Qing Dynasty, education was once again reformed and modeled after the American system, with three years in both junior high and high school. History remained a compulsory course, despite changes to compulsory courses up until 1949. The author continues with a discussion of the changes in history curricula in China between 1950-60, where history remained a required course. In 1953, the curriculum was revised in order to include a study of Soviet modern history since the two countries were close political allies at the time. After 1956, a uniform set of textbooks and syllabi for history courses were mandated at both the junior high and high school levels, with students learning sufficient history at the junior high level so that they could gain a deeper understanding of history in high school and/or enter the work force with sufficient knowledge of the historical past. The author continues with a discussion of the changes in history in China from 1960-1976. During this time, the ultra-left trend of thought in China led to a reduction in the teaching of history, as they were more interested in focusing on the present. From 1976-90, history, which at one stage during the Cultural Revolution had been destroyed, was returned as a required, standardized, formal course focusing on Asia, Europe, the Americas and Africa. Since the 1990s, there has been reform in history teaching in China, with three different programs being offered across the country as the need for different requirements of different schools and areas was realized. A discussion of these changes concludes the article.

Source/Credit:

Erika Smith

Boix Mansilla, Veronica. “Expecting High Standards from Inner-City Students: Challenges and Possibilities.” (2001)

ulrike — Fri, 12 Jul 2013 18:47:09 +0000

Citation:

Boix-Mansilla, Veronica. “Expecting High Standards from Inner-City Students: Challenges and Possibilities.” In International Review of History Education, Volume 3: Raising Standards in History Education, edited by Alaric Dickinson, Peter Gordon, and Peter J. Lee, 20-35. London: Woburn Press, 2001.

Abstract/Summary:

The author taught a course titled ‘Autobiography and History’ in East Harlem in 1996, aiming to help students understand how historical times help shape the lives of people. Using the modes of inquiry and narratives, students were required to revisit and expand their own experiences and place them within historical context. The chapter examines how students from lower socio-economic groups are affected when disciplinary knowledge is taught. The author proposes that enhancing students’ understanding of themselves requires a re-conceptualization of history where historical events such as the Industrial Revolution become flexible frameworks where students can test widely held beliefs or examine social inequalities. The author believes that it is required for students like hers in East Harlem to have this opportunity at school since it is usually their sole opportunity to explore the world through history, science or literature. The author continues the chapter with an examination of the course which attempted to bridge the personal stories of students with historical events and place them in context. It was important for students to think like historians by understanding historical points of view, analyzing continuity and change over time and having multi-causal explanations of a historical event. The author continues with a description of the three units of the course: understanding and making narrative, revisiting of American history of the 1960s and 70s as a contrast to the 1980s and 90s, and the conservative turn of the 1980s and 90s. The author continues with a discussion of the challenges students faced and how they engaged in disciplinary thinking. Expanding upon three struggles students faced, the author offers three detailed student examples. She concludes by stating that it is important to refocus attention in the substantive aspects of education.

Source/Credit:

Erika Smith

Boix-Mansilla, Veronica. "Historical Understanding: Beyond the Past and into the Present" (2000)

ulrike — Fri, 04 Dec 2009 00:18:33 +0000

Citation:

Boix-Mansilla, Veronica. "Historical Understanding: Beyond the Past and into the Present" In Knowing, Teaching, and Learning History: National and International Perspectives, edited by Peter N. Stearns, Peter Seixas and Sam Wineburg, 390-418. New York: New York University Press, 2000.

Abstract/Summary:

In this chapter Boix-Mansilla looks at the possibilities for using history to understand present-day issues. Partially funded through the Facing History and Ourselves organization, this study looked at if learning about the Holocaust provided a more contextualized understanding of the 1994 genocide in Rwanda. This research found that students often used an ineffectual I-know-this-history-so-I-know-that-experience reasoning when making links between the two genocides even though historical comparisons rely on both similarities and differences in analysis. Boix-Mansilla emphasizes that directed instruction on the process of historical comparison can remedy the weak reasoning demonstrated in the study and cites the literature on the strengths in using history to speak about present events to support this.

Source/Credit:

Samantha Cutrara

Boix-Mansilla, Veronica. “Between Reproducing and Organizing the Past: Students’ Beliefs about the Standards and Acceptability of Historical Knowledge.” (2005)

ulrike — Thu, 08 Oct 2009 23:01:01 +0000

Citation:

Boix-Mansilla, Veronica. “Between Reproducing and Organizing the Past: Students’ Beliefs about the Standards and Acceptability of Historical Knowledge.” In International Review of History Education, Vol.4: Understanding History: Recent Research in History Education, edited by R. Ashby, P. Gordon and P. Lee, 98-115. New York: Routledge Falmer, 2005.

Abstract/Summary:

This study seeks to examine students’ standards of acceptability when confronted with two conflicting accounts of the past. Specifically, the research question guiding the study is: “Given two competing accounts of the past, how do young people discern their relative acceptability?” The study draws from interviews conducted with sixteen American high school students who had been recipients of awards for their research in science and/or in history in Massachusetts statewide competitions. In the interview these students were presented with two conflicting narratives about the Holocaust and asked to respond to a set of predetermined questions.

The study resulted in two primary findings. First, the students’ foundational understanding of the job of the historian was analyzed into two main categories: students’ expected that historians will “reproduce the past as it was” and students believe that the historian’s work is to “organize the past for people today.”. Second, standards of acceptability are defined by disciplinary training. Thus, science students tended to “favour an objectivist stance” and history students favoured the view that historians “make the past intelligible” to those in the present. In conclusion, Boix Mansilla maintains that if learning history is to be more than merely memorization of facts both students and teachers must recognize historians’ work as attempts to make sense of the past.

Source/Credit:

Ana Laura Pauchulo

Booth, Martin. “A Modern World History Course and the Thinking of Adolescent Pupils.” (1980)

viviane gosselin — Thu, 23 Jul 2009 22:17:42 +0000

Citation:

Booth, Martin. “A Modern World History Course and the Thinking of Adolescent Pupils.” Educational Review 32(3) (1980): 245-57. http://www.informaworld.com/smpp/title~db=jour~content=t713415680

Abstract/Summary:

A seventeen-month longitudinal study was made of adolescent pupils studying a modern world history syllabus. The pupils' ability to evaluate documentary evidence and to deduce concepts was measured and the change in their attitudes to aspects of the course was assessed. These cognitive and affective behaviours were related to the pupils' capacity to infer meaning from pictorial and documentary evidence and to draw the information so derived into a convincing synthesis. Significant gains were made on the skills, concepts and attitude tests. Oral testing showed that a substantial proportion of the pupils were able to draw meaning inferred from evidence into a convincing synthesis. A complex of cognitive and affective factors contributed to this mode of thinking. The investigation emphasises the importance of syllabus and teaching technique rather than maturation and intelligence and indicates the limitations of other researches into children's historical thinking based on a narrow view of Piaget's framework of cognition.

Source/Credit:

Educational Review

Booth, Martin. “Ages and Concepts: A Critique of the Piagetian Approach to History Teaching" (1987)

ulrike — Thu, 03 Dec 2009 21:41:18 +0000

Citation:

Booth, Martin. “Ages and Concepts: A Critique of the Piagetian Approach to History Teaching." In The History Curriculum for Teachers, edited by C. Portal, 22-38. London: The Falmer Press, 1987.

Abstract/Summary:

The author argues that the focus on Jean Piaget’s theories to understand young children’s learning has had a restricting effect on history teaching and history educators’ understanding of children’s history learning. Booth argues that research based on Piagetian theories focuses on history as “a kind of abstract pattern” thus precluding the possibility of understanding the role of empathy in history learning and teaching.

Drawing from research “which gives a more optimistic view” of history Booth primarily cites two studies: a longitudinal study concerned with students in England eleven to sixteen years of age and a study conducted with eleven year old students also in England. In the first study, the authors found that students’ ability to move beyond generalizations about certain historical situations was due to teachers’ focus on the development of conceptual understanding and historical reasoning. Similarly the second study noted students’ increased ability to think critically about the past as a consequence of teaching practices.

To conclude, Booth outlines the use of source material, role play, and speculative discussion as the basic ingredients necessary for history teachers to set up a learning environment in which history can be an engaging and a rewarding subject for all children.

Source/Credit:

Ana Laura Pauchulo

Booth, Martin. “Cognition in History: A British Perspective.” (1994)

viviane gosselin — Thu, 23 Jul 2009 22:36:22 +0000

Citation:

Booth, Martin. “Cognition in History: A British Perspective.” Educational Psychologist 29(2) (1994): 61-9. http://www.informaworld.com/smpp/title~content=t775653642

Abstract/Summary:

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.

Source/Credit:

Educational Psychologist

Booth, Martin. “Skills, Concepts, and Attitudes: The Development of Adolescent Children's Historical Thinking.” (1983)

viviane gosselin — Thu, 23 Jul 2009 22:21:15 +0000

Citation:

Booth, Martin. “Skills, Concepts, and Attitudes: The Development of Adolescent Children's Historical Thinking.” History and Theory 22(4) (1983): 101-17. http://www.historyandtheory.org/

Abstract/Summary:

Research into children's historical thinking based on a view of Piaget's theory which emphasizes the age-stage structure and the development of hypothetico -deductive thinking appears to be inappropriate, for such thinking has only limited connection with imaginative, empathetic response, which is the hallmark of historical understanding and the purpose of historical study. Content and teaching technique are more important than increased maturity and intelligence. A teacher's concern should be with the elements of historical thinking - knowledge, concepts, cognitive skills, empathy, interest, personal experience -and the ways in which these can be woven together to produce adductive historical thought. The eight-year old's historical understanding can be considered on its own terms: genuine historical thinking which is more limited than the older pupil's, but comparable and equally valid.

Source/Credit:

History and Theory

Borun, Minda, David T. Schaller, Margaret B. Chambers and Steven Allison-Bunnell. “Implications of Learning Style, Age Group and Gender for Developing Online Learning Activities.” (2010)

Fri, 29 Jul 2011 13:49:19 +0000

Citation:

Borun, Minda, David T. Schaller, Margaret B. Chambers and Steven Allison-Bunnell. “Implications of Learning Style, Age Group and Gender for Developing Online Learning Activities.” Visitor Studies 13(2) (2010): 145-59.

Abstract/Summary:

This study explores the effects of learning style, age and gender on preferences for online educational activities. David Kolb's Experiential Learning Theory (Kolb, 1984) is used as a lens to examine the responses of online learners to five types of educational activities. Results indicate that learning style influences preference for learning activity. The relationship is stronger among adults than among children aged 10-13 (middle school). The four learning styles were not evenly distributed. “Practical” (likes to solve problems and find solutions) was the most frequent style among both children and adults (37%). “Creative” (enjoys brainstorming and open-ended exploration) was the least frequent (8%). These data have particular relevance to the development of educational activities, suggesting that open-ended exploration with “no right answers” may not be the most satisfying and appealing approach for many learners. The results of this study provide new insight into online audiences and can help developers of multimedia activities to create experiences that will appeal to all kinds of learners.

Source/Credit:

Informaworld

Bos, Brittney Anne. “The Underground Railroad Monument and its Position within a Visible Multicultural Discourse.” (2013)

ulrike — Wed, 03 Dec 2014 21:53:58 +0000

Citation:

Bos, Brittney Anne. “The Underground Railroad Monument and its Position within a Visible Multicultural Discourse.” In Diverse Spaces: Identity, Heritage and Community in Canadian Public Culture, edited by Susan Ashley, 39-60. Newcastle Upon Tyne: Cambridge Scholars Publishing, 2013.

Abstract/Summary:

Canadian commemorations can be contested and tangled spaces, prescribing aspects of Canadian identity and national history. Through the use of the Underground Railroad monument in Windsor Ontario this article examines national discourses surrounding Canadian history and multiculturalism. Unveiled October 19, 2001 along with its international counterpart located in Detroit USA, the Windsor monument replaced earlier plaques recognizing the roles of America and Canada in providing safe houses for those escaping slavery in the 19^th century. Interpretations have changed over the years, but past perceptions are still evident upon analyzing the content on plaques dedicated to the Underground Railway in Windsor prior to monument in 2001. The site first saw commemoration in 1925 with a plaque focusing neither on the enslaved African Americans nor their cultural history, but on reinforcing pro-Empire sentiments and demonstrating Canada’s moral superiority. The plaque was rewritten in 1973 while incorporating bilingualism into memorials across the nation. Changes to the plaque’s text included decreasing the idea of morally superior Canadians, but it still focused on those aiding rather than on the fugitives themselves. In the mid-1990s, the tone of the rhetoric surrounding the Underground Railroad again shifted in line with broader changes to the dominant narratives in Canada. It is with these tones in mind that the 2001 monument was built. The evolution of the Windsor commemoration on the underground railway reflects the ethos of the period, particularly that of the Historic Sites and Monuments Board of Canada, and their perception of the historical significance of the Underground Railroad for the Canadian nation.

Source/Credit:

Kelsey Wood-Hrynkiw

Bouman, K. “Past and Present Tense: Understanding the Visitor Experience in the Indigenous Australians Exhibition at the Australian Museum.” (2006)

ulrike — Fri, 02 Oct 2009 21:36:51 +0000

Citation:

Bouman, K. “Past and Present Tense: Understanding the Visitor Experience in the Indigenous Australians Exhibition at the Australian Museum.” Visitor Studies Today 9(2) (2006): 11-19.

Abstract/Summary:

This paper examines one Australian museum’s commitment to create social awareness of political issues within its community. The paper begins by discussing the challenge of cultural representation of Indigenous peoples in the context of civic engagement. Some of the historical and political issues facing Indigenous Australians and their representation in Museums are discussed. A study of the Indigenous Australians exhibition at the Australian Museum in Sydney investigates visitors’ perceptions of the exhibition. Recommendations are made as they relate to community partnerships, interpretive materials, and level of engagement with visitors.

http://www.visitorstudiesarchives.org/vst.php

Source/Credit:

Informal Science

Britt, M. Anne, and Cindy Aglinskas. “Improving Students’ Ability to Identify and Use Source Information." (2002)

viviane gosselin — Thu, 23 Jul 2009 22:48:06 +0000

Citation:

Britt, M. Anne, and Cindy Aglinskas. “Improving Students’ Ability to Identify and Use Source Information.” Cognition and Instruction 20(4) (2002): 485-522. http://www.informaworld.com/smpp/title~db=all~content=t775648096~tab=issueslist

Abstract/Summary:

Three studies examined high school and college students' proficiency with sourcing, contextualization, and corroboration skills when working with history documents. Findings indicated that students using "Sourcer's Apprentice"--a computer-based tutoring system to teach sourcing and corroboration--instead of regular classroom activities or a textbook-centered version of same content improved at sourcing, contextualizing, and corroborating on a transfer test and wrote better essays on the topic than the comparison group.

Source/Credit:

ERIC

Britt, M. Anne, Charles A. Perfetti, Julie A. Van Dyke, and Gareth Gabrys. "The Sourcer's Apprentice: A Tool for Document-Supported Instruction." (2000)

ulrike — Fri, 04 Dec 2009 00:20:41 +0000

Citation:

Britt, M. Anne, Charles A. Perfetti, Julie A. Van Dyke, and Gareth Gabrys. "The Sourcer's Apprentice: A Tool for Document-Supported Instruction." In Knowing, Teaching, and Learning History: National and International Perspectives, edited by Peter N. Stearns, Peter Seixas and Sam Wineburg, 437-70. New York: New York University Press, 2000.

Abstract/Summary:

In this chapter the authors look at a pilot test of the Sourcer's Apprentice software developed to support primary source investigation. Underlying the development of the software is a belief that history provides a rich textual environment that, if supported, can improve students’ literacy and critical thinking skills. Using a Documents Model as an analytic tool for creating a structure to read and understand multiple texts would accentuate a Causal-Temporal Event Structure in a ‘situations model’ and an intertext predicate that enables document-to-content links. The computer program Sourcer’s Apprentice was created to support this model and is subsequently based on students solving problems and receiving immediate feedback on their use of texts throughout their investigation.

Source/Credit:

Samantha Cutrara

Britt, M. Anne, J.-F. Rouet, M.C. Georgi, and C.A. Perfetti. “Learning from History Texts: From Causal Analysis to Argument Models." (1994)

ulrike — Thu, 03 Dec 2009 21:47:10 +0000

Citation:

Britt, M. Aanne, J.-F. Rouet, M.C. Georgi, and C.A. Perfetti. “Learning from History Texts: From Causal Analysis to Argument Models." In Teaching and Learning in History, edited by G. Leinhardt, I. L. Beck, and C. Stainton, 47-84. Hillsdale, NJ: Erlbaum, 1994.

Abstract/Summary:

Britt et. al. examine how students construct historical causality using an array of historical texts. They ground this study on their previously drawn conclusions that, generally, students learn best when historical material is presented in narrative form. In this chapter, they draw their conclusions from two completed studies: 1) a study in which a fifth grade text book and elementary school students’ interpretation of its content was the focus; and 2) a study in which college students’ use of published history books was the focus.

The authors used the “causal-temporal event model” to analyze students’ summaries about the important points in the texts, answers to the comprehension questions, and answers to reasoning probes. They found that students’ ability to summarize a history text is related to their ability to recognize the narrative organization of the text. Elementary school students summarized the texts in three ways. Students would list facts, tell a coherent story but a substory rather than the main story, or identify the main story. College students in contrast were able to draw out the central story more effectively and more efficiently. Thus, they conclude that learning from history texts requires the ability to distinguish the central story from the rest of the text. Importantly, they maintain that the causal-temporal event model is the best way to represent the narrative structure of a history text because it allows students to learn both the central story and its supporting details.

Source/Credit:

Ana Laura Pauchulo

Bromley, Patricia. “Multiculturalism and Human Rights in Civic Education: The Case of British Columbia, Canada.” (2011)

ulrike — Wed, 05 Jun 2013 18:37:53 +0000

Citation:

Bromley, Patricia. “Multiculturalism and Human Rights in Civic Education: The Case of British Columbia, Canada.” Educational Research 53(2) (2011): 151-64.

Abstract/Summary:

Background: This paper considers how textbooks resolve the tension between contradictory goals of promoting a cohesive national identity while teaching respect and equality among diverse social groups in British Columbia (B.C.), Canada. Purpose: The article presents preliminary results of a larger study examining the content of required civic education textbooks in Canada to examine whether and how notions of national identity incorporate the principles of human rights and multiculturalism. Sample: The study draws on curricular material for required high school social science courses in B.C. The sample includes textbooks starting the first year of high school (Grade 8) and covers each year through high school graduation (Grade 12). The central analyses examine the content of 17 core textbooks approved by the provincial government for these courses. Design and methods: This research systematically examines the content of currently approved textbooks for high school social science courses in B.C. A questionnaire designed using the principles of content analysis measures textbook emphases on content relevant to human rights, multiculturalism and national identity. Results: This study finds that traditional notions of national identity are reshaped in response to the rise of emphases on human rights and multiculturalism. Rather than depicting national identity as stemming from a common race, ethnicity, language or history, the government pursues four main strategies to simultaneously promote human rights, multiculturalism and a shared national identity: (1) framing human rights and multiculturalism as part of national identity; (2) using pedagogical approaches that promote multiple perspectives; (3) celebrating social and scientific figures and accomplishments as a main source of national pride; and (4) drawing on exogenous sources to affirm state legitimacy. Conclusion: In a context that values diversity and human rights, contemporary sources of national identity can stem from facets of society that can transcend many cultures and emphasize organisational aspects of the nation-state. A main implication is that the inclusion of principles of human rights and multiculturalism into civic education is changing traditional conceptions of national identity.

Source/Credit:

ERIC

Broom, Catherine. “British Columbian Geography in Historical Perspective.” (2008)

ulrike — Thu, 11 Jul 2013 21:01:59 +0000

Citation:

Broom, Catherine. “British Columbian Geography in Historical Perspective.” International Research in Geographical and Environmental Education 17(3) (2008): 268-85.

Abstract/Summary:

This paper explores how Geography's position in British Columbia, Canada's school social studies curricula has been affected by changes in educational cycles over the twentieth century. The amount of instructional time, the importance assigned to the subject and the content of the subject have varied in accordance with the pre-eminence given to particular philosophies of education, particularly that of progressivism. The alterations described are presented in a chronological narrative and contextualised within historical frames that describe relevant international, national and local educational events. Trends in BC illustrate significant correlations with educational trends in the United States. The paper includes a general theoretical framework through which findings were interpreted. It illustrates how international trends played out in one context that has been open both to reform and to new educational philosophies of international significance.

Source/Credit:

ERIC

Brophy, Jere, and Janet Alleman. “Primary Grade Students’ Knowledge and Thinking About Native American and Pioneer Homes.” (2000)

ulrike — Thu, 08 Oct 2009 22:19:52 +0000

Citation:

Brophy, Jere, and Janet Alleman. “Primary Grade Students’ Knowledge and Thinking About Native American and Pioneer Homes.” Theory and Research in Social Education 28(1) (2000): 96-120.

Abstract/Summary:

Finds that student knowledge about shelter is tacit rather than well-developed, frequently distorted by misconceptions, and scattered rather than gathered around big ideas. States that children typically do not acquire learning about cultural universals through everyday experience.

http://www.socialstudies.org/cufa/trse

Source/Credit:

ERIC

Brophy, Jere, and Janet Alleman. “Primary Grade Students’ Knowledge and Thinking About Transportation." (2005)

viviane gosselin — Thu, 23 Jul 2009 23:08:57 +0000

Citation:

Brophy, Jere, and Janet Alleman. “Primary Grade Students’ Knowledge and Thinking About Transportation.” Theory and Research in Social Education 33(2) (2005): 219-43. http://www.socialstudies.org/cufa/trse

Abstract/Summary:

Very little information exists about children's prior knowledge and thinking (including misconceptions) about transportation, a topic commonly taught in elementary social studies. To develop such information, individual interviews were conducted with 96 K-3 students, stratified according to grade level, achievement level, and gender. The students were asked about transportation as a universal human need and the functions that it fulfills for us; its evolution over time and the impact of inventions; the tendency for settlements to be built along transportation routes; the ways in which improvements in transportation have "made the world smaller;" the fundamental importance of the wheel as a basic invention; the effects of building a highway through a rural community; how automobiles work; and several other aspects of the topic. Although inability to respond was a frequent problem, the students who were able to respond tended to be accurate and relatively free of misconceptions. However, they provided only limited answers to many of the questions because their responses were restricted to the micro-level of the activities of individuals or families, without addressing the macro-level of society in general or the world at large. Findings are discussed with emphasis on their implications for early elementary social studies.

Source/Credit:

ERIC

Brophy, Jere, Janet Alleman, and Carolyn O’Mahony. “Primary Grade Students’ Knowledge and Thinking about Food Production and the Origins of Common Foods.” (2003)

ulrike — Thu, 08 Oct 2009 22:18:00 +0000

Citation:

Brophy, Jere, Janet Alleman, and Carolyn O’Mahony. “Primary Grade Students’ Knowledge and Thinking about Food Production and the Origins of Common Foods.” Theory and Research in Social Education 31(1) (2003): 10-50.

Abstract/Summary:

Individual interviews were conducted with 96 K-3 students, stratified according to grade level, achievement level, and gender. The students were asked to explain land-to-hand progressions involved in bringing several common foods to our tables, identify products derived from common farm animals, explain why a pound of cereal costs more than a pound of apples and a restaurant meal costs more than the same meal eaten at home, describe the steps involved in growing corn, explain why there are few farms in Alaska, identify inventions that have modernized farming, and explain why many fewer farmers per capita are needed today than in the past. The students kenw more about the physical appearances of things than their underlying natures, and more about the uses of finished prducts than about the land-to-hand transformations involved in creating those products. Response sophistication was related much more closely to age (grade level) and personal experiences out of school than to achievement level or gender. Findings are discussed with reference to an emerging literature on children’s thinking about history, geography, society, and culture, and to potential implications for curriculum and instruction in the primary grades.

http://www.socialstudies.org/cufa/trse

Source/Credit:

ERIC

Brophy, Jere. “Elementary Students Learn about Native Americans: The Development of Knowledge and Empathy.” (1999)

viviane gosselin — Thu, 23 Jul 2009 22:57:10 +0000

Citation:

Brophy, Jere. “Elementary Students Learn about Native Americans: The Development of Knowledge and Empathy.” Social Education 63(1) (1999): 38-45. http://www.socialstudies.org/socialeducation

Abstract/Summary:

Evaluates elementary students' ideas about Native Americans as revealed by two studies. Illustrates how the students' knowledge of Native Americans progressed from stereotyped images, to realistic and empathetic views, to the loss of information and empathy as new topics were introduced. Reveals that the traditional curriculum reinforced this process.

Source/Credit:

ERIC

Brumlik, Micha. “The Concept of Time and the Faculty of Judgment in the Ontogenesis of Historical Consciousness.” (2005)

ulrike — Wed, 05 Jun 2013 21:07:21 +0000

Citation:

Brumlik, Micha. “The Concept of Time and the Faculty of Judgment in the Ontogenesis of Historical Consciousness.” In Narration, Identity and Historical Conciseness, edited by Jurgen Straub, 135-40. New York: Berghahn Books, 2005.

Abstract/Summary:

Historical consciousness first appeared in human beings as a form of narrative consciousness. The author discusses Piaget and his discussion of primitive thought in children and infants. Piaget also proposed a typical sequence of developmental stages. Most important for the author, however, is Piaget’s notion of temporal consciousness. Piaget discovered that children could not understand both the reversibility of actions and the irreversibility of time. To understand time, one must be able to detach oneself from the present and anticipate the future based on regularities constructed in the past. Children tend to learn the term “before” sooner and more easily than the term “later.” The author states that one could demonstrate children’s experience of time, irrespective of the social constructions of time based on cyclic or linear nature, in relation to their understanding of “before.” For children this understanding of the past as the past, which is grounded in the understanding of the reversibility of action, would provide evidence of an ontogenetic origin of historical consciousness.

Source/Credit:

Erika Smith

Bruner, Jerome S. “Past and Present as Narrative Constructions.” (2005)

ulrike — Fri, 12 Jul 2013 18:41:05 +0000

Citation:

Bruner, Jerome S. “Past and Present as Narrative Constructions.” In Narration, Identity and Historical Consciousness, edited by Jürgen Straub, 23-43. New York: Berghahn Books, 2005.

Abstract/Summary:

Neither empiricist knowledge gained through the senses nor a rationalist’s knowledge gained through absolute truths afford an understanding of how ordinary people give meaning to their experiences. The scientific method is also not the answer to explain how we understand the world. The author states that there are universals when understanding the world around us and these are essential to living cooperatively in a culture. The author continues with ten such universals of the narrative construction of meaning that we call ‘reality.’ Understanding is domain specific, therefore if one understands history that does not mean that they necessarily have an understanding of other domains such as biology or political science. The first narrative discussed by the author is the structure of a committed time, which accounts for events that unfold over time but are not dictated by a clock or a calendar but rather by the unfolding of events. The second narrative deals with genres and how narratives fall within particular genre spectrums. The third discusses how narratives concern what people do and what happens to them. The fourth concerns how narratives do not have a singular meaning but are in fact a hermeneutic composition. The fifth concerns how a narrative must breach a canonical script and the construal of history is tempting since it is so new. The sixth reference for narratives concerns the ambiguity of reference as we check the facts of the narratives, as they are functions of the story. The seventh narrative deals with how imperative genres are to characterizing a text or how a text is construed. According to the author, genres are culturally specific ways of envisaging and communicating about the human condition. The eighth deals with how narratives are vehicles of changing norms. The ninth deals with narrative negotiation wherein which there are different versions of history and they rarely need be consolidated. The final narrative deals with the accrual of history. In the chapter the author attempted to use narrative principles in describing the world’s ‘reality.’

Source/Credit:

Erika Smith

Bruno-Jofre, Rosa and Marin Schiralli. “Teaching History: A Discussion of Contemporary Challenges.” (2002)

ulrike — Wed, 12 Dec 2012 22:09:11 +0000

Citation:

Bruno-Jofre, Rosa and Marin Schiralli. “Teaching History: A Discussion of Contemporary Challenges.” Encounters on Education 3 (2002): 117-27.

Abstract/Summary:

The authors argue that intellectual shifts and related ideological debates have set new pedagogical demands on history teachers and new programmatic demands on faculties of education. In an attempt to relate the relevance of generating historical thinking (motivating the students to think like historians) to transformative education, the authors outline an history inquiry model based on Dewey’s educational theory. In this model, content knowledge and mastery of the subject matter is as critical as an understanding of teaching and learning history. The paper addresses the challenges set by a dominant relativist self-referential slant, the teaching of history in a multicultural class, and the tendency, in particular in social studies classes, to fall into presentism.

Source/Credit:

Faculty of Education, Queen's University

Bruno-Jofre, Rosa, and Karen Steiner. "Fostering Educative Experiences in Virtual High School History." (2007)

Anne Marie — Mon, 31 Aug 2009 18:05:46 +0000

Citation:

Bruno-Jofre, Rosa, and Karen Steiner. "Fostering Educative Experiences in Virtual High School History." Encounters/Encuentros/ Rencontres on Education 8 (2007): 69-82.

Abstract/Summary:

This position paper on virtual learning in high school history argues for situating integration of information and communication technologies (ICT) in an ethically defensible vision of education. Our main purpose is to establish a broad theoretical platform to enable critique of new technologies in history classrooms. However, we also argue in favor of embracing ICT integration within a theoretical framework that places teaching and learning as the driving force behind adopting new technologies. First, we remind history teachers in computer-supported classrooms that their teaching is grounded in educational aims and in well-formulated ideas about what constitutes educative experiences. We place the development of the historical mindedness of the student at the core of educational aims in history teaching. Further, it is our contention that high school history modules should become steeped in a vision of education that recognizes its cultural-psychological dimensions. This means dovetailing the construction of content knowledge with teaching the cultural practices of historians and the functions of history.

Source/Credit:

Encounters/Encuentros/ Rencontres on Education

Brush, Thomas A. and John W. Saye. "The Use of Embedded Scaffolds with Hypermedia." (2001)

viviane gosselin — Thu, 23 Jul 2009 23:18:46 +0000

Citation:

Brush, Thomas A. and John W. Saye. “The Use of Embedded Scaffolds with Hypermedia Supported Student-Centered Learning.” Journal of Educational Multimedia and Hypermedia 10(4) (2001): 333-56. http://www.aace.org/pubs/jemh/

Abstract/Summary:

Discussion of student-centered learning focuses on the use of scaffolds. Describes types of scaffolds embedded into a hypermedia database used by eleventh graders in a history class, and examines the types of scaffolds that were most successful at assisting students with information gathering and with assisting with group self-regulation.

Source/Credit:

ERIC

Brush, Thomas A., and John W. Saye. “Implementation and Evaluation of a Student-Centered Learning Unit: A Case Study." (2000)

viviane gosselin — Thu, 23 Jul 2009 23:12:49 +0000

Citation:

Brush, Thomas A., and John W. Saye. “Implementation and Evaluation of a Student-Centered Learning Unit: A Case Study.” Educational Technology Research and Development 48(3) (2000): 79-100. http://www.aect.org/intranet/Publications/index.asp

Abstract/Summary:

Explores the issues involved in implementing a technology-enhanced student-centered unit in order to provide recommendations to improve and enhance these types of learning activities. Results suggest that a variety of factors impact the success or failure of student-centered activities, including student orientation to the unit problem, student collaboration, teacher management strategies, and student accountability mechanisms.

Source/Credit:

ERIC

Bryant, Darren, and Penney Clark. “Historical Empathy and ‘Canada: A People’s History.’” (2006)

viviane gosselin — Fri, 24 Jul 2009 00:05:45 +0000

Citation:

Bryant, Darren, and Penney Clark. “Historical Empathy and ‘Canada: A People’s History.’” Canadian Journal of Education 29(4) (2006): 1039-64. http://www.csse.ca/CJE/General.htm

Abstract/Summary:

In this article, we examine the CBC/Radio-Canada series, "Canada: A People's History," for its use of empathy, specifically with regard to its portrayal of Aboriginal people. We call the empathy promoted in the series, emotive empathy, and compare it to the concept of historical empathy constructed by researchers in history education. The emotive empathy employed in this series, while adequate for public audiences, is not sufficient for history classrooms because it lacks a cognitive dimension. We discuss implications for using the series, and by extension, other instructional resources, to promote the development of historical empathy.

Source/Credit:

ERIC

Butler, P., and R.J. Loomis. “Evaluation for an Historic House Museum: The Moody Mansion as a Case Study.” (1993)

ulrike — Fri, 02 Oct 2009 21:38:30 +0000

Citation:

Butler, P., and R.J. Loomis. “Evaluation for an Historic House Museum: The Moody Mansion as a Case Study.” Visitor Studies 5(1) (1993): 154-64.

Abstract/Summary:

Long ago, Coleman (1993) noted that historic house museums needed help in attracting the public. These museums are often located in out-of-the-way places and lack the visibility of larger institutions. Audience research can help staff in these institutions monitor the quality of their offerings and attract visitors. This presentation will review how one historic house, the Moody Mansion and Museum, undertook some evaluation work. Perspectives will be shared from the Director and an Evaluator who worked with the Director and staff.

http://www.visitorstudiesarchives.org/vs.php

Source/Credit:

Informal Science

Cajani, Luigi. “Italian History Textbooks on the Brink of the Twenty-first Century.” (2006)

ulrike — Mon, 21 Oct 2013 22:34:37 +0000

Citation:

Cajani, Luigi. “Italian History Textbooks on the Brink of the Twenty-first Century.” In School History Textbooks Across Cultures: International Debates and Perspectives, edited by Jason Nicholls, 27-41. Oxford: Symposium Books, 2006.

Abstract/Summary:

In the late 1960s, significant changes took place in Italian schooling. Breaking with the traditional approach to history, which involved lectures, textbook reading and questions, and basically required students to memorize the textbook content, new pedagogical practices based on active learning sought to engage students’ interest and develop their skills in the historical method. The Movimento di Cooperazione Educativa (MCE), inspired by popular pedagogy, promoted research-based history teaching and learning. Class sets of textbooks, filled with didactic research activities, were published to meet the need that this method posed. At the forefront of textbooks in this period were Antonio Brancati’s two-part volume published in 1965. These texts contained both the traditional narrative and extensive documents and historiographical materials that were remarkable for the time period and remained in print the rest of the century and beyond.

In the 1960s and 1970s, the MCE fought against traditional textbooks, rejecting both the methodological approach and content, which was primarily political with little social history. Academic historians also criticized the traditionalists’ approach as old fashioned and a “selective and teleological historicism, which conflicts with the historical authenticity of experience” (Cajani, 2006, 30). History education thus moved from systematic explanations on a macro level to an embrace of micro-history and a student-centred approach. The latter sought to motivate students as they could relate to topics such as family, school, gender, love, society, and so forth, rooted in contemporary history. While some called for the elimination of textbooks altogether, a more moderate position emerged that combined textbook use with classroom-based research, or history workshops (laboratory di storia), where students could learn the work of the historian. At this time, Italian teachers gained the freedom to develop the content, which was revolutionary and would come to transform the institution. As it was difficult for teachers to simply abandon traditional teaching practices and develop their own curriculum and didactic materials, in 1979 Remo Cesareni and Lidia de Federici developed elaborate textbooks for secondary schools that integrated exercises, activities, maps, written documents and other source materials to engage students.

Student-centred history education also came in the 1980s through the history workshop, typically included at the end of each chapter in history textbooks. These workshops emphasize concepts such as ‘causality and time’ or ‘duration and change’ in addition to traditional themes and activities to simulate the work of an historian. Antonio and Luciana Bresil, writing in the 1990s, created dynamic four park workshops to accompany textbooks. In these students move from deconstructing historical narrative, to their own research project, which involves document selection, interrogation, interpretation and writing of an historical text. In addition, history workshops provide the opportunity for students to reenact historical content while considering historical concepts such as memory, identity, and belonging. In spite of these innovative approaches to history education, secondary level history is still characteristically traditional, with evaluation tests at the end of each chapter. Although this is changing, the author suggests it will not happen quickly. With questions and concern about the absence of a commonly held national identity, mid-1990 politicians called for a review of Italian history textbooks. Public debate has ensued between those who see a Marxist orientation in Italian history textbooks and those who fear the politicization of classroom teaching. Italian history education is subject to change.

Source/Credit:

Katie Gemmell

Cameron, Fiona. “Contentiousness and Shifting Knowledge Paradigms: The Roles of History and Science Museums in Contemporary Societies.” (2005)

ulrike — Wed, 12 Dec 2012 22:13:22 +0000

Citation:

Cameron, Fiona. “Contentiousness and Shifting Knowledge Paradigms: The Roles of History and Science Museums in Contemporary Societies.” Museum Management and Curatorship 20 (2005) 213-33.

Abstract/Summary:

Museums globally exist in an academic, cultural and social context of contest and controversy. A long-established practice of exhibiting ‘the facts,’ ‘truth,’ ‘national history’ or unproblematic conceptions of ‘other’ places and peoples is no longer wholly sustainable in an environment where the self-evidence of all these things is under question. Topics of global importance that challenge, upset, intrigue and attract are now legitimate areas for museological investigation. Ongoing cultural, social and political tensions in Australia and in other countries also heighten the need for civic spaces where diverse communities might learn about and debate issues of contemporary relevance and importance. Therefore, what civic and social roles can history and science museums in the 21st century play in this climate of contestation, and as knowledge sources? This question will be explored drawing on findings from the international research project Exhibitions as Contested Sites-the roles of museums in contemporary society (funded by the Australian Research Council with partners the University of Sydney, the Australian Museum and the Australian War Memorial).

Source/Credit:

Taylor and Francis Online

Camhi, J. “Pathways for Communicating about Objects on Guided Tours.” (2008)

ulrike — Fri, 02 Oct 2009 21:40:43 +0000

Citation:

Camhi, J. “Pathways for Communicating about Objects on Guided Tours.” Curator 51(3) (2008): 275-94.

Abstract/Summary:

Guided tours offer special opportunities for lively and varied presentations that match the methods of interpretation to the characteristics of the participating visitors. Most tour guides rely on rather limited, unidirectional (guide-to-visitor) communication. Instead, this paper outlines six different pathways of communication that are possible among guide, visitors, and object. Each pathway offers several specific types of communicative acts. In addition, 35 guided tours in several different kinds of venue were examined to identify the pathways and types of acts that were used. The professional literature describes other types of acts, and more have been developed at the writer’s home museum. All in all, the 58 different types of communicative acts described here present a wide range of opportunities for guides to communicate with visitors.

Source/Credit:

Informal Science

Cardin, J.-F. « L'approche stratégique : une mode? ». (1996)

ulrike — Wed, 05 Jun 2013 23:44:46 +0000

Citation:

Cardin, J.-F. « L'approche stratégique : une mode? ». Traces 34(2) (1996): 16-21.

Abstract/Summary:

Cet article constitue une analyse du potentiel de l'approche cognitiviste à l'enseignement de l'histoire au secondaire dans le contexte des programmes québécois. Plusieurs années avant l'avènement des programmes par compétences, il constituait un plaidoyer en faveur d'un enseignement de type constructiviste.

Source/Credit:

L’auteur

Cariou, Didier. « La conceptualisation en histoire au lycée : une approche par la mobilisation et le contrôle de la pensée sociale des élèves ». (2004)

ulrike — Wed, 05 Jun 2013 23:45:44 +0000

Citation:

Cariou, Didier. « La conceptualisation en histoire au lycée : une approche par la mobilisation et le contrôle de la pensée sociale des élèves ». Revue française de Pédagogie 147 (2004) : 57-67.

Abstract/Summary:

Cet article reprend quelques résultats d’un travail de thèse sur les raisonnements par analogie dans les écrits des élèves d’une classe de Seconde en histoire. Les théories de l’apprentissage de Vygotski et des représentations sociales de Moscovici éclairent les transformations du savoir opérées par les élèves quand ils rapprochent, par ces analogies, le savoir historique et leur pensée sociale, les concepts scientifiques et les concepts quotidiens. Il s’avère que les élèves généralisent et s’approprient ainsi le concept historique non par l’abstraction mais par l’indexation du concept à des situations et à des personnages concrets, selon un modèle de généralisation par individualisation. (http://www.persee.fr/web/revues/home/prescript/article/rfp_0556-7807_200...)

Source/Credit:

Persée

Carleton, Sean. “Illustrating Racism: Challenging Canada’s Racial Amnesia with Comics.” (2013)

ulrike — Tue, 25 Feb 2014 18:49:25 +0000

Citation:

Carleton, Sean. “Illustrating Racism: Challenging Canada’s Racial Amnesia with Comics.” Social History 46(92) (2013): 509-22.

Abstract/Summary:

Sean Carleton critically analyzes and reviews three contemporary historical comic books that all draw attention to Canada’s hidden histories of racism. Carleton describes how David H.T. Wong’s Escape to Gold Mountain: A Graphic History of the Chinese in North America examines the migration of poor Chinese people to the United States and Canada in the mid-1800s and their struggles to build lives for themselves and their families. While the story is fictional, Carleton explains how Wong borrows from his family’s real life experiences. He also draws attention to some of the omissions made by Wong in his comic that can influence the credibility of the historical account being represented in the narrative. For Zac Worton’s The Klondike, Carleton explains how the comic is an account of the Yukon Gold Rush between 1896 and 1899, and how it complicates the romantic histories of the gold rush by considering the faults of those who rushed to the north in an attempt to become rich and famous. Carleton problematizes how Worton does not include any scholarly references in his comic and how there are instances in the narrative and images that reinforces stereotypes. Lastly, Carleton reviews David Alexander and Scott B. Henderson’s Sugar Falls: A Residential School Story, which is a comic based on Cross Lake First Nation Elder Betty Ross’s real survivor story. Carleton maintains that while this is an accessible, illustrated account of a difficult moment in Canadian history, the linear progression of the plot and the victim based narrative all diminish the responsibility of governments, churches, Canadians and the actual state of reconciliation in Canada at the present. Carleton believes that these comics contribute to Canada’s complex social history and can be used to challenge Canada’s racial amnesia.

Source/Credit:

Emily Chicorli

Carretero, M., L. Jacott, M. Limón, A. López–Manjón, and J.A. León. “Historical Knowledge: Cognitive and Instructional Implications.” (1994)

ulrike — Fri, 16 Oct 2009 21:23:02 +0000

Citation:

Carretero, M., L. Jacott, M. Limón, A. López–Manjón, and J.A. León. “Historical Knowledge: Cognitive and Instructional Implications.” In Cognitive and Instructional Process in History and the Social Sciences, edited by J. F. Voss and M. Carretero, 357-76. Hillsdale,NJ: Erlbaum, 1994.

Abstract/Summary:

The primary purpose of this chapter is to consider the ideological influence of how historical content is chosen and taught in schools. The authors found that history is generally understood as the study of the past and as a reasoning process.

Within the understanding of history as the study of the past, the authors conclude that history education is limited to events in a given period which consequently means that social concepts such as democracy and colonialism are more difficult to teach and to understand. Within the conceptualization of history learning as a reasoning process, history instruction is understood as a cognitive practice in which logical inferences are made rather than merely an activity of identifying the chronological order of events.

Drawing from a set of studies examining how students explain the cause of particular historical events, the authors conclude that adolescent and adult history learners identified people’s intent as the cause of events. In contrast, historians tend to generate causal explanations on economic, political, and social factors. Human actions are thus understood as the consequence of social conditions.

Source/Credit:

Ana Laura Pauchulo

Carretero, Mario, Asunciòn López-Manjón, and Liliana Jacott. “Explaining Historical Events.” (1997)

ulrike — Thu, 08 Oct 2009 22:21:55 +0000

Citation:

Carretero, Mario, Asunciòn López-Manjón, and Liliana Jacott. “Explaining Historical Events.” International Journal of Educational Research 27(3) (1997): 245-53.

Abstract/Summary:

This paper deals with the extent to which subjects' causal historical explanations are influenced not only by domain specific knowledge but by specific characteristics of the historical event studied. Four historical events were presented. 120 students of different ages (15 or 17 years old) and domain specific knowledge (psychology and history) were asked to rate six causes, each of which constituted a causal explanation of an historical event. Results indicated the importance assigned to the different causes depended on the specific characteristics of the historical situation. History students were more prone to this tendency. The issue of how students tend to personalize historical events is also discussed.

http://www.sciencedirect.com/science/journal/08830355

Source/Credit:

Science Direct

Carson, G. “The End of History Museums: What’s Plan B?” (2008)

ulrike — Fri, 02 Oct 2009 21:42:06 +0000

Citation:

Carson, G. “The End of History Museums: What’s Plan B?” The Public Historian 30(4) (2008): 9-27.

Abstract/Summary:

Are historic sites and house museums destined to go the way of Oldsmobiles and floppy disks? Visitation has trended downwards for thirty years. Theories abound, but no one really knows why. To launch a discussion of the problem in the pages of The Public Historian, Cary Carson cautions against the pessimistic view that the past is simply passé. Instead he offers a "Plan B" that takes account of the new way that learners today organize information to make history meaningful.

http://caliber.ucpress.net/loi/tph

Source/Credit:

Caliber

Cashman, Timothy G., and Benjamin R. McDermott. “From a Mouse to an Elephant: Ontario, Canada, Social Studies Teachers and Their Perspectives on United States Policies.” (2011)

ulrike — Fri, 12 Jul 2013 22:55:17 +0000

Citation:

Cashman, Timothy G., and Benjamin R. McDermott. “From a Mouse to an Elephant: Ontario, Canada, Social Studies Teachers and Their Perspectives on United States Policies.” Research in Comparative and International Education 6(2) (2011): 161-69.

Abstract/Summary:

The key objective of this investigation was to uncover attitudes and pedagogical comparisons of a sampling of secondary social studies teachers in three schools in eastern Ontario, Canada. The researchers sought to gain insight into how historical and current United States (US) policies are addressed in the provincial curriculum. Moreover, teachers were interviewed to reveal how US and Canadian geographical, historic, economic and political issues are discussed in their classrooms. Broader implications for teachers in the United States and Canada are also considered.

Source/Credit:

ERIC

Cato, Paisley S. “The Value of Natural History Collections in Latin America Conservation.” (2007)

ulrike — Wed, 11 Feb 2015 00:19:27 +0000

Citation:

Cato, Paisley S. “The Value of Natural History Collections in Latin America Conservation.” In Museums in the Material World, edited by Simon J. Knell, 34-45. London; New York: Routledge, 2007.

Abstract/Summary:

Cato’s concise article summarizes the methods and values of natural history collecting and collections, and offers opinions of creating a more complete record of species collection. As a case in point the article focuses on conservation in Latin America, looking at the theoretical basis for the development of a systematic collection; a systematic collection is compromised of species collected over time and space, offering information on species variation relative to the date and location collected, combined with the information generated from the way in which the species are preserved. Although there have been several species collections, Cato argues that it is not as thorough as the sampling theory predicts. Sampling methods have historically been used to fulfill the needs of individual research projects; historically the scientific approach was to sample as many species as possible in a region filled with a high number of unknown species, but systematic surveys were downscaled to cover small portions of the region. Considerations that affect the limitations in sampling methodology include climate, university time schedules, time limits on project funding, or economic or military considerations versus a scientific systematic collection plan. Quite often the needs of individual research projects as well as practical considerations are what determine the method of specimen preparation and data records. Cato describes how different methods provide different information, thus leaving gaps in the collection. Cato suggests that researchers and collectors recognize the need to cooperate in order to maximize the completeness and value of samples stored in the collection; this cooperation can also alleviate costs. The benefits of creating a more complete collection also leads to higher accuracy in determining potentially threatened species, and monitoring the change of ecosystems over time.

Source/Credit:

Kelsey Wood-Hrynkiw

Cercadillo, L. “Significance in History: Students' Ideas in England and Spain." (2001)

ulrike — Wed, 05 Jun 2013 21:03:50 +0000

Citation:

Cercadillo, L. “Significance in History: Students' Ideas in England and Spain." In Raising Standards in History Education: International Review of History Education, Vol. 3., edited by A. Dickinson, P. Gordon and P. Lee, 116-45. London: Woburn Press, 2001.

Abstract/Summary:

This article focuses on the progression of understanding of historical significance of students in England and Spain, and qualitative research that has been completed in England and Spain in relation to three different age groups: 12-13, 14-15 and 16-17 year olds. There are two main sources that contribute to the significance of the project: the theoretical understandings of the historians and the empirical analysis of students’ ideas. Significance in history education research refers to the exploration of students’ ideas, the general progression and interpretation of historical knowledge. The study explored in this article has three main aims: exploring the understating of historical significance of English and Spanish students, categorizing and mapping these concepts, and investigating the similarities and differences of progression in each country. The author continues with a discussion of the academic context of the research through a discussion of the educational theory and practice in England and how history education has evolved in the country over the years. He also discusses the institutional contexts of Spain and England both in terms of the educational systems and the educational traditions. He continues with a discussion of the methods and research tools used including data analysis and five types of historical significance: contemporary, casual, pattern, symbolic, and present/future. The study aimed to answer three questions: do students view significance in history as fixed or variable; if it is variable to what extent are they aware of possible different attributions; and do they consider that “logic of narrative’ obeys different theories?

Source/Credit:

Erika Smith

Challenger, Melanie. “The ‘Stolen Voices’ Project for the United Nations International Day of Peace, Imperial War Museum, London.” (2007)

ulrike — Fri, 02 Oct 2009 21:43:42 +0000

Citation:

Challenger, Melanie. “The ‘Stolen Voices’ Project for the United Nations International Day of Peace, Imperial War Museum, London.” Intercultural Education 18(5) (2007): 501-4.

Abstract/Summary:

This article describes the "Stolen Voices" project which developed through detailed discussions with local education authorities and teachers in boroughs across London, UK. These educators and specialists were eloquent in their desire for projects that supplement the curriculum and classroom work on human rights and global citizenship, particularly projects that utilise the imagination of young people, bringing them into contact with people and places outside their usual experience. The purpose of the Stolen Voices Project for International Day of Peace, held in the Imperial War Museum on 21 September 2007, was to bring children face to face with the personal and specifics of historical violence: individuals that have lived through violence in their youth or who have resisted it. The project involved the collaboration between creative practitioners, survivors of conflict, and specialists in intercultural education utilising imaginative and creative processes to engage children actively in the call for a more peaceful future.

http://www.tandf.co.uk/journals/titles/14675986.asp

Source/Credit:

ERIC

Christou, Theodore, and Alan Sears. "Rapprochement: Toward an Inclusive Approach to History and Citizenship Education in Canada." (2010)

ulrike — Wed, 06 Jul 2016 21:38:33 +0000

Citation:

Christou, Theodore, and Alan Sears. "Rapprochement: Toward an Inclusive Approach to History and Citizenship Education in Canada." Canadian Issues/Thèmes canadiens (Winter 2010), 17-21.

Abstract/Summary:

Democratic societies around the world, including Canada, have made fostering social cohesion a key priority for education generally and citizenship education in particular. In this article we argue that citizenship education is largely failing in that task because it lacks significant attention to history and that history education often seems to forget its civic purposes. We contend that an appropriate integration of the two makes it possible to develop a deep sense of being Canadian without being simplistic, narrow, or final about what that means. Citizenship education and history education should be seen as intertwined, the questions of one discipline enriching the other. Cultivating a spirit of historical mindedness is one means of developing the reflective and critical habits of mind that are essential for any robust definition of Canadian citizenship.

Source/Credit:

Canadian Issues/Thèmes canadians

Christou, Theodore, and Alan Sears. “From Neglect to Nexus: Examining the Place of Educational History in Teacher Education.” (2011)

ulrike — Wed, 06 Jul 2016 21:31:37 +0000

Citation:

Christou, Theodore, and Alan Sears. “From Neglect to Nexus: Examining the Place of Educational History in Teacher Education.” Encounters on Education 12 (Fall 2011): 37-57.

Abstract/Summary:

In faculties of education across North America, the so-called foundations of education are in crisis. Pressure to shorten teacher education programs and to focus on developing the instrumental skills of new teachers has resulted in courses in philosophy, history, sociology, anthropology, and psychology being moved from the core of teacher education to the periphery. This paper describes the decline of history in teacher education using the Faculty of Education at Queen’s University as a case study. We contend this decline occurred more by systematic neglect of history’s value in professional education than by overt attack on its position as one of “the foundations” of the field. We go on to argue that history, properly taught, has the potential to provide a powerful nexus to teacher education programs helping new teachers locate themselves and individualize their personal beliefs in relation to the vast body of professional knowledge that is circulated and recycled about policy and practice.

Source/Credit:

Encounters on Education

Christou, Theodore. “Educational History and the Public Good.” (2010)

ulrike — Wed, 05 Jun 2013 20:49:44 +0000

Citation:

Christou, Theodore. “Educational History and the Public Good.” Antistatis 1(1) (2010): 1-8.

Abstract/Summary:

In this article, Christou discusses the history of education. He states that the discussion surrounding the topic, both by history educators and others, is marginal at best. It is important to discuss our educational pasts, both personal and as a nation. Christou continues by discussing the history of education in Canada and how little has been discussed on the topic in government despite the support of several organizations that deal exclusively with the study of history education. He warns teacher educators that just as they need not agree with all aspects of contemporary education practice, they also do not need to emulate the past when teaching history. Christou concludes the article by stating that teachers are in a state of amnesia. In his opinion, teachers know not who they are or who their influences are. He urges teachers to think of these questions.

Source/Credit:

Erika Smith

Clark, Anna. “Teaching the Nation’s Story: Comparing Public Debates and Classroom Perspectives on History Education in Australia and Canada.” (2009)

Fri, 29 Jul 2011 13:58:09 +0000

Citation:

Clark, Anna. “Teaching the Nation’s Story: Comparing Public Debates and Classroom Perspectives on History Education in Australia and Canada.” Journal of Curriculum Studies 41(6) (2009): 745-62.

Abstract/Summary:

Teaching national history in school generates significant public anxiety and political debate—as the various 'history wars' around the world reveal. For many school students, however, studying their nation's past is dull and repetitive. Such lack of interest has been confirmed by surveys and research reports that reveal alarmingly low levels of national historical knowledge among young people, and there is growing popular concern that their ignorance of the past endangers the nation's future. Yet preoccupation with students' apparent national illiteracy tends to overlook how they connect with history in the first place. This paper draws on findings from a comparative Australian and Canadian research project that interviewed students and teachers about the ways they learned and taught history. It argues that any return to 'the facts' at the expense of critical historical engagement in class could turn students away from the subject.

Source/Credit:

Informaworld

Clark, Penney, and Alan Sears. "Historical Frictions: History, Art, and Pedagogy." (2014)

ulrike — Wed, 06 Jul 2016 21:20:47 +0000

Citation:

Clark, Penney, and Alan Sears. "Historical Frictions: History, Art, and Pedagogy." Canadian Issues/Thèmes canadians (Fall, 2014): 18-23.

Abstract/Summary:

This article addresses the following questions: What is the relationship between history and art? To what extent are historians artists? To what extent are artists historians? What are the implications for using art in the teaching of history? The authors point out that in the same way that contemporary history education pulls back the curtain on how historians work, teachers can open up for examination the way fiction writers work. They contend that this is critical because artistic representations of history can be so appealing and so well constructed that they pull people in, inhibiting interrogation and critical thought.

Source/Credit:

Canadian Issues/Thèmes canadians

Clark, Penney, and Louis LeVasseur. "Two Points of View on History Teaching in Canada/Deux points de vue sur l’enseignement de l’histoire au Canada." (2015)

Anne Marie — Fri, 04 Mar 2016 20:31:40 +0000

Citation:

Clark, Penney, and Louis LeVasseur. "Two Points of View on History Teaching in Canada/Deux points de vue sur l’enseignement de l’histoire au Canada." Revue internationale d’éducation de Sèvres 69 (2015): 123-34. https://ries.revues.org/4445

Abstract/Summary:

In Canada, each province and territory is a separate jurisdiction, with autonomy over education. However, some generalizations can be made concerning the nine provinces and three territories comprising English-Canada. Differences in curricula and teaching in the province of Quebec (French-Canada) are derived from religious and cultural roots. In spite of differences, history teaching in both English- and French-Canada has increasingly acknowledged a plurality of narratives and emphasized active investigation of the past rather than simple transmission of historical narratives.

Au Canada, chaque province et territoire est une juridiction distincte, disposant d’une autonomie en matière d’éducation. Cependant, certaines généralisations peuvent être faites concernant les neuf provinces et trois territoires du Canada anglais. Les différences en matière de programmes et d’enseignement avec la province de Québec (Canada français) ont des racines religieuses et culturelles. En dépit des différences, l’enseignement de l’histoire au Canada, tant anglais que français, reconnaît de plus en plus la pluralité des récits et met plus l’accent sur une investigation active du passé que sur la simple transmission de récits historiques.

Source/Credit:

Revue internationale d’éducation de Sèvres

Clark, Penney, and Wayne Knights. “‘Fratricidal Warfare:’ English-Canadian Textbook Publishers Take on the Americans, 1970-1980." (2013)

ulrike — Wed, 06 Jul 2016 21:21:58 +0000

Citation:

Clark, Penney, and Wayne Knights. “‘Fratricidal Warfare:’ English-Canadian Textbook Publishers Take on the Americans, 1970-1980." History of Education: Journal of the History of Education Society 42, no. 5 (2013): 598-621.

Abstract/Summary:

Educational publishing sits at the intersection of industry, culture and education. Pedagogical aims must be balanced with the need for publishers to make a profit, while also acknowledging Canadian national identity and culture. The events of central interest are related to the tensions between two publishers’ associations in the wake of the sales, in 1970, of Canadian publishers Gage and Ryerson Press to American interests. The Canadian Book Publishers’ Council was comprised mainly of American branch plants and the Independent Publishers Association membership was Canadian-owned publishing companies. The two associations became bitter rivals, engaging in ‘fratricidal warfare’, as they lobbied the provincial and federal governments and fought to maintain their places in the textbook market. About 65% of total sales revenues from publishing in Canada came from textbook sales in this period. Both governments and commercial interests had to balance Canadian sovereignty with commercial gain and educational goals.

Source/Credit:

History of Education

Clark, Penney, Stéphane Lévesque, and Ruth Sandwell. “Dialogue Across Chasms: History and History Education in Canada.” (2015)

ulrike — Tue, 01 Oct 2013 20:13:26 +0000

Citation:

Clark, Penney, Stéphane Lévesque, and Ruth Sandwell. “Dialogue Across Chasms: History and History Education in Canada.” In History Teacher Education: Global Interrelations, edited by Elisabeth Erdmann and Wolfgang Hasberg, 191-211. Schwalbach/Ts: Wochenschau Verlag, 2015.

Abstract/Summary:

This chapter explains the rift between history education in Canada and the academic world of Canadian history. Authors Penney Clark, Stéphane Lévesque and Ruth Sandwell discuss how teaching history to Canadian students is difficult because of Canada’s rich diversity. The authors ask questions such as, how do we teach youth the story of Canada when the history curriculum varies province to province? How do we keep Canadian history alive when there is such a distance between the academic and professional world? The chapter then explores the challenges to history education at the university level in the 1960s and 1970s that sparked a breakdown in the dialogue between academic historians and the wider public by comparing and contrasting historians’ outreach with the public sphere before and after the 1970s. The chapter also explains the developments in Canadian history that encouraged historians to create histories that were more inclusive, complex and diverse, rather than focus on one national history. A consequence of this change was that history at the elementary and high school levels suffered from a fragmented history, and less importance was placed on history as a major school subject. While the chapter does focus on the distance between history academics and the public sphere, which includes schools, the government, local museums and more, the authors raise awareness of current projects, organizations, studies and major developments that focus on engaging teaching professionals with academic historians, as well as creating engaging and relevant history curriculum for students across Canada.

Source/Credit:

Emily Chicorli

Clark, Penney. "Clio in the Curriculum: The Jury is Out." (1998)

ulrike — Wed, 27 Apr 2011 23:41:03 +0000

Citation:

Clark, Penney. "Clio in the Curriculum: The Jury is Out." Canadian Social Studies 32(2) (1998): 45-8, 60.

Abstract/Summary:

This article traces the challenges to the place of history in the school curriculum over the course of the 20th century. Citizenship goals have provided the underlying rationale for history's inclusion. However, the view that history should be the major vehicle for achieving these goals has been under assault from the advent of the progressive education movement in Canada in the 1920s through to new and broader notions of citizenship education which do not necessarily include history. The article also considers the question of inclusion in the historical narrative and how it has been addressed over the years.

Beginning in the late 1960s two new movements combined to hammer another nail in history's coffin. The first was a new emphasis on Canadian studies, signaled by the establishment of the Canada Studies Foundation in 1970. George Tomkins, a director of the foundation, proclaimed in 1972 that "Canadian studies has begun to take its place with politics, sex and sports as a staple of cocktail party conversation" (p. 212). Although this bit of hyperbole may only have been true for the circles in which Tomkins travelled, Canadian studies were certainly of wide concern at that time. The second movement was oriented toward helping students develop the skills required to deal effectively with social issues. Bruner himself signaled the appearance of this threat when he announced in 1971 that "I believe I would be quite satisfied to declare, if not a moratorium, then something of a de-emphasis on matters that have to do with the structure of history...and deal with it rather in the context of the problems that face us" (1971, p. 21). He was referring to problems such as urban decay, poverty, and the unpopular Vietnam War in the United States. But Canada had its own problems at the time and his call had resonance in this country as well. The response here was a proliferation of new issue-oriented courses and materials.

The Canadian Critical Issues Series (Eisenberg and Levin, 1972-1981), developed at the Ontario Institute for Studies in Education, dealt with issues ranging from the rights of young people in Canadian society to labour-management relations and foreign ownership. The Canada Studies Foundation also developed a number of new materials, such as Understanding the Canadian Environment (Penney and Dwyer, 1984) developed at the Atlantic Centre of the Foundation-a set of 14 booklets dealing with issues related to physical, cultural, and political environments. The Ontario Department of Education offered a variety of new courses such as Women's Studies, Black Studies, and Third World or Development Studies. Alberta adopted a curriculum which downplayed content and focused instead on values clarification processes which encouraged students to adopt strategies for clarifying and choosing their own value systems (Alberta Education, 1971). A later Alberta curriculum defined social studies as "the school subject in which students learn to explore and, where possible, to resolve, social issues that are of public and personal concern" (Alberta Education, 1981, p. 1). The trend was to include history only where it seemed helpful in resolving issues. The general thinking seemed to be that "the discussion and analysis of the problems and issues of today and tomorrow should take priority over the problems of yesterday" (Levin, 1969, p. 5). It is particularly interesting to note that historian Bernie Hodgetts himself, author of What Culture? What Heritage?, the nationwide study which was so critical of history teaching, published (with Gallagher) a text, Teaching Canada for the '80s (1978), which eschewed history in favour of contemporary issues. A 1982 survey of social studies curricula across the country, carried out by the Council of Ministers of Education, reported that development of inquiry skills was a common goal.

Source/Credit:

Canadian Social Studies

Clark, Penney. "‘A Precarious Enterprise’: A Case Study of Western Canadian Regional Educational Publishing, 1980-1989.” (2013)

ulrike — Wed, 06 Jul 2016 21:23:03 +0000

Citation:

Clark, Penney. "‘A Precarious Enterprise’: A Case Study of Western Canadian Regional Educational Publishing, 1980-1989.” Historical Studies in Education 25, no. 1 (Spring 2013): 1-29.

Abstract/Summary:

This study explores the dramatic rise and demise of Douglas & McIntyre (Educational) as a case study of western regional publishing in Canada. During its nine years of life, and before its sale to the multinational firm, International Thomson, this small regional publisher produced a ground breaking social studies series, as well as a health series, and other books. Factors in favour of regional educational publishing were: a rise in Canadian nationalism, which often manifested itself regionally, political lobbying, the right employees, and Ministry of Education textbook policies. Factors which mitigated against success were: pedagogical change, competition from American subsidiaries, limitations on access to capital funding, provincial autonomy with regard to education, the ascendance of multinational firms, a change in Ministry of Education textbook policies, and company allegiances.

Source/Credit:

Historical Studies in Education

Clark, Penney. “Clio in the Curriculum: Vindicated at Last.” (2013)

ulrike — Tue, 21 Jan 2014 21:19:51 +0000

Citation:

Clark, Penney. “Clio in the Curriculum: Vindicated at Last.” Canadian Issues (Spring 2013): 42-6.

Abstract/Summary:

This article revisits themes from Clark’s “Clio in the Curriculum: The Jury is Out” (Canadian Social Studies 32(2) (1998): 45-8), where the author suggested history education was “at a low ebb” in Canadian schools. Clark now argues history education has become “increasingly secure” in its curricular place due to recent promising academic and organizational developments.

Between 1970 and 1990, several factors evoked both academic and public criticism of history education in Canadian schools—from the publication of ‘Canadianized’ American textbooks and their insufficient representation of women and aboriginal groups, to a move away from historical content and increased emphasis on contemporary issues and “critical thinking and skill development.” The Dominion Institute’s national history projects generated concern about public commitment to democratic citizenship and knowledge of Canadian history, and underscored history’s “precarious” positioning within an interdisciplinary Social Studies curriculum.

Since the mid-1990s, however, several key developments have served to revitalize history education and teaching in English Canada. Clark points to the publication of the “Lacoursière Report” in Quebec, and Seixas’ article “Conceptualizing the Growth of Historical Understanding,” both in 1996, as groundbreaking in their discussion of curriculum policy and conceptualization. The 1999 “Giving the Past a Future Conference,” sponsored by the McGill Institute, provided a forum for history education stakeholders to debate national standards and launched the creation of Historica, which provided professional resources and learning opportunities for teachers and students. The creation of the Centre for the Study for Historical Consciousness at UBC in 2001, and the Historical Thinking Project in 2006, supported the development of a conceptual framework for historical thinking that is now embedded in provincial curriculum documents, school textbooks and teacher education programs.

Clark suggests that, in addition to academic and curricular developments, various public organizations have also contributed to a resurgence in Canadian history education. The Association for Canadian Studies, Canada’s History, CBC and Radio-Canada, and Historica Canada (created in 2009 through the amalgamation of the Historica Foundation of Canada and the Dominion Institute) have made teacher resources, conferences and awards more readily available across Canada. The pan-Canadian The History Education Network/Histoire et éducation en réseau (THEN/HiER) was created in 2005 to provide opportunities for history teachers, academics, public historians and textbook authors and publishers to “promote research-informed teaching.”

Overall, Clark suggests history education has benefited from a “coherent conceptual framework,” increasing academic historians’ involvement, improved resource publication and a growing number of public history organizations which have collectively contributed to a “renewed vitality” in Canadian history education, securing its pedagogical place in public education despite previous challenges to its disciplinary status.

Source/Credit:

Anne Hales

Clark, Penney. “History Education Research in Canada: A Late Bloomer.” (2014)

ulrike — Wed, 25 Jun 2014 22:25:07 +0000

Citation:

Clark, Penney. “History Education Research in Canada: A Late Bloomer.” In Researching History Education: International Perspectives and Disciplinary Traditions, edited by Manuel Köster, Holger Thünemann, and Meik Zülsdorf-Kersting, 81-103. Schwalbach/Ts: Wochenschau Verlag, 2014.

Abstract/Summary:

In this chapter Penney Clark advocates for more empirical research on what happens in Canadian history classrooms at every level so that educators can improve history instruction and make it more meaningful and engaging for students. In the first section of the chapter, Clark identifies the characteristics of the current history education research climate in Canada to suggest that Canadian research has become more independent from the United States with the help of increased federal funding and the Social Science and Humanities Research Council of Canada (SSHRC). The second section discusses recent advancements in the pedagogy of history education to explain how students learn history, including summaries of studies from Peter Sexias, Carla Peck, Stuart Poyntz, Amy von Heyking, Jocelyn Létourneau, Stéphane Lévesque, Raphaël Gani, Catherine Duquette, José Igartua, and others. The third section of the chapter provides an overview of studies that researched how history teachers taught history, continuing in the fourth section with a discussion on how history teachers learn to teach. In this fourth section Clark states that a major gap exists in history education research since few research studies have been conducted on history or social studies methodology courses in teacher education programs, with the exception being studies from Peter Sexias and Stéphane Lévesque. In the fifth section, Clark outlines major scholarly studies related to history textbook content and use in Canada. In the sixth and final section of the chapter, Clark describes current centres for history education research in Canada, specifically highlighting the work of the Centre for the Study of Historical Consciousness at the University of British Columbia, the History Education Network/Histoire et éducation en réseau (THEN/HiER), the Virtual Historian at the University of Ottawa and the Simulating History project at Brock University.

Source/Credit:

Emily Chicorli

Clark, Penney. “History of Education and Passages to the Future.” (2013)

ulrike — Wed, 06 Jul 2016 21:23:50 +0000

Citation:

Clark, Penney. “History of Education and Passages to the Future.” In Foundations in Teacher Education: A Canadian Perspective, edited by Theodore Christou and Shawn Bulloch, 30-45. Polygraph 3. Canadian Research in Teacher Education: A Polygraph Series. Ottawa: Canadian Association for Teacher Education, 2013.

Abstract/Summary:

In her chapter in this teacher education anthology, Clark advocates that teacher education programs should once again make a history of education course compulsory so that new teachers are able to more specifically understand that curricula is impermanent: it is always evolving based on contemporary socio-political and economic changes. She notes that although the number of historians teaching the history of education is in decline, the scholarship in this field is growing; consequently, there is a richly diverse literature from which to draw from to teach a history of education course. She succinctly states four reasons advocating the implementation of this course: first, it will help new teachers better understand the historical concept of continuity and change; second, it will help them become “intelligently critical” of their own and their peers’ teaching practices; third, it is important to understand the process by which educational changes were implemented in order to better appreciate contemporary pedagogical reforms; and fourth, it would enable new teachers to have a deeper understanding of their chosen profession. A mandatory history of education course for new teachers would enable them to more fully appreciate William Pinar’s adage, “Reactivating the past reconstructs the present so we can find the future.”

Source/Credit:

Shannon Leggett

Clark, Penney. “Introduction." In New Possibilities for the Past: Shaping History Education in Canada (2011)

ulrike — Wed, 21 Aug 2013 18:30:59 +0000

Citation:

Clark, Penney. “Introduction.” In New Possibilities for the Past: Shaping History Education in Canada, edited by Penney Clark, 1-30. Vancouver: UBC Press, 2011.

Abstract/Summary:

The collection of chapters in the book explores and discusses research and practice of history education in Canada. The research into history teaching and practice in Canada is very important due to Canadians’ lack of knowledge of their own history and the history that is being taught in school. The author purports that it is crucial that this scholarly research be completed and that classroom practice be informed by the findings. She begins by discussing recent debates in Canadian history such as the 250^th anniversary of the Battle of the Plains of Abraham, depiction of Aboriginal peoples, the killing of history, etc. There are three issues that emerge as points of contention in the study of history: inadequate or inaccurate representations of the past in sanctioned textbooks, the place and importance of history as a school subject, and the purposes and pedagogy of history, which the author discusses each in turn. She then points to a way forward, how history educators and researchers can develop history education research. It was with the publication of Peter Sexias’ work on historical thinking in 1996 that a framework for the field of history education research in Canada was developed. The next event of importance was the “Giving Past a Future” conference in 1999, which was the largest Canadian conference focused on the teaching and learning of history, and also the creation of Historica. According to the author, the first decade of the new millennia was marked by four key publications which began to move history education research forward: Knowing, Teaching and Learning History: National and International Perspectives (2000); Theorizing Historical Consciousness (2004); To the Past: History Education, Public Memory and Citizenship in Canada (2006;) and Thinking Historically: Educating Students for the 21^st Century (2008). The author discusses the increase in funding for history education research through the Social Sciences and Humanities Research Council (SSHRC), including The History Education Network (THEN/HiER), Simulating History at Brock University, and Canadians and Their Past (2006-2011). She concludes the chapter with a discussion of the collection and each chapter’s major themes. The book is divided into five sections: a discussion of history education and contested terrain, orientations towards historical thinking, classroom contexts for historical thinking, other contexts for historical thinking, and perspectives on historical thinking. The author concludes with a discussion of the changing terrain of history education and the importance of the continuation of history education research.

Source/Credit:

Erika Smith

Clark, Penney. “Representations of Aboriginal People in English Canadian History Textbooks: Toward Reconciliation.” (2007)

ulrike — Wed, 01 Feb 2012 20:17:14 +0000

Citation:

Clark, Penney. “Representations of Aboriginal People in English Canadian History Textbooks: Toward Reconciliation.” In Teaching the Violent Past: History Education and Reconciliation, ed. by. Elizabeth A. Cole, 81-119. Lanham, MD: Rowman & Littlefield Publishers, Inc., 2007.

Abstract/Summary:

In this study, Clark examines twentieth century school history textbooks to better understand what English Canadian students learned about Aboriginal people over time. She focuses on four provinces - British Columbia, Manitoba, Ontario, and Nova Scotia - to represent the four broad regions of the country - the west, the prairies, central Canada, and Atlantic Canada. Using both primary and secondary analysis, depending on the time period, Clark presents her findings both visually and in writing.

After outlining the historical context of indigenous and settler groups in what is now Canada, Clark uses textbooks as lieux de memoire to glimpse the past in which they were written and authorized. Although Canadian history textbooks are not written with an explicit purpose to promote reconciliation with Aboriginal people, Clark argues that, over time, they have addressed their presence in various ways. She divides her exploration into three periods: 1911-1931, the mid-1960s to the mid-1980s, and mid-1980s to the present. In the first period she finds that Aboriginal people were othered in textbooks, both in the paternalistic descriptions of them as children, and in the repugnance towards them. From the mid-1960s to the mid-1980s studies found that Canadian textbooks contained factual errors, glaring omissions, and negative stereotyping. In the most recent period, Clark argues that although it is clear that texts have improved in their discussion of Aboriginal people, they have not come far enough.

In the final section of the chapter, Clark outlines seven categories of depiction of Aboriginal people in textbooks. In the more distant past, Aboriginal people were depicted as spectators or savages. In the more recent past, Clark divides depictions of Aboriginal people in five categories: exotic, problem, uniquely spiritual, protestor, and invisible. She concludes that since “Canadian history textbooks have not yet come to grips with what reconciliation means within a postcolonial settler society,” textbooks reflect the social context in which they are written, one which relies on the narrative of progress and the othering of Aboriginal people (111). In order to fix this, she argues that the voices of Aboriginal people need to be included in texts and teachers need to disrupt this narrative.

Source/Credit:

Katherine Joyce

Clark, Penney. “The Historical Context of Social Studies in English Canada.” (2004)

ulrike — Wed, 22 Feb 2012 22:28:04 +0000

Citation:

Clark, Penney. “The Historical Context of Social Studies in English Canada.” In Challenges and Prospects for Canadian Social Studies, edited by Alan Sears and Ian Wright, 17-37. Vancouver: Pacific Educational Press, 2004.

Abstract/Summary:

In this chapter, Clark traces the history of social studies curriculum in English Canada. She argues that English Canadian social studies curricula, although varied by province and time period, has always been shaped by American influence. She suggests that this is true both in terms of supporters and detractors. The American influence, Clark argues, affected Canadian curricula in two ways: direct influence and through interprovincial activity, as provinces shared ideas with each other. Of course, Great Britain also influenced the curricula, both through progressive education ideas and materials, but also because of the way in which Canadian citizenship was conceived.

In the early years of social studies, from the 1920s-1950s, English Canadians based their approach on the American progressive education model, which focused on project-work. In the 1950s and 1960s, both Americans and Canadians turned to an approach based on the structures of the disciplines, for example, teaching students to act as historians. By the 1970s, English Canadians were concerned with American dominance, and the Canadian Studies movement came into being. Clark argues that this was also a result of American influence. She draws on Max van Manen and Jim Parsons who identified four approaches to social studies in the 1970s and 1980s: social reconstruction and reflective awareness, moral education and valuing processes, environmental education and social problems approach, and Canadian studies and citizenship education. By the 1980s there was a new emphasis on citizenship. Clark argues that all of these eras in social studies have been influenced by American movements, to greater or lesser degrees.

Source/Credit:

Katherine Joyce

Clark, Penney. “‘A Nice Little Wife to Make Things Pleasant’: Portrayals of Women in Social Studies Textbooks.” (2005)

viviane gosselin — Fri, 24 Jul 2009 00:09:51 +0000

Citation:

Clark, Penney. “‘A Nice Little Wife to Make Things Pleasant’: Portrayals of Women in Social Studies Textbooks.” McGill Journal of Education 40(2) (Spring 2005): 241-265. http://mje.mcgill.ca/

Abstract/Summary:

This study examined 20th Century Canadian history textbooks authorized in British Columbia, for their portrayals of women. The texts do not adequately reflect feminist scholarship nor societal changes. The nation building narrative of the textbooks precludes the inclusion of women in important ways. In the interwar years, the women who appear in history textbooks are portrayed as parasitic and weak. In the 1950s to 1970s period inclusion requires royal status or fame as a writer. In the 1980s women are often depicted in larger-than-life ways and “filler feminism” is a problem.

Source/Credit:

McGill Journal of Education

Clark, Penney. “‘Great Chorus of Protest’: A Case Study of Conflict over the 1909 Eaton's Readers.” (2009)

ulrike — Wed, 05 Jun 2013 18:45:05 +0000

Citation:

Clark, Penney. “‘Great Chorus of Protest’: A Case Study of Conflict over the 1909 Eaton's Readers.” History of Education 38(5) (2009): 681-703.

Abstract/Summary:

This article examines the controversy that ensued when the Education Department of the province of Ontario, Canada, granted the tender to publish elementary school readers to the T. Eaton Company, a department store, in 1909. This decision eliminated an important source of income for retail booksellers, who could not compete with the consumer appeal of a department store, or with its option of mail-order service. Over the next decade, the booksellers fought vociferously, using a variety of strategies, in an effort to mitigate the effects of this decision on their profits. The booksellers' struggle was part of a larger campaign on the part of retailers to oppose mail-order provision of consumer goods in Canada. This historical case study contributes to our understanding of the effects of political influences and commercial pressures on the provision of textbooks, which are central to instruction in a publicly funded school system.

Source/Credit:

ERIC

Clark, Penney. “‘Home-Grown Product’ or ‘Made in America’? History of Social Studies in English Canada.” (1997)

ulrike — Mon, 10 Dec 2012 22:00:24 +0000

Citation:

Clark, Penney. “‘Home-Grown Product’ or ‘Made in America’? History of Social Studies in English Canada.” In Trends and Issues in Canadian Social Studies, edited by Ian Wright and Alan Sears, 68-99. Vancouver: Pacific Educational Press, 1997.

Abstract/Summary:

Source/Credit:

Katherine Joyce

Clark, Penney. “‘The Most Fundamental of All Learning Tools’: An Historical Investigation of Textbook Controversies in English Canada.” (2009)

ulrike — Tue, 11 Mar 2014 23:12:22 +0000

Citation:

Clark, Penney. “‘The Most Fundamental of All Learning Tools’: An Historical Investigation of Textbook Controversies in English Canada.” In Auf der Suche nach der wahren Art von Textbüchern, edited by Angelo Van Gorp and Marc Depaepe, 123-42. Bad Heilbrunn: Klinkhardt, 2009.

Abstract/Summary:

In this chapter, Clark addresses the questions “what makes or made a textbook a textbook” and “why does the textbook warrant scholarly attention?” (p. 123). Clark argues that defining a textbook simply by its classroom applications is insufficient. A more essential characteristic that sets the school textbook apart, she suggests, is “its relationship to the state” (p. 123). Because they are written in response to mandated curriculum outcomes, textbooks must adhere to specific pedagogical and content requirements that supersede the personal or corporate intentions of an author or publishing company. As such, textbooks hold special status as containers for official knowledge. They become “instruments of pedagogy” (p. 124), designed in a way that presents content through particular sequences or instructional techniques. While its influence may have diminished recently as the sole source of curriculum content, the textbook has historically been a major driver of teaching and learning.

Clark outlines three reasons for why textbooks merit scholarly focus. First, as textbooks are commonplace instructional tools, they reflect ongoing “cultural, ideological, political, economic and ethical debates” (p. 125). Second, their role as an economic commodity warrants examination, as textbook publication has proven a lucrative yet volatile enterprise for both American and Canadian publishers of Canadian content. Third, textbook production and selection has proven a contentious issue in provincial political arenas.

As the Canadian constitution assigns education as a provincial responsibility, publishers have faced additional challenges regarding economic viability and production. Throughout the twentieth century, Canadian publishers faced small provincial markets and the challenge of American competitors. Between 1885 and 1905, W.J. Gage, Copp Clark and the Canadian Publishing Company controlled textbook sales in English Canada. While other companies including the T. Eaton Company department store dabbled in the textbook market, Clark argues publishing textbooks “continued to be very profitable for publishers in Canada until the late 1960s” (p. 130). Then, with a shift in pedagogical direction under neo-progressivism of the 1970s, textbooks fell increasingly out of favour to a broader range of learning resources and a focus on less content-driven learning activities. This philosophical shift, accompanied by increasing manufacturing costs, new multimedia options and changes in government funding allocations, diminished the status and profitability of textbook divisions.

In addition to the economic debates around textbooks, their content has also been a significant issue for debate in English Canada. Questions have been raised about textbooks varying treatment and representations of Anglo-French history and culture, and First Nations figures such as Louis Riel. Such concerns prompted closer content analysis of social issues due to “the increasingly multicultural nature of Canadian society, the rise of feminism, and increased aboriginal activism” (p. 133) in the 1960s. Research studies such as Ontario’s 1971 Teaching Prejudice report, and Alberta’s 1981 Native People in the Curriculum found extensive factual errors and negative stereotyping of aboriginal peoples and various ethnic groups. Clark argues that, while there are still issues with textbook content, it has “improved since then” (p. 133).

Textbooks have been viewed as instruments of American intrusion into the Canadian education curriculum. Prior to the 1900s, most textbooks were produced by American authors or publishers. In response to the perception that American influence was too pervasive in forming understandings of Canadian identity, geography and political importance, the 1920s and 30s saw increased “Canadianization” of American textbook content, as well as original production from Canadian publishers. But nationalist concerns persisted as several small Canadian companies were subsumed into larger American firms in the 1960s. The 1980s and 1990s saw some success in regional and national textbook development and publication, through such firms as Douglas & McIntyre. However, today few Canadian firms remain.

Source/Credit:

Anne Hales

Clark, Penney. “‘The Teacher is the Keystone of the Educational Arch:’ A Century and a Half of Lifelong Teacher Education in Canada.” (2014)

ulrike — Mon, 17 Mar 2014 18:03:47 +0000

Citation:

Clark, Penney. “‘The Teacher is the Keystone of the Educational Arch:’ A Century and a Half of Lifelong Teacher Education in Canada.” In Becoming a History Teacher: Sustaining Practices in Historical Thinking and Knowing, edited by Ruth Sandwell and Amy von Heyking, 30-59. Toronto: University of Toronto Press, 2014.

Abstract/Summary:

Clark provides the historical context that outlines the development of formalized teacher preparation education in Canada from the early nineteenth century to the present. Clark also describes the implications of the shift from teachers receiving their education and training in normal schools to universities, as well as the changing requirements for elementary and secondary school teachers. Using teacher education program methodology textbooks, Clark traces the approaches used in history and social studies teacher education courses to analyze the progression of pedagogical theory and historical content within the textbooks, which leads into the present-day historical thinking framework that is evident in current provincial curricula and textbooks. Lastly, Clark discusses four approaches for in-service teacher education, or ongoing professional development: institutes and conferences, summer schools, professional journals and teacher supervision.

Source/Credit:

Emily Chicorli

Cobb, Paul, Jere Confrey, Andrea diSessa, Richard Lehrer, and Leona Schauble. “Design Experiments in Educational Research.” (2003)

viviane gosselin — Fri, 24 Jul 2009 00:16:56 +0000

Citation:

Cobb, Paul, Jere Confrey, Andrea diSessa, Richard Lehrer, and Leona Schauble. “Design Experiments in Educational Research.” Educational Researcher 32(1) (2003): 9-13. http://edr.sagepub.com/

Abstract/Summary:

Indicates the range of purposes and variety of settings in which design experiments have been conducted, delineating five crosscutting features that collectively differentiate design experiments from other methodologies. Clarifies what is involved in preparing for and carrying out a design experiment and in conducting a retrospective analysis of the extensive, longitudinal data sets generated during an experiment. Discusses issues of logistics and measure.

Source/Credit:

ERIC

Cohen, Yolande, Martin Messika, and Sara Cohen Fournier. "Memories of Departures: Stories of Jews from Muslim Lands in Montreal." (2015)

ulrike — Wed, 27 Jan 2016 20:00:24 +0000

Citation:

Cohen, Yolande, Martin Messika, and Sara Cohen Fournier. "Memories of Departures: Stories of Jews from Muslim Lands in Montreal." In Beyond Testimony and Trauma: Oral History in the Aftermath of Mass Violence, edited by Steven High, 311-31. Vancouver: UBC Press, 2015.

Abstract/Summary:

Cohen, Messika, and Fournier use interviews with Sephardic Jews from Muslim Arab nations who settled in Montreal to explore the idea of “remembered stories of departure.” The phrase “departure” instead of “displacement” is utilized as some of those interviewed, such as those from Morocco, saw themselves as immigrants rather than refugees; some depicted their journey as tainted with trauma, while others expressed that it was done with relative ease, though it was also noted that “the perceived ‘effortlessness’ of their departure was linked to their desire not to be seen as victims and their desire to understand their migratory trajectories as a matter of choice rather than as an imposition.” As Steven High phrases it, “This is a study of memory itself: of what is minimized, emphasized, overlooked and forgotten.”

Source/Credit:

Anne Marie — Fri, 20 Nov 2009 00:28:25 +0000

Citation:

Conrad, Margaret, Jocelyn Letourneau, and David Northrup. "Canadians and Their Pasts: An Exploration in Historical Consciousness," The Public Historian (2009) 31(1): 15-34.

Abstract/Summary:

In March 2006 a group of Canadian researchers formally embarked on a collaborative project to explore how ordinary Canadians engage the past in their everyday lives. The Canadians and Their Pasts project was inspired by previous studies undertaken in Europe, the United States, and Australia that used survey data to probe people’s historical consciousness. This paper will briefly summarize the findings of the earlier studies, offer preliminary results from the Canadian survey, and, where possible, reflect on similarities and differences in the consumption of the past across national boundaries.

http://caliber.ucpress.net/doi/pdf/10.1525/tph.2009.31.1.15?cookieSet=1

Source/Credit:

The Public Historian

Conrad, Margaret, Natalie Dubé, David Northrup, and Keith Owre. “‘I want to know my bloodline’: New Brunswickers and Their Pasts.” (2010)

ulrike — Wed, 06 Jul 2016 21:32:40 +0000

Citation:

Conrad, Margaret, Natalie Dubé, David Northrup, and Keith Owre. “‘I want to know my bloodline’: New Brunswickers and Their Pasts.” Journal of New Brunswick Studies 1 (2010): 1-28.

Abstract/Summary:

New Brunswick is a product of wars fought from 1689 to 1815. During these wars, all of which included battles on North American soil, the social relations among the First Nations, French, and British inhabitants were forged, often in blood. These conflicts became the foundation for mutable but seemingly mutually exclusive identities that are documented in a recent survey of New Brunswickers on how they engage the past in their everyday lives. In this paper, we describe the eighteenth-century context in which many New Brunswick cultural identities were constructed and address the findings of the Canadians and Their Pasts survey in a province where popular engagement with history is complicated by diverse perceptions of the past.

Source/Credit:

Journal of New Brunswick Studies

Conrad, Margaret. "History Does Matter: The Future of the Past in Atlantic Canada." (2008)

ulrike — Wed, 06 Jul 2016 23:06:58 +0000

Citation:

Conrad, Margaret. "History Does Matter: The Future of the Past in Atlantic Canada." Literary Review of Canada 16, no. 8 (2008): 3-5.

Abstract/Summary:

In this article for a special eastern issue, Conrad sets about answering the LRC editor’s question, “Is history an albatross around the Maritimes’ neck?” In order to properly address the question, she begins by defining the difference between the “Maritimes” and “Atlantic Canada” (the latter term includes Newfoundland and Labrador as well as Nova Scotia, New Brunswick, and Prince Edward Island). Her thesis that “Atlantic Canadians are no more hobbled by the past than other Canadians” is well argued through an examination of stereotypes that non-Atlantic Canadians tend to hold toward people from that region. She then analyzes the socio-economic and political development (progress and challenges) of the region on its own as well as in its relation to the rest of Canada. She concludes: “The future of the past in Atlantic Canada, you ask? It does not look very promising, but the future of the future has potential.”

Source/Credit:

Shannon Leggett

Conrad, Margaret. "It Was All About Me: Making History Relevant." (2011)

Anne Marie — Tue, 09 Oct 2012 17:34:47 +0000

Citation:

Conrad, Margaret. "It Was All About Me: Making History Relevant." The Canadian Historical Review 92(4) (2011): 694-721. http://utpjournals.metapress.com/content/jv76005j13m307n5/fulltext.pdf

Abstract/Summary:

In this article, Margaret Conrad reflects on her four-decade career as a historian. She takes an autobiographical approach, tracing her interest in the past to an evangelical upbringing in rural Nova Scotia and the dramatic changes in post–Second World War Canada that begged historical reflection. On the leading edge of the baby boom, she benefitted from reforms in education that set her on the path to an academic career focusing on Atlantic Canadian history, Women’s Studies, and Digital Humanities. History, she argues, is always relevant, serving as a vehicle for wisdom and agency in a world where power struggles are contextualized by the past but the outcome never certain.

Source/Credit:

The Canadian HIstorical Review

Conrad, Margaret. "Public History and its Discontents, or History in the Age of Wikipedia." (2008)

ulrike — Wed, 06 Jul 2016 21:34:45 +0000

Citation:

Conrad, Margaret. "Public History and its Discontents, or History in the Age of Wikipedia." Journal of the Canadian Historical Association 2008: 1-26.

Abstract/Summary:

In keeping with the Congress theme of “Bridging Communities: Making Public Knowledge, Making Knowledge Public,” this paper reflects on issues relating to public history and the impact of the Internet — that most public of media — on the ways in which academic historians create and disseminate knowledge. It explores the rise of public history as a profession and field of study over the past three decades, the efforts of the Canadian Historical Association (CHA) since its founding in 1922 to reach a broader public, and the impact of the Internet on the work of professional historians. By raising questions about the role of academic historians in general and of the CHA in particular in bridging what on the surface seems to be the divergent interests of academic and public history, it contributes to a larger discussion that will almost certainly preoccupy CHA presidents for the foreseeable future: where academic history and the arts disciplines generally fit into the postmodern university and into the rapidly expanding world of knowledge fuelled by the Internet and its related technologies.

Source/Credit:

Journal of the Canadian Historical Association / Revue de la Société historique du Canada

Conrad, Margaret. “A Brief Survey of Canadian Historiography.” (2011)

ulrike — Wed, 12 Dec 2012 19:29:04 +0000

Citation:

Conrad, Margaret. “ A Brief Survey of Canadian Historiography.” In New Possibilities for the Past: Shaping History Education in Canada, edited by Penney Clark, 33-54. Vancouver: UBC Press, 2011.

Abstract/Summary:

The author states that there is a difference between history, a study of the past, and historiography, which studies how history has been written and understood in the past. Canadian historiography, in the nineteenth and twentieth centuries, was rooted in European traditions and was largely practiced by “professional” or university-based historians. However, as literacy rates improved in Canada, the love of and interest in history increased for amateur historians. This contributed to the “historical turn” in Canada, yet there were varied historiographical traditions for different groups in Canadian society. For First Nations groups, Aboriginal history was mainly based on oral traditions whereas for Europeans history focused mainly on written texts such as the Bible. The chapter also discusses the history of professional historians in Canada and the emergence of the ‘New Social History’ in Canada. By the turn of the 21^st century, historians were beginning to take postmodernism into consideration and its ensuing impact on historical studies in Canada. A closer look at the differences and similarities between academic historians and public historians follows and includes the effect on Canadian historiography. The chapter concludes with a look to the future of Canadian historiography and the effect of liberalism and revisionism.

Source/Credit:

Erika Smith

Conrad, Margaret. “’Nothing, of course, ever happens down there’”: Atlantic Canada in the National Consciousness.” (2014)

ulrike — Wed, 06 Jul 2016 21:26:27 +0000

Citation:

Conrad, Margaret. “’Nothing, of course, ever happens down there’”: Atlantic Canada in the National Consciousness.” Canadian Issues/Thèmes canadiens (Fall 2014): 33-7.

Abstract/Summary:

The title of this paper is derived from a comment by Frank H. Underhill in The Image of Confederation, published in 1964. By that time, the Atlantic Provinces had become identified as the “sick man” of Canada, lagging behind the rest of the nation in economic growth. Underhill used this flimsy justification as an excuse for excluding the Atlantic region from his discussion, a common practice among policy makers and scholars of Canadian history. Exclusion from the national narrative is perhaps preferable to what often passes for analysis of the region. This paper probes the “mistaken identities” that bedevil Atlantic Canada and argues that the nation would benefit from paying more attention to the region located “east of Canada.”

Source/Credit:

Canadian Issues/ Thèmes canadiens

Cook, Sharon Anne. “Connecting Archives and the Classroom.” (1997)

ulrike — Tue, 01 Oct 2013 20:14:42 +0000

Citation:

Cook, Sharon Anne. “Connecting Archives and the Classroom.” Archivaria 44 (1997): 102-17.

Abstract/Summary:

Sharon Anne Cook’s article stresses the potential for the use of archival resources in education systems across Canada as being beneficial for archivists, educators and students, as well as problematizes the fact that Canadian archival institutions have been slow to engage with educational communities. She identifies the current debates between archival professionals who on the one hand believe that archivists’ main responsibility is to preserve records and documents for research use, and on the other hand, she explains the emerging opinion that archivists need to become more visible and relevant in the public policy arena. Cook also identifies the factors that contribute to the low level of formal public programming existing in Canadian archives. She includes excerpts of an educational kit, Canada’s Prime Ministers, to show how teachers and students can interact with primary sources that not only build on historical consciousness, but on contemporary problem solving skills.

Source/Credit:

Emily Chicorli

Côté, Olivier. “Encodage et décodage des récits historiques. Un cas : la série Le Canada, une histoire populaire.” (2011)

ulrike — Wed, 12 Dec 2012 22:10:21 +0000

Citation:

Côté, Olivier. “Encodage et décodage des récits historiques. Un cas : la série Le Canada, une histoire populaire.” Conserveries mémorielles [En ligne] 9 (2011).

Abstract/Summary:

Fruit de l’investigation du fonds de la division documentaire de la CBC et du fonds Ramsay Cook, cet article étudie la circulation des récits historiques dans la société canadienne à travers l’analyse de la production de la série Le Canada, une histoire populaire (encodage du récit), de la dynamique radio-canadienne entre journalistes et historiens, et du décodage du récit de la série par les téléspectateurs qui ont envoyé des courriels à la CBC. Cette étude montre que, malgré l’articulation de récits minoritaires régionaux, culturels et professionnels, les récits du nation-building canadien et du pluralisme s’imposent à cause de la force persuasive des acteurs sociaux qui les portent et surtout parce qu’ils font davantage consonance avec l’imaginaire social des Canadiens, qu’ils soient producteurs de ce nouveau récit télévisuel ou téléspectateurs.

This article, based on the investigation of the CBC documentary archives and of the fond Ramsay Cook , examines the circulation of historical narratives within Canadian society through the analysis of the context of production of the TV series Canada: A People’s History – what we call ‘narrative encoding’ – the study of the dynamics between CBC’s journalists and historians, and the decoding of this ‘encoded’ historical narrative by TV viewers who sent their e-mails to the CBC. Despite the very presence of counter narratives within the production and reception contexts, may it be regional, cultural or professional, pluralism and ‘nation-building’ master narratives remain hegemonic because of the persuasive force of social actors who strongly support their diffusion, and especially because these narratives are closely related to the social imaginary of most Canadians, either producers of this historical narrative made for the television age or viewers.

Source/Credit:

Conserveries mémorielles

Coulter, Rebecca Priegert, and Christopher John Greig. “The Man Question in Teaching: An Historical Overview.” (2008)

ulrike — Wed, 05 Jun 2013 18:43:18 +0000

Citation:

Coulter, Rebecca Priegert, and Christopher John Greig. “The Man Question in Teaching: An Historical Overview.” Alberta Journal of Educational Research 54(4) (2008): 420-31.

Abstract/Summary:

For more than a century in Canada, debate has been ongoing about the place of men in the classrooms of the nation and their role in ameliorating the problem of boys' underachievement. Using annual reports from provincial departments of education, other government and commission reports, publications by and for teachers, articles and stories from the popular media, and other print sources, we set out the broad and general contours of this continuing debate to demonstrate a marked consistency and several recurring themes in discussions about the man question in teaching.

Source/Credit:

ERIC

Cowan, Paula and Henry Maitles. “‘We Saw Inhumanity Close Up.’ What is Gained by School Students from Scotland Visiting Auschwitz?” (2011)

Fri, 29 Jul 2011 13:50:59 +0000

Citation:

Cowan, Paula and Henry Maitles. “‘We Saw Inhumanity Close Up.’ What is Gained by School Students from Scotland Visiting Auschwitz?” Journal of Curriculum Studies 43(2) (2011): 163-84.

Abstract/Summary:

As the education for citizenship agenda continues to impact on schools in the UK and with the Holocaust Educational Trust (HET) in conjunction with the Scottish Government introducing its Lessons From Auschwitz (LFA) project for students and teachers in Scotland, this article focuses on the Scottish context and investigates the school processes by which students are chosen to participate in the LFA project, the impact the LFA project has on student personal growth, and the range of follow-up activities in their schools and communities. The methodology employed online questionnaires and face-to-face interviews which were designed to ascertain student perceptions of the LFA project and the impact that this project had on student participants, their schools, and their communities. Findings demonstrate that the student cohort were highly academic students who took their responsibilities on return to their schools very seriously and organized a wide range of events, both in their schools and in their communities. There was clear evidence that the LFA project had led to extra teaching and awareness of the Holocaust, racism, and human rights; and that students’ citizenship values had been enhanced.

Source/Credit:

Informaworld

Crawford, Keith, and Stuart Foster. “The Political Economy of History Textbook Publishing in England”. (2006)

ulrike — Mon, 21 Oct 2013 22:36:19 +0000

Citation:

Crawford, Keith, and Stuart Foster. “The Political Economy of History Textbook Publishing in England”. In School History Textbooks Across Cultures: International Debates and Perspectives, edited by Jason Nicholls, 93-104. Oxford: Symposium Books, 2006.

Abstract/Summary:

The authors begin by pointing out that up until recently teachers in England had the freedom to choose which textbooks they would use and how much money they would spend on textbooks. Since 1988, while teachers technically still have choice in textbook selection, the presence of the National Curriculum, its accompanying testing, accountability and inspection practices have reduced the autonomy of individual teachers, creating a state-controlled education system with an increasingly profit-driven textbook industry. Furthermore, the institution of the National Curriculum has limited the textbook market and caused textbook publishers to respond to the demands of examination boards. It has made economic considerations in the textbook market more important than educational concerns, and decreased the variety in educational products as a smaller number of large publishers now control the market. In this chapter the authors argue that textbook publishing is situated in the middle of a variety of stakeholders’ social, economic, ideological and academic interests. The authors examine how editors, authors, and publishers respond to the tension of this positioning and the way in which education in England has supported a “conservative and narrow educational vision.”

Crawford and Foster site survey and interview based studies with major textbook publishers to support their point that the top priority for textbook publishers in England is to protect their share of the market. For publishers, this means ensuring textbooks reflect the ideological and political interests of the most powerful interest groups and national agencies that manufacture the curriculum. This in turn limits access to knowledge, which is particularly concerning given some have criticized the history National Curriculum as ideologically unsound. Another priority for textbook publishers is to respond to the requirements of the national examination and testing systems. The authors explain that the National Curriculum has essentially created a state-sponsored market, which in turn limits the diversity of textbook production. In order to ensure the success of their product and thus maximize profits, textbook publishers seek the endorsement of examination boards, endorsement that strongly appeals to teachers. Prior to the 1990s, the practice of examination boards endorsing texts was unheard of. The quality of the textbooks is often compromised when curriculum specifications and educational reforms occur too rapidly and textbook publishers are pressed to meet deadlines. The consequences in history textbooks include lack of reference to recent scholarship, non-challenging tasks for students, and a narrow, traditional view of history.

The authors continue, explaining the powerful role of editors in textbook publishing. Editors negotiate between teachers and publishing demands, making pragmatic, political or ideological decisions that often do not reflect educational values. Editors seek authors that are efficient and willing to compromise, as the textbook creation process is not simply a matter of writing, but of designing a text that will sell. This is a market-driven formula for textbook production that limits the variety and quality of textbooks available to teachers. In closing, the authors emphasize that increased state-control in textbook publishing and English education in general has impacted the cultural knowledge taught in classrooms. Due to the nature of textbook publishing, innovation and risk taking are avoided and conservative methods upheld. Textbook publishing has become bureaucratic and process-oriented, and the authors see cause for distress in the fact that teachers participate in this by selecting textbooks for reasons other than content and pedagogy.

Source/Credit:

Katie Gemmell

Cromer, Michael, and Penney Clark. "Getting Graphic with the Past: Graphic Novels and the Teaching of History." (2007)

Anne Marie — Tue, 01 Sep 2009 15:58:38 +0000

Citation:

Cromer, Michael, and Penney Clark. "Getting Graphic with the Past: Graphic Novels and the Teaching of History." Theory and Research in Social Education 35(4) (2007): 574-91.

Abstract/Summary:

This article explores the potential of the graphic novel as a means to approach history and historiography in secondary school social studies and history classrooms. Because graphic novels convey their messages through the interaction of visuals and written text, they require reading that is across the grain. They have been likened to hypertext, a format with which students are increasingly familiar, because they are flexible and open-ended and can be approached in multi-layered ways, and read along both linear and nonlinear paths. This format holds promise for increasing students' tolerance of ambiguity and appreciation for the nature of history as interpretation.

Source/Credit:

Theory and Research in Social Education

Cunningham, Deborah L. "Capturing Candor: Accessing Teachers' Thinking About the Cultivation of Historical Empathy." (2006)

ulrike — Fri, 12 Jul 2013 18:44:37 +0000

Citation:

Cunningham, Deborah L. "Capturing Candor: Accessing Teachers' Thinking About the Cultivation of Historical Empathy." In Research Methods in Social Studies Education: Contemporary Issues and Perspectives, edited by Keith C. Barton, 183-206. Greenwich, Connecticut: Information Age, 2006.

Abstract/Summary:

The author begins with a discussion of the doctoral research she completed on historical empathy as taught by history teachers in Britain. The chapter discusses how to evoke the knowledge of historical empathy of experienced teachers for them to teach it to their students. She continues with a description of her research design and the central methodological concern of her research, assessing teachers' tacit knowledge. She traces the literature surrounding how teachers access historical empathy and thinking and illustrates the historical gaps between the theory and practice of teachers. She discusses the key themes and dilemmas in teachers' thinking and multiple data sources were revealed. She then discusses her use of data triangulation and how it added insight to her analysis. She concludes the chapter with a discussion of the methods that contributed most to her research study and her methods for collecting and coding data.

Source/Credit:

Erika Smith

Davis Jr., O.L. “In Pursuit of Historical Empathy.” (2001)

ulrike — Wed, 05 Jun 2013 21:11:46 +0000

Citation:

Davis Jr., O.L. “In Pursuit of Historical Empathy.” In Historical Empathy and Perspective Taking in the Social Studies, edited by O. L. Davis Jr., E.A. Yeager, and S.J. Foster, 1-12. Lanham, MD: Rowman & Littlefield Publishers Inc., 2001.

Abstract/Summary:

The author begins with an example of an exercise he assigned to his grade eight class in which they were to write a letter about a historical journey. The completed letters did not take into consideration historical thinking or empathy, an outcome the author had anticipated and hoped for. As a result, the author has begun to study students’ needs and understanding of historical empathy even though there has been a backlash in the historical community surrounding the use of empathy within the classroom. The author warns, however, that historical empathy is not sympathy or an appreciative sentiment; rather, empathy induces a richer understanding in context, which is intellectual in nature. It uses narratives and active engagement when thinking about a specific person or event. In order to assist with the understanding of what historical empathy entails, the author suggests using the term “perspective taking” instead. The author continues with a description of what historical empathy entails. The use of empathy in schools, as described by the author, is not a whimsical pursuit but is imagination that is bolstered by historical evidence. According to the author, there are two main issues of dissent for using historical empathy in school classrooms: claims about prior knowledge and the instructional sequence. The teacher is essential in aiding student development toward using historical empathy and thinking. The author concludes with a discussion of the research of historical thinking in children and a call for future work in the field.

Source/Credit:

Erika Smith

Dean, David. “Getting it Right? An Historian Among the Actors.” (2008)

ulrike — Tue, 29 Oct 2013 18:42:04 +0000

Citation:

Dean, David. “Getting it Right? An Historian Among the Actors.” Canadian Historical Association Bulletin 34(2) (2008): 33-4.

Abstract/Summary:

In this piece, early modernist historian David Dean writes about his experience working with the National Art Centre’s English Theatre Company on Shakespeare’s Macbeth. He describes his initial excitement working on the piece and his subsequent discovery of the complexities of working on an historical play with modern actors for a modern audience. Midway into the project Dean found himself questioning the value of using a period production to communicate contemporary meaning to a modern audience, and he moved from enthusiastic to uncertain. As rehearsals progressed, however, Dean came to distinguish between accuracy and authenticity – being exact and correct, and being authoritative – and in the end was delighted to discover that the company was able to say new things about the play and do so in an authoritative way. Had they been determinedly accurate with their period production this may not have been possible.

Source/Credit:

Katie Gemmell

Dean, David. “Museums as Conflict Zones: The Canadian War Museum and Bomber Command.” (2009)

ulrike — Tue, 29 Oct 2013 18:44:42 +0000

Citation:

Dean, David. “Museums as Conflict Zones: The Canadian War Museum and Bomber Command.” Museum and Society 7(1) (2009): 1-15.

Abstract/Summary:

In this piece, David Dean discusses the way in which controversy erupted over the Canadian War Museum’s (CWM) attempt to tell the story of a Second World War Allied campaign, the Combined Bomber Offensive or Bomber Command. The media and some politicians set up the debate as being about ownership of history, with the museum curators and four historians who were called in to review the display on one side and the veterans who lived the experience on the other. The veterans received the majority of public support, as opposed to the museum curators and historians who had researched the campaign. One historian who had evaluated the display explained that the source of the contention lay in the museum’s intention to raise questions about the ethics and effectiveness of the decision to bomb German civilians and industrial targets. In the end a Parliamentary sub-committee required the museum to change the display. Dean argues that the source of the contention, in addition to the questions the display raised, was also about the use of historical evidence, and varying ideas about the ways in which the public interprets displays. Moreover, considering the nature of the museum, he concludes the disagreement was inevitable and that it has done damage to future public history in Canada.

Prior to the Bomber Command incident, veterans spoke out against the inclusion of a holocaust museum in the CWM, and the museum learnt that consultation with veterans regarding changes was very important. It also brought the CWM to the state’s attention and helped to identify the need for a new museum that would tell the story of how Canada was shaped by the wars of the twentieth century. The veterans who launched the public campaign against the Bomber Command display felt that the location, text and images used were misleading to viewers in terms of the purpose and effectiveness of the bombing campaign. But when the four historians called in to critique the exhibition in the end affirmed it, the museum felt justified in making no further changes. This led to widespread debate in the media, and finally, a series of televised hearings before the Subcommittee on Veterans Affairs of the Standing Senate Committee on National Security and Defence with all the stakeholders. It became clear that the politicians felt the museum, having offended the veterans, should make changes and represent history in a way equally accurate, but less insulting.

Dean then questions what can be concluded from the resolution of this controversy. Why were the eyewitness accounts of veterans given priority over the accounts provided in quotations and photographs? Given that dealing with controversial topics is precisely what public surveys have requested of museums, why was the museum so unsupported by the public and senate sub-committee? Perhaps it was because the veterans already had won the public’s support over an earlier issue with a documentary that CBC had aired and then later apologized for. Or maybe it was because of timing, as it coincided with commemorative events that have shaped Canadian national identity: 2005 was the 60^th anniversary of the end of the Second World War and 2007 the 90^th anniversary of Vimy Ridge. He goes on to explain that the veterans’ argument is based on lived experience, and it has become nearly unthinkable to challenge lived experience without appearing rude or insensitive. He concludes by suggesting that the museum as sacred site won over the museum as trusted teacher.

Source/Credit:

Katie Gemmell

Dean, David. “Theatre: A Neglected Site of Public History?” (2012)

ulrike — Tue, 29 Oct 2013 18:43:27 +0000

Citation:

Dean, David. “Theatre: A Neglected Site of Public History?” The Public Historian 34(3) (2012): 21-39.

Abstract/Summary:

In this piece David Dean argues that theatre should be studied as a site of public history because public historians have typically examined museums, film, television, and living history sites, but neglected theatre. Using Vern Theissen’s play Vimy (2007) as a case study, the author emphasizes the value of theatre as a site to represent and understand the past. The battle for Vimy Ridge is one of the most significant historical events for Canadians as it was the first time in the First World War that all four Canadian divisions fought side-by-side. Moreover, the losses were huge, but Canadians succeeded where the British and French had failed. It has inspired Canadian films, monuments, stamps, coins, sculptures, and one of the most performed plays in recent years: Vimy.

In many ways Vimy represents Canadian society. Characters come from across Canada and from the many ethnic groups that call Canada home. The playwright’s intentions, Dean explains, were not to write about war. Rather, he was attempting to write about the recollections of individuals, and to connect this with our memory as a country. The survey used in this study asked audience members about their knowledge before and after viewing the play, about the value of theatre with regard to historical representation, about other ways that they engage with the past, and how “trustworthy” they believe theatre to be as a representation of the past.

Examining first the survey results with regard to theatre as a site of knowledge, Dean explains that respondents found that the play humanized the historical event, making it more personal. Few commented, however, on the significance of the play as an important element in shaping Canadian identity. Approximately one quarter of the respondents thought it was a play about the horrors of war or that it was anti-war, which is interesting to consider in light of the playwright’s intentions mentioned above. Turning to the survey responses about the play’s representations of history on stage, Dean points out that nearly three quarters of the respondents felt that it was important for the historical details of the play to be as accurate as possible. When asked about the advantages of engaging with the past on stage versus other venues, such as museums, books or movies, respondents identified the immediate, personal and life-like experience of theatre. It transcends physical barriers, allowing the audience to imagine, experience, and deeply engage with the story unfolding before them.

The survey respondents were divided over the question of whether the play deepened their sense of Canadian identity. Many commented that this was done through the ‘unity in diversity’ theme in the play, while others found the play evoked a feeling of pride in being Canadian. For some the play was about hidden histories and untold stories, such as women involvement in war. Others, however, resisted the idea that Vimy Ridge was a defining experience with regard to Canadian identity. When asked about the way in which the play influenced their views on Canada in Afghanistan, only one fifth agreed that it did, most commonly in how they considered the effects of war on soldiers. Those who disagreed explained that Vimy Ridge and Afghanistan were too far apart in time and space and too different to compare. The author closes by noting that just over one third of the respondents found plays to be “somewhat trustworthy” with regard to historical representation, while under a tenth of respondents found them either “very trustworthy” or “not trustworthy.” More than half thought this depended on the play, the playwright, the directors, and so forth. The author uses these results to argue that theatre, as a venue for representing the past, is as trustworthy as other forms of historical representation, and thus is an important site of public history that should be considered by public historians.

Source/Credit:

Katie Gemmell

Demircio?lu Ismail H. "Analysis Of Turkish Secondary School History Examination Questions According To Cognitive Levels." (2009)

ulrike — Tue, 12 Jul 2016 18:18:49 +0000

Citation:

Demircioğlu Ismail H. "Analysis Of Turkish Secondary School History Examination Questions According To Cognitive Levels." The New Educational Review 17 (2009): 295-304.

Abstract/Summary:

The main aim of this paper is to analyst' and compare the questions asked in history exams at different secondary schools in two cities of Turkey, in terms of the stages of cognitive domain of Bloom's Taxonomy. The study was conducted in eleven high schools (student age: 14-17), which are eight Ordinary Secondary Schools (OSS) and three Anatolian Secondary Schools (ASS), in the cities of Trabzon and Rize. During the 2000-2001, 2001-2002, 2002-2003 and 2003-2004 academic years, 498 written exam questions asked by 22 history teachers in history exams in these schools were collected. 498 written exam questions were analysed in terms of the stages of the cognitive domain of Bloom's Taxonomy this research a document analysis method was used. In the light of the data it can be said that the great majority of history questions asked in the Turkish secondary schools are knowledge and comprehension levels of Bloom's Taxonomy. In sum, it can be said that in Turkey students in history courses are generally evaluated by their ability to recall historical dates, names and events, which means that students are not encouraged to develop deeper and more reflective thinking by written history exam questions in secondary schools.

Source/Credit:

The New Educational Review

Demircio?lu, Ismail H. “Learning How to Conduct Educational Research in Teacher Education: A Turkish Perspective.” (2008)

ulrike — Tue, 12 Jul 2016 18:10:14 +0000

Citation:

Demircioğlu, Ismail H. “Learning How to Conduct Educational Research in Teacher Education: A Turkish Perspective.” Australian Journal of Teacher Education 33, no. 1 (January 2008): 1-17.

Abstract/Summary:

This paper examines the attitudes of student teachers in social studies towards an educational research assignment, undertaken in an educational research methods course given at the Fatih Faculty of Education at Karadeniz Technical University, Turkey. A questionnaire containing open-ended questions and an interview were used in the data-collection process of this research. 74 student teachers answered the questionnaire; 20 of these teachers were selected for interview through a random sampling method, and they then participated in a semi-structured interview. In the light of the data, it can be said that the majority of student teachers gained basic educational research skills as a result of the course, and specifically learned how to conduct a small-scale research project. By conducting a small-scale education research project and writing a report on it, student teachers learned important educational research skills, such as how to detect problems, construct hypotheses, review literature, select a suitable research methodology, choose data collecting instruments, gather and analyse data, cite references and write up an educational research project.

Source/Credit:

Australian Journal of Teacher Education

Demircio?lu, Ismail H. “Using Historical Stories to Teach Tolerance: The Experiences of Turkish Eighth-Grade Students.” (2008)

ulrike — Tue, 12 Jul 2016 18:13:36 +0000

Citation:

Demircioğlu, Ismail H. “Using Historical Stories to Teach Tolerance: The Experiences of Turkish Eighth-Grade Students.” The Social Studies 99 (May/June 2008): 105-110

Abstract/Summary:

This study’s primary purpose is to investigate the ways in which eighth-grade students responded to a story told to them in a history lesson, which was intended to teach them tolerance. The author used a qualitative approach to gather data in this study. First, he researched the literature dealing with the importance of storytelling in education. Second, he used a semi-structured interview to elicit the attitudes of twenty randomly chosen eighth-grade students, both toward the story itself and toward the activities based on the story. The author conducted the research in May 2005 in a primary school in the city of Trabzon, Turkey. The compiled data revealed the following results: the use of stories can make history lessons interesting and enjoyable; by listening to this story, students recognized that people with different religions and ethnicities can live together peacefully; the story influenced students’ ideas about people from different cultural backgrounds in a positive way; and students recognized that tolerance is important if people are to live together.

Source/Credit:

Social Studies

den Heyer, Kent, and Alexandra Fidyk. “Configuring Historical Facts through Historical Fiction: Agency, Art-in-Fact, and Imagination as Stepping Stones between Then and Now.” (2007)

viviane gosselin — Fri, 24 Jul 2009 00:25:03 +0000

Citation:

den Heyer, Kent, and Alexandra Fidyk. “Configuring Historical Facts through Historical Fiction: Agency, Art-in-Fact, and Imagination as Stepping Stones between Then and Now.” Educational Theory 57(2) (2007): 141-57. http://www.ed.uiuc.edu/eps/Educational-Theory/

Abstract/Summary:

The historical fiction novel straddles the factual and the fictive recreation of past motivations that animate historical events. Through reading a work of historical fiction, Ursula Hegi's novel "Stones from the River," Kent den Heyer and Alexandra Fidyk offer a theoretical consideration of the following questions and their classroom implications: What is the role of historical fiction in enabling the imaginative grappling with historical fact? Or, in what ways does historical fiction enable us to come to terms with the ethical imperatives of learning from the past? What role does agency play in historical imagination? These are questions of ethics. They are, therefore, also questions of education.

Source/Credit:

ERIC

den Heyer, Kent. “Between Every ‘Now’ and ‘Then’: A Role for the Study of Historical Agency in History and Citizenship Education.” (2003)

viviane gosselin — Fri, 24 Jul 2009 00:22:18 +0000

Citation:

den Heyer, Kent. “Between Every ‘Now’ and ‘Then’: A Role for the Study of Historical Agency in History and Citizenship Education.” Theory and Research in Social Education31(4) (2003): 411-34. http://www.socialstudies.org/cufa/trse

Abstract/Summary:

This article reports on a review of research into students’ reasoning about social change and causes they attribute to selected historical events. In this review, I distinguish studies into social change and causality as two methodological approaches to historical understanding before relating findings into the ways that students reason about agency in social change. I consider two of many possible explanations for these findings, one each from a cognitive and a social psychology perspective. I then turn to sociology for two articulations of agency as tools to enhance students' historical thinking and reflection on their variegated capacities as agents of social life: a) personal agency as nested moments of re-“iteration,” “practical evaluation,” and “projectivity” and b) historical agency as collectively expressed struggle over the ideals, images, and stories people use to reiterate a past in the present so as to imagine personal and social projects. I argue throughout that student attention in classrooms to assumptions about agents and agency used in historical explanations enhances both their historical explanations and capacities as citizens. Rather than citizens, however, I begin this article with a feminist argument that teachers address students first and foremost as agents.

Source/Credit:

ERIC

den Heyer, Kent. “History Education as a Disciplined ‘Ethic of Truths.’” (2011)

ulrike — Tue, 15 Jan 2013 18:56:19 +0000

Citation:

den Heyer, Kent. "History Education as a Disciplined ‘Ethic of Truths.’” In New Possibilities for the Past: Shaping History Education in Canada, edited by Penney Clark, 154-72. Vancouver: UBC Press, 2011.

Abstract/Summary:

According to den Heyer, the disciplinary interpretation (“second-order concepts” or “procedures”) of historical thinking is inadequate since the preferred form of history education has “ethics and social action at its core.” Throughout the chapter, den Heyer explores the shortcomings of the disciplinary interpretation of historical thinking, outlining that it does not invite or enable students to use their own inventive knowledge of the past as they explore the possible, probable and preferred futures. The author proposes that, in a disciplinary interpretation of historical thinking, students see historians as though they work in a vacuum and students are unable to grasp the complexities surrounding race, gender, class and other factors that affect historians. den Heyer further presupposes that the disciplinary interpretation fails to take into consideration historical engagement that is grounded in ethics, using the example of the Grand Narrative view of Canadian history. It is important to study history in relation to students’ lives as it forces them to take a stake in history rather than simply view it as another school project. den Heyer concludes the chapter with a study of Badiou and how using a “disciplined ethics of truths” will work against what den Heyer has called an “over-determined ideology.”

Source/Credit:

Erika Smith

Dick, Lyle. "2013 Canadian Historical Association Presidential Address: On Local History and Local Historical Knowledge." (2013)

ulrike — Wed, 07 Oct 2015 21:43:55 +0000

Citation:

Dick, Lyle. "2013 Canadian Historical Association Presidential Address: On Local History and Local Historical Knowledge." Journal of the Canadian Historical Association / Revue de la Société historique du Canada 24, no. 1 (2013): 1-49.

Abstract/Summary:

This article considers two undervalued aspects of historical production — local history and local historical knowledge. It distinguishes between microhistory as carried out by professionals and local history as practised by vernacular historians, sometimes in collaboration with professionals. Relating his own experience with the genre of local history, the author highlights the importance of local historical knowledge as held and transmitted by community elders. His collaboration with the Elders of the Inuit community of Grise Fiord, Nunavut, is discussed as an illustration of its potential. The collaborative and dialogical character of local historical knowledge is further exemplified by folklorist Henry Glassie’s work with a small Northern Irish community. Noting current challenges of changing demographics, uprootedness and diaspora, the article considers how emerging communities and minorities are recreating new opportunities for local historical knowledge in Canada’s cities. Heeding the advice of senior Elders such as the late William Commanda of the Algonquin First Nation at Maniwaki, Quebec, the author asserts the importance of local historical knowledge to Canadians’ identities as members of communities with a common history, strengthening connections between people, past and present, and positioning us to better face the future.

Source/Credit:

Érudit

Dick, Lyle. "People and Animals in the Arctic: Mediating between Indigenous and Western Knowledge." (2009)

ulrike — Tue, 27 Oct 2015 21:02:10 +0000

Citation:

Dick, Lyle. "People and Animals in the Arctic: Mediating between Indigenous and Western Knowledge." In Method and Meaning in Canadian Environmental History, edited by Alan MacEachern and William J Turkel, 75-101. Toronto: Nelson Education, 2009.

Abstract/Summary:

This chapter analyzes the relationship between humans and the High Arctic environment, particularly those with caribou and muskoxen at the end 19th through 20th century. Dick focuses his study on the Inuit community at Grise Fiord on Ellesmere Island, and the political ramifications of hunting decisions on the community; both western and Inuit epistemologies are utilized “to facilitate ongoing inquiry and an open-endedness linking the past, present and future.” Several questions are postulated, most fundamentally, “Will Canada’s western societies respect the rights of aboriginal peoples to manage the resources on which they depend for subsistence and identity?”

Source/Credit:

Shannon Leggett

Dick, Lyle. "Red River's Vernacular Historians." (2013)

ulrike — Wed, 27 Jan 2016 19:48:35 +0000

Citation:

Dick, Lyle. "Red River's Vernacular Historians." Manitoba's History Winter 2013, no. 71 (2013): 3-15.

Abstract/Summary:

In this article, Lyle Dick discusses how historical writing in Western Canada predated the founding of the professional discipline of history in 1900 by examining the work of five non-professional “vernacular” historians in Old Red River in the 19th century: Pierre Falcon, Alexander Ross, the Reverend James Hunter, Joseph James Hargrave, and Donald Gunn. Dick argues that their work can be considered “indispensible” as they were “well-prepared by virtue of a combination of book learning, oral tradition and direct experience of the ‘school of life.’” In the historiography from that time period, it can be noted that these Red River vernacular historians included varied types of sources and representations of indigenous people whereas the Western Canadian historical scholars made limited mention of them and their multicultural impact on the region. These five historians provide indispensible historiography to traditional Western Canadian narratives regarding the settlement and evolution of this region from 1812-1870.

Source/Credit:

Shannon Leggett

ulrike — Fri, 16 Oct 2009 21:20:38 +0000

Citation:

Dickinson, A. K., and P.J. Lee. “Making Sense of History.” In Learning History, edited by A. K. Dickinson, P. J. Lee, and P. J. Rogers, 117-53. London: Heinemann, 1984.

Abstract/Summary:

This study examines how elementary and high school students make sense of people’s seemingly strange actions in the past. The authors grouped students together and video recorded their discussions in which they worked together to respond to a question posed by one of the authors. The transcripts of these video recordings allowed the authors to see in detail students’ initial reactions to the behaviour of those in the past that they perceived as strange, and the strategies they employed to sort out the meaning of this behaviour.

Generally, Dickinson and Lee found that teaching methods influence students’ strategies used to understand aspects of the past which they view as confusing. The central point for teaching is that understanding does not happen suddenly but rather is a process which teachers can help develop. Thus, the authors suggest that teachers refrain from representing themselves as “experts” and provide students with information about where to find resources to conduct their own research in their own time.

Source/Credit:

Ana Laura Pauchulo

Dicks, Bella. “Performing the Hidden Injuries of Class in Coal-Mining Heritage.” (2008)

ulrike — Fri, 02 Oct 2009 21:47:41 +0000

Citation:

Dicks, Bella. “Performing the Hidden Injuries of Class in Coal-Mining Heritage.” Sociology 42(3) (2008): 436-52.

Abstract/Summary:

Industrial heritage deals directly with working-class experiencein a very public forum, but has not really been analysed inrelation to class issues. This article discusses the case ofex-workers re-employed as heritage guides to tell the storyof their own lives at a living history coalmining-museum, exploringthe nature of the performances/representations of class thatare produced. Heritage performance is caught up in a doublebind that is familiar to other kinds of working-class representation:a continual equivocation between foregrounding dignity and autonomyon the one hand, and acknowledging subjugation and defeat onthe other.This tension is played out, though differently, bothin the guides' past occupations and their present ones.The articleexamines the public narratives they produce for visitors inthe here and now as well as locating these in an understandingof their current positions as tour guide employees and theirliving through of their memories and identities as mineworkers.

http://soc.sagepub.com/

Source/Credit:

Sociology

Dilek, Dursun. “The Reconstruction of the Past through Images: An Iconographic Analysis on the Historical Imagination Usage Skills of Primary School Pupils.” (2009)

ulrike — Thu, 12 Sep 2013 23:31:28 +0000

Citation:

Dilek, Dursun. “The Reconstruction of the Past through Images: An Iconographic Analysis on the Historical Imagination Usage Skills of Primary School Pupils.” Educational Sciences: Theory and Practice 9(2) (2009): 665-89.

Abstract/Summary:

The aim of this research is to understand how sixth grade students use their imagination skills in the historical thinking process and, by doing so, how they construct the past. In this respect, first, an exhibition/museum was visited in the context of social studies during history lessons in a primary school in Kadikoy district in Istanbul. Then, the students were asked to draw their construction of the past in their imagination using historical sources. Nine products/illustrations were selected as a sample according to purposive sampling method. Resulting data were analyzed using the document analysis technique which is one of the qualitative research approaches. As a result of this analysis, although some anachronistic data were found, it was seen that most students have the ability to reconstruct the past appropriate to the historical context using the historical sources, which are effective in the process of disciplining students’ historical imagination. The pupils have the ability to use their former knowledge and experiences during their imagination and thinking processes. It is asserted that the supportive role of the teacher plays a key role in both preparing students to overcome the obstacles that they face while they are in the process of historical thinking through the usage of historical sources and basing these kinds of skills on a healthy pedagogical ground.

Source/Credit:

EBSCO Host

Dimitriadis, Greg. “‘Making History Go’ at a Local Community Center: Popular Media and the Construction of Historical Knowledge among African American Youth.” (2000)

viviane gosselin — Fri, 24 Jul 2009 00:27:30 +0000

Citation:

Dimitriadis, Greg. “‘Making History Go’ at a Local Community Center: Popular Media and the Construction of Historical Knowledge among African American Youth.” Theory and Research in Social Education 28(1) (2000): 40-64. http://www.socialstudies.org/cufa/trse

Abstract/Summary:

Looks at how young people use historical knowledge, gained from media sources, to deal with current situations. A group of young African Americans draw on behavioral examples from the film, "Panther," instead of school-based learning, to give them ways to deal with the Ku Klux Klan in their neighborhood.

Source/Credit:

ERIC

Do Carmo Barbosa de Melo, Maria. “The Epistemological Reach of the History Teacher.” (2005)

ulrike — Tue, 08 Oct 2013 21:18:22 +0000

Citation:

Do Carmo Barbosa de Melo, Maria. “The Epistemological Reach of the History Teacher.” In International Review of History Education, Vol.4: Understanding History: Recent Research in History Education, edited by R. Ashby, P. Gordon and P. Lee, 124-35. New York: Routledge Falmer, 2005.

Abstract/Summary:

Historically, education has been held responsible for the ills of society. Therefore, it was believed that reform began at an educational level, yet not through knowledge but through the teaching practice. The author suggests that history is currently taught as a narrative in search of the ‘truth’ and is not interactive. In the study discussed in this chapter, the objective was to determine what teachers believe to be most successful for aiding and enhancing students’ learning of history. Do Carmo Barbosa de Melo wished to determine the importance of the epistemological mastery of history, as deemed by teachers themselves. She concludes that teachers’ goals and behaviours towards history knowledge need to change. More attention needs to be paid to the task of building history knowledge in both teachers and students.

Source/Credit:

Erika Smith

Dockett, Sue, Sarah Main and Lynda Kelly. “Consulting Young Children: Experiences from a Museum.” (2011)

Fri, 29 Jul 2011 13:47:08 +0000

Citation:

Dockett, Sue, Sarah Main and Lynda Kelly. “Consulting Young Children: Experiences from a Museum.” Visitor Studies 14(1) (2011): 13-33.

Abstract/Summary:

Since 1999, the Australian Museum has provided a designated play/learning space for young children aged 0-5 years. A recent redevelopment and redesign of the museum provided a valuable opportunity for a team of museum staff and university researchers to consult with young children about their experiences and expectations about this play space and the museum generally. This article reports the processes of consultation; methods used to consult with children; issues identified by the children involved; and the ways in which children's perspectives influenced the design of the new Kidspace. In particular, the authors noted the importance of children's journals as both a means of constructing data and as a means for reflection on the importance of social spaces in research with children. Underpinning the project was a commitment to recognizing young children as competent social actors, with the right to be consulted on matters that are important to them.

Source/Credit:

Informaworld

Dolmage, Jay. “Grounds For Exclusion: Canada’s Pier 21 and its Shadow Archive.” (2013)

ulrike — Wed, 03 Dec 2014 21:58:02 +0000

Citation:

Dolmage, Jay. “Grounds For Exclusion: Canada’s Pier 21 and its Shadow Archive.” In Diverse Spaces: Identity, Heritage and Community in Canadian Public Culture, edited by Susan Ashley, 100-21. Newcastle Upon Tyne: Cambridge Scholars Publishing, 2013.

Abstract/Summary:

After years of being a Canadian National Historic Site and immigration museum, Pier 21 became the Canadian National Museum of Immigration in 2011. Located in Halifax, Nova Scotia, Pier 21 saw over a million immigrants pass through between 1928 ad 1971; the goal was to make the museum located at Pier 21 much like Ellis Island in the US: a symbol of immigration history, simulation of immigration processes, and containment of immigration narratives and artifacts. Dolmage argues against this current representation of immigration at Pier 21; the representation offered is nothing more than an ideal on how the Canadian immigration narrative should function – something easy, efficient and affirming. The current museum eludes the messier and more sinister histories it generated, such as lack of process and protocol and deportation based on eugenic ideologies. In order to reconstruct Pier 21 as a truly “diverse space” Dolmage discusses the conflicting and contested histories of Pier 21, employing shadow archives. Shadow archives can be explained as what we do not see when we look at an image; they are the surrounding pieces containing hidden archives: interdependent archives of the accepted image, normally obscured. The media campaigns led by immigration authorities attempted to hide negative responses in the early 20^th century. Such propaganda endures in the limited and limiting testament to the Canadian immigrant experience currently represented by the Canadian National Museum of Immigration at Pier 21.

Source/Credit:

Kelsey Wood-Hrynkiw

Dominguez, Jesus, and Juan Ignacio Pozo. “Promoting the Learning of Causal Explanations in History through Different Teaching Strategies.” (1998)

ulrike — Wed, 21 Aug 2013 18:56:55 +0000

Citation:

Dominguez, Jesus, and Juan Ignacio Pozo. “Promoting the Learning of Causal Explanations in History through Different Teaching Strategies.” In International Review of History Education, Vol. 2: Learning and Reasoning in History, edited by J. F. Voss & M. Carretero, 344-59. Portland, OR: Woburn Press, 1998.

Abstract/Summary:

It is true that students need to learn about history concepts but they also need to understand the methods and skills required to build historical knowledge. The authors explain the model of historical explanation with three components: interpretive concepts; narrative, analytical or descriptive discourse; and procedures of multicausal and intentional explanations. There are three specific procedures: factors relevant to the investigator; evaluation of grade responsibility; and analysis of connections network. The authors discuss their empirical study on the learning of causal explanations in history objectives through procedure, method and results. There are four main conclusions of the study: no learning of causal explanation occurs unless it is taught; if not taught differently, students will view history as series of events with no influential or causal relationships; teaching of interpretive concepts does not guarantee learning of causal relationships; and teaching of interpretive concepts along with procedures of causal explanation may increase students’ skills in historical explanation.

Source/Credit:

Erika Smith

Doppen, Frans H. “Modern Times: The Industrial Revolution and the Concept of Time.” (1999)

viviane gosselin — Fri, 24 Jul 2009 00:44:00 +0000

Citation:

Doppen, Frans H. “Modern Times: The Industrial Revolution and the Concept of Time.” Social Studies and the Young Learner 11(3) (1999): 12-16.

Abstract/Summary:

Discusses the role the Industrial Revolution had in changing humankind's perception of time and recommends using the flashback approach in order to encourage students to think about how the process of industrialization still affects their lives. Provides activities that address the concept of time caused by the Industrial Revolution.

Source/Credit:

ERIC

Doppen, Frans H. “Teaching and Learning Multiple Perspectives: The Atomic Bomb.” (2000)

viviane gosselin — Fri, 24 Jul 2009 00:30:33 +0000

Citation:

Doppen, Frans H. “Teaching and Learning Multiple Perspectives: The Atomic Bomb.” The Social Studies 91(4) (2000): 159-69. http://www.heldref.org/pubs/tss/about.html

Abstract/Summary:

Explores how historical empathy can give students a richer understanding of the past, focusing on the development of the students' historical understanding through an analysis of 18 documents on President Truman's decision to use the atomic bomb against Japan.

Source/Credit:

ERIC

Doppen, Frans H. “The Influence of a Teacher Preparation Program on Preservice Social Studies Teachers’ Beliefs: A Case Study.” (2007)

viviane gosselin — Fri, 24 Jul 2009 00:35:25 +0000

Citation:

Doppen, Frans H. “The Influence of a Teacher Preparation Program on Preservice Social Studies Teachers’ Beliefs: A Case Study.” Journal of Social Studies Research31(1) (2007): 54-64. http://www.thejssr.com/

Abstract/Summary:

This study sought to assess the influence of an intensive social studies teacher preparation program on the belief of a cohort of graduate preservice teachers. In particular, it sought to determine whether the participants' methods courses, field experiences and student teaching led to changes in their beliefs about teaching and learning social studies. The findings suggest that the experiences they had in their courses as well as in the schools both had a discernable impact. As they clarified their own beliefs, these preservice social studies teachers developed a favorable disposition to student-centered approaches to the teaching and learning of their subject.

Source/Credit:

Journal of Social Studies Research

Downey, S. “Findings and Implications from an Evaluation of School Programs at the United States Holocaust Memorial Museum.” (2000)

ulrike — Fri, 02 Oct 2009 21:49:05 +0000

Citation:

Downey, S. “Findings and Implications from an Evaluation of School Programs at the United States Holocaust Memorial Museum.” Visitor Studies Today 3(2) (2000): 13-16.

Abstract/Summary:

In 1998-99, the United States Holocaust Memorial Museum (USHMM) conducted the first comprehensive evaluation of its educational programming for school groups. The Museum receives visits from well over 6,000 scheduled and unscheduled middle school and high school groups a year. The students and teachers of these groups receive a significant share of the Education Division’s staff, time, and resources. Consequently, the evaluation was deemed crucial to determine the impact of the school programs and to guide future programming decisions. This article presents the findings and implications from this evaluation.

http://www.visitorstudiesarchives.org/vst.php

Source/Credit:

Informal Science

Dunae, Patrick, and John Sutton Lutz. “Victorian SimCities: Playful Technology on Goggle Earth.” (2014)

ulrike — Mon, 17 Feb 2014 19:39:21 +0000

Citation:

Dunae, Patrick, and John Sutton Lutz. “Victorian SimCities: Playful Technology on Goggle Earth.” In Pastplay: Teaching and Learning History with Technology, edited by Kevin Kee, 292-308. Ann Arbor: University of Michigan Press, 2014.

Abstract/Summary:

The authors use the panoramic views in Google Earth to get students to draw history. The project focuses on Victoria, British Columbia c. 1890 and students are invited to become historical sleuths, using historical resources, documentation and inferences to recreate parts of the lost landscape of Victorian Victoria. The authors wish to show history to be a mystery and to get the students to help them solve it. They believe that students learn best when they use historical geography and urban history to physically see the places they are leaning about. It is the mission for the students to experience the sights, smells and sounds of Victorian Victoria using the abovementioned technologies. The authors developed the project using the new literature, which states that students like digital technologies and are adept at utilizing the technologies to learn. In their own work, they have noted how students find the past to be interesting and they are excited and willing to solve the puzzles and prefer projects that have real-world applications. They also are interested in creating projects that can be viewed by a wide audience where their participation in the creation of the project can receive credit. The authors continue the chapter with a discussion of the Victorian SimCity project using the digital technologies. They conclude by explaining how their project can be expanded to work for other areas and how the use of digital technology aids the building of historical thinking skills in the students.

Source/Credit:

Erika Smith

Dunn, Ross E. "Constructing World History in the Classroom." (2000)

ulrike — Fri, 04 Dec 2009 00:01:28 +0000

Citation:

Dunn, Ross E. "Constructing World History in the Classroom." In Knowing, Teaching, and Learning History: National and International Perspectives, edited by Peter N. Stearns, Peter Seixas and Sam Wineburg, 121-40. New York: New York University Press, 2000.

Abstract/Summary:

This chapter discusses three models for teaching World History: the Western Heritage Model, in which students learn the shared heritage of an essentialist history about our Western civilization; the Different Cultures Model, or the Western Heritage Model augmented by feel-good multiculturalism; and the Patterns of Change Model, in which intellectual rigor is used to understand the interlocking themes of change and continuity. Dunn advocates for the Patterns of Change Model firmly rooted in the discipline of history, which moves away from the limitations of national and spatial boundaries for understanding history. Learning world history through this model is based on addressing historical questions that explore the “interaction of the pieces of human history” and lead to a more contextualized understanding of global historical processes.

Source/Credit:

Samantha Cutrara

Dyson, Jon-Paul C. “Playing with the Past.” (2010)

ulrike — Mon, 15 Jul 2013 20:43:13 +0000

Citation:

Dyson, Jon-Paul C. “Playing with the Past.” In Connecting Kids to History with Museum Exhibitions, edited by D. Lynn McRainey and John Russick, 137-54. Walnut Creek, CA: Left Coast Press, 2010.

Abstract/Summary:

Play is very important to the work of history museums as children spend a lot of their time playing by themselves and with others. A museum that does not encourage or allow play will not entice children. It is difficult to state the meaning of play or what it is since we often know what playing feels like or looks like but we cannot explain it. However, the characteristics of play that can be employed in history museums are: play is voluntary, if children are forced to play they will not do it; it is fun to play; play is a means in and of itself, so while things may be gained from playing they are not the main goal of playing; and play invites the players to a time and space outside of their current situation. While the normal rules of time and space do not hold, there are rules to play and if they are not heeded it is doubtful that play is occurring. Playing by the rules is like being a historian, “imagining events and people in the past and doing so within the limits of historical circumstances.” Dyson explores some of the different types of play and their relation to history museums including pretend play, object play, constructive play, physical play, locomotor play, game play, and collecting play. Applying these varying types of play can create interactive experiences in history museums. Most history museums began with play, since their creators were collectors, which is a form of play. Also, living history sites usually employ third and/or first person interpretation, which is a form of role-playing. However it is important that children and visitors are involved in the play and not just be observers. Dyson continues by explaining how training in historical thinking can be done through play in history museums. The chapter concludes by explaining how to apply play in the history museum. Dyson sees play as a way to re-invigorate the declining numbers of visitors at history museums.

Source/Credit:

Erika Smith

Ellis, Carolyn, and Jerry Rawicki. "Collaborative Witnessing and Sharing Authority in Conversations with Holocaust Survivors." (2015)

ulrike — Wed, 27 Jan 2016 19:55:33 +0000

Citation:

Ellis, Carolyn, and Jerry Rawicki. "Collaborative Witnessing and Sharing Authority in Conversations with Holocaust Survivors." In Beyond Testimony and Trauma: Oral History in the Aftermath of Mass Violence, edited by Steven High, 170-91. Vancouver: UBC Press, 2015.

Abstract/Summary:

Carolyn Ellis, a researcher, and Jerry Rawicki, a Holocaust survivor, unpack their “collaborative witnessing” process of “sharing authority in oral history” as an alternative to the traditional “bearing witness” method of giving one’s testimony as a victim of mass violence. By using a “co-constructed narrative approach,” the co-authors “mutually analyze” Rawicki’s remembrances of what became the short story “Get the Jew” by comparing and contrasting the initial transcribed interview with the final story. Throughout the chapter the two reflect on the opportunities and difficulties that occur in this process, particularly the “complexities of…sharing authority in collaborative relationships,” and state that no matter how difficult the process might be, it should still be done as a compassionate collaboration.

Source/Credit:

Shannon Leggett

Ellis, Carolyn, and Jerry Rawicki. "Collaborative Witnessing and Sharing Authority in Conversations with Holocaust Survivors." (2015)

ulrike — Thu, 07 Jul 2016 19:20:37 +0000

Citation:

Abstract/Summary:

Source/Credit:

Shannon Leggett

ulrike — Thu, 08 Oct 2009 22:23:35 +0000

Citation:

Epstein, Terrie. “Deconstructing Differences in African-American and European-American Adolescents' Perspectives of U.S. History.” Curriculum Inquiry 28(4) (1998): 397-423.

Abstract/Summary:

Recent proposals for reforming the K-12 history curriculum have recommended revising the traditional narrative on U.S. history by including the historical experiences of diverse racial groups. The proposals, however, have not considered the historical perspectives that young people bring to historical inquiry. After reviewing contemporary frameworks for teaching U.S. history in public schools, I present data from one teacher's history classes that demonstrate that African-American and European-American adolescents constructed different explanations of significant actors, events, and themes in U.S. history. The two groups also constructed conflicting beliefs about the credibility of secondary historical sources. Representative of more substantive differences in the perspectives that the adolescents brought to historical inquiry, the differences in adolescents' historical understandings arose from race-related differences in the lived experiences of the adolescents themselves and their family members. Given these findings, I point out the limitations of current public school history curricular frameworks and draw on contemporary scholarship to propose a curricular framework which takes into account the differences in historical perspectives constructed by the African-American and European-American students in this study.

http://www.wiley.com/bw/journal.asp?ref=0362-6784&site=1

Source/Credit:

Ingenta

Epstein, Terrie. “Racial Identity and Young People’s Perspectives on Social Education.” (2001)

viviane gosselin — Fri, 24 Jul 2009 04:55:52 +0000

Citation:

Epstein, Terrie. “Racial Identity and Young People’s Perspectives on Social Education.” Theory into Practice 40(1) (2001): 42-7. http://ehe.osu.edu/tip/

Abstract/Summary:

Recommends a sociocultural approach to research, policies, and practices in social studies education, using research on relationships among young people's racial identities, teachers' pedagogies, and teachers' and students' interpretations of American history as an example of a sociocultural approach to research and discussing research on the effects of students' racial identities and teachers' pedagogies on political beliefs and attitudes.

Source/Credit:

ERIC

Erokhina, Marina, and Alexander Shevyrev. “Old Heritage and New Trends: School History Textbooks in Russia.” (2006)

ulrike — Mon, 21 Oct 2013 22:38:00 +0000

Citation:

Erokhina, Marina, and Alexander Shevyrev. “Old Heritage and New Trends: School History Textbooks in Russia.” In School History Textbooks Across Cultures: International Debates and Perspectives, edited by Jason Nicholls, 83-92. Oxford: Symposium Books, 2006.

Abstract/Summary:

The authors begin by explaining that in the mid-1990s dramatic changes took place in the system and structure of education in Russia. In history education this meant reducing the years of a chronological study of history to include in the student’s final two years of school a concentric study of history. In addition, the aims of history education shifted from Marxist methodology to the promotion of democratic values. In an attempt to humanize history, the focus shifted from political history to social history. Academics rewrote textbooks, but beliefs about the study of history were slow to change, with notions of correct interpretations and a universal history underlying the text.

History education in Russia relies on textbooks, which are seen as sources of factual and conceptual knowledge. In the concentric study of history the emphasis on factual knowledge is extreme. The authors suggest that this reflects a belief in the power of factual knowledge. It is also understood as a response to highly competitive university entrance examinations. Increasingly publishers are providing textbooks with accompanying teacher guides, tests, collections of sources, and workbooks. In some cases comprehensive workbooks are presented as alternatives to textbooks. The authors express concern, however, over the advanced level of academic writing in textbooks, and lack of visually appealing images and diagrams. Recent textbooks have replaced chapter quizzes with opportunities for students to analyse and discuss, but this is not yet widespread.

According to Erokhina and Shevyrev, Russian school history education is caught in the tension between Russia’s ideological crisis as a nation and the crisis of academics in modern Russian historiography with regard to interpreting the twentieth century. Objectives for history textbooks set in 2002 included a variety of elements, including tolerance (with emphasis on the fact that Russia is a multicultural society) and other democratic social skills, patriotism, and the ability to contribute to the development of Russian society. If the Federal Experts Council for History recommends textbooks, they have the ability to be purchased through a government-funded program. This funding is limited, however, so often textbooks are purchased through regional budgets, or they are selected by individual schools and paid for by the students’ parents.

Source/Credit:

Katie Gemmell

Éthier, Marc-Andre and David Lefrançois. “Learning and Teaching History in Quebec: Assessment, Context, Outlook.” (2011)

ulrike — Wed, 13 Feb 2013 22:23:26 +0000

Citation:

Éthier, Marc-Andre and David Lefrançois. “Learning and Teaching History in Quebec: Assessment, Context, Outlook.” In New Possibilities for the Past: Shaping History Education in Canada, edited by Penney Clark, 325-43. Vancouver: UBC Press, 2011.

Abstract/Summary:

This chapter discusses the history curriculum in francophone Québec in relation to the research on teaching and learning of history in schools. The chapter seeks to address the contexts of program changes in francophone Québec, the layers of the content and the research conducted on historical thinking. The chapter begins with an overview of the citizenship goals and the types of history education. Éthier and Lefrançois then discuss textbooks and how they affect history education in Quebec. Subsequently there is a discussion of assessment tools and methods, such as the competency level scale, percentage outcomes and ministerial tests. The authors then shift the focus of the chapter to research completed on teachers and students in relation to historical thinking. Research on teachers’ views on reforms, practices and teaching conditions are examined and how students’ views of the past are moving away from the “end product of historical thinking to the process of this thinking.” The authors have three main conclusions: emphasis is placed on historical thinking on paper but not in reality, researchers have begun to take interest in the teaching and learning of historical thinking in schools, and most of the research in this area continues to focus on the social representations of students and teachers.

Source/Credit:

Erika Smith

Éthier, Marc-André, and David Lefrançois. “How Should Citizenship Be Integrated into High School History Programs? Public Controversies and the Quebec ‘History and Citizenship Education’ Curriculum: An Analysis.” (2012)

ulrike — Thu, 11 Jul 2013 20:59:19 +0000

Citation:

Éthier, Marc-André, and David Lefrançois. “How Should Citizenship Be Integrated into High School History Programs? Public Controversies and the Quebec ‘History and Citizenship Education’ Curriculum: An Analysis.” Canadian Social Studies 45(1) (2012): 21-42.

Abstract/Summary:

This article is divided into two sections. The first section reviews the national high school history programs in Québec from 1905 onward. It focuses on the national and civic identity developed through the programs, as well as on political wrangles over their identity-building goals. Because the Québec public school system was denominational, and because French-speaking Catholics constituted approximately 86% of the province's population at the time, the authors only examine history taught in the French-Catholic public school system, headed by the Roman Catholic Committee of the Council of Public Instruction. Although the system became increasingly secular from 1966 onwards, Article 93 of the 1867 British North America Act prevented Québec from abolishing the denominational system. A secular system was finally established in 1997 when a constitutional amendment was promulgated. The second section of this article continues with an analysis of the actual nature of the current program and looks at its claim to be promoting an autonomous, critical citizenship focused on social justice. Through the use of a descriptive typology, this part of the article seeks to provide an answer to the question: What kinds of citizens is the "History and Citizenship Education" program aiming to educate in Québec's schools? Finally, it reviews the program's limitations and the gap separating the goals of the programs from teaching practices. This article thus constitutes a modest attempt at describing and analyzing a specific case of educational aims and discourse--namely the Québec history curriculum.

Source/Credit:

ERIC

Evans, Ronald W. “Teacher Conceptions of History Revisited: Ideology, Curriculum, and Student Belief.” (1990)

viviane gosselin — Fri, 24 Jul 2009 05:11:20 +0000

Citation:

Evans, Ronald W. “Teacher Conceptions of History Revisited: Ideology, Curriculum, and Student Belief.” Theory and Research in Social Education 18(2) (1990): 101-38. http://www.socialstudies.org/cufa/trse

Abstract/Summary:

Investigates how secondary history teachers' conceptions of history (typology) influences classroom practices. Interviews five teachers, representing five typologies, and their students, and observes classroom techniques. Suggests impact of teacher conceptions varies, finding only one of five typologies profoundly influencing students. Sees linkages between teaching approach and ideology. Appends student interview data.

Source/Credit:

ERIC

Falk, John H. “An Identity-Centered Approach to Understanding Museum Learning.” Curator (2006)

ulrike — Wed, 12 Dec 2012 20:53:53 +0000

Citation:

Falk, John H. “An Identity-Centered Approach to Understanding Museum Learning.” Curator 49(2) (2006): 151-66.

Abstract/Summary:

This paper advances the thesis that museum visitors' identities, motivations and learning are inextricably intertwined. All individuals enact multiple identities, many of which are situational and constructed in response to a social and physical context. Identity influences motivations, which in turn directly influence behavior and learning. Visitors to museums tend to enact one or various combinations of five museum-specific identities, described here as: explorer; facilitator; professional/hobbyist; experience seeker; and spiritual pilgrim. Preliminary findings suggest that these identity-specific motivational categories might help to explain the long-term learning impacts of a museum visit.

Source/Credit:

California Academy of Sciences

Fallace, Thomas D. “The Effects of Life Adjustment Education on the U.S. History Curriculum, 1948-1957.” (2011)

ulrike — Wed, 18 Jan 2012 21:37:35 +0000

Citation:

Fallace, Thomas D. “The Effects of Life Adjustment Education on the U.S. History Curriculum, 1948-1957.” The History Teacher 44(4) (2011): 569-89.

Abstract/Summary:

In contrast to other researchers, Fallace argues that the 1916 Committee on Social Studies Report, which instigated social studies, was not the moment in time when history as a subject was dropped from the U.S. curriculum, but instead suggests that this occurred in the post-WWII era as a result of life adjustment education. Using local, state, and city curriculum guides, in addition to national reports, surveys, and proposals, he provides a nuanced picture of the overall effects of the 1916 report and life adjustment education on the curriculum. He finds that after the 1916 report, more problem-based learning was introduced into the classroom, but the content was historical and remained arranged following a traditional narrative. After WWII, life adjustment education, which focused on the sixty percent of the school population believed to not benefit from either college preparation or vocational training, strove to keep students in school with a more meaningful and relevant curriculum. This coincided with the rise of curriculum specialists and an “explosion” in the production of social studies curriculum guides (579). Analyzing these guides, Fallace finds that during this era the history curriculum in many schools became based more on process than content, and was used to teach social behaviours and good citizenship instead of academic history.

Source/Credit:

Katherine Joyce

Fantozzi, Victoria B. “Divergent Purposes: A Case Study of a History Education Course Co-taught by a Historian and Social Studies Education Expert.” (2012)

ulrike — Tue, 08 Oct 2013 21:14:49 +0000

Citation:

Fantozzi, Victoria B. “Divergent Purposes: A Case Study of a History Education Course Co-taught by a Historian and Social Studies Education Expert.” The History Teacher 45 (2) (2012): 241-59.

Abstract/Summary:

One of the debates in history teacher education is determining what kind of knowledge history teachers need in order to be effective and knowledgeable instructors. A 2002 report from the U.S. Department of Education argued that content knowledge is essential for the preparation of history teacher education. Other experts disagree, arguing that there needs to be a balance between content knowledge and pedagogical knowledge. Fantozzi’s case study looks at a course, created in 2003 as part of a Teachers for a New Era Grant, that was envisioned to help future history/social studies teachers gain not only historical content knowledge, but techniques on how to teach and engage students. Fantozzi analyzes the difficulties the academic historian and the history educator had in trying to create and facilitate a course that took the strengths of each profession and merged them into one cohesive course. She found that the main disconnect between the two instructors was that one’s concern focused on developing teachers’ pedagogical content knowledge, while the other’s focus was learning about history topics strictly like historians. The study highlights the difficulties in connecting professionals in history and education and suggests ways to improve courses with this kind of collaboration in the future.

Source/Credit:

Emily Chicorli

Farley, Lisa. “Repositioning Identification: Reflections on a Visit to Historica's Heritage Fair.” (2006)

ulrike — Wed, 05 Jun 2013 18:44:19 +0000

Citation:

Farley, Lisa. “Repositioning Identification: Reflections on a Visit to Historica's Heritage Fair.” Canadian Journal of Education 29(4) (2006): 1019-38.

Abstract/Summary:

In this article, I offer a reading of the psychoanalytic concept of identification, with specific attention to its meaning in the context of children's historical learning. In educational contexts, it is not identification but historical empathy that teachers and researchers typically regard as holding pedagogical status. Using examples from my visit to Historica's 2004 Heritage Fair, I argue that identification is important for the way it marks the young subject's ambivalent entry into a world of historical relations. A study of identification cannot advance historical consciousness, but it does highlight the senses of vulnerability and emotional conflict in trying to orient the self to a very old world and the losses this implies. (http://www.csse.ca/CJE/Articles/CJE29-4.html)

Source/Credit:

ERIC

Farr Darling, Linda. “Using Artifacts to Foster Historical Inquiry.” (2008)

Anne Marie — Mon, 19 Oct 2009 20:18:24 +0000

Citation:

Farr Darling, Linda. “Using Artifacts to Foster Historical Inquiry.” In The Anthology of Social Studies: Issues and Strategies for Elementary Teachers, edited by Roland Case and Penney Clark, 283-89. Vancouver BC: Pacific Educational Press, 2008.

Abstract/Summary:

In this article, Linda Far-Darling writes how historical artifacts can be a “hook” for introducing students to, and keeping them interested in, historical inquiry. She claims students will naturally want to ask questions and know about historical artifacts because they provide a window into the everyday aspects of a historical period. Farr-Darling explains that students’ questions can be harnessed to structure curiosity in a disciplined inquiry about history and historical objects. To support this, she writes about an experience in a third grade classroom when she brought a 19th century darn ball into class and made students guess what it was. She describes how she structured the students’ exuberant questioning into writing down and categorizing questions; recognizing and acknowledging what they do know; and how to write questions as a group to get the most “evidence” from the answer. These steps transformed the students into a “community of inquirers” in which they began “doing history” like historians.

The Anthology of Social Studies is designed for teachers, thus Farr-Darling provides practical tips for incorporating this mode of inquiry into elementary classrooms. First, she provides four criteria for selecting artifacts and stresses that if an object does not fit the criteria or if it is not available, then a photograph of the object will also work. She then provides a point-form list of activities that teachers could do in their classrooms to support historical inquiry, such as an artifact ‘treasure hunt,’ or an artifact timeline. She also provides a chart that teachers can adapt for their classrooms in which students categorize what they know about an object and where they got their evidence from. In sum, this article discusses how historical artifacts can be used to introduce and foster historical inquiry in elementary schools, and provides practical suggestions for teachers to explore how this will play out in their own classrooms.

Source/Credit:

Samantha Cutrara

Fasulo, A., H. Girardet and C. Pontecorvo. “Seeing the Past: Learning History Through Group Discussion of Iconographic Sources.” (1998)

ulrike — Wed, 05 Jun 2013 21:09:11 +0000

Citation:

Fasulo, A., H. Girardet and C. Pontecorvo. “Seeing the Past: Learning History Through Group Discussion of Iconographic Sources.” In International Review of History Education, Vol. 2: Learning and Reasoning in History, edited by J. F. Voss & M. Carretero, 132–153. Portland, OR: Woburn Press, 1998.

Abstract/Summary:

Since the mid 1980s, history teaching in Italian schools has focused on building historical knowledge and on the methodological procedures of historical research through the use of historical sources. The authors discuss how the use of visual sources causes the interpretation of the images to become more complex as they are embedded in a literative practice. The authors’ study seeks to clarify the nature of this complexity with both the images themselves and their use as historical sources. They describe the differences between visual and textual sources and the difficulties with using visual sources, since they are often ‘authored’ as a way to view the past. They describe their discursive perspective towards their research as well as the subjects and methods and hypothesis and aims of the study which focused on the analysis of a visual source in small group discussions. Their aim was to observe the interaction between the visual object and the discourse that happened around it. They continue the chapter by using excerpts from the children’s discussions to discuss themes, understand intentionality, identify ambiguous items, discover the objects, and build scenarios. The authors also discuss the limits of photos of historical documents and the mutual construction of identities (going beyond the information given, a place in time, two worlds). The authors conclude by stating that the discussions in the groups centered on decision-making and problem solving. The richness of the historical and methodological reasoning of the children in the small discussion groups confirms the usefulness of self-directed learning mediated by cultural tools and practices.

Source/Credit:

Erika Smith

Faure, Romain. “Connections in the History of Textbook Revision, 1947-1952.” (2011)

ulrike — Mon, 21 Oct 2013 22:29:27 +0000

Citation:

Faure, Romain. “Connections in the History of Textbook Revision, 1947-1952.” Education Inquiry 2(1)(2011): 21-35.

Abstract/Summary:

Placing textbook revision in historical context, Faure examines the following five projects between 1947 and 1952: UNESCO, the most influential body in textbook talks after the Second World War; the International Occupational Department for Education of the World Movement of Trade Unions; the international historian conferences organized by the French military occupation government in Speyer, Germany, which provided a European forum to debate history education; the Franco-German textbook talks emerging from national societies such as the Consortium of German Teachers and the French Society of History and Geography Teachers; and lastly, the Franco-German textbook commission organized by the German Trade Union of Education and Science and the French National Education Federation (also a trade union). Faure argues that, in addition to diplomatic and institutional influences, the relationships between these forums also influenced the development of international textbook revision after 1945.

In the 1947-1950 period, three ideologically distinct centres were at work in international textbook revision. UNESCO, the World Trade Movement of Trade Unions, and the international conference of historians at Speyer for the most part developed independently of one another. Since UNESCO’s formation in 1946, textbook revision has been one of its central goals. In the late 1940s, UNESCO’s textbook work came under the broader domain of education, and its relationship with international understanding. UNESCO was particularly interested in the role of education in teaching the message that all people are equal, respect worthy, and have much in common. History education was thus seen as the development of intellectual skills as well as social skills. Textbook revision reflected these considerations. This was not only the work of historians, but was an interdisciplinary project, with historians, psychologists and educationists. Textbook work in this period was also characterized by a broader emphasis on history education – world, national, and local history – for both pedagogical and political purposes. It was to prepare pupils to act in an interdependent world. In addition, textbook revision was characterized by a revision methodology that argued for the analysis and improvement of textbooks of all humanities subjects, as well as related syllabi, via specific topics (such as the portrayal of international co-operation in the textbooks) rather than a general study. Finally, UNESCO’s interest in intergovernmental cultural agreements was used as a framework for textbook work. This made the textbook revision work of UNESCO particularly broad in comparison to the World Movement of Trade Unions and the Speyer historians.

The Département Professionnel International de l’Enseignement (DPIE) conducted the textbook work of the Fédération Syndicale Mondiale (FSM) up until their split in 1949. Faure explains that, though it is poorly documented, a French trade union in Germany, the Fédération de l’Éducation Nationale, produced a report (1947) on the education situation in Germany. The report suggested that German textbooks be examined in light of international cooperation. A commission with experts from Belgium, Czechoslovakia and France carried out this work the following year. Teachers, not specialists, examined all school subjects in a method of textbook revision based on general textbook examination. Although the DPIE had planned that textbook analysis would start with Germany and move to as many countries as possible, the split of the global trade union movement between East and West at the end of the 1940s compromised this work.

The third forum of international textbook work was the international historian conferences at Speyer between August 1948 and June 1950. Opinions varied on textbook revision and no recommendations were agreed upon. There was, however, a characteristic view of Europe and the “West” as frames of reference for textbook work, that distinguished it from the other two forums (UNESCO and the DPIE-FSM), and a suggestion for a European history textbook even emerged. This context was also distinct because it saw textbook revision as the work of history teachers and historians, rather than educational experts (the UNESCO approach) or teachers’ associations (the FSM approach). Faure points out that, while these three forums clearly set different courses for textbook revision and developed independently of one another, their differences were not irreconcilable.

Networking between these three forums was minimal, but in 1948 UNESCO established a delegate for textbook revision, through whom it sought to establish a network of international revision activists. Between 1950 and 1952, UNESCO emerged as the leader of international textbook revision, while the Speyer conferences ceased, and work of the FSM remained restricted by the split. Collaboration emerged between the Arbeitsgemeinschaft Deutscher Lehrerverbande (AGDL) and the Société des Professeurs d’Histoire-Géographie (SPHG), which was largely influenced by the textbook revision ideology of the Speyer conferences of the preceding years. Furthermore, they conceived of their collaboration as European, not solely Franco-German. The influence of UNESCO’s view that history teaching should promote international cooperation and peace is evident in this work as well. In reaction to this, a second bilateral commission emerged in 1951 made up of German and French teachers’ trade unions. The Gewerkschaft Erziehung und Wissenschaft (GEW) and the Fédération de l’Éducation nationale (FEN) collaboration distanced itself from Speyer, UNESCO, and AGDL-SPHG work, and explicitly relied on the tradition of international textbook activities conducted by trade unions. At this time UNESCO was central in fostering international textbook dialogue and other bilateral commissions and conferences. These emphasized the importance of textbook revisions done by experts, rather than politicians, so as to protect international textbook dialogue from political interference. At this time psychologists and education specialists had a lesser role than historians. When, in 1954, UNESCO cut funding and organizational support for textbook vision, those already in the field continued the work, taking on roles as advisors to the Council of Europe, which gave this field attention from 1953 until the late 1950s.

Source/Credit:

Katie Gemmell

Fernandez-Corte, Teresa, and Juan Antonio Garcia-Madruga. “Constructing Historical Knowledge at High School: The Case of the Industrial Revolution.” (1998)

ulrike — Wed, 21 Aug 2013 18:55:54 +0000

Citation:

Fernandez-Corte, Teresa, and Juan Antonio Garcia-Madruga. “Constructing Historical Knowledge at High School: The Case of the Industrial Revolution.” In International Review of History Education, Vol. 2: Learning and Reasoning in History, edited by J. F. Voss & M. Carretero, 331-43. Portland, OR: Woburn Press, 1998.

Abstract/Summary:

The study of history is the ‘building upon’ of ideas of previous historians, where differences in opinions may occur or new evidence may be added to the arguments. The use of historical evidence brings to bear theoretical viewpoints, which determine the use of differing concepts and theories within any given explanation. The problem with history teaching and students’ poor learning results with the rote memorization of historical facts has led researchers to study the psychological and disciplinary constructs (teaching-learning). Nonetheless, the authors state that there has not been enough research completed by historians or history teachers on the substitutes to the theoretical approaches of history. The authors’ study analyzed the process of students attempting to analyze and understand the Industrial Revolution through three variables: prior knowledge; working memory capacity; and attitude for meaningful learning.

Source/Credit:

Erika Smith

Ferretti, Ralph P., Charles D. MacArthur, and Cynthia M. Okolo. “Teaching for Historical Understanding in Inclusive Classrooms.” (2001)

viviane gosselin — Fri, 24 Jul 2009 05:06:56 +0000

Citation:

Ferretti, Ralph P., Charles D. MacArthur, and Cynthia M. Okolo. “Teaching for Historical Understanding in Inclusive Classrooms.” Learning Disability Quarterly 24(1) (2001): 59-71. http://www.cldinternational.org/Publications/LDQ.asp

Abstract/Summary:

After participating in an eight-week project-based, technology-supported investigation about westward expansion, gains in knowledge and understanding of historical content for 28 students with learning disabilities were not as large as those of peers (n=59), but both groups showed comparable gains in self-efficacy as learners and their understanding of historical inquiry.

Source/Credit:

ERIC

Field, S. “Perspectives and Elementary Social Studies: Practice and Promise.” (2001)

ulrike — Wed, 05 Jun 2013 21:15:45 +0000

Citation:

Field, S. “Perspectives and Elementary Social Studies: Practice and Promise.” In Historical Empathy and Perspective Taking in the Social Studies, edited by O. L. Davis Jr., E.A. Yeager, and S.J. Foster, 115-38. Lanham, MD: Rowman & Littlefield Publishers Inc., 2001.

Abstract/Summary:

Empathy is a key component of historical thinking and understanding. The author states that having perspective is important when teaching elementary students about historical empathy. The author studied twelve volumes of Social Studies & The Young Learner published between 1988 and 2000 and coded the data into five major categories: personal perspective, cultural perspective, civic-community perspective, chronological perspective, and histori-biographical perspective. The author continues the article by outlining each of the five categories. The study offers a sense of teacher practice concerning historical empathy over a period of time, and draws attention to the increased and robust use of perspective taking in elementary classrooms. The author suggests that curriculum for elementary level education should include and promote perspective taking and offer teachers literature, artifacts and thematic studies. Perspective taking is seen as aiding in the development of children’s social responsibility.

Source/Credit:

Erika Smith

Fink, Nadine. “Pupils’ Conceptions of History and History Teaching.” (2004)

viviane gosselin — Fri, 24 Jul 2009 05:15:41 +0000

Citation:

Fink, Nadine. “Pupils’ Conceptions of History and History Teaching.” International Journal of Historical Learning, Teaching and Research 4 (2) (2004), http://centres.exeter.ac.uk/historyresource/journal8/Fink.doc

Abstract/Summary:

We present the results from qualitative analysis of eight interviews with 15 years old pupils about their conceptions of history and history teaching. These interviews were conducted as an extension of a survey conducted by a social sciences didactics team from the University of Geneva under Professor Audigier’s direction. We first analyse what pupils think about the utility of history and the statements they make about what is important in history (social science and teaching). We then examine how they think that we learn history. These questions introduce those of the function of history and its relation to identity, of relation to evidence and truth, and finally of how history teaching is perceived by these pupils. The main purpose of this paper is to draw patterns of pupils based on the nature of their feelings towards history and history teaching.

Source/Credit:

History Resource

Forquin, Jean-Claude. « Savoirs scolaires, contraintes didactiques et enjeux sociaux ». (1991)

ulrike — Mon, 15 Jul 2013 20:36:14 +0000

Citation:

Forquin, Jean-Claude. « Savoirs scolaires, contraintes didactiques et enjeux sociaux ». Sociologie et sociétés 23(1) (1991): 25-39.

Abstract/Summary:

En s'appuyant sur un certain nombre d'apports scientifiques et théoriques récents de la sociologie du curriculum, l’auteur analyse certaines caractéristiques structurelles et culturelles des savoirs scolaires dans les sociétés contemporaines. La réflexion porte successivement sur les mécanismes de la sélection opérée au sein de la culture en vue de la constitution des programmes scolaires, sur les effets de la contrainte didactique et sur les traits originaux de la culture scolaire, sur la structuration des savoirs scolaires sous forme de territoires disciplinaires compartimentés sur les phénomènes de stratification et de légitimation sociale de ces savoirs. Enfin, la question est posée de savoir si une telle approche analytique et critique du curriculum implique nécessairement une conception relativiste de la connaissance et de la culture ou peut rester compatible avec I' exigence proprement pédagogique d'une justification intellectuelle et culturelle « normative » des contenus d'enseignement.

Educational Knowledge, Didactic Constraints and Social Issues

On the basis of certain recent scientific and theoretical contributions to the sociology of curriculum. the author analyses certain structural and cultural characteristics of educational knowledge in contemporary societies. This reflection deals in turn with the mechanisms of selection which operate within culture toward the creation of curricula, on the effects of didactic constraint and the original characteristics of the school culture on the structuring of knowledge in the form of compartmentalized disciplinary fields, and on the phenomena of the stratification and social legitimization of this knowledge. Finally, the question is posed as to whether such an analytical approach and critique of curriculum necessarily implies a relativistic conception of knowledge and culture, or if it can remain compatible with the strictly pedagogical requirement for a «normative» intellectual and cultural justification of educational content.

Source/Credit:

Érudit

Foster, Stuart J. “Historical Empathy in Theory and Practice: Some Final Thoughts.” (2001)

ulrike — Fri, 12 Jul 2013 18:40:13 +0000

Citation:

Foster, Stuart J. “Historical Empathy in Theory and Practice: Some Final Thoughts.” In Historical Empathy and Perspective Taking in the Social Studies, edited by O.L. Davis Jr., Elizabeth Anne Yeager, and Stuart J. Foster, 167-81. Lanham, MD: Rowman & Littlefield, 2001.

Abstract/Summary:

The chapter serves two purposes. The first is to clarify and expand upon some key theoretical components of historical empathy. The second is to briefly explore how these theoretical constructs can be practiced within the classroom. Empathy remains a contested term and many in the field choose to use other terms. The author continues with a discussion of what historical empathy is not: imagination, identification, or sympathy. According to the author, historical empathy involves a thorough appreciation of historical context. In order for historical empathy to enhance historical thinking and understanding, multiple forms of evidence and perspective are required. Historical empathy requires students to understand and be cognizant of their own perspectives and encourages well-grounded tentative conclusions. The author concludes with how to put historical empathy into practice by following eight guiding principles.

Source/Credit:

Erika Smith

Foster, Stuart J., and Elizabeth Anne Yeager. “The Role of Empathy in the Development of Historical Understanding.” (1998)

viviane gosselin — Fri, 24 Jul 2009 05:22:13 +0000

Citation:

Foster, Stuart J., and Elizabeth Anne Yeager. “The Role of Empathy in the Development of Historical Understanding.” International Journal of Social Education 13(1) (1998): 1-7. http://ijse.iweb.bsu.edu/

Abstract/Summary:

Contends that empathy is a powerful tool for understanding history. Discusses theories and meanings of historical empathy drawing from previous research on these concepts. Believes that historical empathy engages students in historical inquiry and interpretation and encourages them to think critically about the past.

Source/Credit:

ERIC

Foster, Stuart J., and Elizabeth Anne Yeager. “‘You’ve Got to Put Together the Pieces’: English 12-Year-Olds Encounter and Learn from Historical Evidence.” (1999)

viviane gosselin — Fri, 24 Jul 2009 05:28:10 +0000

Citation:

Foster, Stuart J., and Elizabeth Anne Yeager. “‘You’ve Got to Put Together the Pieces’: English 12-Year-Olds Encounter and Learn from Historical Evidence.” Journal of Curriculum and Supervision 14(4) (1999): 286-317. http://www.ascd.org/publications/jcs/summer2005/toc.aspx

Abstract/Summary:

Employing a sample of 51 12-year-old British secondary pupils, a study analyzed children's written and oral responses to a series of (contradictory) historical questions concerning the Boston Massacre of 1770. Many students were capable of abstract historical reasoning--critiquing sources, detecting bias and ambiguity, and determining flaws in evidence.

Source/Credit:

ERIC

Foster, Stuart J., John D. Hoge, and Richard H. Rosch. “Thinking Aloud about History: Children’s and Adolescents’ Responses to Historical Photographs.” (1999)

viviane gosselin — Fri, 24 Jul 2009 05:19:27 +0000

Citation:

Foster, Stuart J., John D. Hoge, and Richard H. Rosch. “Thinking Aloud about History: Children’s and Adolescents’ Responses to Historical Photographs.” Theory and Research in Social Education 27(2) (1999): 179-214. http://www.socialstudies.org/cufa/trse

Abstract/Summary:

Explores third, sixth, and ninth grade students' interpretations of historical photographs. Finds that the students' ability to date the photographs and determine why the photographs were taken improved with age without differences in gender and race; differences in regard to race occurred in students' inferences about the peoples' lives portrayed in the photographs.

Source/Credit:

ERIC

Fournier, Janice E., and Samuel S. Wineburg. “Picturing the Past: Gender Differences in the Depiction of Historical Figures.” (1997)

viviane gosselin — Fri, 24 Jul 2009 05:30:22 +0000

Citation:

Fournier, Janice E., and Samuel S. Wineburg. “Picturing the Past: Gender Differences in the Depiction of Historical Figures.” American Journal of Education 105(2) (1997): 160-85. http://www.journals.uchicago.edu/loi/aje

Abstract/Summary:

Explores how fifth- and eighth-grade schoolchildren picture the past by asking them to project themselves into historical roles and to illustrate specific historical figures. Results reveal boys and girls differed across task and historical role as well as in their depictions. Discusses what these findings say regarding students' beliefs about history and the curricular implications.

Source/Credit:

ERIC

Francis, Daniel. “Canadian History, Corpus Delicti.” (1998)

ulrike — Wed, 27 Apr 2011 23:44:02 +0000

Citation:

Francis, Daniel. “Canadian History, Corpus Delicti.” The Gazette, May 2, 1998, H1 BRE.

Abstract/Summary:

In this newspaper article, Daniel Francis responds to Jack Granastein’s claim that military history is being ignored. [Jack Granatstein] knows this, but he is concerned about something else. The kind of history he thinks is dead is national history, political history, the kind of history that breeds patriotism and civic virtues. He wants a return to the old-fashioned, "colony-to-nation" approach to history that many of us learned in school in the 1950s. In a phrase, Granatstein is an Old Curmudgeon, and not ashamed of it.

It is simply nonsense to argue, as Granatstein does, that military history is being ignored. I am familiar with many of the textbooks in use in classrooms today (I have even written a pair of them) and all of them dedicate ample space to the world wars and Korea. Not to mention the wall-to-wall CBC coverage of important military anniversaries, and the endless war documentaries on television. If Granatstein thinks the world wars are being forgotten, he and I are not living in the same universe.

The social-history approach adopted by the schools in the 1970s was not a conspiracy hatched by a generation of Marxist/feminist/regionalist historians. It was a response to some of the exact same worries Granatstein has: kids were bored by history and alienated from the subject. The "new" history was a vast improvement over the outmoded political approach that privileged a male political elite, ignored events outside of central Canada, and marginalized minority groups. Any plea for a return to "national" history has to come to terms with the fact that it has already failed as a model for teaching our young. Granatstein does not.

Source/Credit:

Proquest

Francis, Daniel. “Your Majesty's Realm: The Myth of the Master Race.” (1997)

ulrike — Wed, 27 Apr 2011 23:42:42 +0000

Citation:

Francis, Daniel. “Your Majesty's Realm: The Myth of the Master Race.” In National Dreams: Myth, Memory and Canadian History, 52-87. Vancouver, BC: Arsenal Pulp Press, 1997.

Abstract/Summary:

Daniel Francis argues that in their history classrooms, and through their history textbooks, young Canadians in the early twentieth century were educated to become citizens of empire as much as to become citizens of Canada. Through a study of early twentieth-century English-language textbooks used in Canadian schools, Francis outlines the details of early twentieth-century history curriculums as being largely political, military, and constitutional. Events outlined include early twentieth-century teaching of the Conquest and events on the Plains of Abraham, the American Revolution and migration of Loyalists, the War of 1812, Rebellions of 1837-8, the Durham Report and Lord Durham himself, and Confederation. Students were explicitly educated in the ideology of imperialism through a master narrative of Canadian history that argued the superiority of British government and way of life, and the gradual evolution of Canadian society to playing an equal part in Britain’s imperial enterprise.

The presentation of imperialist themes in English-language textbooks mirrored their importance in larger Canadian society. Francis explores the importance of imperialism through Empire Day celebrations that highlighted Anglo-Saxon superiority and allowed Anglo-Canadians to glorify their membership in the “Master Race.” While Empire Day provided a venue for Canadians to celebrate their British heritage, so too did Official Visits of members of the Royal Family, beginning with the 1860 tour of the Prince of Wales (son of Queen Victoria and later Edward VII) to the 1939 visit of King George VI and Queen Elizabeth, parents of the present Queen.

At the end of his chapter, Francis returns again to his study of English-speaking history textbooks and their treatment of Aboriginal people. These “Textbook Indians” were largely constructed as sinister, vicious and without history or culture to justify Anglo-Canadian hegemony and racism by focusing almost exclusively on what Aboriginal cultures “lacked” in relation to a sense of European superiority. The pervasive theme of European superiority over Aboriginal cultures was present through depictions of war, the treatment of European settlers and Jesuit missionaries, the history of the Métis and the Red River insurrection (1869-1870), The North-West Rebellion (1885), and trial of Louis Riel.

Francis traces Canada’s myth of a cultural mosaic within the racially-charged atmosphere of the first half of the twentieth century and the writings and work of John Murray Gibbon. Imperial enthusiasm dies, Francis claims, between the two world wars leaving Britishness as one “tile” among many in the Canadian cultural mosaic, but its resonance remains present through Canada’s governmental infrastructure and institutions, and in a lasting divide between English and French Canadian understandings of history.

Source/Credit:

Mary Chaktsiris

Frazier, Brandy N. and Susan A. Gelman. “Developmental Changes in Judgments of Authentic Objects.” (2009)

ulrike — Thu, 12 Sep 2013 23:28:19 +0000

Citation:

Frazier, Brandy N. and Susan A. Gelman. “Developmental Changes in Judgments of Authentic Objects.” Cognitive Development 24(3) (2009): 284-92.

Abstract/Summary:

This study examined the development of an understanding of authenticity among 112 children (preschoolers, kindergarten, 1st graders, and 4th graders) and 119 college students. Participants were presented with pairs of photographs depicting authentic and non-authentic objects and asked to pick which one belongs in a museum and which one they would want to have. Results suggest that both children and adults recognize the special nature of authentic objects by reporting that they belong in a museum. However, this belief broadens with age, at first just for famous associations (preschool), then also for original creations (kindergarten), and finally for personal associations as well (4th grade). At all ages, an object’s authentic nature is distinct from its desirability. Thus, from an early age, children appear to understand that the historical path of an authentic object affects its nature. This work demonstrates the importance of non-obvious properties in children’s concepts. For preschool as well as older children, history (a non-visible property) adds meaning beyond the material or functional worth of an object. http://www.sciencedirect.com/science/article/pii/S0885201409000495

Source/Credit:

Elsevier

Freedman, Sarah Warshauer, Harvey M. Weinstein, Karen Murphy, and Timothy Longman. “Teaching History after Identity-Based Conflicts: The Rwanda Experience.” (2008)

ulrike — Wed, 01 Feb 2012 20:18:52 +0000

Citation:

Freedman, Sarah Warshauer, Harvey M. Weinstein, Karen Murphy, and Timothy Longman. “Teaching History after Identity-Based Conflicts: The Rwanda Experience.” Comparative Educational Review 52(4) (2008): 663-90.

Abstract/Summary:

In this article, Freedman et al. respond to the educational challenges countries face after violent conflict by exploring the links between larger political processes and decisions about teaching history. After a decade-long hiatus of history teaching in Rwanda, the authors provide a case study of an intervention project on teaching history in the secondary schools in the country. Although focused on Rwanda, they suggest that some of their findings may relate to other societies which have also faced violent conflict in the more recent past, such as Northern Ireland, South Africa, and the Balkans.

The research highlighted two tensions between teaching history and the ongoing political process: (1) emphasizing an understanding of historical evidence and thinking in conjunction with the government’s political goal of using history to promote a unified Rwandan identity; and (2) using history to shape a new national identity while simultaneously acknowledging the realities of continuing ethnic identities. Freedman et al. argue that these two sets of tensions influence, and will continue to influence curricular change.

The authors found that educators inhibit disagreements for fear of their erupting into large conflicts. However, Freedman et al. argue that “suppressing open debate might actually lay the foundation for further societal violence” (665). In so doing, they suggest that the method of teaching is as important as the content in order to create opportunities for productive disagreement in the classroom.

Source/Credit:

Katherine Joyce

Friesen, Gerald. “The Shape of Historical Thinking in a Canadian History Survey Course in University.” (2011)

ulrike — Wed, 13 Feb 2013 22:19:59 +0000

Citation:

Friesen, Gerald. “The Shape of Historical Thinking in a Canadian History Survey Course in University.” In New Possibilities for the Past: Shaping History Education in Canada, edited by Penney Clark, 210-33. Vancouver: UBC Press, 2011.

Abstract/Summary:

This chapter seeks to tease out the nuances between secondary and university education. Also, the chapter seeks to define “the shape of historical thinking” in a university survey history course as taught by Friesen. The chapter begins with a discussion of two university professors – Erich Vogt, an introductory physics professor at the University of British Columbia and Robert Young, a professor who taught European history for forty-years at the University of Winnipeg. In this section, the abovementioned professors comment on their teaching of introductory university courses. Vogt discusses how first year students are eager to learn and his enthusiasm for the material matches that of his students while Young discusses how different first year university courses and professors are from secondary courses and teachers. Friesen then traces the development of the “historical thinking” movement in secondary schools as discussed by Ken Osborne and Peter Seixas. It is determined through this section that secondary history courses are moving away from the rote memorization of facts and dates and how they should focus more on historical thinking and reasoning. Friesen then discusses the intent behind his own university survey history course and how he does not view it as dissimilar from secondary history courses.

Source/Credit:

Erika Smith

Frykman, Sue Glover. “Stories to Tell? Narrative Tools in Museum Education Texts.” (2009)

ulrike — Thu, 12 Sep 2013 23:26:06 +0000

Citation:

Frykman, Sue Glover. “Stories to Tell? Narrative Tools in Museum Education Texts.” Educational Research 51(3) (2009): 299-319.

Abstract/Summary:

Background: In the 1950s and 1960s, many children experienced museums as dull and boring. Nowadays, museums seem to be much more conscious of their educational role and the need to make their exhibits attractive and interesting. Making use of narratives is one way of achieving this. Some scholars claim that narrative is central to meaning making in a learning context. This article illustrates the extent to which narratives are used in a museum learning context, the kinds of narratives used and their purpose.

Purpose: The overall aim was to investigate the versatility of narratives in a learning and meaning-making context in a museum setting. The three-pronged research question is: to what extent is narrative used in the education texts produced by three selected museums and made available on their Internet websites, what kinds of narratives are used and what is their purpose?

Method: Data were gathered in January and February 2006, following an extensive Internet search of Swedish museums and their downloadable education texts. Three museums were selected--Skansen, the Swedish Museum of Natural History and the National Museum of Science and Technology--each publishing a comprehensive up-to-date selection of education texts on their websites. A total of 134 digital texts specifically produced for students and teachers in connection with museum visits were studied and analysed. Each text was downloaded, sorted, labelled, saved and categorised electronically. The texts catered to different ages: infant and primary school (7-10 years), middle school (10-13 years), and secondary school (13-16 years).

Analysis: A preliminary analysis strategy was developed on the basis of texts from the first museum chosen. Detailed adjustments to the analysis framework were made prior to a full analysis of the texts. Every downloaded text was read and re-read and documented according to the kind of narratives contained and their supposed purpose.

Results: An analysis of the web-based education texts indicated that not only did the museums make use of narratives to different extents, but that different kinds of narratives were used for different purposes. Depending on the kind of narrative used, the results showed that the main purposes were to communicate by: (1) describing, constructing or reconstructing information; (2) interpreting what has happened, is happening now or might happen in the future; (3) constructing reality and making sense or meaning of it; (4) stimulating the imagination and encouraging creativity; (5) rendering teaching and learning more entertaining, imaginative and effective; and (6) acting as a resource to aid interaction, negotiation and communication. It was also apparent that the chosen museums used narrative to differing degrees depending on their respective traditions and circumstances.

Conclusion: The study highlighted how the narratives used in the three museums’ web-based education texts make a significant contribution to meaning making by stimulating imagination, encouraging reflection, drawing on existing experience and knowledge and sharpening visitors’ curiosity. This is mainly achieved through the narratives’ powers of description and analysis, and their ability to challenge existing attitudes and involve the visitor in historical and contemporary events and situations.

Source/Credit:

Taylor and Francis Online

Gabella, Marcy Singer. “Beyond the Looking Glass: Bringing Students into the Conversation of Historical Inquiry.” (1994)

viviane gosselin — Fri, 24 Jul 2009 05:37:37 +0000

Citation:

Gabella, Marcy Singer. “Beyond the Looking Glass: Bringing Students into the Conversation of Historical Inquiry.” Theory and Research in Social Education 22(3) (1994): 340-63. http://www.socialstudies.org/cufa/trse

Abstract/Summary:

Examines the divide between high school students' perceptions of historical inquiry and those articulated in current proposals for curricular and instructional reform. Concludes that successful reform requires instruction that shifts the locus of authority from the teacher and text to a shared process of critical inquiry.

Source/Credit:

ERIC

Gabella, Marcy Singer. “The Art(s) of Historical Sense.” (1996)

viviane gosselin — Fri, 24 Jul 2009 05:34:42 +0000

Citation:

Gabella, Marcy Singer. “The Art(s) of Historical Sense.” Journal of Curriculum Studies 27(2) (1996): 139-63. http://www.tandf.co.uk/journals/tf/00220272.html

Abstract/Summary:

Reviews recent research on sociocultural approaches to historical understanding and concludes that students' judgment of historical significance is substantially shaped by the social and cultural characteristics of the learner. Recounts several episodes revealing how minority and mainstream students differ in their trust of the authority of the textbook. Maintains that fundamental historical concepts can be imparted to high school students through the use of photography, painting, film, literature, and other forms of popular culture. Provides many examples of students utilizing popular culture to understand conceptions of historical time, locate meaning, and empathize with historical people.

Source/Credit:

ERIC

Gabriel, J. “Refugee Community Oral Histories: Issues in pedagogy and curriculum development.” (2008)

ulrike — Fri, 02 Oct 2009 21:50:30 +0000

Citation:

Gabriel, J. “Refugee Community Oral Histories: Issues in pedagogy and curriculum development.” Teaching in Higher Education 13(3) (2008): 265-77.

Abstract/Summary:

The article explores a community-based project documenting the histories of 15 refugee communities in London with a major exhibition at the Museum of London. While the focus of the article is concerned with the educational aspects of the project, an important argument suggests the inseparability of educational and pedagogic issues from a wider set of political influences. The article begins with an overview of the Refugee Community Histories Project, followed by a more detailed discussion of the postgraduate courses that made up its educational component and concludes with a reflection on the tensions arising from the differing priorities and interests of the project's participants.

http://www.tandf.co.uk/journals/titles/13562517.asp

Source/Credit:

ERIC

Gaffield, Chad. "The Blossoming of Canadian Historical Research: Implications for Educational Policy and Content." (2006)

ulrike — Thu, 10 Dec 2009 23:56:57 +0000

Citation:

Gaffield, Chad. "The Blossoming of Canadian Historical Research: Implications for Educational Policy and Content." In To the Past: History Education, Public Memory, and Citizenship in Canada, edited by Ruth W. Sandwell, 88-102. Toronto: University of Toronto Press, 2006.

Abstract/Summary:

Chad Gaffield traces the disjuncture between academic history research and undergraduate history teaching in this chapter. He argues that starting in the 1970s, “new” social history changed the structure of history to emphasise questions over answers and plural over singular, making it difficult for textbook writers to pare this work down for mass production. To expand the vision of undergraduate survey courses, Gaffield shares two “teachable moments” in which the principles of new social history inserted themselves into his undergraduate teaching: posing his own research question to a survey class and allowing personal stories to speak their own truth about the dominant narrative of a historical period. Gaffield predicts that discovery-based curriculum and innovative links between archives and history departments will be the way forward in history education and will reconcile this disjuncture still found between research and teaching.

Source/Credit:

Samantha Cutrara

Gago, M. “Children’s Understanding of Historical Narrative in Portugal.” (2005)

ulrike — Thu, 15 Oct 2009 18:33:35 +0000

Citation:

Gago, M. “Children’s Understanding of Historical Narrative in Portugal.” In International Review of History Education, Vol.4: Understanding History: Recent Research in History Education, edited by R. Ashby, P. Gordon and P. Lee, 83-97. New York: Routledge Falmer, 2005.

Abstract/Summary:

This study examined how students between the ages of ten and thirteen understand contrasting historical accounts and the patterns of progression that exist within this understanding. Fifty-two students from a public school in rural Portugal were asked to respond to a questionnaire aimed at evaluating their ideas of why two historical accounts about the same event differed. They then participated in follow-up interviews intended to clarify their answers. The data were analyzed using the grounded theory method developed in Lee’s (2000) “Children’s Ideas about the Nature and Status of Historical Accounts” study. The results of this study were compared with the results of Lee’s study.

Gago found that students’ understanding of different historical accounts progress through five stages: “tell,” “knowledge,” “difference,” “author,” and “nature.” Students move from stage one to five as they get older. Those whose answers fit into the first stage thought that the only difference between accounts was the choice of language used to describe the event. In the “knowledge” stage students attributed the differences to historians’ inability to access all and/or the same evidence. Students slotted into the “difference” stage suggested that differences exist because each account is concerned with a different dimension of the past. Finally, in the “author” stage students explained differences between accounts as a consequence of differences between historians’ points of views while in the fifth stage students expressed this same understanding plus the fact that each account is written within a different framework and for different purposes. In conclusion, Gago encourages history teachers to include different narratives of the same event to foster discussions of different perspectives and new interpretations.

Source/Credit:

Ana Laura Pauchulo

Gago, Marilia. “Children’s Understanding of Historical Narrative in Portugal.” (2005)

ulrike — Tue, 19 Nov 2013 22:54:03 +0000

Citation:

Gago, Marilia. “Children’s Understanding of Historical Narrative in Portugal.” In International Review of History Education, Vol. 4: Understanding History: Recent Research in History Education, edited by R. Ashby, P. Gordon and P. Lee, 77-90. New York: Routledge Falmer, 2005.

Abstract/Summary:

History teaching should be focused on how and what children understand about history and how historians carry out research. This study explores how students think about historical accounts, why differing accounts exist and the pattern of the progression of ideas. One of the main reasons for the research is to implore history educators to garner a deeper understanding of students’ historical cognition. The author offers the reader a framework for the nature of historical narrative and describes the study design and students’ understanding of the historical narrative. From the results of the study, Gago separates five levels of progressions in students’ responses: tell, knowledge, difference, author, and nature, and discusses each of them in turn using excerpts from student responses for illustration. The chapter provides a comparison between British and Portuguese students’ responses in each of the five categories. Gago concludes that students’ understanding varied in their degree of sophistication, which increased with age. It is imperative that frameworks be developed with students to further their understanding of why there are multiple historical accounts.

Source/Credit:

Erika Smith

Galichet, François. « La citoyenneté comme pédagogie : réflexions sur l’éducation à la citoyenneté ». (2002)

ulrike — Wed, 05 Jun 2013 23:46:37 +0000

Citation:

Galichet, François. « La citoyenneté comme pédagogie : réflexions sur l’éducation à la citoyenneté ». Revue des sciences de l’éducation XXVIII (1) (2002) :105-24.

Abstract/Summary:

Cet article vise à préciser la notion d’éducation à la citoyenneté, souvent employée dans des significations différentes, voire incompatibles. Il distingue trois aspects de la citoyenneté, correspondant à trois modèles de référence (la famille, le travail, la discussion scientifique). À partir de là, on peut définir une éducation à la citoyenneté minimale, qui se centrerait sur l’éducation aux droits de l’homme et aux libertés fondamentales. Mais on peut envisager une citoyenneté plus exigeante, qui serait d’essence pédagogique, en ce sens qu’elle vise une égalité qui va au-delà de la simple égalité des droits et concerne l’intérêt que les citoyens se portent les uns aux autres et la responsabilité mutuelle qu’ils développent entre eux. (http://www.erudit.org/revue/rse/2002/v28/n1/007151ar.pdf)

Source/Credit:

Érudit

Gandsman, Ari. "The Ex-Disappeared in Post-Dictatorship Argentina: The Work of Testimony and Survivors at the Margins." (2015)

ulrike — Wed, 27 Jan 2016 19:51:22 +0000

Citation:

Gandsman, Ari. "The Ex-Disappeared in Post-Dictatorship Argentina: The Work of Testimony and Survivors at the Margins." In Beyond Testimony and Trauma: Oral History in the Aftermath of Mass Violence, edited by Steven High, 31-53. Vancouver: UBC Press, 2015.

Abstract/Summary:

This chapter examines the small number of those who survived being “disappeared” during the 1976-83 dictatorship in Argentina, and their marginalized position in society as they are suspected of having stayed alive because they collaborated with the regime. Gandsman examines Primo Levi’s concept of a “grey zone” regarding the “blurred boundaries between perpetrators and victims.” Despite the fact that these survivors have been essential in providing testimony regarding what happened, those who died have become the venerated “heroes” while the survivors have become ostracized and, to an extent, non-existent as a phrase used to describe that historical era is: “The voice of that generation is absent.” In order to protect themselves, the “surviving disappeared” organized associations in order to be able to continue their work to fight for justice and make sure that the historical record will reflect their experiences accurately.

Source/Credit:

ulrike — Fri, 02 Oct 2009 21:45:51 +0000

Citation:

Giese, Ronald N., Judy K. Davis-Dorsey, and Joseph A. Gutierrez. “School/Museum Collaboration in Curriculum Design and Delivery.” Visitor Behavior 7(1) (1992): 4-6.

Abstract/Summary:

The purpose of this study was to analyze the effectiveness of a collaborative effort between a museum and a school system to build an integrated curriculum package. The theme of the package was 18th Century Medicine and the unit was designed to enhance the science, math, and social studies instruction of fourth graders. The science, math and social studies objectives were selected from the Commonwealth of Virginia's Standards of Learning Objectives for the fourth grade in these subject areas. The project was originally funded by Title II EESA Funds (1989-1990) and was a collaborative effort of the York County School System (VA), and the Yorktown Victory Center operated by the Jamestown-Yorktown Foundation.

http://www.visitorstudiesarchives.org/vb.php

Source/Credit:

Visitor Behavior

Goalen, Paul. “History and National Identity in the Classroom.” (1997)

ulrike — Thu, 08 Oct 2009 22:24:59 +0000

Citation:

Goalen, Paul. “History and National Identity in the Classroom.” History Today 47(6) (1997): 6-8.

Abstract/Summary:

A centrally controlled history curriculum will not increase nationalism and patriotism in children. Past experiments show that the study of history is not linked with nationalism. A curriculum built to exclude less glorious facts about a nation would cause students and teachers to rebel.

http://www.historytoday.com/frontpage.aspx

Source/Credit:

High Beam

Gonzalez, Maria Paula. “ Legacies, Ruptures and Inertias: History in the Argentine School System.” (2012)

ulrike — Tue, 19 Nov 2013 22:57:40 +0000

Citation:

Gonzalez, Maria Paula. “ Legacies, Ruptures and Inertias: History in the Argentine School System.” In History Wars and the Classroom: Global Perspectives, edited by R. Guyver and T. Taylor, 1-24. Charlotte, NC: Information Age Publishing, 2012.

Abstract/Summary:

There are three recurring themes in the teaching of history in Argentina: memory, identity and citizenship. According to Gonzalez, from the nineteenth through to the twentieth century the three themes morphed and took on different meanings which can be grouped into two major stages, “patriotic history” and “reformed history.” The author discusses these stages and how they affected history education in Argentina. The debates concerning where the teaching of history fits at the end of the twentieth century and into the twenty-first century, concerning whether there are disciplines or domains and whether there are narratives or problems, are also discussed. In the case of Argentina, the debate concerns whether what they are teaching is history or social studies. Gonzalez describes how this debate has affected teaching, and how it was settled by using historical time in order to have a theme-problem tracked along a historical continuum. This new design had its own problems concerning whether or not students were to know history or know how to do it. Gonzales concludes with a discussion of the recent past and how the new perspectives, including knowledge and practice, have affected the teaching of history in Argentina, which continues to be debated in regards to a series of questions concerning the present and future.

Source/Credit:

Erika Smith

Gordon-Walker, Caitlin. “The Process of Chop Suey: Rethinking Multicultural Nationalism at the Royal Alberta Museum.” (2013)

ulrike — Wed, 03 Dec 2014 21:53:10 +0000

Citation:

Gordon-Walker, Caitlin. “The Process of Chop Suey: Rethinking Multicultural Nationalism at the Royal Alberta Museum.” In Diverse Spaces: Identity, Heritage and Community in Canadian Public Culture, edited by Susan Ashley, 16-38. Newcastle Upon Tyne: Cambridge Scholars Publishing, 2013.

Abstract/Summary:

Through addressing theoretical literature and describing the creation and development of the Cultural Communities program (previously the Folklife program) at the Royal Alberta Museum’s (RAM), this article considers the use of dialogical methodology, interaction and mixture between communities, as approaches to articulating community identities and perspectives of multiculturalism in Canada. The article delves more specifically into the Cultural Communities’ display Chop Suey on the Prairies: A Reflection on Chinese Restaurants in Alberta, which illustrates how the Cultural Communities program reflects, contributes and challenges dominant perceptions towards cultural differences in Canada. The exhibit traveled through small Albertan communities prior to being permanently installed at the RAM; during the traveling exhibition phase the content of the fourth panel changed, addressing community specific Chinese restaurants, developing a more personal level of understanding and engagement in cultural mixture. Despite recognizing the value of the dialogical process, and focusing on interaction and community mixture, the article does not intend to suggest they are a necessity in advancing cross-cultural understanding. Instead it presents museums as ideal in terms of offering a place to examine a politics of recognition because they dually represent the national public and recognize the value of cultural differences; and they are a site of public representation and public interaction.

Source/Credit:

Kelsey Wood-Hrynkiw

Gosselin, Viviane. "Civic Museography, Porous Narratives and the Choir Effect: Sex Talk in the City at the Museum of Vancouver." (2014)

ulrike — Thu, 07 Jul 2016 19:35:10 +0000

Citation:

Gosselin, Viviane. "Civic Museography, Porous Narratives and the Choir Effect: Sex Talk in the City at the Museum of Vancouver." THEMA. La revue des Musées de la civilisation 1 (2014): 107-16.

Abstract/Summary:

Sex Talk in the City is a multifaceted and highly collaborative exhibition presented at the Museum of Vancouver in 2013. The project investigates how ideas about sexuality have shaped the city, and addresses questions of sexual health, diversity and education. Sex Talk in the City ties compelling historical narratives to current issues of sexuality, grounding them in the Vancouver context. It also examines how conceptions of sexuality materialize in ubiquitous ways in our lives, in the form of public events and spaces, laws, objects and images. The exhibition features diverse perspectives while highlighting issues and concerns often shared across age, gender, ethnicity, and sexual orientations and expressions. The development of the project took more than two years and involved the participation of an 18-person advisory committee and 58 project “allies”. This paper situates Sex Talk in the City in the context of the recent re-visioning of the Museum of Vancouver and explains how theoretical analyses calling for more inclusive and reflexive museum practices inspired this exhibition project.

Source/Credit:

THEMA La revue des Musées de la civilization

ulrike — Fri, 02 Oct 2009 21:53:55 +0000

Citation:

Graft, C. “Incorporating Evaluation into the Interpretive Planning Process at Colonial Williamsburg.” Visitor Studies 2(1) (1990): 133-9.

Abstract/Summary:

Whether you are planning a new interpretive program or renovating an existing one, the planning and evaluation process can be a threatening task for the institutions’ staff. By making evaluation a natural part of the planning process, much of the uneasiness and tension can be avoided. An evaluation process that brings together feedback from interpreters, visitors, curators, and educators will not only make the idea of change less frightening for the organization, but will also ensure a more effective interpretive program for our visitors.

http://www.visitorstudiesarchives.org/vs.php

Source/Credit:

Informal Science

Graft, C. “Interpreter Interacts with Family at Colonial Williamsburg.” (2001)

ulrike — Fri, 02 Oct 2009 21:51:52 +0000

Citation:

Graft, C. “Interpreter Interacts with Family at Colonial Williamsburg.” Visitor Studies Today 4(3) (2001): 1-5.

Abstract/Summary:

Most of the visitor studies published to date center around visitor learning from exhibits. There are other museums like Colonial Williamsburg, however, that in addition to exhibits depend on the knowledge, skills and inspiration of people— some in costume, some not, some in first person and some in third person, to excite and inform visitors about the past. What do we know about what visitors expect and how visitors learn while interacting with interpreters? More specifically, what do we know about specific types of visitors such as families with children and how they learn while interacting with interpreters? The study below is one of many studies conducted at Colonial Williamsburg for the purpose of strengthening the learning experience for families.

http://www.visitorstudiesarchives.org/vst.php

Source/Credit:

Informal Science

ulrike — Wed, 05 Aug 2009 21:01:26 +0000

Citation:

Greene, Stuart. “The Role of Task in the Development of Academic Thinking Through Reading and Writing in a College History Course.” Research in the Teaching of English 27(1): 46-75. http://www.ncte.org/journals/rte

Abstract/Summary:

Examines how two different writing tasks of writing from sources influence students' thinking in reading and writing. Finds that students interpreted the two tasks differently but showed no differences in the proportion of prior knowledge included, nor in learning.

Source/Credit:

ERIC

Greenspan, Henry. "Afterword.” (2015)

ulrike — Thu, 07 Jul 2016 19:28:20 +0000

Citation:

Greenspan, Henry. "Afterword.” In Beyond Testimony and Trauma: Oral History in the Aftermath of Mass Violence, edited by Steven High, 351-56. Vancouver: UBC Press, 2015.

Abstract/Summary:

In his Afterword to the volume, Greenspan’s central point is that “we live in ‘an age of testimony,’ but… we do not live in ‘an age of survivors,’” as much of the testimony from survivors of mass trauma has “excluded the persons of survivors themselves.” A goal should be to conduct oral history interviews by going beyond having the survivors only being “bearers of testimony,” but for the interview process to be collaborative and compassionate, and for the survivors themselves to be more fully recognized. Greenspan notes that there is a consensus on some key elements that should occur in the oral testimonial process: “1. Sustained acquaintance is essential ….; 2. Process is also product ….; 3. Contingency and mutability are real ….; 4. Collaborative projects require exquisite sensitivity and reflexivity….; 5. Expect the unexpected, and embrace it.” Greenspan concludes by noting that the stories are important in order for the survivors to retell their experiences, but even more important is for the survivors to more truly connect with non-survivors, to become “partners in a conversation.”

Source/Credit:

Shannon Leggett

Greenspan, Henry. "Afterword.” In Beyond Testimony and Trauma: Oral History in the Aftermath of Mass Violence (2015)

ulrike — Wed, 27 Jan 2016 20:01:53 +0000

Citation:

Greenspan, Henry. "Afterword.” In Beyond Testimony and Trauma: Oral History in the Aftermath of Mass Violence, edited by Steven High, 351-56. Vancouver: UBC Press, 2015.

Abstract/Summary:

Source/Credit:

Shannon Leggett

Greenspan, Henry. "From Testimony to Recounting: Reflections from Forty Years of Listening to Holocaust Survivors." (2015)

ulrike — Wed, 27 Jan 2016 19:54:49 +0000

Citation:

Greenspan, Henry. "From Testimony to Recounting: Reflections from Forty Years of Listening to Holocaust Survivors." In Beyond Testimony and Trauma: Oral History in the Aftermath of Mass Violence, edited by Steven High, 141-69. Vancouver: UBC Press, 2015.

Abstract/Summary:

Greenspan’s chapter examines his forty years of experience working with Holocaust survivors, particularly the work that has been conducted collaboratively between researchers and survivors, focusing on their testimony, trauma and memory. Greenspan cites the importance of “sustained conversation,” “genuine dialogue,” “collaborative witnessing,” “compassionate listening,” and being “genuine partners in conversation” when Holocaust survivors retell their experiences. It may be too late to redo some of the interviews in this manner, but it is “not too late to rethink” how to do such interviews in more caring, meaningful ways in the future.

Source/Credit:

Shannon Leggett

Greenspan, Henry. "From Testimony to Recounting: Reflections from Forty Years of Listening to Holocaust Survivors." (2015)

ulrike — Thu, 07 Jul 2016 19:19:52 +0000

Citation:

Abstract/Summary:

Source/Credit:

Shannon Leggett

Greenstein, Daniel, and Lou Burnard. “Speaking with One Voice: Encoding Standards and the Prospects for an Integrated Approach to Computing in History.” (1995)

ulrike — Wed, 05 Jun 2013 18:46:31 +0000

Citation:

Greenstein, Daniel, and Lou Burnard. “Speaking with One Voice: Encoding Standards and the Prospects for an Integrated Approach to Computing in History.” Computers and the Humanities 29(2) (1995): 137-48.

Abstract/Summary:

Focuses on types of questions raised in the encoding of historical documents. Illustrates how Text Encoding Initiative-based encoding produces a text that is of major value to future historical researchers. Maintains that software development is a barrier to developing text encoding tables.

Source/Credit:

ERIC

Grenier, Robin S. “The Role of Learning in the Development of Expertise in Museum Docents.” (2009)

ulrike — Fri, 02 Oct 2009 21:56:22 +0000

Citation:

Grenier, Robin S. “The Role of Learning in the Development of Expertise in Museum Docents.” Adult Education Quarterly: A Journal of Research and Theory 59(2) (2009): 142-57.

Abstract/Summary:

The purpose of this qualitative study was to determine how docents developed expertise within the context of their work with history museums. Twelve expert docents from four history-themed museums were interviewed to discover how expertise is developed by volunteers working in nonformal settings. Interpretation of the data revealed two primary means of preparation. First, formal training and continuing education were initially used by docents for learning their craft; and second, informal and incidental learning were critical to expertise development in museum docents. Based on the findings that emerged, implications for museum education and volunteer practice and the wider field of adult education are presented.

http://aeq.sagepub.com/

Source/Credit:

ERIC

Grenier, Robin S. “‘Now this is what I call learning!’ A Case Study of Museum-Initiated Professional Development for Teachers.” Adult Education Quarterly (2010)

ulrike — Wed, 12 Dec 2012 20:51:52 +0000

Citation:

Grenier, Robin S. “‘Now this is what I call learning!’ A Case Study of Museum-Initiated Professional Development for Teachers.” Adult Education Quarterly 60(5) (2010): 499-516.

Abstract/Summary:

This case study sought to understand why educators participate in museum summer institutes and how participation transferred to personal development and professional practice. The study found participation was affected by an interest in and need for learning about a particular time in history, ability to transfer institute content to curricula, the chance to share their experiences with peers, and factors such as museum reputation, design and facilitation of the institute, and institutes’ speakers and presenters. Participants were able to transfer institute experiences into their professional practice as well as to their personal interests by applying learning to what and how they teach, their ability to critically reflect on history and culture, and their personal development. This study suggests further investigations in the area of museum-initiated professional development may increase our understanding of how educators are drawn to such offerings and how the experiences contribute to adult learning and education. Implications for adult education research and museum educator practice are offered.

Source/Credit:

Sage Journals

Grever, Maria, Ben Pelzer and Terry Haydn. “High School Students’ Views on History.” (2011)

Fri, 29 Jul 2011 13:52:34 +0000

Citation:

Grever, Maria, Ben Pelzer and Terry Haydn. “High School Students’ Views on History.” Journal of Curriculum Studies 43(2) (2011): 207-29.

Abstract/Summary:

The article reports the outcomes of a survey of 678 Dutch, English, and French students in multicultural high schools located in three urban areas, with the aim of developing insight into the sort of history they consider worthwhile. The research was undertaken in the context of widespread concern about the effects of recent migration patterns on the cohesion of the nation-state. The outcomes show that many of these youngsters do not construe their identity in primarily national terms; their interest in the past lies mainly in areas such as family, religious, and trans-national history. Using factor analysis, it was possible to identify five profiles of historical interest which could be related to students' backgrounds. In addition to uncovering facets of history that are of interest to young people, these profiles revealed some remarkable differences. Native boys valued 'Pride and connection with Dutch-English-French history' more highly than native girls and all non-natives. Non-native students valued 'Connection with history of migrants' more highly than natives; girls appreciated this profile more than boys. The conclusion suggests that recent attempts to revive history in primarily national terms may result in a model of school history that many students consider irrelevant.

Source/Credit:

Informaworld

Griffin, Janette. “Research on Students and Museums: Looking More Closely at the Students in School Groups.” Science Education (2004)

ulrike — Wed, 12 Dec 2012 20:50:03 +0000

Citation:

Griffin, Janette. “Research on Students and Museums: Looking More Closely at the Students in School Groups.” Science Education 88(Suppl. 1) (2004): S59-S70.

Abstract/Summary:

This paper surveys research over the past decade on school group visits to museums. By shifting attention to students’ views about field trips, to their socially negotiated learning behaviors during field trips and the interaction between learning in the classroom and in the museum, this research has afforded a deeper understanding of the nature of learning in these contexts. This paper explores these aspects through a look at what the literature tells us about the similarities and differences between how families and students learn in museums, then investigates this further through the voices of adults and students in museums. The impact of the valuing and definition of learning in museums by students and teachers leads to discussion of boundary crossings between museums and schools.

Source/Credit:

Wiley Periodical

Gruenewald, David A., Nancy Koppelman, and Anna Elam. “’Our Place in History’: Inspiring Place-based Social History in Schools and Communities.” (2007)

ulrike — Fri, 02 Oct 2009 21:58:05 +0000

Citation:

Gruenewald, David A., Nancy Koppelman, and Anna Elam. “’Our Place in History’: Inspiring Place-based Social History in Schools and Communities.” Journal of Museum Education 32(3) (2007): 231-40.

Abstract/Summary:

This article describes a teacher development program that engages history and social studies teachers in making connections between learning and the well-being of places in which people actually live. "Our Place in History" is a three-year, federally-funded professional development institute for twenty teachers from diverse communities in southwestern Washington. The project staff has developed a dense network of regional collaborators. Local museums figure prominently in these partnerships, helping to deepen teachers' knowledge of history, appreciation for the lived experience in their local places, and ability to inspire students to be historians and informed citizens capable of contributing to the quality of their communities. Our article is divided into three parts. First, we describe the conceptual underpinnings of "Our Place in History" with a brief review of two of its chief theoretical influences: place-based education and social history. Second, we describe its first year of implementation. Third, we give a more detailed account of an oral history project conducted by the teachers, which includes research at local museums. Products from this project will be collected into an archive for exhibit or a "traveling trunk." We conclude with reflections on the project so far, and discuss how we will build on our experience with place-based education and social history.

Source/Credit:

ERIC

Gutierrez, Christine. "Making Connections: The Interdisciplinary Community of Teaching and Leanring History." (2000)

ulrike — Fri, 04 Dec 2009 00:15:34 +0000

Citation:

Gutierrez, Christine. "Making Connections: The Interdisciplinary Community of Teaching and Leanring History." In Knowing, Teaching, and Learning History: National and International Perspectives, edited by Peter N. Stearns, Peter Seixas and Sam Wineburg, 353-74. New York: New York University Press, 2000.

Abstract/Summary:

Gutierrez discusses the Humanitas program at Thomas Jefferson High School in South Central Los Angeles. Humanitas is an innovative teacher-driven reform that privileges interdisciplinary learning in a community of scholars. As a history teacher in this program, Gutierrez saw history as being essential to the scaffolding of building purposeful, peaceful, and informed action by emphasizing the “context boxes” that shape our worlds. Set in the context of the 1992 South Central riots, Gutierrez discusses the importance of building a community of learners for nurturing peaceful and informed adults.

Source/Credit:

Samantha Cutrara

Guyver, Robert. “The History Working Group and Beyond: A Case Study in the UK’s History Quarrels.” (2012)

ulrike — Tue, 21 Jan 2014 23:44:17 +0000

Citation:

Guyver, Robert. “The History Working Group and Beyond: A Case Study in the UK’s History Quarrels.” In History Wars and the Classroom: Global Perspectives, edited by R. Guyver and T. Taylor, 159-86. Charlotte, NC: Information Age Publishing, 2012.

Abstract/Summary:

Educational systems in the United Kingdom are not amalgamated but consist of four different systems. Guyver worked as a member of the British National Curriculum Working group for fifteen months from 1989 to 1990. He uses his memories from this period to write this chapter. He writes through the lens of a primary school teacher whose experience was affected during this time period. He begins the chapter by discussing the national curriculum, enacted through legislation in 1988 by the Thatcher government in order to centralize the school curriculum. He explores how this change specifically affected the history curriculum as it was drafted from 1989 to 1991. The working group, of which Guyver was a member, addressed both the content and the pedagogy. Nonetheless, Guyver discusses the impact of other factors and groups that were weighing in on the curriculum needs. There is discussion of the initial responses to the interim report of the working group, including the Dearing Review, and later responses such as those from Simon Schama in 2010, and of how the curriculum was implemented. Guyver concludes by describing the changes in the history curriculum in the United Kingdom in the last twenty years and gives examples of the history curriculum in 2010. He states that the United Kingdom could learn from Australia in assuring that history be viewed as a key component of the overall school curriculum.

Source/Credit:

Erika Smith

Haeberli, Phillippe. “Relating to History: An Empirical Typology.” (2005)

ulrike — Wed, 05 Aug 2009 21:06:53 +0000

Citation:

Haeberli, Phillippe. “Relating to History: An Empirical Typology.” International Journal of Historical Learning, Teaching and Research 5(1) (2005). http://centres.exeter.ac.uk/historyresource/journal9/papers/haeberli.pdf

Abstract/Summary:

We introduce results from a survey on pupils’ conceptions about history conducted in 2003 by the social sciences’ didactics team from the University of Geneva under Prof. Audigier’s direction. The survey took place in several secondary schools in Geneva. In this survey, our main interest was to know what teenagers from 12 to 15 think about history and about history teaching. The questionnaire which 276 pupils answered concerns: the definition of history, the personal and collective contribution of history, its utility and activities during history lessons. The typology we constructed rests on five different aspects of the responses given by the pupils. Conception of history (realism versus constructivism), relation to historical knowledge (internal relation versus external relation), personal benefit of history teaching, social and collective function of history, subjective attitude toward history. Out of a ‘cluster’ analysis, we found out five different contrasted and intelligible types of pupils. The main object of this paper is to describe these five types and relationship to variables used in the survey (degrees, socio-cultural environment, levels, marks, activities, etc.). The purpose of this is an attempt to draw a general pattern of types of relation pupils construct towards history and history teaching.

Source/Credit:

International Journal of Historical Learning, Teaching and Research

Haeussler Bohan, Chara. “Historical and International Dimensions of History Education: The Work of the Committee of Seven.” (2001)

ulrike — Fri, 12 Jul 2013 18:48:42 +0000

Citation:

Haeussler Bohan, Chara. “Historical and International Dimensions of History Education: The Work of the Committee of Seven.” In International Review of History Education, Volume 3: Raising Standards in History Education, edited by Alaric Dickinson, Peter Gordon, and Peter J. Lee, 56-72. London: Woburn Press, 2001.

Abstract/Summary:

At the turn of the twentieth century, the Committee of Seven was a group of American historians who believed that education was critical in a democratic society and worked to improve the teaching of history in secondary schools in America. They not only studied history curricula in their own country but looked to other countries as well, such as Canada and Germany, as they believed that understanding history curricula in other countries could inform and advance historical curricula in American schools. The author details these studies in the chapter. Despite the report that the committee published nationally, it had little effect on history education in the United States, since curriculum considerations are under state and local control and attempts to introduce national standards have failed. Many of the difficulties facing the Committee of Seven are the same as those that were facing the National Standards Committee in the United States in the 1990s. It is through an understanding of the past and present that future deliberations concerning history curricula in the United States will be framed. The author continues the chapter with a discussion of the origin and aims of the Committee of Seven and their views on the purpose and concepts of history at the turn of the twentieth century. It was the first committee created in the United States dedicated to a national promotion and study of history. The committee did not attempt to make students into historians; rather they wanted to foster intellectual development, historical understanding, and citizenship and content knowledge. The chapter continues with a discussion on the recommendations of the committee and the significance and criticism of their work. They recommended a four-year course with four blocks on ancient history, medieval and modern European history, English history and American history. After the report, many schools in the United States adopted the four-year plan. Despite the call for uniformity in history curricula, the committee realized the importance of having room in the curriculum for adaptations due to local environments and needs, which remained in history education in secondary schools when this chapter was written.

Source/Credit:

Erika Smith

Halldén, Ola. “Learners’ Conceptions of the Subject Matter Being Taught: A Case from Learning History.” (1993)

ulrike — Fri, 16 Oct 2009 21:12:32 +0000

Citation:

Halldén, Ola. “Learners’ Conceptions of the Subject Matter Being Taught: A Case from Learning History.” International Journal of Educational Research 19(3) (1993): 317-25.

Abstract/Summary:

In research on science education a good deal of attention has been given to the learner’s prior knowledge of the subject matter being taught, i.e., the learner’s alternative frameworks. In this chapter it is suggested that alternative frameworks are also of relevance to learning in the humanities and the social sciences. This is exemplified by the subject of history. The point is made that there is a meta level of alternative frameworks and that this level is the more important one with regard to history. An interview study is presented in which this meta level is explored.

http://www.sciencedirect.com/science/journal/08830355

Source/Credit:

International Journal of Educational Research

Halldén, Ola. “Learning History.” (1986)

ulrike — Wed, 05 Aug 2009 21:09:54 +0000

Citation:

Halldén, Ola. “Learning History.” Oxford Review of Education 12(1) (1986): 53-66. http://www.tandf.co.uk/journals/titles/03054985.asp

Abstract/Summary:

Argues that pupils' beliefs about what counts as historical explanation, usually the actions--and particularly the motives--of individuals, is an obstacle to their history learning. Superseding this personal level, and getting pupils to analyze a historical event as a whole, is where the mutual understanding between teacher and pupil collapses. Illustrates this problem with sample dialogs.

Source/Credit:

ERIC

Halldén, Ola. “On Reasoning in History.” (1998)

ulrike — Wed, 21 Aug 2013 18:54:50 +0000

Citation:

Halldén, Ola. “On Reasoning in History.” In International Review of History Education, Vol. 2: Learning and Reasoning in History, edited by J. F. Voss & M. Carretero, 272-78. Portland, OR: Woburn Press, 1998.

Abstract/Summary:

Research into students’ understanding of the central concepts of history began in the 1960s. However, it was not until the 1970s, and the connection with the study of students’ understanding of central concepts in natural sciences, that the research gained traction. The author discusses higher-order concepts such as evidence, empathy and cause as discussed in other chapters in the volume, and describes the learner’s reasoning, not as a lower form of functioning as others have described it, but as a different context that is not necessarily poorer. For example, not all reasoning done by children is ‘childish’; there are cases of elaborate thinking among both children and the uneducated. It is difficult to understand how and why people reason the way they do when presented with problems in a specific discipline, especially when the researcher knows the ‘right way’ to solve the problem. The author suggests that researchers look at the differences between the descriptions of a problem as explanations that occur within different settings. Therefore, researching children’s ideas and reasoning skills would not be fruitless but, rather, would be an exploration of the different ways of viewing and understanding the world.

Source/Credit:

Erika Smith

Halldén, Ola. “Personalization in Historical Descriptions and Explanations.” (1998)

ulrike — Wed, 05 Aug 2009 21:11:48 +0000

Citation:

Halldén, Ola. “Personalization in Historical Descriptions and Explanations.” Learning and Instruction 8(2) (1998): 131-39. http://www.sciencedirect.com/science/journal/09594752

Abstract/Summary:

Aspects of personalization in historical descriptions and explanations are explored, considering conceptualizations of great leaders, the personification of institutions, and the tendency of students to transform structural explanations into personalization. It is argued that personalization is central to a common-sense concept of history.

Source/Credit:

ERIC

Ham, Sam H. “Can Interpretation Really Make a Difference? Answers to Four Questions from Cognitive and Behavioral Psychology." (2007)

ulrike — Wed, 12 Dec 2012 19:38:51 +0000

Citation:

Ham, Sam H. “Can Interpretation Really Make a Difference? Answers to Four Questions from Cognitive and Behavioral Psychology." In Proceedings of the Interpreting World Heritage Conference, pp. 25-9. Fort Collins, CO: National Association for Interpretation, 2007.

Abstract/Summary:

Opinions abound regarding the pathways through which interpreters can make a difference in how audiences think, feel and behave with respect to things they interpret. Drawing on theory and a growing body of research in the cognitive and behavioral sciences, this presentation attempts answers to four key questions regarding the ways in which interpreters can purposefully make such differences: Does increasing visitors’ knowledge about something influence their attitudes about it? How much mental effort must audiences give in order for attitudinal impacts to occur? Do visitors’ attitudes toward things predict their behaviors toward those things? And, what can interpreters purposefully do to influence visitor behavior? The paper discusses representative research findings corresponding to each of the four questions and presents a model, based on the TORE™ framework for thematic interpretation, depicting the pathways through which interpreters can make a difference on purpose.

Source/Credit:

interpretiveguides.org

Harnett, Penelope. “Identifying Progression in Children’s Understanding: The Use of Visual Materials to Assess Primary School Children’s Learning in History.” (1993)

ulrike — Wed, 27 Apr 2011 23:45:57 +0000

Citation:

Harnett, Penelope. “Identifying Progression in Children’s Understanding: The Use of Visual Materials to Assess Primary School Children’s Learning in History.” Cambridge Journal of Education 23(2) (1993): 137-54.

Abstract/Summary:

Examines the effectiveness of using visual materials in British schools to assess primary school children's learning in history. History National Curriculum and primary schools; Sequencing and dating of pictures; Children's historical knowledge.

Source/Credit:

Cambridge Journal of Education

Harris, Richard, and Haydn, Terry. “Pupil and Teacher Perspectives on Motivation and Engagement in High School History: A U.K. View.” (2008)

ulrike — Wed, 05 Aug 2009 21:13:49 +0000

Citation:

Harris, Richard, and Haydn, Terry. “Pupil and Teacher Perspectives on Motivation and Engagement in High School History: A U.K. View.” Paper presented at the annual meeting of the American Educational Research Association (AERA), New York, USA, March 24-28, 2008. http://eprints.soton.ac.uk/50812/

Abstract/Summary:

Drawing on data from 1,740 pupil questionnaires and 160 pupils in focus group interviews, the paper explores pupils’ views on why they study history in high school. Although many pupils reported that they did consider the study of history to be useful, their views on why history is part of the school curriculum bore little relation to those given in curriculum specifications and in academic discourse about the purposes and benefits of studying history in school. The study provides insight into pupils’ ideas about why they study history at school and considers the implications of these ideas for history teachers and history teacher educators. In addition to suggesting that many pupils have very vague and inchoate ideas about the purposes of school history, the data also revealed a clear ‘school effect’ on pupils’ views about history. In some schools, quite a high proportion of pupils were able to articulate the benefits of studying history in terms which bore some correlation to the case for school history identified in official curriculum documentation, whereas in other schools, far fewer pupils were able to do this. It seems possible that many history teachers may be making assumptions about pupils’ understanding of the rationale for studying history in school. The variations between schools suggested that there are things that teachers can do to explain the purposes and benefits of school history to their pupils. The outcomes of the study also indicate that there is a case for history teachers devoting more time and thought to helping pupils to understand the purposes and benefits of studying history in high school in order to improve the motivation and engagement of their pupils.

Source/Credit:

e-Prints Soton

Hartman, Andrew. “‘A Trojan Horse for Social Engineering’: The Curriculum Wars in Recent American History.” (2013)

ulrike — Wed, 05 Jun 2013 18:30:20 +0000

Citation:

Hartman, Andrew. “‘A Trojan Horse for Social Engineering’: The Curriculum Wars in Recent American History.” Journal of Policy History 25(1) (2013): 114-36.

Abstract/Summary:

The curriculum of public schools has served as one of the primary fronts in the “culture wars”—the politicized conflicts over values that have dominated headlines since the 1960s. Placed in the long historical context of American educational politics, this article examines recent curriculum wars from three distinct angles: the lens of Christian conservatives who resisted secular curriculum reform at the grassroots; the perspective of neoconservatives who sought to overturn educational trends by taking hold of the commanding heights of the state; and the position of professional educators who believed their liberal curricular innovations represented the latest in state-of-the-art knowledge. What emerges from this three-pronged approach is a vexing, yet clear, picture of why the knowledge taught to young Americans has long been such a hot button political issue, with all sides assuming others were using curriculum as a “Trojan Horse” to re-engineer impressionable young minds.

Source/Credit:

CLA Department of American Studies

Hawkey, Kate and Jayne Prior. “History, Memory Cultures and Meaning in the Classroom.” (2011)

Fri, 29 Jul 2011 13:53:58 +0000

Citation:

Hawkey, Kate and Jayne Prior. “History, Memory Cultures and Meaning in the Classroom.”Journal of Curriculum Studies 43(2) (2011): 231-47.

Abstract/Summary:

This article presents findings of small-scale in-depth qualitative research into the perspectives on history amongst adolescent children of minority ethnic backgrounds living in inner-cities in England. The research aimed to elicit, first, the narratives of British history that children from minority ethnic backgrounds hold; and, second, the relationship between the history children learn from home and that learned at school. In addressing these research questions, this paper contributes to wider discourses of what history should be taught in contemporary multi-ethnic settings, as well as how teachers in classrooms can navigate the tensions between history and memory cultures. Although the research was conducted in the English context, the issues it raises are pertinent elsewhere.

Source/Credit:

Informaworld

Haydn, Terry and Richard Harris. “Children’s Ideas About What it Means ‘to get better’ at History: a View From the UK.” (2009)

ulrike — Wed, 05 Jun 2013 20:50:33 +0000

Citation:

Haydn, Terry and Richard Harris. “Children’s Ideas About What it Means ‘to get better’ at History: a View From the UK.” International Journal of Historical Learning, Teaching and Research 8(2) (2009): 26-39.

Abstract/Summary:

The past three decades have seen radical changes in history educators’, policymakers’ and educationalists’ ideas about what it means ‘to get better’ in history as a school subject in the UK. The inception of a National Curriculum for History brought about a much more clearly defined framework for progression in the subject. The introduction of formal (and quite complex) models for measuring pupils’ progress in history, and changing and contested ideas about progression in history as a school subject occasioned vigorous debate, both between politicians, historians and history teacher educators, and between teacher educators themselves. However, less attention has focused on pupils’ ideas about what it means to get better at history, and the extent of their understanding of the models of progression, which have been developed in recent years. The research asked pupils to explain in their own words what they thought it meant ‘to get better at history’. The outcomes revealed that many pupils had very little understanding of the models for progression for history which have been put in place in UK schools, and quite vague and inchoate ideas about what it means to make progress in history. Only a minority of pupils, in some of the schools involved, were able to explain progression in terms which in any way reflected the models of progression laid down in official curriculum specifications, and as expounded in adult discourse about history education. It is possible that many teachers have perhaps made assumptions about the extent to which pupils understand what they have to do to make progress in history, and that more time and thought might be invested in this aspect of history education in order to improve pupil motivation and attainment in history.

Source/Credit:

University of Southampton

ulrike — Thu, 21 Jan 2016 00:20:44 +0000

Citation:

High, Steven. "Embodied Ways of Listening: Oral History, Genocide, and the Audio Tour." Anthropologica 55, no. 1 (2013): 73-85.

Abstract/Summary:

Building on the work of sound artists Miller and Cardiff, oral historian Butler, as well as the broader insights gleaned from the Montréal Life Stories project, this paper considers space-time dissonance in the making of Une fleur dans la fleuve/A Flower in the River, a 53-minute audio walk following the commemorative path taken by the Rwandan community. The tour explores the personal meaning and legacy of mass violence through personal narratives of six Rwandan exiles and survivors. The audio tour produces for the listener the same kind of dissonance that Rwandan Montréalers live out on a day-to-day basis.

Source/Credit:

Anthropologica

High, Steven. "Embodied Ways of Listening: Oral History, Genocide, and the Audio Tour." (2013)

ulrike — Thu, 07 Jul 2016 19:12:33 +0000

Citation:

High, Steven. "Embodied Ways of Listening: Oral History, Genocide, and the Audio Tour." Anthropologica 55, no. 1 (2013): 73-85.

Abstract/Summary:

Source/Credit:

Anthropologica

High, Steven. "Introduction." (2015)

ulrike — Thu, 07 Jul 2016 19:15:30 +0000

Citation:

High, Steven. "Introduction." In Beyond Testimony and Trauma: Oral History in the Aftermath of Mass Violence, edited by Steven High, 3-23. Vancouver: UBC Press, 2015.

Abstract/Summary:

In the Introduction to this anthology, Steven High explains his unique approach to editing this collection about survivors of mass trauma: he selected accounts that focused on “collaborative approaches” that reflect on political and ethical implications regarding how to acquire survivors’ testimonies and retell/share their accounts. High uses anecdotes from a laid off Detroit autoworker to make the point, “Deindustrialization is devastating for those directly affected, but it is not genocide… acts of witness range across many sites of resistance to mass violence.” High links the collection of 13 chapters to the work of the six year Montreal Life Stories project and the March 2012 “Beyond Testimony and Trauma: Oral History in the Aftermath of Mass Violence” international conference. The chapters are organized into three parts: The Political Work of Witness, Working with Survivors, and Acts of Composure and Framing. High concludes that his goal is to go, as Henry Greenspan wrote, “beyond testimony…move toward useful and respectful partnership” regarding how oral history is shared, and “if we are lucky, we (will) also learn something more about ourselves.”

Source/Credit:

Shannon Leggett

ulrike — Fri, 02 Oct 2009 22:08:00 +0000

Citation:

Hill, Kathryn. “The Role Of Research in the Opening of the United States Holocaust Memorial Museum.” Visitor Studies 7(1) (1995): 7-11.

Abstract/Summary:

The U.S. Holocaust Memorial Museum was potentially a highly controversial endeavor. It is a federal institution, situated on valuable federal land, and the recipient of taxpayer dollars. Museum staff faced each new news story with our hearts in our mouths, waiting for the questions about why a Jewish museum? Why in Washington? And why with my dollars? We waited for the criticism, and what we got instead was exactly what we’d hoped-the story of the Museum as a critical lesson in civic responsibility and the terrible dangers of racism; the Holocaust as a world event, the lessons of which are relevant today; the exhibition program as a sensitively molded, compelling, and emotionally charged educational experience; the Museum as a building constructed exclusively with private donations and located not on, but adjacent to, the National Mall.

http://www.visitorstudiesarchives.org/vs.php

Source/Credit:

Informal Science

Hirschkorn, Mark, Paula Kristmanson, Alan Sears, Kathy Winslow, and Sharon Rich. "The Perfect Storm: Moving a Teacher Education Reform from Vision to Reality." (2010)

ulrike — Wed, 06 Jul 2016 21:39:19 +0000

Citation:

Hirschkorn, Mark, Paula Kristmanson, Alan Sears, Kathy Winslow, and Sharon Rich. "The Perfect Storm: Moving a Teacher Education Reform from Vision to Reality." Education Canada 50, no. 1 (2010): 19-21.

Abstract/Summary:

In August 2008, the Faculty of Education at the University of New Brunswick (UNB) successfully began a new 11-month undergraduate education program, which features an "embedded practicum" and an emphasis on field-faculty collaboration. This is a considerable departure from the former 5-year concurrent and 2-year consecutive B.Ed. programs the Faculty offered. The significance of this accomplishment was emphasized to the authors during a recent conference presentation on the highlights of the new program and the lessons they learned during its inaugural year. During the conference session, which was attended by members of faculties of education from across the country, one participant noted, "We all have program vision. How was your faculty able to translate that vision into reality?" This question sparked a series of conversations and considerable reflection as the authors realized that they had been successful at moving forward with a process that often stymies others. They concluded that a range of disparate factors converged at the same time, creating a "perfect storm" that opened the possibility for reform. While the confluence of many of these factors was purely coincidental, the authors believe there may be important lessons to learn from their experience about how to take advantage of perfect storm conditions in order to move reform forward in educational settings. This article is not a prescriptive list of steps to make teacher education reform easy, or even doable. It is, however, a call for close examination of current circumstances with the view to seeing what opportunities they provide for positive reform.

Source/Credit:

Education Canada

Hodkinson, Alan. “Does the English Curriculum for History and its Schemes of Work Effectively Promote Primary-Aged Children’s Assimilation of the Concepts of Historical Time? Some Observations Based on Current Research.” (2004)

ulrike — Wed, 05 Aug 2009 21:16:03 +0000

Citation:

Hodkinson, Alan. “Does the English Curriculum for History and its Schemes of Work Effectively Promote Primary-Aged Children’s Assimilation of the Concepts of Historical Time? Some Observations Based on Current Research.” Educational Research 46(2) (2004): 99-117. http://www.informaworld.com/smpp/title~content=t713699076

Abstract/Summary:

This paper critically examines the English National Curriculum (NC) for History and its Schemes of Work's development of temporal cognition within the primary school. In addition, it outlines the findings of a longitudinal research study into Year 4 pupils' assimilation of historical time. The paper contends that the development of historical time concepts within the NC and the Schemes of Work is confused and would seem to be based upon little, if any, empirical findings. It is concluded, based upon the findings from this research study, that the NC and its Schemes of Work do not offer an effective approach to the development of temporal cognition.

Source/Credit:

Educational Research

Hodkinson, Alan. “Maturation and the Assimilation of the Concepts of Historical Time: A Symbiotic Relationship or Uneasy Bedfellows? An Examination of the Birth-Date Effect on Educational Performance in Primary History.” (2004)

ulrike — Thu, 08 Oct 2009 22:28:32 +0000

Citation:

Hodkinson, Alan. “Maturation and the Assimilation of the Concepts of Historical Time: A Symbiotic Relationship or Uneasy Bedfellows? An Examination of the Birth-Date Effect on Educational Performance in Primary History.” International Journal of Historical Learning, Teaching and Research 4(2) (2004).

Abstract/Summary:

This paper critically examines research which contends that age-related performance differentials are apparent within the English educational system. Whilst accepting that a birth-date effect exists within the core subjects of English, mathematics and science the paper highlights the lack of equivalent findings within the foundation subjects. The paper addresses this limitation by conducting exploratory research into the teaching and learning of primary history with children aged eight to eleven years of age. The paper contends methodological limitations within previous history researches must lead to a questioning of extant findings that maturation and cognitive assimilation are inextricably linked. Based upon statistical analysis of the study’s results it is concluded that age does not act as a performance determinant within the teaching and learning of primary history. The findings of the research support the contention that curricula and teaching methods, not age, are the main catalysts for cognitive assimilation.

http://centres.exeter.ac.uk/historyresource/journal8/8contents.htm

Source/Credit:

International Journal of Historical Learning, Teaching and Research

Hodkinson, Alan. “‘History howlers’: Amusing Anecdotes or Symptoms of the Difficulties Children Have in Retaining and Ordering Historical Knowledge? Some Observations Based Upon Current Research.” (2003)

ulrike — Wed, 27 Apr 2011 23:47:11 +0000

Citation:

Hodkinson, Alan. “‘History howlers’: Amusing Anecdotes or Symptoms of the Difficulties Children Have in Retaining and Ordering Historical Knowledge? Some Observations Based Upon Current Research.” Research in Education 70 (2003): 21–31.

Abstract/Summary:

An assertion made within the literature base is that children have difficulty retaining taught historical knowledge (Kelly, 2001). This article discusses the nature of memory and examines, through empirical classroom-based research, whether the variables of literacy, mathematical aptitude, intelligence, age, gender or teaching method influence a primary-age child's ability to remember. In light of the analysis of the research data it is contended that whilst intellect, literacy ability and mathematical aptitude may have relevance, it is teaching method that is the main catalyst for the assimilation and retention of historical knowledge.

Source/Credit:

Alan Hodkinson

Holtschlag, M. “The Big History Lesson.” (2000)

ulrike — Fri, 02 Oct 2009 22:10:43 +0000

Citation:

Holtschlag, M. “The Big History Lesson.” Visitor Studies Today 3(3) (2000): 15-18.

Abstract/Summary:

The Big History Lesson is an educational program at the Michigan Historical Museum in which teachers and students use the museum as their classroom for a week for a lively, in-depth study of Michigan history. They talk with historians, reenact the lives of historical figures, work cooperatively on research, and take a behind the scenes look at the museum. The lessons are teacher-led and student-centered, with teachers and museum staff working together to help the children learn. The Big History Lesson is a model of teaching and learning that makes a real world, hands-on, personal history connection for students.

http://www.visitorstudiesarchives.org/vst.php

Source/Credit:

Informal Science

Hoodless, Patricia A. “An Investigation into Children’s Developing Awareness of Time and Chronology in Story.” (2002)

ulrike — Wed, 05 Aug 2009 21:18:35 +0000

Citation:

Hoodless, Patricia A. “An Investigation into Children’s Developing Awareness of Time and Chronology in Story.” Journal of Curriculum Studies 34(2) (2002): 173-200. http://www.tandf.co.uk/journals/tf/00220272.html

Abstract/Summary:

This study explores how children in English primary schools perceive time and chronology in storybooks--whether the children are aware of the devices used in stories to manipulate time and chronological sequence, and whether their responses demonstrate their own ability to use these devices. Children aged between 3-9 years were involved in conversation about storybooks through the use of open-ended questions. Responses were analysed according to features of the talk that reflected the children's awareness of the time dimension within the stories. The data suggest that children are able to use temporal terms and perceive chronological sequence, or lack of it, at very early ages. If exposed to ideas about time within a meaningful context, young children are capable of surprisingly sophisticated ideas. The implications of this finding for teaching chronology and for the history curriculum are discussed.

Source/Credit:

ERIC

Hoodless, Patricia A. “Spotting the Adult Agendas: Investigating Children’s Historical Awareness Using Stories Written for Children in the Past.” (2004)

ulrike — Wed, 05 Aug 2009 21:20:18 +0000

Citation:

Hoodless, Patricia A. “Spotting the Adult Agendas: Investigating Children’s Historical Awareness Using Stories Written for Children in the Past.” International Journal of Historical Learning, Teaching and Research 4(2) (2004). http://centres.exeter.ac.uk/historyresource/journal8/Hoodless.doc

Abstract/Summary:

This paper summarises an investigation of primary children’s understanding of the changing attitudes and values revealed in historical stories written at different times in the twentieth century. The investigation was a small scale case study, which used ethnographic methods, and produced qualitative data from small group discussions with children aged ten and eleven in two English primary schools. The choice of texts, drawn from a specifically English context, was intended to enable primary age children to understand familiar periods from the History National Curriculum. Findings suggest that children of this age were capable of identifying changing styles of presentation and different attitudes within historical accounts and stories written in different periods. Some children were aware how adult authors writing for children transmitted their attitudes and values through historical stories. The paper argues that such historical texts are excellent sources from which children can learn about the less tangible aspects of the past. It also argues that there are wider implications for the study of children’s conceptual awareness: children revealed very subtle understanding of chronology and change, as well as a surprisingly sophisticated understanding of how texts written for children are not only a product of the age in which they were written, but also a medium for the transmission of adult values and beliefs. It is suggested that further study of the use of such sources would enable a deeper understanding of how children acquire an awareness of these very important but less tangible aspects of the past.

Source/Credit:

International Journal of Historical Learning, Teaching and Research

Hsiao, Yi-Mei. “Taiwanese Students’ Understanding of Differences in History Textbook Accounts.” (2005)

ulrike — Tue, 19 Nov 2013 22:52:07 +0000

Citation:

Hsiao, Yi-Mei. “Taiwanese Students’ Understanding of Differences in History Textbook Accounts.” In International Review of History Education, Vol. 4: Understanding History: Recent Research in History Education, edited by R. Ashby, P. Gordon and P. Lee, 49-61. New York: Routledge Falmer, 2005.

Abstract/Summary:

It has become apparent in the past three decades, in history circles, that there is a new paradigm which is strongly focused on students’ understanding of the discipline of history. It is important that students be aware of second-order historical concepts as a basis through which to understand history. The author focuses on textbooks in Taiwan as a medium through which history is taught to students and which are imperative in developing historical thinking skills. The chapter focuses on a small-scale study of 13-15 year old Taiwanese students and how they perceived the historical accounts that were presented in the textbooks. Three different aspects are explored in the study: students’ confidence in the historical accounts in textbooks, students’ reactions and explanations when differing accounts are encountered, and how students deem a source to be credible. There were three major conclusions from the study: students believed that textbooks had authority, students did not mention the use of evidence, and students had basic knowledge of the procedures of historical accounts.

Source/Credit:

Erika Smith

Huggins, Mike. “An Analysis of the Rationales for Learning History Given by Children and Teachers at Key Stage 2.” (1996)

ulrike — Wed, 05 Aug 2009 21:22:06 +0000

Citation:

Huggins, Mike. “An Analysis of the Rationales for Learning History Given by Children and Teachers at Key Stage 2.” The Curriculum Journal 7(3) (1996): 307-21. http://www.informaworld.com/smpp/title~content=t713695259~link=cover

Abstract/Summary:

Subject knowledge at Key Stage 2 of the English National Curriculum has recently assumed increased importance, leading, to an increased research interest in the forms of subject content knowledge and pedagogic content knowledge employed by teachers. This paper examines the extent to which teachers and pupils were aware of a specific subject curriculum rationale. The paper discusses the findings of an enquiry into the extent to which non-specialist teachers (n = 40), initial teacher training students (n = 46) and Key Stage 2 pupils in four primary schools exhibited an understanding of the reasons why history should be studied, following the introduction of the National Curriculum for history in 1991. Results showed that experienced teachers had a tacit understanding of the aims of history produced by the National Curriculum Council, although students' understandings were less well developed. Teachers had succeeded in transmitting some key ideas about why history should be studied to their pupils, although differences between schools show that teaching makes a difference. However, some pupils had only sketchy ideas about why they studied the subject or did not find it exciting or enjoyable.

Source/Credit:

The Curriculum Journal

Hughes, Andrew S., Murray Print, and Alan Sears. “Curriculum Capacity and Citizenship Education: A Comparative Analysis.” (2010)

ulrike — Wed, 06 Jul 2016 21:36:49 +0000

Citation:

Compare: A Journal of Comparative and International Education 40, no. 3 (2010): 293-309.

Abstract/Summary:

Governments, international organizations and academics have, in recent decades, expressed a sense of crisis in the practice of democracy based largely upon increasing levels of disengagement by citizens from even the most basic elements of civic life. One response has been to devise civics and citizenship education curricula for schools with the concomitant expectations of enhanced civic practice. Our examination of citizenship education programs has revealed considerable variation from country to country in the degree of success achieved in the design, development and implementation of programs. This paper examines recent developments in citizenship education in four leading Western democracies – Australia, Canada, England and the USA; each one with its own particular successes and shortcomings. It identifies several factors associated with the successful building of curriculum capacity for citizenship education and argues that these are fundamental for countries wishing to move beyond rhetoric and toward substance in citizenship education.

Source/Credit:

A Journal of Comparative and International Education

Hunt, M. “Teaching Historical Significance.” (2000)

ulrike — Fri, 16 Oct 2009 21:24:11 +0000

Citation:

Hunt, M. “Teaching Historical Significance.” In Issues in History Teaching, edited by J. Arthur and R. Phillips, 39-53. London: Routledge, 2000.

Abstract/Summary:

This chapter examines the implications for history learning of focusing history teaching on chronology, historical inquiry through the use of varied sources, and organization and communication skills.

In relation to teaching a chronology of events, Hunt concludes that centering instruction on the significance of events, changes, and people in history is useful for making the large amount of information students are required to learn manageable. Overall, helping students understand larger themes to which the individual topic is related contributes to students’ learning. Of greatest importance is that teachers find a way to teach the past that students find relevant with their present. Hunt suggests that in order to be successful, teachers should use explanation cards and/or concept cards. The author provides a set of questions that teachers can use along with these cards as well as a list of further reading materials for teachers concerned with improving their history instruction.

Source/Credit:

Ana Laura Pauchulo

Hyslop-Margison, Emery J., and Alan Sears. “Enhancing Teacher Performance: The Role of Professional Autonomy.” (2010)

ulrike — Wed, 06 Jul 2016 21:37:42 +0000

Citation:

Hyslop-Margison, Emery J., and Alan Sears. “Enhancing Teacher Performance: The Role of Professional Autonomy.” Interchange 41, no. 1 (2010): 1-15.

Abstract/Summary:

Current teacher accountability initiatives such as those included in the “No Child Left Behind” legislation in the United States create particular difficulties that impact deleteriously on the performance of professional educators. The quality of public education is undermined when teachers are held accountable to an external authority rather than to themselves, their colleagues, and their professional associations. In this article, and in response to this concern, we argue that for teachers to strengthen their classroom performance, policy renewal is required on two separate fronts: first, we must restructure teachers’ working conditions to support autonomous professional activity related to education; and second, teachers, both individually and collectively, must accept the concomitant responsibility to pursue personal professional development to improve their pedagogical work.

Source/Credit:

Interchange

Jacott, L., A. López–Manjón, and M. Carretero. “Generating Explanations in History.” (1998)

ulrike — Wed, 05 Jun 2013 21:09:57 +0000

Citation:

Jacott, L., A. López–Manjón, and M. Carretero. “Generating Explanations in History.” In International Review of History Education, Vol. 2: Learning and Reasoning in History, edited by J.F. Voss and M. Carretero, 294–306. Portland, OR: Woburn Press, 1998.

Abstract/Summary:

One of the main objectives of the chapter is to analyze the way that students in Spain, of varying ages and education levels, narrate an important historical event, the discovery of America, which is included in the curriculum. The authors discuss epistemological aspects related to historical explanation including philosophy of history, intentionalist model and the structuralism model. For the authors, the study of historical narratives included two important elements, agents and motives, which are inescapable when studying history. The authors are interested in analyzing the explanations of students in relation to the importance they attribute to historical agents and their motive in the accounts they give of the past. They attempt to answer five questions in the chapter: how do students understand historical causality; what type of explanations (intentional or structural) do they generate in the production of historical events; does understanding historical situations imply a narrative understanding; what is the importance of the role of historical agents; and to what extent are structural conditions taken into account? The authors list six causes the students learn: personalistic, political, economic, scientific/ technological advances, ideological, and foreign affairs. Younger students focused on the personalistic cause as the most important, adolescents used more concrete, personalistic and intentional causes and university history students tended to explain the historical event in structural and abstract causes. The authors also discuss how the students generated their own historical explanations. They concluded with a discussion of the participants, procedure and results of the study.

Source/Credit:

Erika Smith

Jadouille, J.-L. « Apprendre l’histoire à l’heure des compétences. Communauté française de Belgique ». (2004)

ulrike — Wed, 05 Jun 2013 23:48:02 +0000

Citation:

Jadouille, J.-L. « Apprendre l’histoire à l’heure des compétences. Communauté française de Belgique ». Le Cartable de Clio 4 (2004): 209-21.

Abstract/Summary:

Où en est l’enseignement de l’histoire en Communauté française de Belgique, à l’aube des années 2000? Quelles options didactiques le marquent ? Quelles interrogations le traversent ? ... Il ne saurait être question, dans le cadre de cette contribution, de répondre de façon exhaustive à ces questions trop ouvertes. Nous nous limiterons à présenter les grandes lignes de la réforme de l’enseignement de l’histoire qui mobilise l’attention depuis plusieurs années et un certain nombre d’interrogations que cette réforme suscite ou qui lui sont contemporaines. (http://orbi.ulg.ac.be/bitstream/2268/57075/1/cartable%20clio08_04.pdf)

Source/Credit:

ORBi

Janes, Robert R. "Museums, Social Responsibility and the Future We Desire." (2007)

ulrike — Mon, 17 Nov 2014 21:53:30 +0000

Citation:

Janes, Robert R. "Museums, Social Responsibility and the Future We Desire." In Museum Revolutions: How Museums Change and are Changed, edited by Simon J. Knell, Suzanne Macleod, and Sheila E. R. Watson, 135-46. New York, Routledge, 2007.

Abstract/Summary:

This article examines museums’ social involvement while contemporary worldview is based on the belief that economic growth is essential for our well-being, and consumption is the means to achieve it. Faced with instability from declining numbers, and finding the balance between earned revenue and funding, various museums are starting to look past the business model where they are being treated as corporate entities. These museums are holding themselves accountable for providing meaning and societal awareness. Janes argues against Western society’s conception that markets create communities; instead, it is not-for-profit organizations that create the relationships from which communities are based. Therefore all museums, science centres and art galleries have a role to play in assuming societal leadership; together they must become more effective in taking up societal responsibility. This article first illustrates the decline of life-meaning in humans and the rise in economic significance. It next discusses instabilities felt by museums that follow the business method and various museums’ progression to becoming socially responsible institutions. The chapter concludes with a rationale for museums to be socially responsible, and provides characteristics and requirements to implement socially responsible work.

Source/Credit:

Kelsey Wood-Hrynkiw

Janes, Robert R. "The Mindful Museum." (2010)

ulrike — Mon, 17 Nov 2014 21:52:39 +0000

Citation:

Janes, Robert R. "The Mindful Museum." Curator 53, no. 3 (2010): 326-38.

Abstract/Summary:

There is a disconnect between museums, which are preoccupied with internal quantitative measures of success, and the issues that are confronting civilization on a global scale. This article emphasizes the necessity for museums to become mindful organizations that place social responsibility at the forefront. In order to understand what this entails, one must first understand the definition of mindfulness. Janes defines mindfulness as paying attention to things we ordinarily ignore, and always knowing what we are doing. Similar to human thought, museums are also susceptible to stress, distractions and cascading thoughts, which is all ineffective chatter. However, unlike humans, museums are incapable of mindful meditation, yet it is still crucial for them to block out the chatter and reflect on why museums do what they do. To increase mindfulness, museums should:

1) Focus less on process and more on synthesizing.

2) Develop values based on commitment and effective participation in the broader world.

3) Rely on multifunctional work groups including work groups that can alter their plans to address unanticipated issues as they crop up.

By utilizing some of these progressive practices, museums will be more conscious and therefore more effective as societal stewards in this time of uncertainty.

Source/Credit:

Kelsey Wood-Hrynkiw

Jiménez Pérez, Roque, José María Cuenca López , and D. Mario Ferreras Listán. “Heritage Education: Exploring the Conceptions of Teachers and Administrators from the Perspective of Experimental and Social Science Teaching.” (2010)

ulrike — Wed, 12 Dec 2012 19:37:41 +0000

Citation:

Jiménez Pérez, Roque, José María Cuenca López, and D. Mario Ferreras Listán. “Heritage Education: Exploring the Conceptions of Teachers and Administrators from the Perspective of Experimental and Social Science Teaching.” Teaching and Teacher Education 26 (6) (2010): 1319–31.

Abstract/Summary:

This paper describes a research project into heritage education. Taking an interdisciplinary perspective from within the field of Experimental and Social Science Education, it presents an analysis of teachers’ and administrators’ conceptions of heritage, its teaching and its dissemination in Spain. A statistical description is provided of the results of a questionnaire. A factor analysis (FA) was applied to explore possible conjectures accounting for the correlations between the variables with respect to both the conceptualisation of heritage and its teaching and dissemination. The results emphasise the relevance of academic background, initial training and professional context with regard to the conceptualisations of heritage held by the different groups.

Source/Credit:

Elsevier

Kamookak, Louie. "Louie Kamookak on the Franklin Find, Acceptance Speech for Erebus Medal from the Royal Canadian Geographic Society." (2015)

ulrike — Tue, 17 Nov 2015 00:22:23 +0000

Citation:

Kamookak, Louie. "Louie Kamookak on the Franklin Find, Acceptance Speech for Erebus Medal from the Royal Canadian Geographic Society." Canadian Geographic, March 10, 2015.

Abstract/Summary:

Inuit historian Louie Kamookak delivered this acceptance speech for the Erebus Medal from the Royal Canadian Geographic Society for his thirty years of work in the North, most particularly regarding helping to solve one of the “world’s great mysteries” that resulted in the Franklin Find. He acknowledges that his team’s success was due to his collaborative Parks Canada team utilizing Inuit oral history in tandem with the most advanced technology available. He concluded his comments with humour: “I always joke that it was impossible for me to just go out in my kayak and stick my head into the ocean to find it myself. So I was a little surprised to learn that I was wrong. It was only 33 feet deep where Erebus was found...” His new goal is to continue the search for Franklin himself.

Source/Credit:

Shannon Leggett

Karim, Karim H. “Pluralism, Migration, Space and Song: Ismaili Arrangements of Public and Private Spaces.” (2013)

ulrike — Wed, 03 Dec 2014 22:01:01 +0000

Citation:

Karim, Karim H. “Pluralism, Migration, Space and Song: Ismaili Arrangements of Public and Private Spaces.” In Diverse Spaces: Identity, Heritage and Community in Canadian Public Culture, edited by Susan Ashley, 148-69. Newcastle Upon Tyne: Cambridge Scholars Publishing, 2013.

Abstract/Summary:

Canada’s population is comprised of descendants of those who were here thousands of years ago, families who settled hundreds of years ago, and more recent arrivals. In each instance they have claimed the land in their own ways and have found ways to make meaning of where one makes home. The presence of Shia Imami Ismaili Muslims (also known as Nizari Ismailis, or simply, Ismailis) has unfolded similarly to that of other recent immigrants to Canada, but it also has some unique characteristics, including the distinct ways in which Ismaili Muslims in Canada organize public and private spaces. This article argues that Ismaili engagements with other Muslims and with Western societies have resulted in different aspects of the self being presented in public and private spaces creating discourse. Emphasizing this is the juxtaposition between the Aga Khan Museum and Ismaili Centre in Toronto. Although the buildings are physically separated by a short distance, they seem far apart: as one interfaces with the world the other’s inner sanctum is a jamatkhana; only those who have given allegiance to the Imam (i.e. Ismaili adherents) can attend congregational meetings in jamatkhanas, which maintain the Ismaili private sphere. Occasionally the dual mapping conducted in the Ismaili arrangement of public and private space creates an intriguing dynamic when public events are held in Ismaili Centres and jamatkhana social halls. These responses to modernity and wish to engage with the contemporary world are shaped by history, geography, migration and religious belief, among other factors. The community seeks to promote pluralism as a global value, yet some of its most profound experiences in engaging with others are kept within the private sphere. Nevertheless there is a growing competition of discourses among various Ismaili voices.

Source/Credit:

Kelsey Wood-Hrynkiw

Kearns, Laura-Lee, and Nancy Peters. “(Re)Inscribing Mi’kmaq Presence Through Public Petition, Performance and Art.” (2013)

ulrike — Wed, 03 Dec 2014 21:56:10 +0000

Citation:

Kearns, Laura-Lee, and Nancy Peters. “(Re)Inscribing Mi’kmaq Presence Through Public Petition, Performance and Art.” In Diverse Spaces: Identity, Heritage and Community in Canadian Public Culture, edited by Susan Ashley, 75-99. Newcastle Upon Tyne: Cambridge Scholars Publishing, 2013.

Abstract/Summary:

Mi’kma’ki, or Eastern Canada, has been the home of the Mi’kmaq for thousands of years, yet their presence has been left unacknowledged. In this article Kearns and Peters recognize that lack of representation and inclusion in the public realm results in imbalance between the Aboriginal non-Aboriginal relationship. To begin to decolonize the public realm and redress this imbalance, so that there is more inclusion of Indigenous people, we need to critically engage with the legacy and absence of historical perspectives of Indigenous people and representations in public spaces. Public spaces have been defined as venues where groups can assemble freely, yet they tend to be invisibly racialized and far from neutral. An example analyzed in the text is the prominent placement of name and images of Sir Edward Cornwallis in public spaces; Cornwallis was the first governor of Nova Scotia, and a figure responsible for the mass murder of Mi’kmaq people. Artistic and creative efforts have been taken to unsettle the assumptions that the formation of Nova Scotia has had a harmonious past, dispelling the historical white-washing of settler-Mi’kmaq relationships. In order to embark on new Aboriginal non-Aboriginal relationships in Nova Scotia that push beyond the static and/or stereotypical images of Indigenous people, public spaces must consider (re)inscribing Aboriginal presence in public spaces. One significant new space, which highlights Mi’kmaq presence, is the People’s Place Library in Antigonish Nova Scotia where Mi’kmaq artist Alan Syliboy’s Dream Canoe mural is a permanent installation. Along with the mural Kearns and Peters exemplify petition and performance as a means to re-inscribe Mi’kmaq presence in public spaces in Nova Scotia.

Source/Credit:

Kelsey Wood-Hrynkiw

Kee, Kevin and Nicki Darbyson. “Creating and Using Virtual Environments to Promote Historical Thinking.” (2011)

ulrike — Wed, 12 Dec 2012 19:28:02 +0000

Citation:

Kee, Kevin and Nicki Darbyson. “Creating and Using Virtual Environments to Promote Historical Thinking.” In New Possibilities for the Past: Shaping History Education in Canada, edited by Penney Clark, 264-81. Vancouver: UBC Press, 2011.

Abstract/Summary:

The use of virtual environments can enhance historical thinking in students in new and innovative ways that written text cannot. Virtual environments (VE’s) use virtual reality technology to, in essence, allow users to be in a different environment. How this unique form of interactive media can be paired with an acknowledgement of larger academic interest in the field and how historians can employ VE’s effectively using the work of game theorists are explored. VE’s can communicate the substance of history and historical thinking through students’ engagement in historical practices and through the use of expositions and role-playing in VE’s as biographical recounts, historical recounts and factorial explanations. In the end, using VE’s as a mode to teach historical thinking may entice students to no longer see history as “boring” but rather as an exciting way to become a character and to view history as a historian.

Source/Credit:

Erika Smith

Kee, Kevin, and Shawn Graham. “Teaching in the Age of Pervasive Computing: The Case for Games in the High School and Undergraduate Classroom.” (2014)

ulrike — Mon, 17 Feb 2014 19:38:26 +0000

Citation:

Kee, Kevin, and Shawn Graham. “Teaching in the Age of Pervasive Computing: The Case for Games in the High School and Undergraduate Classroom.” In Pastplay: Teaching and Learning History with Technology, edited by Kevin Kee, 270-91. Ann Arbor: University of Michigan Press, 2014.

Abstract/Summary:

Computer games offer teachers new ways to be interactive within the classroom, which students require. While the humanities have not shown interest in computer games, interestingly, games with historic themes make up one fifth of the top sold PC games. The authors wish to go a step further than simply using computer games in the teaching of history. They propose using collaborative learning in computer games to enhance historical learning. The chapter is divided into four sections. The first section focuses on how games should be used in undergraduate studies in the way text has been used in the past. Historical games are entrenched in synthetic landscapes much like the texts that outline history syllabi through code rather than words. But not all history games are equal and must be challenged and the authors have developed a way to best understand the place for games in their history courses. The second section of the chapter focuses on how students can build their own historical games thorough the modifications of commercial games. The third section focuses on the experience of the authors to reveal how students can move beyond simply analyzing and modifying commercial games to developing their own games collaboratively. The process is much like writing a research paper. In the final section, the authors reflect on their personal use of games in their classrooms and how they can best assess students’ work. They hope to aid other historians to introduce games into their classrooms without falling prey to the pitfalls of learning using games.

Source/Credit:

Erika Smith

Kee, Kevin. “Computerized History Games: Narrative Options.” (2008)

ulrike — Thu, 08 Oct 2009 22:30:40 +0000

Citation:

Kee, Kevin. “Computerized History Games: Narrative Options.” Simulation and Gaming 20(10) (2008).

Abstract/Summary:

How may historians best express history through computer games? This article suggests that the answer lies in correctly correlating historians’ goals for teaching with the capabilities of different kinds of computer games. During the development of a game prototype for high school students, the author followed best practices as expressed in the literature on games for learning. The analysis that followed led the author to question the applicability of these best practices, and this literature, to history games for learning. He began the second iteration by asking, "What is it that we as historians want to teach?" After deciding on goals for history education, the author asked a second question, "How can these goals be best expressed in a game environment?" Different game genres afford different possibilities, and the author connects three epistemologies for history to three computer game genres, resulting in three options for history games for learning.

http://sag.sagepub.com/pap.dtl

Source/Credit:

Simulation and Gaming

Kee, Kevin. “Re-Presenting Canadian History On-Line: 'The Cyberterrorism Crisis' Web Site as a Test Case of History and Citizenship Education on the Web.” (2008)

ulrike — Wed, 02 Jun 2010 18:24:44 +0000

Citation:

Kee, Kevin. “Re-Presenting Canadian History On-Line: 'The Cyberterrorism Crisis' Web Site as a Test Case of History and Citizenship Education on the Web.” In The Emperor's New Computer: ICT, Teachers and Teaching, edited by Tony Di Petta, 29-44. Rotterdam: Sense Publishers, 2008.

Abstract/Summary:

In this article, Kevin Kee introduces the website “The Cyber-Terrorism Crisis” by exploring how the present can hold “teachable moments” for learning about the past and how the past holds “teachable moments” for thinking about the present. In particular, Kee looks at the similarities between the War Measures Act of 1914 and the Anti-Terrorism Act of 2001 and by providing a historical overview of the use of the War Measures Act during World War I, World War II, and the October Crisis. He suggests that learning about one can provide insight into the other. Kee argues that the dispassionate “Public Issues Model” that is often used to debate controversial issues in school is inadequate for students in today’s society and that studying history can provide an alternative to this model by stressing multiple perspectives, the lack of a single “right” answer, and the development of reasoned judgements. Kee concludes the article by stressing that when using a website like “The Cyber-Terrorism Crisis,” the student becomes an active learner within a network of ideas, people, and events across time and space, and that learning in this way is key for developing citizenship skills in today’s world.

Source/Credit:

Cutrara

Kee, Kevin. “Towards a New World History and Citizenship Course in Quebec.” (2004)

ulrike — Wed, 27 Apr 2011 23:52:55 +0000

Citation:

Kee, Kevin. “Towards a New World History and Citizenship Course in Quebec.” Canadian Social Studies 38(2) (2004). Accessed March 31, 2011. www.quasar.ualberta.ca/css

Abstract/Summary:

In response to claims about the death of Canadian history, this article claims that it is alive and well in Québec. The state of history in the province is charted through the recent release of a new Grade 7 and 8 world history and citizenship course, and the questions it raised about why history is taught in schools. In comparison to other provinces, the Québec Education Program (QEP) includes “Geography, History and Citizenship” as one of its five main “Subject Areas.” The past is considered to be central to an understanding of civic identity, and educators across the country agree that history can play a role in presenting young people with a sense of place in their world. Yet, how do educators define “citizenship?” Will a citizenship built upon "respect" for difference be able to meet the challenges of 2010 and beyond?

To this end, the inclusion of histories outside of the West would allow for more diversity in the stories told about the past. For example, including the importance of Bagdad in the study of the Middle-Ages provides not only an entry-point into the diversity of the past, but also how the contributions from the city were central to developments in the "West." Kee ends by wondering whether educators will take advantage of opportunities to make parallel stories part of the main story.

Source/Credit:

Mary Chaktsiris

Kelly, T. Mills. “True Facts or False Facts - Which Are More Authentic?” (2014)

ulrike — Mon, 17 Feb 2014 19:40:10 +0000

Citation:

Kelly, T. Mills. “True Facts or False Facts - Which Are More Authentic?” In Pastplay: Teaching and Learning History with Technology, edited by Kevin Kee, 309-28. Ann Arbor: University of Michigan Press, 2014.

Abstract/Summary:

It is important that history students understand the difference between primary and secondary sources yet in many of the historical method courses students must take, where the historiography and historical methods are meant to be taught and understood by students, many students are not comprehending the lessons. Therefore, the author sought to find a way to revise the historical method course so that learning outcomes would be improved. In the reorganization of the course, he wanted to challenge the students to learn the historical methods while having fun and being playful. The outline for the course is offered to the reader as an example of how a research method class could be made more fun. The decision to rearrange the course came from two different areas, that history as a discipline is becoming too uptight and the author had experience working with younger students who were having fun utilizing primary sources. The author continues with a discussion of the variation of the course that he taught focusing on hoaxes in history, entitled ‘Lying about the Past.’ He also speaks to what his students learned while playing with the past, including tools such as historical thinking. The author also describes the backlash and major issues that arose from the web projects that the students created for the class. The chapter concludes with the hope that other historians will be inspired and create new and interesting versions of the historical methods course.

Source/Credit:

Erika Smith

Kerr, Donald, David Mandzuk, and Helen Raptis. “The Role of the Social Foundations of Education in Programs of Teacher Preparation in Canada.” (2011)

ulrike — Fri, 12 Jul 2013 22:49:30 +0000

Citation:

Kerr, Donald, David Mandzuk, and Helen Raptis. “The Role of the Social Foundations of Education in Programs of Teacher Preparation in Canada.” Canadian Journal of Education 34(4) (2011): 118-34.

Abstract/Summary:

This paper argues that the social foundations of education, and particularly the disciplines of history, philosophy and sociology of education, must continue to play an integral role in programs of teacher education. We report on the decline of the study of history of education within faculties of education in Canada as an example of the marginalization of the role of the social foundations in teacher education programs generally. In this context we furnish what we take to be some of the strongest reasons for the requirement for future teachers to engage with the social foundations--some of these arguments apply to all of the foundational areas, and some apply to specific foundational disciplines. Some of these arguments will be familiar, some new. We conclude that if a teacher education program in Canada is to be of a very high quality then it must include a strong social foundations component.

Source/Credit:

ERIC

King, John T. “Teaching and Learning about Controversial Issues: Lessons from Northern Ireland.” (2009)

ulrike — Wed, 27 Apr 2011 23:06:01 +0000

Citation:

King, John T. “Teaching and Learning about Controversial Issues: Lessons from Northern Ireland.” Theory & Research in Social Education 37(2) (2009): 215-46. http://www.socialstudies.org/cufa/trse

Abstract/Summary:

Teaching about controversial issues is a powerful tool in the repertoire of civic educators. Despite widespread agreement concerning the social, academic, and civic benefits to be gained from discussing controversial public issues within the classroom, empirical research reveals that doing so is a rare occurrence. While the literature explains this fact by detailing the many challenges confronted by teachers, less attention is given to the emotional and cognitive risks that lead students to evade, and at times actively resist, engaging with controversial issues. This qualitative case study examines the experiences of students and teachers struggling to address issues of national and cultural identity within Northern Ireland in order to investigate dynamics that may remain less visible in contexts where differences and conflict are less overt. Findings reveal a range of responses whereby students attempt to preserve the viability of current understandings and to minimize the risk of critical self-reflection. Also indicated are two strategies by which educators were, on occasion, able to support students in listening to and learning from divergent perspectives: by reducing the perception of risk through "cognitive distancing" and by enhancing students’ motivation to confront risks by facilitating caring relationships. The comparison of these findings to current research on teaching controversial issues in Northern Ireland and their applicability to other contexts is discussed.

Source/Credit:

Education Research Complete

ulrike — Mon, 17 Nov 2014 21:50:57 +0000

Citation:

Knell, Simon. “National Museums and the National Imagination.” In National Museums: New Studies from Around the World, edited by Simon J. Knell, Peter Aronsson, and Arne Bugge Amunsn, 3-28. London, Routledge, 2011.

Abstract/Summary:

Much of this chapter discusses the manner in which national museums contribute to imagining and defining a nation, both for citizens and wider international communities. Emphasis is placed on the importance of acknowledging the relationship between museum reality and performance, when identifying how the national museum contributes to the production of the nation. Knell states that museums have not always been cold and factual spaces; one and two centuries ago, Hazelius’ social engineering and Lenoir’s stenography expressed an inclusion of fictions and illusions, while their contemporaries conformed to what is coined the Enlightenment museum – focusing on aesthetic and intellectual distance to create exhibitions free of bias, a revelation pioneered by Bourdieu. Despite amendments to eliminate cultural bias and social divisions from the practice, they remain. National museums’ difficulty writing cultural diversity into their nation’s story, material possibilities of objects that anchor nations in national museums, using art internationally to set a national identity, professionals' and communities' differing views on what the museum is – are but a few examples that bring awareness to the illusion of change, and allows one to look past simply imagining how museums contribute to the nation.

Source/Credit:

Kelsey Wood-Hrynkiw

Knight, Peter. “A Study of Children’s Understanding of People in the Past.” (1989)

ulrike — Wed, 05 Aug 2009 21:23:49 +0000

Citation:

Knight, Peter. “A Study of Children’s Understanding of People in the Past.” Educational Review 41(3) (1989): 207-19. http://www.informaworld.com/smpp/title~content=t713415680~link=cover

Abstract/Summary:

Current approaches to developing the National Curriculum involve setting attainment targets which are to inform teaching and which are to be the basis of National Assessment tests. It has not been easy to arrive at these targets in mathematics and science. It is claimed that it will be considerably harder in other curriculum areas, the humanities for example, where there has been little research into the development of children's understanding. A report of an investigation of 6-14 year old children's developing understanding of people in the past illustrates the nature of the problem facing curriculum makers in these domains.

Source/Credit:

Educational Review

Kohlmeier, J. “The Impact of Having Ninth Graders ‘Do History’.” (2005)

ulrike — Wed, 27 Apr 2011 23:59:56 +0000

Citation:

Kohlmeier, Jada. “The Impact of Having Ninth Graders ‘Do History’.” The History Teacher 38(4) (2005):499–524.

Abstract/Summary:

The views of the author's students about history caused her to reflect on her teaching, specifically, what she was lacking in her attempts to teach civic competence through history. This process led her to research historical thinking and design a study in which she exposed her students to therigors of history. Grant's (2001) study of 9th grade history students and teachers helped her narrow her focus to the three aspects of historical thinking: (1) historical knowledge; (2) historical significance; and (3) historical empathy. In her research study, the author limits her endeavor to explore these three aspects of historical thinking by focusing on her students' experience writing a historical essay and its influence on their understanding of historical knowledge. She selected a purposeful sample of 10 students that she felt best represented the 52 9th graders she had in world history during thespring semester of 2001. Thestudy demonstrated that students can gain a new appreciation for the interpretive nature of history, which Grant (2001) calls historical knowledge, in three important ways. First, in using these strategies, her students demonstrated an understanding that historical events impacted individuals in personal ways. The second shift that occurred in her students' thinking was that they saw that the events of history impacted individuals in different ways, which caused them to see history as a collection of multiple stories. Thethird and final change her students experienced was having their perception of what a historian does become real. They now understand that thehistorian plays an important role in interpreting documents and selects information to shape a historical narrative.

Source/Credit:

ERIC

Kohlmeier, Jada. “The Power of a Woman’s Story: A Three-Step Approach to Historical Significance in High School World History.” (2005)

ulrike — Wed, 05 Aug 2009 21:25:28 +0000

Citation:

Kohlmeier, Jada. “The Power of a Woman’s Story: A Three-Step Approach to Historical Significance in High School World History.” International Journal of Social Education 20(1) (2005): 64-75. http://ijse.iweb.bsu.edu/

Abstract/Summary:

The author's ninth grade world history students communicated the connection they felt to three women whose stories they evaluated in class. The women represented ordinary people living during time periods being studied, and their personal stories demonstrated how the political, economic and cultural events had an impact on people in unique and powerful ways. With the growing body of research into various aspects of historical thinking such as why history should be taught, how historical thinking should be defined, why teachers were or were not engaging in historical thinking instruction, how historians engage in historical thinking, and how historical thinking is being incorporated into classrooms--the author was inspired by several studies calling for more research into the relationship between teacher and student in historical thinking and how the process is experienced in classrooms. Some researchers argued that the novelty of the experience was the major obstacle for students as they attempted to interpret documents, write a historical narrative or exercise historical empathy. As a full-time high school social studies teacher writing a dissertation, the author was in a position to take advantage of the opportunity to study the consistent use of instructional strategies that might expose a new dimension of the complex relationship between these strategies and students' abilities.

Source/Credit:

ERIC

Kohlmeier, Jada. “‘Couldn’t She Just Leave’? The Relationship Between Consistently Using Class Discussions and the Development of Historical Empathy in a Ninth Grade World History Course.” (2006)

ulrike — Wed, 05 Aug 2009 21:27:21 +0000

Citation:

Kohlmeier, Jada. “‘Couldn’t She Just Leave’? The Relationship Between Consistently Using Class Discussions and the Development of Historical Empathy in a Ninth Grade World History Course.” Theory and Research in Social Education 34(1) (2006): 34-57. http://www.socialstudies.org/cufa/trse

Abstract/Summary:

This study reports the impact of consistently using a Socratic Seminar to interpret historical documents written by women on 9th grade students' historical empathy. Over the course of one semester in a year-long world history course, the class examined three documents written by women living in the complex time period being studied and discussed the women's situations. By the third seminar, the students improved with regard to appreciating the historical context as both unique and connected to the present, distinguishing between various perspectives of historical figures on an event, explaining their analysis and its implications for the author, and defending their analysis with historical evidence. This study reveals that consistent practice with group discussion and interpretation of primary documents increased the students' motivation and ability to empathize with the authors of historical texts.

Source/Credit:

ERIC

Kolikant, Ben-David and Sarah Pollack. “The Asymmetrical Influence of Identity: a Triadic Interaction Among Israeli Jews, Israeli Arabs, and Historical Texts.” (2009)

Fri, 29 Jul 2011 14:00:52 +0000

Citation:

Kolikant, Ben-David and Sarah Pollack. “The Asymmetrical Influence of Identity: a Triadic Interaction Among Israeli Jews, Israeli Arabs, and Historical Texts.” Journal of Curriculum Studies 41(5) (2009): 651-77.

Abstract/Summary:

This study engaged Israeli-Jewish and Israeli-Arab students in a joint investigation of their common past by means of secondary historical sources. The hypothesis was that a triadic interaction among agents of groups with opposing views and historical texts can foster historical thinking. It was expected that while ethnic identity would drive both sides, the mutual criticism in a setting that encourages analytic discussion would bring about learning. Following an analysis of essays written before and during the inter-ethnic collaboration as well as transcripts of students' meetings, it was found that students' work was influenced by majority-minority power relations. In a joint writing effort, the Jews dominated actions that did not directly concern the conflict, and the Arabs dominated those that did. Nonetheless, the students' epistemology evolved to recognize the interpretive nature of history and the bias inherent in humans, as reflected in the analysis of the essays.

Source/Credit:

Informaworld

Kölbl, Carlos, and Jürgen Straub. “Historical Consciousness in Youth: Theoretical and Exemplary Empirical Analysis.” (2001)

ulrike — Wed, 05 Aug 2009 21:29:04 +0000

Citation:

Kölbl, Carlos, and Jürgen Straub. “Historical Consciousness in Youth: Theoretical and Exemplary Empirical Analysis.” Forum: Qualitative Social Research 2(3) (2001). http://www.qualitative-research.net/index.php/fqs/index

Abstract/Summary:

The thesis that historical consciousness is an anthropological competence and category is called into question. A concept of modern historical consciousness is outlined which from then on serves as a working concept. This kind of historical consciousness, it is argued, is not a universal anthropological fact, but a result of the development of occidental cultures and societies. Long since a great number of groups and individuals have been deeply affected by this development in which the establishment of a scientific world view and methodical thinking played a major role. Their historical consciousness is modern since it refers to a radically temporalized and dynamic world and since it ties partial representations of this world to (implicit) criteria of validity. Moreover it is closely connected with the possibility of self-critical reflections which are grounded in the historically mediated encounter with strangers. After a concise overview of the important questions and the state of the art in different disciplines, selected results of a broader qualitative-empirical study are presented. In the group discussions which were carried out with young people—only results from a discussion with thirteen to fourteen year old grammar-school pupils (Gymnasiasten) are presented here—the analysis revealed clear indicators of a specifically modern historical consciousness. Looked at closely this consciousness is committed in a surprisingly high degree to scientific-methodical standards of rationality. One may welcome this as a successful implementation of a life form oriented towards rationality into young people's everyday life or deplore it as a symptom of the distortion of pragmatic orientations for activity and living by scientific standards: first of all it is a fact that the commitment to tie the reconstruction of past realities, historical events and contexts to an operation of knowledge which is intersubjectively transparent and rationally justified and to reflect this is strongly developed in the young persons we analysed. Their thinking proves to be specifically "modern" also in other respects. In addition to the description of the historical knowledge in content and the historical interests of the young people, this finding is described in detail. Finally it is discussed to which degree the central finding can be applied against the widespread lamentation of an alleged poor historical consciousness of pupils.

Source/Credit:

Forum: Qualitative Social Research

Lauthier, N. « La compréhension en histoire : un modèle spécifique ». (1994)

ulrike — Wed, 05 Jun 2013 23:49:14 +0000

Citation:

Lauthier, N. « La compréhension en histoire : un modèle spécifique ». Revue française de pédagogie 106 (1994): 67-77.

Abstract/Summary:

À partir d’une enquête effectuée auprès d’élèves de Quatrième, Troisième, Seconde et Première, on propose un modèle intermédiaire d’appropriation de l’histoire. En utilisant les classificateurs expérimentés en sémantique cognitive, on peut ramener à deux grandes catégories cognitives, l’identification du texte de l’histoire : l’une de type événement-changement s’inscrit dans un schéma narratif, l’autre de type entité stable dans un intervalle temporel met en œuvre des processus de catégorisation. Les événements, concepts et entités de l’historien ne correspondent pas touhours aux modes de perception des élèves. Ces derniers procèdent par catégorisation naturelle en multipliant les analogies entre des périodes historiques différentes, en ancrant les informations nouvelles dans une pensée sociale.

How do secondary school students get in contact with historical texts? Examples drawn from an investigation are used to present identification processes as a change-event or as lasting entities in a time interval, analogical categorization processes and social thinking rooting. (http://www.persee.fr/web/revues/home/prescript/article/rfp_0556-7807_199...)

Source/Credit:

Persée

Laville, Christian. “Historical Consciousness and Historical Education: What to Expect from the First for the Second.” (2004)

ulrike — Tue, 24 Sep 2013 23:30:42 +0000

Citation:

Laville, Christian. “Historical Consciousness and Historical Education: What to Expect from the First for the Second.” In Theorizing Historical Consciousness, edited by Peter Seixas, 165-82. Toronto: University of Toronto Press, 2004.

Abstract/Summary:

It has only been within recent years that the concept of historical consciousness has been discussed, beginning in the 1970s in Germany. The author notes the broad interest of historical consciousness in history education today, what it means, why it is being discussed now and where it will take the discipline of history. He begins with a discussion of the current state of history teaching and education. It is the general consensus that the purpose of history education today is the formation of informed citizens rather than the creation of a nation state and an established sense of order, inclusion and respect as it has been viewed in the past. Laville then discusses the historical consciousness trend, including the origins, character and the possible uses of the concept for history teaching. In doing so, he also defines the concepts of memory, identity, crisis and globalization and how they relate to the “hard to define” concept of historical consciousness. Laville also discusses how historians have dealt with changes in the field of history, including postmodernism and how it has not only changed their views of the discipline but also those of history teachers, and the development of the notion of “thinking historically.” He concludes with a discussion of whether historical consciousness is solely a European concept and whether historical consciousness can contribute to history education.

Source/Credit:

Erika Smith

ulrike — Thu, 03 Dec 2009 22:06:46 +0000

Citation:

Lee, Peter, Alaric Dickinson, and Rosalyn Ashby. “Progression in Children’s Ideas About History: Project CHATA (Concepts of History and Teaching Approaches: 7 to 14).” Paper presented at the Annual Meeting of the British Educational Research Association, Liverpool, England, September 11, 1993.

Abstract/Summary:

This paper is a report on the progress of the “Concepts of History and Teacher Approaches 7 to 14” (CHATA) Project at stage one. While the project is divided into three stages, this paper focuses on the first stage and thus on the study of the progression of children’s ideas of historical inquiry and historical explanation. Data collection at this stage involved interviews and pencil-and-paper tests collected from over three hundred participants between the ages of seven and fourteen.

Generally, the researchers found that children who have a clear conceptualization of evidence can understand and use source material more efficiently and successfully than those children whose notions of evidence are limited to its definition as information. Specifically, there are six possible levels identified by the researchers that coincide with students’ understanding of evidence. In the first, “pictures of the past,” children view evidence as able to provide a direct link to the past and, consequently, the past and the present are not differentiated. In level two, “information,” students understand evidence as potential information and see the past as fixed and complete. In the third level, “testimony,” children understand that the discipline of history has a specific methodology with which to test the validity and reliability of testimony provided by people. In level four, “scissors and paste,” the past can be “put together” by joining the truth from “different reports.” In the fifth level, “evidence in isolation,” many things can stand as evidence and children recognize that history can be narrated even if no first-hand testimony survives. Finally in level six, “evidence in context,” evidence is critically examined to determine its contextual understanding and meaning depending on when and by whom it was produced.

Source/Credit:

Ana Laura Pauchulo

Lee, Peter, Alaric Dickinson, and Rosalyn Ashby. “Researching Children’s Ideas About History.” (1998)

ulrike — Wed, 21 Aug 2013 18:45:11 +0000

Citation:

Lee, Peter, Alaric Dickinson, and Rosalyn Ashby. “Researching Children’s Ideas About History.” In International Review of History Education Volume 2: Learning and Reasoning in History, edited by J. F. Voss & M. Carretero, 227-51. Portland, OR: Woburn Press, 1998.

Abstract/Summary:

This chapter is a dicussion of research in progress and is not a definitive account of children’s ideas about history. The authors set out to discuss some of their aims with the research, some of their assumptions and the results of their research as it stands concerning children’s perceptions and conceptions of history. They wish to explemplify rather than make general claims as they had not yet completed the research at the time of publication. They begin with a context of the research, which centers on children’s understanding and the expectations for children in the compulsory years of schooling in history in the UK. Teachers wished to move away from the rote memorization of facts to a progression in students’ understanding of history. The authors discuss the History 13-16 study completed by Shemilt and the CHATA Project, within which the authors examine some methodological and conceptual issues including investigating children’s ideas of history; the lack of presentisim in history; philosophical historical concepts; inference of historical ideas; varied substantive content of history; stability, levels and progression; and the construction of models of progression. The authors discuss the hypothesis of CHATA, which is that children employ a somewhat stable set of ideas to handle historical tasks. The authors discuss of how they wish to develop an understanding of children’s ideas about causal explanation of history using three divisions: reasons, enabling conditions, and causal antecedents. They discuss their current research findings within each of these areas using examples from their research subjects. They conclude that their chapter does not make final claims as they have not yet analyzed the data completely and they wish to offer precision and not speculation. They hope that the interim report will aid other researchers in history education.

Source/Credit:

Erika Smith

Lee, Peter, Alaric Dickinson, and Rosalyn Ashby. “‘Just Another Emperor’: Understanding Action in the Past.” (1997)

ulrike — Thu, 08 Oct 2009 22:36:46 +0000

Citation:

Lee, Peter, Alaric Dickinson, and Rosalyn Ashby. “‘Just Another Emperor’: Understanding Action in the Past.” International Journal of Educational Research 27(3) (1997): 233-44.

Abstract/Summary:

This paper reports part of an investigation of children’s ideas about explanation and enquiry in history carried out by project CHATA in 3 primary and 6 secondary schools in England. Three sets of tasks were administered on three separate occasions to children aged 7 to 14 years of age (N=320). Responses to one task exploring children’s ideas about the explanation of action in history are discussed. Almost all children (including the 7 year olds) could offer plausible reasons for individual action in history, and there was a progression from emphasis on personal desires to an awareness of the need to explain action by relating purposes to the agent’s situation.

http://www.sciencedirect.com/science/journal/08830355

Source/Credit:

Science Direct

Lee, Peter, and Rosalyn Ashby. “Progression in Historical Understanding among Students Ages 7-14." (2000)

ulrike — Fri, 16 Oct 2009 21:25:36 +0000

Citation:

Lee, Peter, and Rosalyn Ashby. “Progression in Historical Understanding among Students Ages 7-14." In Knowing, Teaching, and Learning History: National and International Perspectives, edited by Peter N. Stearns, Peter Seixas, and Sam Wineburg, 199-222. New York: New York University Press, 2000.

Abstract/Summary:

The central objective of the project, “Concepts of History and Teaching Approaches 7-14” (Chata), was to examine how students’ ideas about history change over time. The study focused on second-order procedural understandings such as evidence and cause.

Three hundred and twenty students between the ages of seven and fourteen were asked to respond to task-sets on three different occasions addressing historical content from the English National Curriculum used in British schools. Follow-up interviews were conducted with one hundred and twenty students.

The authors found that students progress through six stages. First, students understand “the past as given” meaning that they understand all historical narratives as the same. Second, students believe that “the past is inaccessible” and that because they were not present in it they cannot know history. Third, students perceive “the past as determining stories” and that the historical information available determines the way in which the past will be narrated. Fourth, students believe that the way in which the past is reported is biased because of the authors’ subjective view of the past rather than because of a lack of information. Fifth, the past is understood as “selected and organized from a viewpoint”, meaning that because students believe that historians are biased differences in historical accounts are understood to be a result of selection. Lastly, “the past is (re-)constructed in answer to questions in accordance with criteria” and thus historical accounts will inevitably be different depending on who constructs them and to which questions they are responding.

Source/Credit:

Ana Laura Pauchulo

Lee, Peter, and Rosalyn Ashby. “Progression in Historical Understanding among Students Ages 7-14.” (1993)

ulrike — Thu, 17 Dec 2009 00:57:39 +0000

Citation:

Lee, Peter, and Rosalyn Ashby. “Progression in Historical Understanding among Students Ages 7-14.” Paper presented at the Annual Meeting of the British Educational Research Association, Liverpool, England, September 11, 1993.

Abstract/Summary:

This paper is a report on the progress of the “Concepts of History and Teacher Approaches 7 to 14” (CHATA) Project at stage one. While the project was divided into three stages, this paper focuses on the first stage and thus on the study of the progression of children’s ideas of historical inquiry and historical explanation. Data collection at this stage involved interviews and pencil-and-paper tests collected from over three hundred participants between the ages of seven and fourteen.

Source/Credit:

Ana Laura Pauchulo

Lee, Peter, Rosalyn Ashby, and Alaric Dickinson. “Signs of the Times: The State of History Education in the UK. Review of Issues in History Teaching, edited by J. Arthur and R. Phillips.” (2001)

ulrike — Fri, 12 Jul 2013 18:53:30 +0000

Citation:

Lee, Peter, Rosalyn Ashby, and Alaric Dickinson. “Signs of the Times: The State of History Education in the UK. Review of Issues in History Teaching, edited by J. Arthur and R. Phillips.” In International Review of History Education, Volume 3: Raising Standards in History Education, edited by Alaric Dickinson, Peter Gordon, and Peter J. Lee, 190-215. London: Woburn Press, 2001.

Abstract/Summary:

Issues in History Teaching is a book that discusses all relevant issues relating to history education. While the book does not achieve this goal, it does offer a view into history education in England and Wales. The authors’ attempt to review the book is not chapter-by-chapter but rather they consider the text as an indication of the state of history education in England and Wales. They discuss the introduction to the book and also some peculiarities in history education in the UK that they have drawn from the text. There were two main issues. The first is that it is different than other teaching of history in the world as it focuses on the need for children to understand history, not learn a particular story. The second issue is that the articles in the book focus more on theory than practice. The authors continue with a discussion of the research, stating that often research is not cited, and methodologies often not explained. The authors continue with a discussion on the conceptual matters and problems, broken into two sections: skills and concepts, which are often spoken about generally; and specific concepts which include significance, interpretations and knowledge. Another important aspect of the book is a concern with progression as it is how history education is thought of which is disputed in England and Wales. The authors continue with a discussion of the development of history in the curriculum. There are three chapters in the book that focus on the insight of the inspectors of the Queen on history education. It provides great examples of what good practice looks like in secondary history education in England and Wales. The authors conclude the article on how the book addresses practical matters reflectively.

Source/Credit:

Erika Smith

Lee, Peter. “History in an Information Culture.” (2001)

ulrike — Thu, 08 Oct 2009 22:32:46 +0000

Citation:

Lee, Peter. “History in an Information Culture.” International Journal of Historical Learning, Teaching and Research 1(2) (2001).

Abstract/Summary:

This paper discusses research evidence from Project Chata bearing on students’ understandings of the nature and status of different kinds of historical claims. The research suggests that the majority of students from age 7 to 14 years treat all historical claims as if they were matters to be directly tested by finding and compiling information; the appropriate questions are whether the information is available, and whether it is true. Nevertheless, some 12 to 14 year-old students are beginning to make more difficult and far-reaching distinctions between singular factual statements and explanations, and to recognize ¾ at least implicitly ¾ that claims made in rival historical accounts cannot necessarily be evaluated as if they were discrete matters of fact, but must be related to the accounts themselves.

http://centres.exeter.ac.uk/historyresource/journal2/journalstart.htm

Source/Credit:

International Journal of Historical Learning, Teaching and Research

Lee, Peter. “Understanding History.” (2004)

ulrike — Tue, 24 Sep 2013 23:29:46 +0000

Citation:

Lee, Peter. “Understanding History.” In Theorizing Historical Consciousness, edited by Peter Seixas, 129-64. Toronto: University of Toronto Press, 2004.

Abstract/Summary:

History education is often viewed as learning about what happened in the past; however, there are reasons why this view of history education is incorrect. Firstly, learning what happened is not easy to do as there is not only one story of the past; and secondly, research suggests that history is not simply a matter of common sense. Prior to addressing these, the author discusses issues concerning the rejection of history education as straightforward such as the existence of ordinary historical concepts. He then discusses how students use everyday ideas, such as wealth and science, to construct an understanding of substantive history and how everyday ideas differ from the study of history. However, there are some ideas in history which are more powerful than others and lead to students’ understanding of progression in history. Nonetheless, there are certain caveats: developing students’ understanding of history does not imply grand claims and learning to understand a discipline does not replace the need to understand particular historical passages. The author applies the disciplinary matrix of historical studies as discussed by Jörn Rüsen through the concepts of historical consciousness and understanding, to the study of students’ understanding of history. He concludes with a discussion of the research Project Chata, which researched the use of second-order concepts of history by students.

Source/Credit:

Erika Smith

ulrike — Fri, 04 Dec 2009 00:08:46 +0000

Citation:

Leinhardt, Gaea. "Lessons on Teaching and Learning in History from Paul's Pen." In Knowing, Teaching, and Learning History: National and International Perspectives, edited by Peter N. Stearns, Peter Seixas and Sam Wineburg, 223-45. New York: New York University Press, 2000.

Abstract/Summary:

In this article Leinhardt demonstrates an analytic tool that can be used to trace the complexity of learning. Using “node-link diagrams” to look at the development of historical reasoning through one student’s writing from the beginning and end of the school year, Leinhardt highlights the multiple steps that go into constructing a reasoned analytic argumentative essay in history. Arguing for the rigor of disciplinary standards for teaching history, the broader context for Leinhardt’s research is to understand how students process historical reasoning in order to inform the process of history teaching.

Source/Credit:

Samantha Cutrara

Létourneau, J., and S. Moisan. “Young People’s Assimilation of a Collective Historical Memory: A Case Study of Quebeckers of French–Canadian Heritage.” (2004)

ulrike — Thu, 15 Oct 2009 18:37:57 +0000

Citation:

Létourneau, Jocelyn, and Sabrina Moisan. “Young People’s Assimilation of a Collective Historical Memory: A Case Study of Quebeckers of French–Canadian Heritage.” In Theorizing Historical Consciousness, edited by Peter Seixas, 109-28. Toronto: University of Toronto Press, 2004.

Abstract/Summary:

This chapter is based on survey data collected from 403 Quebec high school, university, and CEGEP students between 1998 and 2001. Drawing from this material as well as from an analysis of the Quebec high school history curriculum requirements and how these requirements might influence teaching, the authors conclude that young Quebecers’ narration of Quebec history is “characterized by nostalgia and melancholia.” The dominant construction of Quebec’s history is positioned within three “narrative clusters”: “what unfortunately befell upon a community,” “what that community might have become if only,” and “what that community might yet be if only.”

Létourneau and Moisan maintain that such is the case because, even though history textbooks often contain material that presents Quebec in a positive light, most textbooks construct Quebec history within a “victimization-based narrative.” Further, this narrative is reproduced by teachers because they do not have a solid base from which to teach a counter narrative. As such they suggest that because teachers are given an “all-knowing” status by students, and because dominant social discourse seems to corroborate the victimization-based narrative proposed in history textbooks, teachers need to focus their teaching on helping students deconstruct historical narratives and evaluate and interpret dominant constructions of Quebec’s history.

Source/Credit:

Ana Laura Pauchulo

Létourneau, Jocelyn et Anne Trépanier. « Le lieu (dit) de la nation : essai d'argumentation à partir d'exemples puisés au cas québécois ». (1997)

ulrike — Wed, 05 Jun 2013 23:51:19 +0000

Citation:

Létourneau, Jocelyn et Anne Trépanier. « Le lieu (dit) de la nation : essai d'argumentation à partir d'exemples puisés au cas québécois ». Revue canadienne de science politique 30(1) (1997) : 55-87.

Abstract/Summary:

On cherche dans cet article à sortir du débat antinomique opposant les partisans de la thèse substantialiste et les adeptes des théories constructivistes relativement à l'analyse de la nation comme lieu dit. À partir d'exemples puisés au cas québécois, moyen d'illustrer une argumentation beaucoup plus que de fonder empiriquement une interprétation, on tente de réconcilier les perspectives complémentaires d'une sémantique de l'action avec celles d'une pragmatique de l'action dans le cadre d'une théorie en devenir de la narraction.

In this article we seek to find a way out of the antinomic debate pitting the advocates of the substantialist thesis against those who defend constructivist theories regarding the nation as a “place so named” (lieu dit). Using examples from the case of Quebec—with a view to illustrating a line of argument much more than establishing an empirical interpretation—we attempt to reconcile perspectives from a semantic of action with those from a pragmatic of action within the framework of a theory-in-progress of narraction. (http://journals.cambridge.org/action/displayAbstract;jsessionid=E01FBD08...)

Source/Credit:

Cambridge Journals

Létourneau, Jocelyn, Stéphane Lévesque, and Raphaël Gani. “A Giant with Clay Feet: Québec Students and Their Historical Consciousness of the Nation.” (2013)

ulrike — Wed, 21 Aug 2013 18:23:13 +0000

Citation:

Létourneau, Jocelyn, Stéphane Lévesque, and Raphaël Gani. “A Giant with Clay Feet: Québec Students and Their Historical Consciousness of the Nation.” International Journal of Historical Learning, Teaching and Research 11(2) (2013): 156‐72.

Abstract/Summary:

The aim of this paper is to explore French Canadian (Québec) students’ historical consciousness of the nation through the lens of Social Identity Theory (SIT). Relying on a sample of 142 historical narratives written by francophone Québécois students, the paper revisits findings from a previous study on the historical consciousness of young Québécois. Informed by SIT principles, our narrative analysis shows how most Franco- Québécois categorize the past in homogenous categories (e.g., the imperialist Anglophone, the surviving Francophone) and frame their stories into particular modes of present-day orientations. Implications of this study for history education are also discussed.

Source/Credit:

Academia.edu

Létourneau, Jocelyn. "Remembering Our Past: An Examination of the Historical Memory of Young Québécois." (2006)

ulrike — Thu, 10 Dec 2009 23:55:34 +0000

Citation:

Létourneau, Jocelyn. "Remembering Our Past: An Examination of the Historical Memory of Young Québécois." In To the Past: History Education, Public Memory, and Citizenship in Canada, edited by Ruth W. Sandwell, 70-87. Toronto: University of Toronto Press, 2006.

Abstract/Summary:

Based on his research with young adults in Quebec, Jocelyn Létourneau shows that a common set of cultural references, “mythistories,” structure young people’s historical consciousness. Although he affirms that these mythistories are passed on and solidified by teachers, partially through their limited and outdated training and the ease with which mythistories become the best general representation for understanding the nation, students come into history class with mythistories already formed. To get away from constantly solidifying mythistories in education and public memory, Létourneau suggests that acknowledging students’ frameworks of historical understanding and replacing them with a new cultural metaphor, canadianité, are the first steps for deconstructing collective memory and providing space to nurture new memories.

Source/Credit:

Samantha Cutrara

Létourneau, Jocelyn. “The Debate on History Education in Quebec.” (2011)

ulrike — Tue, 15 Jan 2013 18:52:12 +0000

Citation:

Létourneau, Jocelyn. “The Debate on History Education in Quebec.” In New Possibilities for the Past: Shaping History Education in Canada, edited by Penney Clark, 81-96. Vancouver: UBC Press, 2011.

Abstract/Summary:

In this chapter Létourneau focuses on the change in the high school history education curriculum in 2007 by the Quebec Ministry of Education. The new reforms no longer focus solely on a Québec national history but are geared more towards history and citizenship education. As with most debates, there are those who support the new reforms and those who oppose them. The opposition feels as though the new curriculum will dismantle the collective identity of Québec’s youth. The purpose of the chapter is not to detail the abovementioned debate; rather, it focuses on the debate’s evolution and its bearing on history teaching in Québec. Létourneau begins with a discussion of the background of the proposed changes and how they are currently affecting Québec history education. He then turns to the crux of the debate and details the specifics of the new history curriculum, how it is similar and different from the old curriculum and what is being disputed. According to Létourneau, the new curriculum is being disputed in three different ways: as a transmission crisis, as taking education off course, and as a distortion of history. The chapter concludes with a look at the controversy at present, where the author sees the debate and its effects on history education in Québec in the future.

Source/Credit:

Erika Smith

Létourneau, Jocelyn. « La production historienne courante portant sur le Québec et ses rapports avec la construction des figures identitaires d'une communauté communicationnelle ». (1995)

ulrike — Wed, 05 Jun 2013 23:52:23 +0000

Citation:

Létourneau, Jocelyn. « La production historienne courante portant sur le Québec et ses rapports avec la construction des figures identitaires d'une communauté communicationnelle ». Recherches sociographiques 36(4) (1995) : 9-45.

Abstract/Summary:

La production historienne courante portant sur le Québec est l'une des facettes et des expressions centrales de l'entreprise de redéfinition identitaire du sujet québécois. Dans cet article, on cherche à cerner les paramètres généraux du grand récit collectif actuellement raconté aux Québécois cherchant à en savoir un peu plus sur eux-mêmes, sur leurs origines et sur leur cheminement historique. Cette démarche nous permet de pénétrer au cœur du processus de reconstruction du Nous-Autres les Québécois et d'en mesurer les effets pour ce qui est de la réinterprétation des grands épisodes de l'histoire québécoise et du remodelage du parcours historique de cette communauté communicationnelle.

Current historical production dealing with Québec is one of the central aspects and expressions of the enterprise of redefining the identity of the Québécois subject. In this article, we seek to identify the general parameters of the broad collective picture currently presently to Québecers who wish to know a little more about themselves, their origins and their historical background. This process will enable us to delve right to the heart of the process of redefining Us Québécois and to assess its impact on the reinterpretation of the major episodes of Québec history and the remodeling of the historical path followed by this communicational community. (http://www.erudit.org/revue/rs/1995/v36/n1/056914ar.html)

Source/Credit:

Érudit

Létourneau, Jocelyn. « La saga du Québec moderne en images ». (1991)

ulrike — Wed, 05 Jun 2013 23:53:17 +0000

Citation:

Létourneau, Jocelyn. « La saga du Québec moderne en images ». Genèses 1(4) (1991): 44-71.

Abstract/Summary:

Cet article s’intéresse au processus de construction d’une communauté identitaire par refiguration du passé collectif. L’hypothèse générale à la base de notre démarche consiste à dire qu’il existe un rapport étroit entre la transformation identitaire des Québécois (nous parlons de celle survenue au cours des années 1960) et la refiguration de leur histoire collective à travers l’élaboration d’un récit précis sure leur passé. Ce rapport étroit fut, en fait, de nature dialectique : la nouvelle identité québécoise s’est enraciné dand le récit historique et la configuration du récit historique a trouvé ses fondements dans la transformation identitaire. Au fond, il y a eu une espèce de fusion, voire de confusion, entre l’identité à construire et le récit à structurer. Si bien que le récit historique est devenu récit identitaire. (http://www.persee.fr/web/revues/home/prescript/article/genes_1155-3219_1...)

Source/Credit:

L’auteur

Lévesque, Stéphane. "The Impact of Digital Technologies and the Need for Technological Pedagogical Content Knowledge: Lessons from the Virtual Historian." (2008)

ulrike — Wed, 02 Jun 2010 18:27:16 +0000

Citation:

Lévesque, Stéphane. "The Impact of Digital Technologies and the Need for Technological Pedagogical Content Knowledge: Lessons from the Virtual Historian." In The Emperor's New Computer: ICT, Teachers and Teaching, edited by Tony Di Petta, 17-28. Rotterdam: Sense Publishers, 2008.

Abstract/Summary:

Stéphane Lévesque stresses that history teachers need to develop their “technological pedagogical content knowledge” to make technology an integral aspect of students’ learning. He claims that technology can push students out of their role as passive consumers of historical information to active investigators of past events. While he acknowledges that students can become overwhelmed by the amount of information available on-line, he stresses that websites like Great Unsolved Mysteries in Canadian History, Cyber-Terrorism Crisis, and The Virtual Historian that present a series of “missions” or mysteries for students to solve, remedy that overload by giving students a specific goal when surfing the web. Drawing on his research with The Virtual Historian, Lévesque found that students write more organized and sophisticated essays, have greater subject knowledge, better historical thinking skills, and a greater awareness of their own learning than students who do not use the website to complement their learning. However, students who used the website had difficulties thinking of historical accounts as constructed and thus still viewed themselves as consumers rather than producers of historical narratives. From these findings, Lévesque concludes that teachers cannot simply replace instruction with these technological learning tools, but rather use them as part of a larger program for understanding the discipline of history.

Source/Credit:

Cutrara

Lévesque, Stéphane. “Becoming Citizens: High School Students and Citizenship in BC and Québec.” (2003)

ulrike — Wed, 05 Aug 2009 21:34:00 +0000

Citation:

Lévesque, Stéphane. “Becoming Citizens: High School Students and Citizenship in BC and Québec.” Encounters on Education/ Encuentros sobre education/ Rencontres sur l'éducation 4 (2003): 107-26

Abstract/Summary:

This article explores how British Columbia and Québec high school students construct and understand their citizenship in light of their history/social studies experience. Two multi-ethnic high schools, one in Montréal and one in Vancouver, provided a window into Québec history (grade 10) and B.C. social studies (grade 11). Key citizenship concepts (rights, participation, cultural pluralism, and identity) developed in political theory guided this study. Using a multiple case study design, this qualitative study employed multiple data collection: document analysis, school and classroom observations, and semi-structured interviews with key participants. The findings suggest that, despite different programs and teaching approaches, students in both sites accord an importance to citizenship. Yet, contrasts emerge between francophone Québécois and anglophone British Columbians, particularly in terms of identity.

Source/Credit:

Encounters on Education/ Encuentros sobre education/ Rencontres sur l'éducation

Lévesque, Stéphane. “Essay Review: In Search of a Purpose for School History.” (2005)

ulrike — Wed, 05 Aug 2009 21:38:22 +0000

Citation:

Lévesque, Stéphane. “Essay Review: In Search of a Purpose for School History.” Journal of Curriculum Studies 37(3) (2005): 349-58. http://www.tandf.co.uk/journals/tf/00220272.html

Abstract/Summary:

History is an often unsettling and sometimes uncomfortable subject. It is controversial and often very sensitive. There is some consensus about its importance in the school curriculum but much less agreement about what it is for.

Source/Credit:

Journal of Curriculum Studies

Lévesque, Stéphane. “Integrating Museum Education and School History: Illustrations from the RCR Museum and the London Museum of Archeology.” (2006)

ulrike — Wed, 05 Aug 2009 21:39:59 +0000

Citation:

Lévesque, Stéphane. “Integrating Museum Education and School History: Illustrations from the RCR Museum and the London Museum of Archeology.” International Journal of Historical Learning, Teaching and Research 6 (2006). http://www.centres.ex.ac.uk/historyresource/journal11/Levesque.pdf

Abstract/Summary:

The pertinence of museums and how they educate students are central to any discussion of their educational role, function and effectiveness. The University of Western Ontario has been exploring how best to integrate museum education into the training and professional development of student history teachers in the context of the ‘Ontario, Canadian and World Studies’ curriculum. Students have experienced two widely contrasting museums in the City of London [Ontario], the Jury Museum and the Royal Canadian Regimental museum. The two museums reflect diametrically contrasting cultural, social and community orientations and interests. The Jury Museum is based upon the Jury family’s private collection of anthropological and archaeological artifacts that encapsulates an interest in local heritage that extends from prehistoric times. In contrast, the Royal Canadian Regimental museum reflects the institutional and collective identity of an organization with a clear identity, role and purpose embodied in an historical continuum. The paper explores the relative educational role and value that these two museums can play in terms of the wider educational agenda: both substantively in terms of knowledge transfer and syntactically vis a vis educational

experience and learning.

Source/Credit:

International Journal of Historical Learning, Teaching and Research

Lévesque, Stéphane. “Rethinking the ‘Bush Doctrine’: Historical Thinking and Post-September 11 Terrorism.” (2007)

ulrike — Wed, 05 Aug 2009 21:41:45 +0000

Citation:

Lévesque, Stéphane. “Rethinking the ‘Bush Doctrine’: Historical Thinking and Post-September 11 Terrorism.” International Journal of Historical Learning, Teaching, and Research 7(1) (2007). http://www.centres.ex.ac.uk/historyresource/journal13/Levesque,%2008.pdf

Abstract/Summary:

In this paper, I discuss the implications—and necessity—of teaching historical thinking in this “age of terror.” I show that despite an increasing volume of books, resources, and lesson plans on post-September terrorism, there is a dearth of relevant history education publications in North America on how to integrate terrorism in school history in ways that foster students’ historical understanding and sense of agency. To do so, I first problematize education, narrative, and terrorist issues through a disciplinary perspective, and then offer a way to engage students in the critical examination of political narrative constructions in the context of the current “war on terrorism.”

Source/Credit:

International Journal of Historical Learning, Teaching, and Research

Lévesque, Stéphane. “Teaching Second-Order Concepts in Canadian History: The Importance of ‘Historical Significance.’” (2005)

ulrike — Wed, 05 Aug 2009 21:35:54 +0000

Citation:

Lévesque, Stéphane. “Teaching Second-Order Concepts in Canadian History: The Importance of ‘Historical Significance.’” Canadian Social Studies 39(2) (2005). http://www.quasar.ualberta.ca/css/Css_39_2/index39_2.htm

Abstract/Summary:

This article addresses the second-order concept of "historical significance" and attempts to answer the question of what criteria are used to make decisions about it in history and school history. Specifically, it explores the way Francophone and Anglophone students ascribe significance to selected historical events in Canada and discusses the implications of this study for history students and educators. The necessity of (re)considering how officials make decisions about historical significance in the school system is also examined.

Source/Credit:

Canadian Social Studies

Lévesque, Stéphane. “What it Means to Think Historically.” (2011)

ulrike — Tue, 15 Jan 2013 18:54:08 +0000

Citation:

Lévesque, Stéphane. “What it Means to Think Historically.” In New Possibilities for the Past: Shaping History Education in Canada, edited by Penney Clark, 115-38. Vancouver: UBC Press, 2011.

Abstract/Summary:

In this chapter, Lévesque discusses the notion of historical thinking and how it can be used in teaching history in schools and not simply used by historians. Presently students are taught what history is about (substantive knowledge) but are not taught to think sophisticatedly in terms of concepts and methods (procedural knowledge) in addition to the content. According to Lévesque, students must be able to use both sets of knowledge as both content and skills are required to employ historical thinking. Lévesque discusses how progression in historical thinking can be ascertained by the use of the inquiry model through which residues of the past are turned into historical narratives. To determine what is historically significant, historians use different signifiers such as importance, profundity, quantity, durability, relevance, intimate interests, symbolic significance and contemporary lessons. In order for the past to be meaningful and significant, it needs to be organized in a coherent manner. Lévesque continues the chapter with a discussion of how continuity and change affect historians and historical thinking. He also discusses the notion of progress and decline and the different historical stances of the oppositional (cannot have progress without decline) and the successional (progress and decline cannot happen simultaneously). Lévesque concludes the chapter with a discussion of how historians use evidence to make sense of the past and how they employ empathy to make sense of their predecessors. Lévesque concludes that exposing students to historical knowledge will enhance their understanding of the past and the present.

Source/Credit:

Erika Smith

Lévesque, Stéphane. “Why can’t you just tell us? Learning Canadian History with the Virtual Historian.” (2014)

ulrike — Wed, 05 Feb 2014 19:43:02 +0000

Citation:

Lévesque, Stéphane. “Why can’t you just tell us? Learning Canadian History with the Virtual Historian.” In Pastplay: Teaching and Learning History with Technology, edited by Kevin Kee, 43-65. Ann Arbor: University of Michigan Press, 2014.

Abstract/Summary:

Technology is an important part of society and digital history applications aid history educators enter a world where it is no longer acceptable to expect students to learn from outdated modes of technology. Students are exposed to a media-saturated world on a daily basis and therefore the question to ask oneself is not ‘Should technology be used in classrooms?’ but rather ‘How can technology be best utilized to enhance learning?’ In this chapter the author aims to address some of those fundamental questions concerning technology in education from the perspective of the discipline of history. It is through the use of history as a domain of knowledge that the author reviews the discussion and relationship between inquiry-based learning and digital technology in education. The chapter uses the example of a study of a digital history program, about Canada’s participation in World War II through the Dieppe raid of 1942, to dissect the implications and rewards of using technology in the history classroom. The author distinguishes between ‘digital technology’ such as computer or network-based applications, and ‘virtual history’ which explains the study and use of the past through digital technology. He explains in more depth the difference between doing history with technology and the use of the virtual historian and students’ learning. The chapter continues with a discussion of the methodology and findings of the study of Canadians’ participation in the Dieppe raid. The author concludes the chapter with a discussion of the study and its effects on student learning and history education through students’ reactions and comments in three different areas: the use of sources as fact sheets, visuals used as illustrations, and the use of digital natives and ‘foreign’ history.

Source/Credit:

Erika Smith

ulrike — Wed, 05 Jun 2013 21:14:25 +0000

Citation:

Levstik, L. “Crossing the Empty Spaces: Perspective Taking In New Zealand Adolescents’ Understanding of National History.” In Historical Empathy and Perspective Taking in the Social Studies, edited by O. L. Davis Jr., E.A. Yeager, and S.J. Foster, 69-96. Lanham, MD: Rowman & Littlefield Publishers Inc., 2001.

Abstract/Summary:

The author begins the chapter with a discussion of historical understanding and how there is more than one way of making sense of the past. She continues with a sociocultural understanding of historical thinking. Learning is a form a mediated action where the cultural tools that are available both restrict and aid practice. Historical thinking concerns using these mediated cultural tools, such as asking historical questions and evaluating evidence, in learning about the past. The author takes an in depth look at one of the historical cultural tools, national historical narratives in multicultural societies, that challenges our understanding of what it means to think historically. The use of perspective taking in national narratives is further explored by the author, who states that understanding why people acted the way they did in the past and not just how they acted is important to historical thinking. The author continues with a discussion of the research she completed into New Zealanders’ perspective taking in the context of national history. She begins by determining the setting and procedures of the research. The first hurdle was coming to terms with the master narrative of New Zealand students. Many of the students felt inferiority as compared to other children around the world from countries such as Britain and the United States. The students felt that New Zealanders of the past were moral even though the students did not know many of the details of New Zealand history, and believed that they always stood up for what was right even if it placed them in danger. When the students were asked to include race and ethnicity in their discussions about the past, it caused confusion and controversy. The author found that many students would rather learn about the history of the world than of New Zealand. Students were willing and more prepared to take into consideration the history of ‘others’ when it came to studying other countries but were less willing when studying New Zealand history.

Source/Credit:

Erika Smith

Levstik, Linda S. "Border Crossings." (2008)

ulrike — Thu, 21 Oct 2010 23:54:09 +0000

Citation:

Levstik, Linda S. "Border Crossings." In Researching History Education: Theory, Method and Context, edited by Linda S. Levstik and Keith C. Barton, 355-65. New York: Routledge, 2008.

Abstract/Summary:

Linda Levstik reflects on her experience with international research with an emphasis on the complexity of cross-cultural and cross-disciplinary work. As part of a collection that aims to make apparent the process and product of history education research, Levstik touches upon how one comes to ask and answer questions related to research when there are differences in social, cultural, or institutional contexts, framing her previously published articles “Crossing Tthe Empty Spaces: Perspective Taking in New Zealand Adolescents’ Understanding of National History” and “Digging for Clues: An Archaeological Exploration of Historical Cognition” co-authored with Gwynn Henderson and Jennifer Schlarb.

Source/Credit:

Samantha Cutrara

Levstik, Linda S. "Narrative as a Primary Act of Mind." (2008)

ulrike — Thu, 21 Oct 2010 23:39:57 +0000

Citation:

Levstik, Linda S. "Narrative as a Primary Act of Mind." In Researching History Education: Theory, Method and Context, edited by Linda S. Levstik and Keith C. Barton, 1-8. New York: Routledge, 2008.

Abstract/Summary:

In this chapter, Linda Levstik reflects on her initial interest in narrative and history learning and discusses the evolution of a research design that suited the context of her research. As part of a collection that aims to make apparent the process and product of history education research, this reflection contextualizes her previously published articles “The Relationship between Historical Response and Narrative in a Sixth-grade Classroom,” and “Building a Sense of History in a First-grade Classroom.” Through this reflection, Levstik points out the subtle differences that informed these articles leading to a more contextualized understanding of her findings.

Source/Credit:

Samantha Cutrara

Levstik, Linda S. "What Makes the Past Worth Knowing." (2008)

ulrike — Thu, 21 Oct 2010 23:47:49 +0000

Citation:

Levstik, Linda S. "What Makes the Past Worth Knowing." In Researching History Education: Theory, Method and Context, edited by Linda S. Levstik and Keith C. Barton, 228-39. New York: Routledge, 2008.

Abstract/Summary:

In this chapter, Linda Levstik reflects on the social and cultural contexts that brought her and Keith Barton to collaboratively engage in questions of historical significance and history learning. As part of a collection that aims to make apparent the process and product of history education research, this article discusses the social and theoretical debates about national history and what Levstik learnt from designing a research project that was intended to challenge the dominant ways of understanding students’ interpretation of history. This discussion informs her and Barton’s previously published article “’It wasn’t a Good Part of History’: National Identity and Ambiguity in Students’ Explanations of Historical Significance.” She also reflects on how her interest in significance took her outside the scope of her previous research to look at how pre- and in-service teachers construct historical significance that led to the article “Articulating the Silences: Teachers and Adolescents’ Conceptions of Historical Significance.”

Source/Credit:

Samantha Cutrara

Levstik, Linda S. “Articulating the Silences: Teachers’ and Adolescents’ Conceptions of Historical Significance.” (2000)

ulrike — Fri, 16 Oct 2009 22:10:11 +0000

Citation:

Levstik, Linda S. “Articulating the Silences: Teachers’ and Adolescents’ Conceptions of Historical Significance.” In Knowing, Teaching, and Learning History: National and International Perspectives, edited by Peter N. Stearns, Peter Seixas, and Sam Wineburg, 284-305. New York: New York University Press, 2000.

Abstract/Summary:

This chapter is grounded in research showing that history education is Eurocentric and teachers have little experience teaching about diverse ethnoracial groups. The author focuses on two studies previously conducted: 1) an investigation of adolescents’ understanding of historical significance, and 2) a study examining teacher and teacher candidates’ understanding of historical significance. Both studies used semi-structured interviews and a task that required participants to respond to a set of questions about a set of captioned historical pictures presented to them.

Generally, Levstik found that students were likely to maintain a historical narrative of American history that constructed the past as a consequence of factors such as prejudices and issues of exclusion and inclusion. In contrast, teachers and teacher candidates rejected these kinds of negative images of American history and identity. In conclusion, Levstik suggests that in order to avoid students replacing “nationalist self-satisfaction with cynicism,” teachers need to provide them with a critical framework for legitimating certain stories.

Source/Credit:

Ana Laura Pauchulo

Levstik, Linda S. “Early Adolescents' Understanding of the Historical Significance of Women's Rights.” (1998)

ulrike — Wed, 05 Aug 2009 21:56:44 +0000

Citation:

Levstik, Linda S. “Early Adolescents' Understanding of the Historical Significance of Women's Rights.” International Journal of Social Education 12(2) (1998): 19-34. http://ijse.iweb.bsu.edu/

Abstract/Summary:

Presents the results from a survey where middle school students discussed women's suffrage that, in turn, demonstrated their views of sexism and power in the United States. Stresses the need for a restructured curriculum that accounts for the historical relationships between men and women in order to dispel these students' stereotyped views.

Source/Credit:

ERIC

Levstik, Linda S. “Historical Narrative and the Young Reader.” (1989)

ulrike — Wed, 05 Aug 2009 21:55:04 +0000

Citation:

Levstik, Linda S. “Historical Narrative and the Young Reader.” Theory into Practice 28(2) (1989): 114-19. http://ehe.osu.edu/tip/

Abstract/Summary:

Discusses data from a year-long case study of a fifth-grade student's development of historical understanding and interaction with historical narratives. Impact of historical fiction on the young reader's understanding of history; Ways by which historical narrative influenced the way the student responded to and made sense of history.

Source/Credit:

EBSCO Host

Levstik, Linda S. “The Relationship between Historical Response and Narrative in a Sixth-grade Classroom.” (1986)

ulrike — Wed, 05 Aug 2009 21:51:05 +0000

Citation:

Levstik, Linda S. “The Relationship between Historical Response and Narrative in a Sixth-grade Classroom.” Theory and Research in Social Education 14(1) (1986): 1-19. http://www.socialstudies.org/cufa/trse

Abstract/Summary:

A naturalistic inquiry study of sixth graders' responses to literature-based history was influenced by their "need to know," their desire to explore broader areas of human experience, the emotional impact of the historical narratives used and by the teacher's ability to encourage a critical analysis of multiple data sources in seeking historical understanding.

Source/Credit:

ERIC

Levstik, Linda S. “The Well at the Bottom of the World: Positionality and New Zealand [Aotearoa] Adolescents’ Conceptions of Historical Significance.” (1999)

ulrike — Thu, 03 Dec 2009 22:08:12 +0000

Citation:

Levstik, Linda S. “The Well at the Bottom of the World: Positionality and New Zealand [Aotearoa] Adolescents’ Conceptions of Historical Significance.” Paper presented at the Annual Meeting of the American Educational Research Association, Montreal, Canada, April 19-23, 1999.

Abstract/Summary:

This study examines early adolescent students’ understanding of New Zealand history. Data collection involved open-ended interviews with forty-nine eleven to thirteen year old students who identified as Maori, Pacific Islander, and/or European New Zealander.

The results indicated that young adolescents understand the purpose of history as twofold: first, history has the ability to link people with various national, racial, and ethnic histories and second, it provides people with a window to the rest of the world. As such, these students understood history as opening people up to the possibility of understanding that there are multiple ways of interpreting the past and thus varying ways in which people participate in a multicultural society in the present. Levstik concludes that students’ perception of their global and national position frames their understanding of how they think about and learn history and how they assign significance to what they learn about New Zealand history.

Source/Credit:

Ana Laura Pauchulo

Levstik, Linda S., A. Gwynn Henderson, and Jennifer S. Schlarb. “Digging Clues: An Archaeological Exploration of Historical Cognition.” (2005)

ulrike — Tue, 19 Nov 2013 22:51:06 +0000

Citation:

Levstik, Linda S., A. Gwynn Henderson, and Jennifer S. Schlarb. “Digging Clues: An Archaeological Exploration of Historical Cognition.” In International Review of History Education, Vol. 4: Understanding History: Recent Research in History Education, edited by R. Ashby, P. Gordon and P. Lee, 34-48. New York: Routledge Falmer, 2005.

Abstract/Summary:

The authors wish to research how completing archeological study affects the ability of K-12 students in the United States to employ historical thinking. They give three reasons why archeological study should be included in curriculum: it analytically analyzes the past, it focuses on collective rather than individual behaviour, and it provides an understanding that behaviour includes both people and objects working together in tandem. Studying archeology also enhances students’ ability to become better citizens. The method used by the authors in the chapter follows 74 grade five students as they learn about the past through museum and historical site visits as well as object analysis. They begin with a description of archeology in order to enhance students’ background knowledge, and also describe the activities students completed with excerpts from student discussions. They conclude the chapter with a justification for why archeology should be made a part of school curricula.

Source/Credit:

Erika Smith

Levstik, Linda S., and Christine C. Pappas. “Exploring the Development of Historical Understanding.” (1987)

ulrike — Wed, 05 Aug 2009 22:02:46 +0000

Citation:

Levstik, Linda S., and Christine C. Pappas. “Exploring the Development of Historical Understanding.” Journal of Research and Development in Education 21(1) (1987): 1-15.

Abstract/Summary:

This article reports on a pilot study on the development of historical understanding of elementary school children. Historical fiction was shared with second, fourth, and sixth grade children who retold the story and answered questions. Results are evaluated and suggestions for history instruction at the elementary level are discussed.

Source/Credit:

ERIC

Levstik, Linda S., and D. Smith. “‘I’ve Never Done This Before’: Building a Community of Inquiry in a Third-grade Classroom.” (1996)

ulrike — Fri, 16 Oct 2009 23:03:48 +0000

Citation:

Levstik, Linda S., and D. Smith. “‘I’ve Never Done This Before’: Building a Community of Inquiry in a Third-grade Classroom.” In Teaching and Learning History. Advances in Research on Teaching 6, edited by J. Brophy, 85-114. Greenwich, Connecticut: JAI Press, 1996.

Abstract/Summary:

This study was conducted in a third grade American classroom to evaluate students’ learning of research skills for historical inquiry. Throughout the year the researchers presented the students with written tasks requiring them to develop different research skills such as hypothesizing, data gathering, analysis, and report writing. The researchers used students’ written work, field notes from observations of teaching, the teacher’s journal, and interviews with the teacher as data. The data were analyzed to examine the type of teacher scaffolding that supported student learning and the success of this teaching on students’ ability to develop historical questions worth investigating.

Levstik and Smith found that students brought knowledge about how to do research such as the concept of “looking it up” and “finding the facts” that they learn outside of the classroom to bring to historical inquiry in the classroom. This in fact made learning the “language and methods of historical inquiry” more difficult for students as they often reverted back to old practices. Further, students had to learn that historical inquiry is not just about verifying and collecting facts but rather about providing explanations. The authors also concluded that visual sources were important to the success of students’ learning. Lastly, the authors recommend that teachers use a diversity of scaffolding methods to help students avoid falling back on old practices.

Source/Credit:

Ana Laura Pauchulo

Levstik, Linda S., and Jeanette Groth. “Ruled By Our Own People: Ghanaian Adolescents’ Conceptions of Citizenship.” (2005)

ulrike — Wed, 05 Aug 2009 22:01:21 +0000

Citation:

Levstik, Linda S., and Jeanette Groth. “Ruled By Our Own People: Ghanaian Adolescents’ Conceptions of Citizenship.” Teachers College Record 107(4) (2005): 563-86.

Abstract/Summary:

This study investigates the ways in which 150 Ghanaian junior secondary students negotiate the tensions between ethnic and national history in building conceptions of democratic citizenship. While unofficial histories operate in Ghana, and some of these may be oppositional, the students in this study do not describe their own or others' ethnic histories as in opposition to official histories. In contrast to official histories in other national settings, ethnic history in Ghana appears as an important building block in the national narrative. Students describe a national story of subjugation, struggle, and sacrifice that not only establishes the need for unity (and the consequences of disunity) and the value of diversity (and the consequences of interethnic conflict) but inclines students to honor multiple identities, search for unifying elements that might be carried into the present and future, and perceive their conationals as capable of bravery, persistence, and self-rule. At the same time, historical study did not appear to incline students toward the kind of critical historical analysis envisioned by Ghanaian curriculum planners.

Source/Credit:

ERIC

Levstik, Linda S., and Jeanette Groth. “‘Scary Thing, Being an Eighth Grader’: Exploring Gender and Sexuality in a Middle School U.S. History Unit.” (2002)

ulrike — Wed, 05 Aug 2009 21:59:47 +0000

Citation:

Levstik, Linda S., and Jeanette Groth. “‘Scary Thing, Being an Eighth Grader’: Exploring Gender and Sexuality in a Middle School U.S. History Unit.” Theory and Research in Social Education 30(2) (2002): 233-54. http://www.socialstudies.org/cufa/trse

Abstract/Summary:

The study reported here provides an example of the complex interface among historical study, current issues, and adolescents' complex social worlds. The authors investigated the ways in which a group of eighth grade students conceptualize the significance of gender in the context of a study of antebellum U.S. history. Fifty students participated in a set of inquiries into women's involvement in nineteenth-century U.S. reform movements, industrialization, and culture contact and conflict on the shifting frontier. Classroom interactions, museum-like displays, presentations, and interviews contrast students' public constructions and private responses to issues of gender and sexuality in the context of historical study. Among other findings, students identified women's experiences as historically significant, recognized, analyzed, and expressed interest in the variety of perspectives represented by women they studied, and worried about "reverse sexism"--studying women at the expense of men. In addition, students' historical inquiries generated discussion about current issues of gender and sexuality, both inside and outside the classroom. In discussing the contrasts between the classroom culture and the encircling "homophobic hallways," the authors suggest the importance of establishing environments where 1) gender is not an "add-on" or "extra" but fundamental point of analysis, and 2) adolescents build a vocabulary for discussing human rights issues and engage in critiquing current practices in regard to gender and sexuality.

Source/Credit:

ERIC

Levstik, Linda S., and Keith C. Barton. “‘They Still Use Some of their Past’: Historical Salience in Elementary Children's Chronological Thinking.” (1996)

ulrike — Wed, 05 Aug 2009 21:58:24 +0000

Citation:

Levstik, Linda S., and Keith C. Barton. “‘They Still Use Some of their Past’: Historical Salience in Elementary Children's Chronological Thinking.” Journal of Curriculum Studies 28(5) (1996): 531-76. http://www.tandf.co.uk/journals/tf/00220272.html

Abstract/Summary:

Reports on the results of an experiment testing 58 elementary school students tasked with chronologically ordering a set of nine historical pictures and thinking aloud about their efforts. Provides increased evidence regarding the kind and sources of children's historical knowledge and how they deploy that knowledge.

Source/Credit:

ERIC

Levy, Richard, and Peter Dawson. “Interactive Worlds as Educational Tools for Understanding Arctic Life.” (2014)

ulrike — Wed, 05 Feb 2014 19:43:55 +0000

Citation:

Levy, Richard, and Peter Dawson. “Interactive Worlds as Educational Tools for Understanding Arctic Life.” In Pastplay: Teaching and Learning History with Technology, edited by Kevin Kee, 66- 86. Ann Arbor: University of Michigan Press, 2014.

Abstract/Summary:

Many of the unique traditional dwellings constructed by indigenous groups in the Arctic can be brought to light through the use of 3D interactive technology and computer modeling. The use of technology is becoming more widely accepted as a medium of expression and knowledge. Therefore, the authors purport that digital reconstructions of architectural structures transform the flat representation of the past to enhance the behaviour and performance of the unique structures. Through technology, researchers are able to better understand and observe how these structures withstand the extreme Arctic environment. These virtual laboratories can offer students and teachers case studies that enhance and entice students to learn about different cultures and history and offers indigenous users the opportunity to evoke effectual and emotive knowledge. The authors use the study of primary school students’, college students’ and Inuit leaders’ responses to the digital reconstructions of pre-contact Inuit dwellings in a 3D virtual theatre at the University of Calgary. Through this study, the authors concluded that these virtual environments can also be useful in assisting in personal identity growth and recovery as well as in enhancing discourse. The chapter brings readers through how 3D interactive technology can be used for different displays and interaction through appropriate venues. The authors also discuss the reasoning behind creating virtual objects through laser scanning. They enhance their argument through the use of a case study of the Thule Whalebone House, a discussion of the value of virtual laboratories and the description of how they used the modeling of light from a whalebone lamp in their 3D reconstruction. The authors discuss the use of 3D technologies through funding from the Virtual Museum Program, which brought Arctic life to the public through the web and a kiosk at the Canadian Museum of Civilization, which allowed the public to interact with their own virtual dwellings. The chapter concludes with a discussion and summary of using 3D technology as a tool to enhance understanding of Arctic life.

Source/Credit:

Erika Smith

Limón, M., and M. Carretero. “Conflicting Data and Conceptual Change in History Experts.” (1999)

ulrike — Fri, 16 Oct 2009 23:05:02 +0000

Citation:

Limón, M., and M. Carretero. “Conflicting Data and Conceptual Change in History Experts.” In New Perspectives on Conceptual Change, edited by W. Schnotz, S. Vosniadou, and M. Carretero, 137-59. New York: Pergamon, 1999.

Abstract/Summary:

This study examined the interaction between reasoning strategies, such as gathering evidence to develop an argument, and subject-specific knowledge. Two groups participated in this study which was divided into two parts. The first group was fifteen final year history undergraduate students at an American university and the second group was fifteen American specialists in modern history.

In the first part participants answered a questionnaire related to their previous knowledge about the Moriscos’ expulsion from Spain in 1609. Each participant was also interviewed to examine their hypothesis about the reason for the expulsion. In the second part the participants were first given a short text where they were presented with a historical problem they had to solve. Specifically, they were asked to answer the question: “To whose advantage was the expulsion of the Moriscos in the Duchy of Gandía?” Then they were provided with five more documents with more information about the problem and asked to re-answer the question. Lastly, each participant was presented with a table containing data which conflicted with the second answer they had given and their hypothesis about the reasons for the expulsion was once again evaluated.

Only half of the participants changed their hypothesis in this last section of part two. Overall, the undergraduate students were more likely to change their hypothesis than the history specialists.

Source/Credit:

Ana Laura Pauchulo

Limón, Margarita, and Mario Carretero. “Evidence Evaluation and Reasoning Abilities in the Domain of History: An Empirical Study.” (1998)

ulrike — Wed, 21 Aug 2013 18:52:17 +0000

Citation:

Limón, Margarita, and Mario Carretero. “Evidence Evaluation and Reasoning Abilities in the Domain of History: An Empirical Study.” In International Review of History Education, Vol. 2: Learning and Reasoning in History, edited by J. F. Voss & M. Carretero, 252-71. Portland, OR: Woburn Press, 1998.

Abstract/Summary:

The use of evidence in history is important as it employs problem solving and thinking skills through the selection and evaluation of evidence. The authors discuss the research in the field of the use of evidence and prior knowledge in history education. All of the studies had one thing in common, the fact that there was only one correct solution in each of the tasks. However, in life and in the domain of history, it is common to have uncertainty, where there is more than one possible correct answer in the tasks being studied or lived. According to the authors, research about evidence evaluation has primarily been in the context of scientific thinking and the effect of content domain has been overlooked. The purpose of the author’s research is to study the evidence-evaluation skills of subjects who have high domain specific knowledge in relation to an ill-defined task within a historical context. The authors focused on the forced expulsion of the Moriscos people from Spain in 1609, when they refused to convert to Catholicism. The research is part of a larger research project, which studies the interaction between reasoning and domain-specific knowledge. The authors discuss the objectives, subjects, procedure (parts one and two), and provide descriptions of historical documents and the results. They conclude with a discussion of the results.

Source/Credit:

Erika Smith

Lipscomb, George B. “Eighth Graders’ Impressions of the Civil War: Using Technology in the History Classroom.” (2002)

ulrike — Wed, 05 Aug 2009 22:31:55 +0000

Citation:

Lipscomb, George B. “Eighth Graders’ Impressions of the Civil War: Using Technology in the History Classroom.” Education, Communication & Information 2(1) (2002): 51-67. http://pdfserve.informaworld.com/5690_770885140_713764920.pdf

Abstract/Summary:

While many educators have praised the growth of technology in the history classroom, there is still contradictory evidence as to its ability to help strengthen students' historical understanding. One of the most difficult components of historical understanding for young people to achieve is historical empathy. For this study, Foster & Yeager's (1998) conception of empathy as a four step process helped provide a lens by which to view students' impressions of the Civil War. This study attempted to determine if technology, particularly through the use of an activity known as the WebQuest, could lead students to a strong level of historical understanding. Two classes of eighth grade students completed the WebQuest 'Civil War Personal Journal,' and took on various roles of people living during this conflict. Students worked cooperatively to complete journals before, during, and after the Civil War. Despite student appreciation of the WebQuest structure in the classroom and a general positive attitude toward the technology used, results show a wide range of comprehension and understanding of the assigned roles. This article presents four categories to illustrate different types of historical understanding and offers reasons why some students were not able to achieve the levels of empathy desired by the WebQuest. Suggestions for improving historical understanding with technology in the classroom are also proposed.

Source/Credit:

Education, Communication & Information

Llewellyn, Kristina R. and Dana Nowak. "Annotated Bibliography of Oral History in Canada: 1980 – 2012." (2013)

Anne Marie — Fri, 21 Jun 2013 23:58:37 +0000

Citation:

Llewellyn, Kristina R. and Dana Nowak. "Annotated Bibliography of Oral History in Canada: 1980 – 2012." Oral History Forum d’histoire orale 33 (2013).

Abstract/Summary:

Oral history in Canada has flourished over the past two decades. There is a lack of knowledge, however, regarding the depth of publications in the field and the numerous scholars across the country who are engaged in oral history methods. This annotated bibliography is intended to act as a research guide for interdisciplinary scholars in the field. The bibliography was completed in the fall of 2012 by Dr. Kristina R. Llewellyn and her research assistant Dana Nowak. The authors conducted extensive searches in social sciences and humanities library databases for published works in the field of oral history with a Canadian subject focus. Keyword searches associated with oral history were inclusive of, but not exclusive to, oral tradition, narrative, storytelling, and folklore. Some additions were made to the bibliography based on the authors’ knowledge of other published works. The annotations are those provided by the authors and/or publishers (some with minor grammatical changes). The bibliography is only a partial list of Canadian oral history publications. The search methods particularly limited the findings for chapters in edited collections and articles published in journals outside the social sciences and humanities. Oral History Forum d’histoire orale is committed to updating this bibliography as the field continues to develop.

Source/Credit:

Oral History Forum d’histoire orale

Lockett, C. “Ten Years of Exhibit Evaluation at the Royal Ontario Museum (1980-1990).” (1991)

ulrike — Fri, 02 Oct 2009 22:12:10 +0000

Citation:

Lockett, C. “Ten Years of Exhibit Evaluation at the Royal Ontario Museum (1980-1990).” International Laboratory for Visitor Studies Review 2(1) (1991): 19-47.

Abstract/Summary:

This article outlines the history of exhibit evaluation at the Royal Ontario Museum from 1980 to 1990. Results of a number of exhibit evaluation studies are noted and their impact on exhibit designs is discussed. Developments in the focus and methodologies for front-end, formative, and summative evaluations are described. The paper concludes with an indication of new directions for exhibit evaluation and audience research at the ROM.

http://www.visitorstudiesarchives.org/ilvs.php

Source/Credit:

Gabrielle Trepanier

Lohman, J. “Bringing History to Life.” (2007)

ulrike — Fri, 02 Oct 2009 22:13:24 +0000

Citation:

Lohman, J. “Bringing History to Life.” Education Journal 105 (2007): 16.

Abstract/Summary:

The author reflects on the importance of General Certificate of Secondary Education history and on the significant contribution of museums to schools in Great Britain. He claims that history enables children to understand their citizenship and identity. He likewise notes that the partnership formed by museums and schools has intensified the history curriculum in schools. Moreover, he states that the activities developed by small museums have helped children to understand better the subject.

Source/Credit:

Encyclopedia Britannica

Lorenz, Chris. “Towards a Theoretical Framework for Comparing Historiographies: Some Preliminary Considerations.” (2004)

ulrike — Mon, 27 Dec 2010 21:58:52 +0000

Citation:

Lorenz, Chris. “Towards a Theoretical Framework for Comparing Historiographies: Some Preliminary Considerations.” In Theorizing Historical Consciousness, edited by Peter Seixas, 25-48. Toronto: University of Toronto Press, 2004.

Abstract/Summary:

Using Ronald Rudin’s Making History in Twentieth Century Quebec as an example, Chris Lorenz introduces the general problems of comparative historiography and stresses the need for a distinct framework for comparing and classifying historiographies. He begins by identifying the role of identity in bridging society and historiography and defines historical identity as collective identity through change in time. Lorenz writes that because historical identity is always relational and constructed by negotiation, it is fundamentally comparable, and historians have to be aware of the frame of reference they use to compare and define this identity. As such, Lorenz proposes a neat analytical matrix of historiographic comparison, using the axes of space and time. Although he also highlights the many opportunities for “messiness” that may arise when comparing historiographies, he stresses that uncovering the origins of this messiness is one of the tasks of a historian.

Source/Credit:

Cutrara

Lowenthal, D. “Dilemmas and Delights of Learning History.” (2000)

Anne Marie — Mon, 05 Oct 2009 21:23:06 +0000

Citation:

Lowenthal, D. “Dilemmas and Delights of Learning History.” In Knowing, Teaching & Learning History: National and International Perspectives, edited by P. Stearns, P. Seixas & S. S. Wineburg, 63-82. New York: New York University Press, 2000.

Abstract/Summary:

This chapter is divided into three primary sections: 1) why history is difficult to learn; 2) why it is important to study history; and 3) and suggestions for effective history teaching.

According to Lowenthal there are four central reasons why students find history difficult to learn. First, because the discipline of history does not have jargon or prerequisites people assume they do not need to have any grounding in the study thus making it more difficult to learn. Second, the skills that learning history requires are very different from those necessary for other disciplines meaning that students do not have the required experience for learning history. Third, historical insight requires life experience over time as well as the ability to speak from the position of first-hand witness and the understanding of how events in certain time periods are privileged over others. Lastly, Lowenthal identifies three current impediments to history learning: 1) the erosion of canonical names, dates, and events that separates those in the present from the past; 2) claims of ownership by historically marginalized communities to certain objects and places that precludes their use in public education; and 3) postmodern relativism that denies all claims to truth.

Finally the author maintains that history learning is important because knowing the past can contribute to our understanding of the present, because history education can teach students about empathy, and because learning history offers us the benefit of hindsight. Lowenthal suggests that history teaching can be improved by focusing on the present nature of the past.

Source/Credit:

Ana Laura Pauchulo

Luchs, Michele, and Elizabeth Miller. "On Tour with Mapping Memories: Sharing Refugee Youth Stories in Montreal Classrooms." (2015)

ulrike — Wed, 27 Jan 2016 19:57:52 +0000

Citation:

Luchs, Michele, and Elizabeth Miller. "On Tour with Mapping Memories: Sharing Refugee Youth Stories in Montreal Classrooms." In Beyond Testimony and Trauma: Oral History in the Aftermath of Mass Violence, edited by Steven High, 235-53. Vancouver: UBC Press, 2015.

Abstract/Summary:

Luchs and Miller worked with refugee youth in the Mapping Memories project in Montreal. For five years the group collaborated on creating digital stories; this chapter looks at the last phase of this partnership: a tour of 30 Montreal high schools by some team members from Rwanda, Zimbabwe, Congo, Syria, and Palestine, particularly focusing on three from Rwanda and Zimbabwe. Those involved reflected on the challenges and rewards of sharing their stories with the wider public for the first time. One of the key aspects that the group analyzed was “how digital life stories and peer dialogue about refugee experiences can be ethically engaged in the education of students” and how to present this educational outreach most effectively. A particular concern was how the young presenters would be impacted by sharing their stories, as well as how the authors tried to best care for and collaborate with their team members, which usually involved “stepping aside but staying present.”

Source/Credit:

Shannon Leggett

ulrike — Fri, 02 Oct 2009 22:14:46 +0000

Citation:

Marcus, Alan S. “Representing the Past and Reflecting the Present: Museums, Memorials, and the Secondary History Classroom.” The Social Studies 98(3) (2007): 105-10.

Abstract/Summary:

Museums, historic sites, and memorials offer opportunities to enhance and build on the history taught in secondary history classrooms. The artifacts they display, narratives they tell, and re-creations of the past they exhibit potentially engage students with content in ways unavailable in a classroom setting or by reading a textbook. The author builds on the notion of museums and other historical sites as institutions that preserve, interpret, and memorialize the past and suggests pedagogical strategies for visits to museums with secondary students that support the development of students' understanding of history. Modeling what teachers can do with students, he examines museums through the lens of three dilemmas: (1) the museum as an educational facility or business enterprise, (2) the museum as a traditional museum or memorial, and (3) the museum as a participant in and reflection of the larger context of local, regional, and national political and social debates.

http://www.heldref.org/pubs/tss/about.html

Source/Credit:

ERIC

Marcus, Alan S. “Rethinking Museums’ Adult Education for K-12 Teachers.” (2008)

ulrike — Fri, 02 Oct 2009 22:16:32 +0000

Citation:

Marcus, Alan S. “Rethinking Museums’ Adult Education for K-12 Teachers.” Journal of Museum Education 33(1) (2008): 55-78.

Abstract/Summary:

This article explores the importance of developing strong adult education programs within a broader collaborative effort between museum staff and K-12 teachers. Focusing on history museums, the first section discusses the importance of museum visits for K-12 history learning and how we need to reconsider some of the primary purposes for these visits. Part two considers how to develop effective adult education for teachers by exploring the answers to three questions: (1) What is unique about teachers as adult learners? (2) What is unique about learning at museums? (3) How can museum staff and teachers work together to enhance K-12 students' learning?

Source/Credit:

ERIC

Marker, Michael. “Teaching History from an Indigenous Perspective: Four Winding Paths up the Mountain.” (2011)

ulrike — Tue, 15 Jan 2013 18:53:15 +0000

Citation:

Marker, Michael. “Teaching History from an Indigenous Perspective: Four Winding Paths up the Mountain.” In New Possibilities for the Past: Shaping History Education in Canada, edited by Penney Clark, 97-112. Vancouver: UBC Press, 2011.

Abstract/Summary:

For Canadian Aboriginal students, history courses are among the most difficult as they tend to contradict the traditional Aboriginal ways of understanding the past. According to Marker, there are four main divergences between traditional Aboriginal understandings of the past and how Canadian history courses are designed and taught. The first divergence is in relation to different understandings of time. Most Canadian history courses focus on time as being linear and moving in a progressive fashion. This is in direct contradiction of the Aboriginal understanding of time, which is circular. The second difference, according to Marker, is in relation to the land and other non-human beings. In Canadian history, the relationship with the land and animals is discussed in terms of conquest, such as the fur trade and expansion. For Aboriginal people, animals are seen as sacred, older and, therefore, wiser than humans. From an Aboriginal perspective, much of the understanding of the past comes from the relationship between humans and animals. The third difference is in relation to place and locality. For Aboriginal people, place and the local territory are in relation to traditional, territorial land irrespective of international and national boundaries. The final difference reflects the colonization and decolonization of Canada’s First Peoples in terms of how they have muddled and led to stereotypes of Indigenous peoples. Marker concludes the chapter with a look to the future of Canadian history courses and the need for a shift in the purposes and goals in the study of “our” history.

Source/Credit:

Erika Smith

Marsolais, Arthur. « La réforme au carrefour de la mémoire et de la créativité ». (2004)

ulrike — Mon, 15 Jul 2013 20:45:19 +0000

Citation:

Marsolais, Arthur. « La réforme au carrefour de la mémoire et de la créativité ». Vie pédagogique 133 (2004) : 54-6.

Abstract/Summary:

Cet article présente la première tranche d’une rétrospective restituant sur quatre décennies, l’évolution de l’éducation scolaire au Québec. Cette rétrospective vise ainsi à comprendre le contexte historique dans lequel se dessine la réforme actuelle. Partant de l’idéalisme axé sur la pédagogie ouverte, généré par la prospérité des années 60 et propagé par le rapport Parent, l’auteur en vient à évoquer les avancées mais aussi les limites du système éducatif qu’il a engendré. Il expose alors les désillusions qui en sont nées, lesquelles ont amené à la fin des années 60, à des recadrages parfois sans appel en matière d’orientation scolaire. Ces recadrages ont eux-mêmes suscité des débats dans les années 70 sur fond de lutte des classes ou encore de pédagogie humaniste, aboutissant en 1979, a un énoncé politique visant à éviter l’orientation scolaire trop précoce. Certains choix structurants ont été faits qui constituent aujourd’hui un héritage que le mouvement actuel de réforme se donne de traiter autrement.

Source/Credit:

Aurore Romé

Martinez, David. “Out of the Woods and into the Museum: Charles A. Eastman's 1910 Collecting Expedition across Ojibwe Country.” (2008)

ulrike — Fri, 12 Jul 2013 22:47:24 +0000

Citation:

Martinez, David. “Out of the Woods and into the Museum: Charles A. Eastman's 1910 Collecting Expedition across Ojibwe Country.” American Indian Culture and Research Journal 32(4) (2008): 67-84.

Abstract/Summary:

When From the Deep Woods to Civilization appeared in 1916, the Dakota writer and activist Charles Alexander Eastman (also known by his Dakota name, Ohiyesa) told of a rather unusual journey across northern Minnesota and Ontario, Canada. The purpose of the venture, which took place during the summer of 1910, was to "purchase rare curios and ethnological specimens for one of the most important collections in the country." In typical Eastman fashion, he is elusive with respect to naming the collection, let alone his benefactor. What was really going on here? It may at first appear to be inconsequential to ask for whom Eastman worked or the whereabouts of the items procured; however, viewed from an Ojibwe perspective, the answers become immediately more important. What Eastman "purchased," as he put it, were pieces of Ojibwe culture and history, which, even in an age of the Native American Graves Protection and Repatriation Act, may be forever lost to them. Only by recounting this story and filling in the details that Eastman omitted will there be an adequate accounting of what was subsumed into the American museum system, not to mention what stands to be regained if the items are ever returned. This article offers a critical appraisal of Eastman's acquisitions of Ojibwe cultural and historical specimens.

Source/Credit:

ERIC

May, Stephen. “Critical Multiculturalism and Cultural Difference: Avoiding Essentialism.” (1999)

ulrike — Fri, 16 Oct 2009 21:14:12 +0000

Citation:

May, Stephen. “Critical Multiculturalism and Cultural Difference: Avoiding Essentialism.” In Critical Multiculturalism: Rethinking Multicultural and Antiracist Education, edited by Stephen May, 11-41. London: The Falmer Press, 1999.

Abstract/Summary:

In this chapter May examines claims made both by the Left and the Right that the dangers of multiculturalism lie in its potential to essentialize and reify difference, so as to outline a theory of multiculturalism/anti-racist education that is critical and non-essentialist.

May argues that both conservative and liberal opponents of multiculturalism fear its pluralistic implications on the state of the nation. Specifically, those that are opposed to practices and policies informed by multiculturalism maintain that multiculturalism will inevitably divide the nation as more groups demand and receive public recognition of their religious, ethnic, and racial identities. May also focuses on Schlesinger’s notion of the “cult of ethnicity” used as an argument against multiculturalism blamed for disuniting the nation. From this follows a discussion as to how identity is constituted by the individual, the state, and by the collective and the varying theories and debates that exist around what constitutes a citizen. Thus, on the one hand special attention is paid to the concept of “cultural hybridity” and its use to illustrate how people counter categorical opposition and essentialist ideological movements. On the other hand May also examines the criticisms of cultural hybridity under the category of “the cosmopolitan alternative” highlighting Kymlicka’s and Waldron’s understanding of people’s demand for recognition as a demand to be integrated into the cosmopolitan rather than merely as a struggle for recognition of individual identity. A special section is also dedicated to Bourdieu’s notion of “habitus” and hybridity.

To conclude, May argues that a critical and non-essentialist multiculturalism/anti-racist education allows students to retain their cultural and ethnic identities on their own terms and involves “majority students” in the critical investigation of the normalization of “majoritarian forms of identity.”

Source/Credit:

Ana Laura Pauchulo

McCall, Jeremiah. “Simulation Games and the Study of the Past: Classroom Guidelines.” (2014)

ulrike — Mon, 17 Feb 2014 19:36:51 +0000

Citation:

McCall, Jeremiah. “Simulation Games and the Study of the Past: Classroom Guidelines.” In Pastplay: Teaching and Learning History with Technology, edited by Kevin Kee, 228-53. Ann Arbor: University of Michigan Press, 2014.

Abstract/Summary:

It is unclear for many what the effective use of a simulation game in a history class looks like. While there is research being completed in the potential of using games for learning, there remains research to be completed that is discipline specific. According to the author, there are two specific ways that games can be used for domain specific learning, having theories specific to the discipline and implementations that are specifically crafted for the classroom. This chapter outlines the author’s theory about how to most effectively and practically use simulation games in the history classroom. The author offers practical guidelines for the use of simulation games in the history classroom. He begins with a description detailing the importance of taking risk in the history classroom and the advantages of using simulation games. The chapter continues with a case study describing the theoretical and practical values of using simulation games for learning. The author offers examples of his students using simulation games in his history classroom. The chapter concludes with a description of how adopting this pedagogy can enhance the history classroom and student learning.

Source/Credit:

Erika Smith

McDiarmid, G. Williamson and Peter Vinten-Johansen. "A Catwalk across the Great Divide: Redesigning the History Teaching Methods Course." (2000)

ulrike — Fri, 04 Dec 2009 00:06:29 +0000

Citation:

McDiarmid, G. Williamson and Peter Vinten-Johansen. "A Catwalk across the Great Divide: Redesigning the History Teaching Methods Course." In Knowing, Teaching, and Learning History: National and International Perspectives, edited by Peter N. Stearns, Peter Seixas and Sam Wineburg, 156-77. New York: New York University Press, 2000.

Abstract/Summary:

McDiarmid and Vinten-Johansen discuss their attempt to bridge a key, yet challenging, factor for teaching history structured around historical thinking: the collaboration between historians and history educators. They begin by outlining how the university does not privilege collaborations between history departments and faculties of education, but these collaborations are central for beginning teachers who are learning to teach history. Over a two year period, the authors attempted to make historical inquiry a more central focus in the ‘Introducing History’ seminar at the College of Education at Michigan State University. Their first attempt, although successful for passing on the tools of inquiry, left many of the teacher candidates feeling practically unprepared for the challenges of classroom teaching. Their second attempt focused on Curriculum Unit Development in which teacher candidates planned full units that integrated historical inquiry into the curriculum. They found that the Curriculum Unit Development model left the beginning teachers with practical strategies for long-term planning based on the integration of inquiry and content in their history classes.

Source/Credit:

Samantha Cutrara

McGregor, Heather E. "Developing an Education Research Agenda in Nunavut: A Northerner’s Point of View." (2014)

ulrike — Tue, 27 Oct 2015 21:03:19 +0000

Citation:

McGregor, Heather E. "Developing an Education Research Agenda in Nunavut: A Northerner’s Point of View." Northern Public Affairs, Special Issue (2014): 77-9.

Abstract/Summary:

In this article, McGregor echoes what the Inuit Tapiriit Kanatami (ITK) advocated for in 2011: more Inuit and Northern peoples educational research needs to be done in order to identify, discuss and disseminate “best practice” for those communities and to meet the demands of the 2008 Nunavut Education Act. Several recommendations are considered, including an examination of how research methodologies have and should be undertaken in order for the diversity of the Inuit and Northern peoples experience to be considered, and for their education to be truly “Northern-centered.”

Source/Credit:

Shannon Leggett

McGregor, Heather E. "Listening for More (Hi)Stories from the Arctic’s Dispersed and Diverse Educational Past." (2015)

ulrike — Wed, 07 Oct 2015 21:44:55 +0000

Citation:

McGregor, Heather E. "Listening for More (Hi)Stories from the Arctic’s Dispersed and Diverse Educational Past." Historical Studies in Education / Revue d’histoire de l’éducation 27, no. 1 (2015): 19-39.

Abstract/Summary:

As the widespread and deep impressions left on the Canadian North by the residential school system come to light, it is also important to continue examining educational policies alongside the experiences of students throughout a range of schooling sites and forms. Such research on Inuit schooling has been insufficient. I argue that more detailed educational histories of the federal and early territorial school systems should feature local and regional variability in implementation of policy and in student experience. Illuminating the inconsistent and multifaceted ways education affected communities in the past, particularly for teachers new to the North, serves to illustrate the ways education in the present necessitates decolonizing.

Source/Credit:

Historical Studies in Education / Revue d’histoire de l’éducation

McGregor, Heather E. "North of 60: Some Methodological Considerations for Educational Historians." (2015)

ulrike — Wed, 30 Sep 2015 21:46:25 +0000

Citation:

McGregor, Heather E. "North of 60: Some Methodological Considerations for Educational Historians." Historical Studies in Education Special Issue (2015): 121-29.

Abstract/Summary:

In the Introduction to this Special Issue, Heather McGregor examines the approach that historians should take when analyzing northern history, particularly noting the importance of oral history and the need for an interdisciplinary approach that takes into account the unique culture and environment that is being examined north of the Arctic Circle. Five types of methodological considerations are discussed: legacies of research; translation of indigenous ways into academic parlance; how to accommodate local practices; ethical dilemmas; and logistical concerns. The article concludes with a call for historians to collaborate with one another so research in this field can continue to develop in an inclusive way.

Source/Credit:

S Leggett

McGregor, Heather E. "Situating Nunavut Education with Indigenous Education in Canada." (2013)

ulrike — Wed, 07 Oct 2015 21:48:50 +0000

Citation:

McGregor, Heather E. "Situating Nunavut Education with Indigenous Education in Canada." Canadian Journal of Education 36, no. 2, 87-118 (2013).

Abstract/Summary:

Recognizing that educational change in Nunavut has not been extensively documented, this article provides an entry point for considering how Nunavut can be better understood and situated with scholarship on Indigenous education in Canada. Comparing the history of education in Nunavut with key turning points in First Nations education, the article illustrates important distinctions in understanding the Arctic context. Examination of more current issues illustrates the distinctive perspective offered from Nunavut – Canada’s only jurisdiction where the entire public education system is intended to be responsive to the Indigenous (Inuit) majority. Finally, four areas of common struggle are proposed for further consideration: walking in two worlds; human resource development; decolonization; and, radical implementation and radical pedagogy.

Source/Credit:

Canadian Journal of Education

McGregor, Heather E., and W.P.J. Millar. "Introduction: The Territories in the History of Education in Canada: Where Are We Going? (and Why?)." (2015)

ulrike — Wed, 30 Sep 2015 21:51:21 +0000

Citation:

McGregor, Heather E., and W.P.J. Millar. "Introduction: The Territories in the History of Education in Canada: Where Are We Going? (and Why?)." 5 Historical Studies in Education / Revue D’histoire De L’éducation 27, 1, Spring / Printemps 2015 Historical Studies in Education / Revue D’histoire De L’éducation, no. SPECIAL ISSUE / NUMÉRO SPÉCIAL Education North of 60 / Éducation Au Nord Du 60e (2015): 4-18.

Abstract/Summary:

In the Introduction to this Special Issue, Heather McGregor and WPJ Millar overview the coverage of the education system in Canada’s three territories: the nature of the system; how and why historical coverage of it has been conducted; and how this should change. Four essential considerations underpin their summary regarding key northern education issues: the impact of the harsh climate on the culture; the nature and impact of Euro-Canadian settlement in relation to the indigenous community; the post-war reality of formalized “schooling” in the region evaluated in juxtaposition to other traditional ways of northern learning; and the need for consideration of and collaboration with northern peoples as research is conducted. By examining northern history in this way, it can “enrich our understanding of the history of education in Canada as a whole.”

Source/Credit:

S Leggett

McGregor, Heather. "Curriculum Change in Nunavut: Towards Inuit Qaujimajatuqangit." (2012)

ulrike — Tue, 27 Oct 2015 21:00:30 +0000

Citation:

McGregor, Heather. "Curriculum Change in Nunavut: Towards Inuit Qaujimajatuqangit." McGill Journal of Education 47, no. 3 (Fall 2012): 285-302.

Abstract/Summary:

Between 1985 and the present, curriculum developers, educators and Elders in Nunavut have been working towards reconceptualization of curriculum to better meet the strengths and needs of Inuit students and to reflect, preserve, and revitalize Inuit worldview, language, and culture. This article outlines the development of the 1989 curriculum framework Piniaqtavut, the 1996 framework Inuuqatigiit: The Curriculum from the Inuit Perspective, and the 2007 foundation document Inuit Qaujimajatuqangit: Education Framework for Nunavut Curriculum. It goes on to describe the cross-curricular principles and philosophies of education in Nunavut, and identify the most important contributing factors in this system-wide curriculum change process. The intent is both to describe the approach taken in Nunavut, as well as to inform comparable work in other Indigenous contexts.

Source/Credit:

McGill Journal of Education

McGregor, Heather. "Nunavut’s Education Act: Education, Legislation, and Change in the Arctic." (2012)

ulrike — Tue, 27 Oct 2015 21:01:21 +0000

Citation:

McGregor, Heather. "Nunavut’s Education Act: Education, Legislation, and Change in the Arctic." The Northern Review 36 (Fall 2012): 27-52.

Abstract/Summary:

The 2008 Nunavut Education Act endeavours to call Nunavut’s public education system to account for linguistic, cultural, and local relevance to the majority Inuit population. Development of the Act involved lengthy scrutiny of existing and proposed education legislation to ensure consistency and compatibility with the new vision of education. Implementation of this Act is now necessitating system transformation on a substantial scale, on the part of educators, administrators, district education authorities, and territorial government officials. This article explores the historical roots of the 2008 Act. Renewal of the education system was made possible and necessary by the creation of Nunavut Territory in 1999, which grew out of the Nunavut Land Claims Agreement and negotiations for increased Inuit self-government. However, situating the Act in the history of Nunavut’s educational policy and decision making, it can be seen as a milestone in a longer change process aimed at creating schools that better reflect communities and the needs of northern students. Considering the inherent potential of education to reflect and sustain Inuit self-determination, linguistic protection, and cultural promotion, the intersection of education with politics through the Act was long in coming. Education is now seen to be one of the Nunavut government’s most important priorities. This is well worth recognizing in the history of education in Nunavut, and in Canada as well.

Source/Credit:

The Northern Review

McIvor, Arthur. "Economic Violence, Occupational Disability, and Death: Oral Narratives of the Impact of Asbestos-Related Diseases in Britain." (2015)

ulrike — Wed, 27 Jan 2016 19:58:51 +0000

Citation:

McIvor, Arthur. "Economic Violence, Occupational Disability, and Death: Oral Narratives of the Impact of Asbestos-Related Diseases in Britain." In Beyond Testimony and Trauma: Oral History in the Aftermath of Mass Violence, 257-84. Vancouver: UBC Press, edited by Steven High, 2015.

Abstract/Summary:

This chapter discusses the stories of some workers in the UK who were diagnosed with asbestos-related diseases such as mesothelioma contracted as a result of the conditions of their workplace. McIvor looks at the physical and emotional impact of this situation on the workers, their families, and greater communities. He also examines advocacy groups such as Clydeside Action on Asbestos in Glasgow that emerged as a result of this horrendous situation, and which have helped to create “the most progressive compensation system in the world regarding asbestos-related diseases.” The chapter unpacks the idea of “economic violence” against workers in the corporate capitalist environment, and claims that “The collective intentional exercise and abuse of power by corporations, employers, and managers for economic gain” is the fundamental cause of the workers’ ailments. The collaborative oral interviews that were conducted allowed the workers to “construct their identities” and articulate that they and their communities wanted justice for and reconciliation with their employers.

Source/Credit:

ulrike — Fri, 02 Oct 2009 22:19:17 +0000

Citation:

Miller, J. “Increasing Visitor Education through a Tiered Approach to Interpretation.” Visitor Studies 3(1) (1991): 144-51.

Abstract/Summary:

Over the past five years Arkansas State Parks system has been revising and expanding the role of interpretation within the System. This involves the delineation of management goals and the role interpretation plays in providing visitors, neighboring communities, schools, and other clientele with quality, easily-accessed information to support these goals.

http://www.visitorstudiesarchives.org/vs.php

Source/Credit:

Informal Science

Milson, Andrew J. “The Internet and Inquiry Learning: Integrating Medium and Method in a Sixth Grade Social Studies Classroom.” (2002)

ulrike — Wed, 05 Aug 2009 22:38:56 +0000

Citation:

Milson, Andrew J. “The Internet and Inquiry Learning: Integrating Medium and Method in a Sixth Grade Social Studies Classroom.” Theory and Research in Social Education 30(3) (2002): 330-53. http://www.socialstudies.org/cufa/trse

Abstract/Summary:

Social studies educators have long promoted inquiry learning as a valuable method of instruction. Specifically, research into the use of inquiry methods in the teaching and learning of history has demonstrated that this method has much to offer. Recently, the use of technological tools, including the Internet, has received attention as a means of transforming social studies instruction. This case study of a sixth grade classroom investigates the integration of the inquiry learning method and the Internet medium through the WebQuest approach. Three findings are presented and discussed: 1) students have differing perceptions of the value of Internet sources and print sources, but many find print sources preferable to Internet sources; 2) students' strategies for gathering and organizing information are initially characterized by a quest for the "Path-of-Least-Resistance," but the teacher can successfully guide students to more productive approaches; and 3) students of varying academic ability levels can conduct inquiry-oriented investigations, but they approach and perceive the value of such investigations differently.

Source/Credit:

ERIC

Montgomery, Ken. “Imagining the Antiracist State: Representations of Racism in Canadian History.” (2005)

ulrike — Wed, 12 Dec 2012 22:06:37 +0000

Citation:

Montgomery, Ken. “Imagining the Antiracist State: Representations of Racism in Canadian History.” Discourse: Studies in the Cultural Politics of Education 26(4) (2005): 427-42.

Abstract/Summary:

This paper examines how knowledge about racism has been represented in high school Canadian history textbooks authorized by the Province of Ontario during the 1960s and after the year 2000. I argue that even though historical racisms have increasingly made their way into Canadian history textbooks as valid and important topics of study, the idea of racism continues to be understood largely within a prejudice/discrimination framework that reduces racism to irrational and individualized problems of thought, behaviour, and assumption. Moreover, through multiple techniques of containment, racism is imagined to exist within temporal and spatial locations, events, or incidents that are represented as either foreign to Canada or aberrations within Canada. The combined effect is to depict the space of Canada as one largely antithetical to racism.

Source/Credit:

Taylor and Francis Online

Montgomery, Ken. “Racialized Hegemony and Nationalist Mythologies: Representations of War and Peace in High School History Textbooks, 1945–2005.” (2006)

ulrike — Wed, 12 Dec 2012 22:08:14 +0000

Citation:

Montgomery, Ken. “Racialized Hegemony and Nationalist Mythologies: Representations of War and Peace in High School History Textbooks, 1945–2005.” Journal of Peace Education 3(1) (2006): 19-37.

Abstract/Summary:

This paper examines the ways in which high school Canadian history textbooks authorized from 1945 to the present have represented national participation in wars and peace-making/keeping operations. I explore how national mythologies of Canada as a kinder, more tolerant, or less violent national body permeate the narratives of national history textbooks, but also position Canada, in racialized terms, as a nation superior to all others and thus burdened with the fantasized responsibility to uplift implicitly inferior spaces, nations and peoples elsewhere on the planet. I illustrate that these textbooks do not simply tell the history of the modern state of Canada and its relationship to war and war-related issues (i.e., peace-making/keeping), but rather redundantly disseminate racialized representations of Canada as a glorious and exceptional ‘living organism’ that matures through the development of such redeeming qualities as respect for humanity, morality, compassion, heroism and tolerance. I argue that these patriotic and presumably benign representations of war and peace assist in the hegemonic maintenance of white power, privilege and governance.

Source/Credit:

Taylor and Francis Online

Moodley, Kogila, and Heribert Adam. “Shifting Boundaries and Flexible Identities within a Multicultural Canada.” (2012)

ulrike — Thu, 26 Sep 2013 23:32:50 +0000

Citation:

Moodley, Kogila, and Heribert Adam. “Shifting Boundaries and Flexible Identities within a Multicultural Canada.” Intercultural Education 23(5) (2012): 425-36.

Abstract/Summary:

This analysis probes the evolution of Canadian multiculturalism within the national political constellation which in turn is influenced by global geopolitical trends. Rather than narrowly focusing on how and what is being taught under the rubric multiculturalism, falsely taking curricula or vacuous educational manifestos at face value, we describe the political background of Canadian multiculturalism. We contrast the pronouncements of the Canadian state with the sociological facts on the ground and we compare the Canadian situation with similar discourses and divergent developments in Europe, after locating each in their historical context. Canadian multiculturalism so far can be considered a largely unrecognized success story, not because of shrewd government intervention to integrate immigrants, but because the Canadian structural diversity made recognition of divergent identities the most feasible option to avoid conflict.

Source/Credit:

ERIC

Morganstern, Donna. “The Sociocultural Impact of Portraying the Past: Old Tucson and Plimoth Plantation.” (1995)

ulrike — Fri, 02 Oct 2009 22:20:46 +0000

Citation:

Morganstern, Donna. “The Sociocultural Impact of Portraying the Past: Old Tucson and Plimoth Plantation.” Visitor Studies 7(1) (1995): 88-98.

Abstract/Summary:

Themed environments have profound potential to influence visitors and provide insight into human information processing, motivation, and culture. Examples for this discussion come from research at two themed environments that embody American cultural myths: Old Tucson, an old west theme park near Tucson, Arizona; and Plimouth Plantation, a re-created1621 Pilgrim Village, Wampanoag homesite, and Mayflower replica, in Plymouth, Massachusetts. Both portray mythic past with current emotional consequence, function as pilgrimage sites for reaffirming the culture’s spiritual and philosophical teachings, and are forced to compete aggressively for the tourist dollar. Examples from two Old Tucson studies and one Plimouth Plantation research project support hypotheses that themed environments influence visitors’ conceptions of the past and attitudes toward the future, and that visitors perceive the past as a function of their own expectations and beliefs.

In one study, experimentally manipulated visitor experiences mediated Old Tucson’s impact. In a second Old Tucson study, experimentally manipulated expectations and motivations to reaffirm cultural myths mediated beliefs about the old west and optimism about the future. A Plimouth Plantation study provided evidence that how virtuous visitors perceive the Pilgrims to have been is correlated with their own religiosity or political conservatism.

http://www.visitorstudiesarchives.org/vs.php

Source/Credit:

Informal Science

Morton, Desmond. "Canadian History Teaching in Canada: What's the Big Deal?" (2006)

ulrike — Thu, 10 Dec 2009 23:51:32 +0000

Citation:

Morton, Desmond. "Canadian History Teaching in Canada: What's the Big Deal?" In To the Past: History Education, Public Memory, and Citizenship in Canada, edited by Ruth W. Sandwell, 23-31. Toronto: University of Toronto Press, 2006.

Abstract/Summary:

Commenting on the conservative charge that young people don’t know their history and thus Canadian history is ‘dead,’ Canadian historian Desmond Morton argues that stressing rote facts in history education in the service of blind nationalism is ineffective for moving Canada forward. He states that history should be taught to “invite close study of the same rules of evidence and human behaviour” that citizens should be applying to their daily lives. Calling this goal ‘historical thinking,’ Morton argues that an emphasis on thinking historically will encourage citizens to connect to the nation in a more mature way. According to Morton, history education should stress the continuum of the past, present, and future and teach us about our familial and cultural heritage, while addressing the how and why of societal evolution and expanding our knowledge of the world. Although many critics of history education point fingers at history teachers for failing to explore the intricacies of history, Morton suggests that a national organization of history teachers could develop solutions for integrating historical thinking into curriculum in practical and innovative ways.

Source/Credit:

Samantha Cutrara

Morton, Desmond. "Is History Another Word for Experience? Morton’s Confessions." (2011)

Anne Marie — Tue, 09 Oct 2012 17:52:03 +0000

Citation:

Morton, Desmond. "Is History Another Word for Experience? Morton’s Confessions." The Canadian Historical Review 92(4) (2011): 666-93. http://utpjournals.metapress.com/content/9886hr7882n4811k/fulltext.pdf

Abstract/Summary:

Near the end of his career as a military, political. and social historian, Des Morton reflects on his trade and his definition of history as ‘another word for experience.’ Like most people, we can have a cheerful or a gloomy view of the past. Both approaches deliver messages about how we can seize more happiness or avoid repeating mistakes. Neither approach is fool-proof.

Source/Credit:

The Canadian HIstorical Review

Morton, Desmond. "Teaching and Learning History in Canada." (2000)

ulrike — Thu, 03 Dec 2009 23:51:04 +0000

Citation:

Morton, Desmond. "Teaching and Learning History in Canada." In Knowing, Teaching, and Learning History: National and International Perspectives, edited by Peter N. Stearns, Peter Seixas and Sam Wineburg, 51-62. New York: New York University Press, 2000.

Abstract/Summary:

In the context of Canada’s “History Wars,” Desmond Morton argues that the enthusiasm to address the deficiency in patriotism and national knowledge through rigorous standards in history education will not actually accomplish its promise of greater national cohesion. He points to Canada’s history of being both bicultural and multicultural and the provincial responsibility for education to be logistical and regional barriers for federally mandated standards. He emphasizes that a focus away from content standards and toward a model of historical thinking will help the nation mature by bringing a disciplined inquiry to memories and folklore. Morton argues that moving away from a push for federal standards and toward a model that teaches young people to think historically will give them the tools to consider competing versions of events, which would actually lead to a deeper and more nuanced understanding of the Canadian experience.

Source/Credit:

Samantha Cutrara

Morton, Tom. “Historical Thinking in Secondary Schools: Zones and Gardens.” (2011)

ulrike — Wed, 13 Feb 2013 22:19:03 +0000

Citation:

Morton, Tom. “Historical Thinking in Secondary Schools: Zones and Gardens.” In New Possibilities for the Past: Shaping History Education in Canada, edited by Penney Clark, 195-209. Vancouver: UBC Press, 2011.

Abstract/Summary:

In this chapter Morton, a secondary history teacher in Vancouver, describes his involvement with The Benchmarks of Historical Thinking project. The project is described by Morton as a program that reforms history teaching with professional development and the creation of assessment tools and new curriculum. Morton not only reformed his own history classes with the program but was also a “lead teacher” for the program. This chapter traces not only Morton’s passing through the program’s “zones of uncertainty” by also the concerns of teachers from across Canada. Morton highlights the difficulties with teaching as a profession and the added difficulties and barriers faced by teachers seeking to introduce new theories and modes of assessment into the classroom. It is a challenge for teachers to change their practice: it does not happen immediately. The rest of the chapter traces Morton’s triumphs and tribulations with using the program with his history class in their creation of WWI films, using historical footage, for Remembrance Day. He then uses case studies of teachers from across Canada who have introduced the program into their own teaching. In conclusion, the program has the potential to aid students in thinking historically; however, there needs to be time and support provided for teachers.

Source/Credit:

Erika Smith

Mosborg, Susan. “Speaking of History: How Adolescents Use Their Knowledge of History in Reading the Daily News.” (2002)

ulrike — Wed, 05 Aug 2009 22:40:23 +0000

Citation:

Mosborg, Susan. “Speaking of History: How Adolescents Use Their Knowledge of History in Reading the Daily News.” Cognition and Instruction 20(3) (2002): 323-58. http://www.tandf.co.uk/journals/titles/07370008.asp

Abstract/Summary:

Explored how adolescents use their knowledge of history when interpreting current affairs. Found that students expressed their thoughts contrasting "then and now;" used different events and ideas to conceptualize; and represented the same story differently, depending on their backgrounds. Derived cultural resources students exploited, and a challenge to earlier research portraying adolescents as presentists.

Source/Credit:

ERIC

Nagam, Julie. “Charting Indigenous Stories of Place: An Alternate Cartography Through the Visual Narrative of Jeff Thomas.” (2013)

ulrike — Wed, 03 Dec 2014 22:05:13 +0000

Citation:

Nagam, Julie. “Charting Indigenous Stories of Place: An Alternate Cartography Through the Visual Narrative of Jeff Thomas.” In Diverse Spaces: Identity, Heritage and Community in Canadian Public Culture, edited by Susan Ashley, 188-207. Newcastle Upon Tyne: Cambridge Scholars Publishing, 2013.

Abstract/Summary:

The site that now makes up the City of Toronto, Canada has held for the past ten thousand years, and continues to hold significant Indigenous memories and stories of place. Recently a re-migration of Aboriginal people to the city has occurred, thus making a critical investigation of Toronto as a site that contains Indigenous memories and stories relevant and timely. Nagam concentrates on hidden Indigenous geographies in the City of Toronto by examining selected photographs by Haudenosaunee artist Jeff Thomas. Thomas’s photographs challenge and contradict the general ideology that spaces, especially urban centres such as Toronto, are depicted and founded by the colonial narrative; his photographs visually create a space to recount Indigenous stories of place within Toronto. Nagam argues that Thomas does not try to return to pre-contact ideals or attempt to capture the everyday lives of Indigenous people currently living in Toronto, but challenges the static binaries - civilized versus savage, heathen versus Christian and nature versus culture - by whimsically placing stereotypical Aboriginal plastic figurines in the foreground of photographs taken in urbanized spaces that possess Indigenous history in the City of Toronto. By placing these romanticized Aboriginal figurines in modern cityscape it contradicts the notion that Aboriginal people are locked in the past. Thomas’s images become part of the larger collective memory of Canada, challenging the stereotypical pictorial politics that have followed Indigenous people for centuries.

Source/Credit:

Kelsey Wood-Hrynkiw

Nash, Gary B. "The 'Convergence' Paradigm in Studying Early American History in the Schools." (2000)

ulrike — Thu, 03 Dec 2009 23:52:05 +0000

Citation:

Nash, Gary B. "The 'Convergence' Paradigm in Studying Early American History in the Schools." In Knowing, Teaching, and Learning History: National and International Perspectives, edited by Peter N. Stearns, Peter Seixas and Sam Wineburg, 102-20. New York: New York University Press, 2000.

Abstract/Summary:

This article traces the interpretive development of America’s colonial period as seen through the work of academic historians and history textbooks. The author illustrates that history textbooks were decades behind the findings that the early colonial period was not an ordained conquest over lesser beings, but a “tricultural interaction” between Europeans, Africans, and Native Americans. Learning about this interaction, he argues, is central for understanding the multiple layers of America’s beginnings.

Source/Credit:

Samantha Cutrara

Neem, Johann N. “American History in a Global Age.” (2001)

ulrike — Wed, 27 Apr 2011 23:07:39 +0000

Citation:

Neem, Johann N. “American History in a Global Age.” History and Theory 50 (2001): 41-70.
http://www.wesleyan.edu/histjrnl/

Abstract/Summary:

Historians around the world have sought to move beyond national history. In doing so, they often conflate ethical and methodological arguments against national history. This essay, first, draws a clear line between the ethical and the methodological arguments concerning national history. It then offers a rationale for the continued writing of national history in general, and American history in particular, in today's global age.

The essay makes two main points. First, it argues that nationalism, and thus the national histories that sustain national identities, are vital to liberal democratic societies because they ensure the social bonds necessary to enable democratic citizens to sacrifice their immediate interests for the common good. The essay then argues that new methodological and historical work on the history of nations and nationalism has proven that nations are as real as any other historical group. Rejecting national history on critics' terms would require rejecting the history of all groups. Instead, new methods of studying nations and nationalism have reinforced rather than undermined the legitimacy of national history within the discipline.

Source/Credit:

Academic Research Complete

Newbery, Liz. “Canoe Pedagogy and Colonial History: Exploring Contested Spaces of Outdoor Environmental Education.” (2012)

ulrike — Fri, 12 Jul 2013 22:50:22 +0000

Citation:

Newbery, Liz. “Canoe Pedagogy and Colonial History: Exploring Contested Spaces of Outdoor Environmental Education.” Canadian Journal of Environmental Education 17 (2012): 30-45.

Abstract/Summary:

In this paper, I explore how histories of colonialism are integral to the Euro-Western idea of wilderness at the heart of much outdoor environmental education. In the context of canoe tripping, I speculate about why the politics of land rarely enters into teaching on the land. Finally, because learning from difficult knowledge often troubles the learner, I consider the pedagogical value of emotional responses to curricula that address colonial implication.

Source/Credit:

ERIC

Nguyen, Mai. “Closing the Education Gap: A Case for Aboriginal Early Childhood Education in Canada, a Look at the Aboriginal Headstart Program.” (2011)

ulrike — Thu, 26 Sep 2013 23:24:13 +0000

Citation:

Nguyen, Mai. “Closing the Education Gap: A Case for Aboriginal Early Childhood Education in Canada, a Look at the Aboriginal Headstart Program.” Canadian Journal of Education 34(3) (2011): 229-48.

Abstract/Summary:

This paper raises awareness concerning the education gap between Aboriginal youth and the non-Aboriginal youth population in Canada. It argues that the historical consequences of colonialism that resulted in diminished sense of self-worth, self-determination, and culture have placed Aboriginals at the low-end of the socio-economic strata. This continuing phenomenon has meant that Aboriginal youth perform far worse than non- Aboriginals in terms of their ability to obtain higher education and employment. Given this, using welfare-state theory and Indigenous-based theory I argue that early-childhood education which is culturally sensitive to the needs of Aboriginal children and controlled by Aboriginal communities will help to remedy and close the education gap between Aboriginal and non-Aboriginal youth. The paper concludes with solutions to rectify the situation in Canada. Specifically, it discusses the current government initiative, Aboriginal Head Start (AHS) that has been making significant strides throughout the Aboriginal community.

Source/Credit:

ERIC

Nicholls, Jason, and Stuart Foster. “Interpreting the Past, Serving the Present: US and English Textbook Portrayals of the Soviet Union During the Second World War.” (2005)

ulrike — Tue, 08 Oct 2013 21:21:52 +0000

Citation:

Nicholls, Jason, and Stuart Foster. “Interpreting the Past, Serving the Present: US and English Textbook Portrayals of the Soviet Union During the Second World War.” In International Review of History Education, Vol.4: Understanding History: Recent Research in History Education, edited by R. Ashby, P. Gordon and P. Lee, 159-72. New York: Routledge Falmer, 2005.

Abstract/Summary:

Determining content for national history covered in textbooks is often highly contested regardless of the country where the textbook originates. The most controversial is the portrayal of past conflicts in and between states. The authors wish to understand the differences between the US and English portrayals of the Soviet Union during the Second World War. The role and impact of history textbooks in both England and the US is discussed. It is always important to have historical context when discussing historical events. Therefore, the historical context of the role of the Soviet Union during the Second World War is discussed. Within the study, three US and three English textbooks are analyzed to gain a deeper appreciation of both the nature of and reasons for the differing interpretation of the Soviet Union during the Second World War. The results of the study are discussed using four major Soviet events of the Second World War: The Nazi-Soviet Pact, Operation Barbarossa, The Battle of Stalingrad, and The Soviet Advance on Nazi Germany. In summary, the US and English textbooks were sharply different in their portrayals with the US textbooks being more scant on information concerning the role of the Soviet Union in the Second World War than were the English texts. The authors conclude with four points: history textbooks seek to teach students a shared set of values, national ethos and political threads; the function of textbooks differs in the US and England; history teaching in the two countries is different, especially in terms of content coverage; and the textbook industry has power and influence.

Source/Credit:

Erika Smith

Nowviskie, Bethany. “Ludic Algorithms.” (2014)

ulrike — Mon, 17 Feb 2014 19:33:21 +0000

Citation:

Nowviskie, Bethany. “Ludic Algorithms.” In Pastplay: Teaching and Learning History with Technology, edited by Kevin Kee, 139-71. Ann Arbor: University of Michigan Press, 2014.

Abstract/Summary:

The author studies Ramon Llull and his wheels, old machines and Ars Magna. She describes his devices and how they are used in application, performance and interpretation. She also describes other algorithms used in digital humanities. The chapter also includes a discussion of the Ludic Algorithm. She anticipated using Llull’s studies to show how computing humanists or digital historians could possibly use his wheels to analyze and make sense of the hidden rules and assumptions that underline our own practice. However, she states that the best use for Llull’s machines might be to use the devices that are unfamiliar to aid in the problems of interpretation of mechanical and algometric systems that scholars deal with on a daily basis. The difficulty in an apparent and persuasive demonstration of the applicability of these systems to the interests of the academy is a major problem in the digital humanities. It is what keeps the field insular. The author concludes by stating that those involved in the practice of digital humanities can use Llull’s work to enhance their own studies.

Source/Credit:

Erika Smith

Ogawa, Masato and Sherry L. Field. “Causation, Controversy and Contrition: Recent Developments in the Japanese History Textbook Content and Selection Process.” (2006)

ulrike — Mon, 21 Oct 2013 22:39:29 +0000

Citation:

Ogawa, Masato and Sherry L. Field. “Causation, Controversy and Contrition: Recent Developments in the Japanese History Textbook Content and Selection Process.” In School History Textbooks Across Cultures: International Debates and Perspectives, edited by Jason Nicholls, 43-60. Oxford: Symposium Books, 2006.

Abstract/Summary:

In this chapter, Ogawa and Field argue that Japanese history textbooks are controversial as they present a government monitored and endorsed national history, especially in their treatment of history since the beginning of the Second World War. Japan’s first national textbook policy emerged under the Meiji government in 1872. Government control increased with the Imperial Rescript on Education in 1890, and its emphasis on Confucian values, moral education, and the duty of citizens to the state and national policy. In the post-World War II period, the Supreme Command for the Allied Powers (SCAP) brought significant textbook revisions that involved the omission of militaristic and ultra-nationalistic material and an attempt to promote international cooperation. The SCAP also limited moral education and worked with the Ministry of Education to develop new materials. During the 1945-1952 Occupation of Japan the SCAP sought to decentralize the national textbook system, but subsequent conservative governments returned control to the Ministry of Education. Today the School Education Law determines Japanese school curriculum and textbooks must support this. Textbooks must be authorized by the government and approved by the Ministry of Education in order to be used in Japanese schools.

The authors describe historian and textbook author, Sabura Ienaga’s thirty-five year fight against government censorship. This set of legal suits in the end affirmed the Ministry of Education’s ability to standardize public education. It also challenged the Ministry of Education, allowing authors to include more detailed descriptions of controversial history in textbooks. Public debate over textbook content and historical interpretations continued into the 1980s, while at the same time international pressure grew over Japan’s sanitization of textbook content and history textbooks’ incomplete depiction of Japan’s brutal pre-surrender empire. China, South Korea, and other Asian countries increasingly demanded that Japan take responsibility for and make changes to Japanese history textbooks for the sake of international cooperation and understanding.

By the 1990s, Japanese conservative and nationalist forces actively worked to reform the Japanese history curriculum. Professor Nobukatsu Fujioka and his colleagues sought a ‘positive’ view of Japanese history and argued that much teaching about the war stemmed from ‘emotional-pacifist’ ideology, and that teachers often avoided discussing war, focusing instead on the post-war reconstruction and peace education. This, they argued, resulted in anti-Japanese, anti-militaristic, and unpatriotic youth. In response to this Fujioka and his colleagues published a series of textbooks justifying Japan’s entry in World War II, which were to become popular, and provoke response from the Ministry of Education. The latter recognized the need to find balance when including negative depictions of the Japanese in war. New texts suggested Japan’s motives in World War II were not expansionist, but to liberate Asia from the Western Powers. This again resulted in demand for textbook revision. More recently, however, nationalist and neo-nationalist movements have influenced the Ministry of Education’s to introduce nationalistic values, a moral education reader to develop love for the nation (introduced without proper legal procedure), and grading of students’ patriotic attitude. Schools have been ordered to fly the flag and sing the anthem – both associated with Japanese aggression in the Second World War – resulting in much dissention and public controversy.

Source/Credit:

Katie Gemmell

Ogawa, Masato. “Building Multiple Historical Perspectives: An Investigation of How Middle School Students are Influenced by Different Perspectives.” (2001)

ulrike — Thu, 03 Dec 2009 22:09:26 +0000

Citation:

Ogawa, Masato. “Building Multiple Historical Perspectives: An Investigation of How Middle School Students are Influenced by Different Perspectives.” Paper presented at the Annual Meeting of the American Educational Research Association, Seattle, United States, April 10-14, 2001.

Abstract/Summary:

This study is based on previous research that criticizes lecture style teaching and a heavy reliance on textbooks in history classrooms. Specifically this research criticizes history textbooks for being biased and superficial presenting history from a singular perspective. As such, this study examined students’ receptiveness to studying multiple perspectives of World War II. Data collection involved interviews with a sixth grade teacher and seven students from her classroom, classroom observations, and students’ written assignments. Two oral history narrators were invited to visit the classroom; one US and one Japanese World War II veteran.

Generally Ogawa found that all of the students’ knowledge about this historical event advanced after the oral history activity. Prior to the unit of instruction about World War II, the students focused primarily on “factual information.” However, after the unit students were able to understand the role of “perspective-taking” in learning about the past. For example, because of the two, differing oral testimonies students talked about the differences and similarities between the two stories without dismissing either as untrue or invalid. To conclude, Ogawa suggests that future research examining the same or similar issues include a larger number of both teacher and student participants from rural and urban schools to reflect how diverse socio-economic and ethnic backgrounds inform teaching and learning history.

Source/Credit:

Ana Laura Pauchulo

Okolo, Cynthia M., Carol Sue Englert, Emily C. Bouch, Anne Heutsche, and Hequn Wang. “The Virtual History Museum: Learning U.S. History in Diverse Eighth Grade Classrooms.” (2011)

ulrike — Wed, 18 Jan 2012 21:38:38 +0000

Citation:

Okolo, Cynthia M., Carol Sue Englert, Emily C. Bouch, Anne Heutsche, and Hequn Wang. “The Virtual History Museum: Learning U.S. History in Diverse Eighth Grade Classrooms.” Remedial and Special Education 32(5) (2011): 417-28.

Abstract/Summary:

In this article, the authors report on results of a pilot study on teaching history using a web-based learning environment with three groups of students: those with mild disabilities, those without disabilities, and those in an honors class. They argue that well-designed internet-based instruction can both improve learning outcomes and make it more feasible for teachers to enhance the textbook in order to be more responsive to struggling students by developing supplemental instruction. Students used the Virtual History Museum (VHM), an online museum in which the primary instructional unit is an exhibit, consisting of artifacts and activities, which teachers can create, share and modify. One important feature for differentiated instruction is that all activities can be created in both standard and supported versions, and students can be assigned to one or the other, so that students who need more support can receive it. In the study, Okolo et. al. focus on three major outcomes associated with middle school history in order to determine the degree to which students made gains: (1) factual knowledge; (2) understanding of key history topics; and (3) taking a position on a historical character or event. The results suggest that all three groups of students improved in their factual knowledge, and that there was some improvement in historical reasoning. As well, students were more engaged when completing the VHM lessons than in the regular classroom environment. They note that more research is needed, but are encouraged by the positive results thus far.

Source/Credit:

Katherine Joyce

Osborn, Ken. "A History Teacher Looks Back." (2012)

Anne Marie — Tue, 09 Oct 2012 17:44:19 +0000

Citation:

Osborn, Ken. "A History Teacher Looks Back." The Canadian Historical Review 93(1) (2012): 108-37. http://utpjournals.metapress.com/content/b2vt24mu40185x54/fulltext.pdf

Abstract/Summary:

Ken Osborne looks back on his career as a history teacher and teacher of history teachers, exploring what first drew him to the study of history, why he thinks history matters, why he decided to teach it, and how he became involved in issues surrounding the teaching of history. Along the way he also comments on the emergence of history education as a distinct field of study and research.

Source/Credit:

The Canadian HIstorical Review

Osborne, K. “History and Social Studies: Partners or Rivals?” (2004)

ulrike — Wed, 27 Apr 2011 23:16:44 +0000

Citation:

Osborne, K. “History and Social Studies: Partners or Rivals?” In Challenges and Prospects for Canadian Social Studies, edited by Alan Sears and Ian Wright, 73-89. Vancouver: Pacific Educational Press, 2004.

Abstract/Summary:

Osborne outlines five claims and counterclaims regarding whether history or social studies should be taught in Canadian schools. He covers historical background to the debate, then goes on to outline the current dominant position of social studies in Canadian schools. Osborne admits that he is a supporter of history and therefore a critic of social studies as a subject. The five claims and counterclaims are as follows:

Social studies lacks conceptual and philosophical coherence/History is often little more than a pointless coverage of quickly forgotten information.
Social studies does not do justice to the past/History’s concern with the past is obstructing attention to the present.
Social studies does not pay enough attention to the teaching of historical thinking/the value of historical thinking can be exaggerated.
Social studies is more an exercise in socialization than education/Social studies is no more an exercise in socialization than is history, which has often been taught as an instrument of propaganda.
Social studies takes too limited a view of what students can do/Social studies pays more attention to students needs and interests than does history.

Osborne contests that only history as a discipline can provide a systematic approach to acquiring knowledge about the past, and create an interest in the subject that will go beyond school years. He believes that ideally both history and social studies should be taught, but if a choice between the two has to be made, history should be chosen.

Source/Credit:

Su Thompson

Osborne, Ken. "’To the Past’: Why We Need to Teach and Study History." (2006)

ulrike — Fri, 11 Dec 2009 23:35:50 +0000

Citation:

Osborne, Ken. "’To the Past’: Why We Need to Teach and Study History." In To the Past: History Education, Public Memory, and Citizenship in Canada, edited by Ruth W. Sandwell, 103-131. Toronto: University of Toronto Press, 2006.

Abstract/Summary:

To respond to the question of why we should teach and learn history, Ken Osborne revisits George Orwell’s novel 1984 to highlight how history gives us a sense of both attachment and detachment from our current realities and can provide us with a shield from those who wish to do us harm. As a historian of history education, Osborne outlines three approaches for teaching history that have reappeared since the beginning of Canadian history education: the nation building approach, the social problems approach, and the disciplined inquiry approach. Although often advocated separately, Osborne underlines that history teachers have always chosen aspects of all three approaches to frame how they teach and suggests that an approach that encompasses the best parts of all three approaches would be the best way to go forward with teaching history in today’s society. In his approach, Osborne sees history education using disciplined inquiry to provide a narrative for the nation and address present realities. He advocates “selling” this form of history to students by emphasizing history as a series of problems to solve, a form of self-defence, and a mechanism to free us from the constraints of the present.

Source/Credit:

Samantha Cutrara

Osborne, Ken. “Big History: A New Approach to Teaching History.” (2013)

ulrike — Wed, 05 Jun 2013 20:46:33 +0000

Citation:

Osborne, Ken. “Big History: A New Approach to Teaching History.” The Manitoba Social Science Teacher 39(2) (2013): 13-17.

Abstract/Summary:

Osborne begins with a discussion of the current course of history education and its focus on historical thinking. Osborne’s concern with historical thinking is the lack of focus on the historical content in favour of the skills and methods since he contends that what is included in the history curriculum and the historical content is very important. He offers the suggestion of teaching Big History, which was proposed in the 1990s. Big History, according to Osborne, is the study of the universe as a whole since the Big Bang 13.7 billion years ago. Big History offers a more generalized and all encompassing history than conventional history courses which Osborne states are too narrow in focus. According to Osborne, the proponents of Big History find fault with current history teaching practices on nine grounds: the courses are often too narrow in scope and very nationalistic or regional, the courses fail to go far enough back in time, most history courses are based on the nineteenth century view of the past from written records, there is so much focus on humanity and their feelings that the physical environment and our relationship to it is often overlooked, history overlooks the connections with time-oriented sciences such as cosmology and paleontology, current history courses fail to place us within time and space which help us to understand our present and future, the current history courses focus on too short of a time period to draw general conclusions about life on earth, existing history fails to focus on the future as it is too concerned with the past and its impact on the present, and finally Big History seeks to focus on global citizenship and move away from the nationalistic sense of citizenship. Osborne concludes the chapter with a description of Big History and what a history course using Big History would look like.

Source/Credit:

Erika Smith

Osborne, Ken. “In Defense of History.” (1983)

ulrike — Wed, 22 Feb 2012 22:26:33 +0000

Citation:

Osborne, Ken. “In Defense of History.” In A Canadian Social Studies, edited by Jim Parsons, Geoff Milburn, and Max van Manen, 55-69. Edmonton: University of Alberta Press, 1983.

Abstract/Summary:

In this chapter, Osborne argues that the greatest reason for teaching history is that it can help students learn to think for themselves about important issues. Although other subjects can do this, history’s advantage is that it directs the student’s thinking to issues. Since the study of history requires understanding both society and the individual, it allows students to put their lives in perspective and “provides a way of cutting through the fog of assumptions, myths and downright lies which can so easily blind us to reality and either anesthetize or paralyze our will” (57).

Osborne argues that although social sciences can fulfill many of the same roles as history, history has three advantages in the schools. The first is that history is a story that can interest even the uninterested. The second is that history deals with the exotic and distant past, which interests young students. And the third is that it is able to combine elements of other disciplines. In order to fill this role, history has to be more than the facts, it has to be an interpretation and taught as such. He further argues that in order for history to function effectively in schools, it has to be taught using a child-centred method, focusing on the lives of regular people.

Source/Credit:

Katherine Joyce

Osborne, Ken. “Teaching Canadian History: A Century of Debate.” (2011)

ulrike — Wed, 12 Dec 2012 19:23:24 +0000

Citation:

Osborne, Ken. “Teaching Canadian History: A Century of Debate.” In New Possibilities for the Past: Shaping History Education in Canada, edited by Penney Clark, 55-80. Vancouver: UBC Press, 2011.

Abstract/Summary:

Ken Osborne’s chapter traces the teaching of Canadian history from the 1890s to present. Until the 1950s most provinces taught British or European history in addition to Canadian history. The author argues that from the 1890s to the 1970s history teaching in Canada largely focused on nation building designed to develop youth’s identity. However, the history taught in Quebec largely focused on Quebec history and was not a pan Canadian study. The chapter moves through each of the decades focusing on nation building and its criticisms, which led to a ‘bottom-up’ social historical telling of Canadian history in the 1960s. In the 1970s the focus was on the intellectual facets of history education and not the rote memorization of facts. In the 1990s history educators focused on halting the erosion of history education that had begun in the 1980s and assumed a different national focus, democratic citizenship. Present day history education is focused on historical knowledge and historical thinking.

Source/Credit:

Erika Smith

Osborne, Ken. “Teaching History in Schools: A Canadian Debate.” (2003)

ulrike — Wed, 12 Dec 2012 21:42:25 +0000

Citation:

Osborne, Ken. “Teaching History in Schools: A Canadian Debate.” Journal of Curriculum Studies 35(5) (2003): 585-626.

Abstract/Summary:

This paper examines the debate over the teaching of Canadian history that has been in progress in Canada since the early 1990s. It considers four criticisms: schools do not teach enough Canadian history and students, therefore, do not know it; the history that is taught is no longer sufficiently national; social history has destroyed the old nation-building narrative and dwells on the negative rather than the positive aspects of Canada's past; and child-centred teaching and other pedagogical fashions have led teachers to devalue factual knowledge. Finally, it examines the proposals that have been advanced for the reform of history teaching in Canada.

Source/Credit:

Taylor and Francis Online

Pace, Stefanie, and Roger Tesi. “Adult’s Perception of Field Trips Taken within Grades K-12: Eight Case Studies in the New York Metropolitan Area.” (2004)

ulrike — Fri, 02 Oct 2009 22:22:07 +0000

Citation:

Pace, Stefanie, and Roger Tesi. “Adult’s Perception of Field Trips Taken within Grades K-12: Eight Case Studies in the New York Metropolitan Area.” In Education 125(1) (2004): 30.

Abstract/Summary:

For many years students have participated in field trips venturing to museums, zoos, historical sites, and various other destinations. Despite the consistencies of this trend, very few studies have been conducted that investigate the type of long-term impact these experiences have on students. In this study. eight adults, four men and four women, between the ages of twenty-five and thirty-one, were interviewed for the purpose of gaining insight from their field trips experiences while attending school from kindergarten through the twelfth grade. Data collected from the eight interviews revealed a variety of both educational and social impacts on the participants. This investigation found the importance of hands-on activity during field trips. Field trips that required hands-on activities seem to have a positive impact on student ability to recall information learned on the educational excursion, and students tend to enjoy this type of experience when compared to field trips that didn't encompass hands-on activities. The social benefits of overnight excursions were also evident based on the participants' experiences. Most participants revealed that they experienced enhanced camaraderie with fellow students, teachers, and chaperones via their participation. According to the study participants, science and history concepts and knowledge was reinforced through experiences at museums, zoos, and historical sites. This study found that field trips, which bring students outside of the classroom and into the real world, are both educationally and socially beneficial for the participants.

Source/Credit:

ERIC

Packer, Jan and Roy Ballantyne. “Motivational Factors and the Visitor Experience: A Comparison of Three Sites.” (2003)

ulrike — Wed, 12 Dec 2012 21:34:44 +0000

Citation:

Packer, Jan and Roy Ballantyne. “Motivational Factors and the Visitor Experience: A Comparison of Three Sites.” Curator 45(3) (2003): 183-98.

Abstract/Summary:

Museums, art galleries, botanical gardens, national parks, science centers, zoos, aquaria and historic sites are important public learning institutions. The free-choice learning offered in these settings is closely linked to visitors’ intrinsic motivation, making it important to understand the motivational factors that impact on visitors’ experiences. This paper presents data from a questionnaire administered to visitors at three sites: a museum, an art gallery, and an aquarium. Similarities and differences among the sites are reported in relation to visitors’ expectations, perceptions of learning opportunities, engagement in motivated learning behaviors, and perceptions of the learning experience. The importance of learning to museum visitors and the unique opportunities and challenges of the museum in relation to other educational leisure settings are discussed. The authors argue that the study of motivational factors might contribute to the development of a common theoretical foundation for interpretation in museums and other informal learning settings.

Source/Credit:

California Academy of Sciences

Partington, Geoffrey. “What History Should We Teach?” (1980)

ulrike — Wed, 05 Aug 2009 22:42:08 +0000

Citation:

Partington, Geoffrey. “What History Should We Teach?” Oxford Review of Education 6(2) (1980): 157-76. http://www.tandf.co.uk/journals/titles/03054985.asp

Abstract/Summary:

Reviews various frameworks used by history teachers to determine what should and should not be included in the history curriculum. Identifies various criteria of significance and advances a set of positive criteria, including effect on the development of rationality, human control over nature, personal autonomy, equality of consideration between persons, and personal security.

Source/Credit:

ERIC

Patti, Chris. "Sharing ‘A Big Kettle of Soup’: Compassionate Listening with a Holocaust Survivor." (2015)

ulrike — Wed, 27 Jan 2016 19:56:21 +0000

Citation:

Patti, Chris. "Sharing ‘A Big Kettle of Soup’: Compassionate Listening with a Holocaust Survivor." In Beyond Testimony and Trauma: Oral History in the Aftermath of Mass Violence, edited by Steven High, 192-211. Vancouver: UBC Press, 2015.

Abstract/Summary:

Patti’s piece examines how one can receive the testimony of a survivor of mass violence using a conversational technique that prioritizes intimate, compassionate sharing and listening. In this chapter, Sal Wainberg, a Holocaust survivor who now lives in Florida, is interviewed by Patti; the experience is expressed using a dialogical format effectively demonstrating that their conversation led to a “forged connection... sense of intimacy… a space of exchange and reflection.” One of the key themes is “Why Do We Tell?” and Patti concludes that it is essential to appreciate the survivor’s “will to experience and express life itself” and for researchers to truly engage in “compassionate listening” with those who “had a lifetime of experience coming to terms with life in the wake of the Holocaust.”

Source/Credit:

ulrike — Wed, 27 Jan 2016 20:01:08 +0000

Citation:

Abstract/Summary:

Source/Credit:

Shannon Leggett

Pendry, Anna, Chris Husbands, and Alison Kitson. “Understanding the Knowledge Bases of History Teaching: Subject, Pupils and Professional Practices.” (2005)

ulrike — Tue, 08 Oct 2013 21:20:51 +0000

Citation:

Pendry, Anna, Chris Husbands, and Alison Kitson. “Understanding the Knowledge Bases of History Teaching: Subject, Pupils and Professional Practices.” In International Review of History Education, Vol.4: Understanding History: Recent Research in History Education, edited by R. Ashby, P. Gordon and P. Lee, 148-58. New York: Routledge Falmer, 2005.

Abstract/Summary:

Much work has been completed on how students best learn history and how it is currently being taught. Yet little work has been completed on the professional achievements of history teachers. Most of the work that has been completed in this field focuses on the effectiveness of teachers’ behaviours on student learning. The authors take issue with these studies as they do little to help understand the knowledge that underpins teacher behaviour, and tend to ignore what is being taught. The main concern of the chapter is the professional achievements of history teachers in the United Kingdom. A myriad of studies completed in the United States are also discussed in the chapter. These are followed by the methods and approach of the authors’ study using grounded theory to analyze history teaching in eight comprehensive schools in England. The results of the study are then discussed focusing on teacher knowledge of school history, pupils, resources and activities. The authors, through their study, wished to contribute to the growing research concerns of what history teachers do in the classrooms and what informs and influences these decisions. The study was not meant to tell teachers how to do their job or to create best practice models. In conclusion, all teachers were affected by a myriad of factors, including the knowledge of their pupils and their historical goals. The authors wish to stress the importance of teachers’ knowledge and how their everyday practice in classrooms may be informed by highly integrated knowledge systems. In the end, teachers viewed their pupils as one of the greatest resources in the classrooms and major contributors to curriculum construction.

Source/Credit:

Erika Smith

Penuel, William R., and James V. Wertsch. “Historical Representation as Mediated Action: Official History as a Tool.” (1998)

ulrike — Fri, 12 Jul 2013 18:55:39 +0000

Citation:

Penuel, William R., and James V. Wertsch. “Historical Representation as Mediated Action: Official History as a Tool.” In International Review of History Education, Vol. 2: Learning and Reasoning in History, edited by J.F. Voss and M. Carretero, 23-38. Portland, OR: Woburn Press, 1998.

Abstract/Summary:

According to the authors, historical judgments may be contemporary and citizens take a strong interest in telling the stories of their past, but these accounts are those that are supported by institutions such as governments and schools. The debate on how to study history in the United States highlights important issues about “official” and “unofficial” versions of history. The author discusses the different versions of history and how some groups wish to address the struggles of the non-dominant groups. The importance of historical representation on identity, recognition and self-image is important. The authors then move to a discussion of historical representation as mediated action, as discussed by Vygotsky such as sign systems (both spoken and written), narratives and cultural tools. For mediated action, it is important to understand narrative plots and historical individuals including the groups and events that surround them. The authors then describe the small study they undertook examining how undergraduate students in the United States use official history and other cultural tools in formulating an argument on a contemporary political issue. They describe the study including methodology and the three tasks that the students were to complete. A description of the results of the research, including the tools used for official and unofficial histories, are outlined. The first section describes the responses to historical individuals, groups and events and the differences in responses between the tasks. The second section discusses the representation of agency in the narratives, considering the roles various items played in the organization of text. The authors conclude by discussing how they have outlined several forms of evidence which suggest that historical narrative is invoked as a meditational means for each task. The texts generated in the study showed that most students only used one basic narrative tool, official history. The authors discuss how to transcend the use of meditational means in the study of history in the United States.

Source/Credit:

Erika Smith

Perfetti, C. A., M.A.Britt, J-F. Rouet, M.C. Georgi, and R.A. Mason. “How Students Use Texts to Learn and Reason about Historical Uncertainty.” (1994)

ulrike — Thu, 08 Oct 2009 22:53:47 +0000

Citation:

Perfetti, C. A., M.A. Britt, J-F. Rouet, M.C. Georgi, and R.A. Mason. “How Students Use Texts to Learn and Reason about Historical Uncertainty.” In Cognitive and Instructional Processes in History and The Social Sciences, edited by J. F. Voss & M. Carretero, 257-83. Hillsdale, NJ: Erlbaum, 1994.

Abstract/Summary:

This chapter is grounded on the notion that learning history is more than just learning a story, it is also learning the interpretive skills required for historical analysis. The authors used a system of causal analysis to study history learning, which assumes that causal structures used by learners represent their knowledge rather than guide comprehension, and that these structures can be used to assess what has been learned.

The chapter summarizes two studies previously conducted examining how American college and high school students learn and understand the cause of the United States’ acquisition of the Panama Canal Zone. The authors conclude that students learn history as a set of stories understood in terms of temporal-causal structures. Further, students acknowledged that history is a matter of interpreting an array of documents. Thus, students of all ages (although to varying degrees) should learn to interpret, explain, and argue the texts and stories that they learn from.

Source/Credit:

Ana Laura Pauchulo

Phillips, Mark Salber. “History, Memory, and Historical Distance.” (2004)

ulrike — Mon, 27 Dec 2010 22:02:31 +0000

Citation:

Phillips, Mark Salber. “History, Memory, and Historical Distance.” In Theorizing Historical Consciousness, edited by Peter Seixas, 86-102. Toronto: University of Toronto Press, 2004.

Abstract/Summary:

In this chapter, Mark Phillips focuses on the concept of historical distance. He defines historical distance as the complex effect of “formal, affective, ideological, and cognitive elements.” He identifies historical distance as never fixed nor static and as an important dimension to one’s relation to the past. Phillips uses textual and nontextual examples of historical representation, such as books and museums, to explore the importance of historical distance. He writes that historical distance is an overlooked dimension of historical thought, but because historical distance is not just received but constructed, it deserves more consideration than often given in discussions of historical consciousness.

Source/Credit:

Cutrara

Phillips, Robert. “Historical Significance – The Forgotten 'Key Element'?” (2002)

ulrike — Wed, 05 Aug 2009 22:45:42 +0000

Citation:

Phillips, Robert. “Historical Significance – The Forgotten 'Key Element'?” Teaching History 106 (2002): 14-19. http://www.history.org.uk/about/index.php?id=43

Abstract/Summary:

How many history departments regularly discuss the quality of their enquiries and teaching processes that relate to historical significance? It would not be unusual, in 2002, for a history department to spend time in a department meeting reflecting upon pupils’ learning about causation or to explore the connection between pupils’ evidential understanding and their growing historical knowledge. Yet the prescribed curriculum for 11 to 14 year-olds in England and Wales gives almost equal attention to the concept of ‘historical significance’ and has done since 1991. Rob Phillips argues that historical significance has been wrongly neglected as a key aspect of the conceptual structure that informs the discipline. Exemplifying the principles through practical activities he offers models for teaching pupils to explore the idea of significance and argues for its connection with citizenship education. In citizenship, as in other current areas of curriculum development commonly linked with history, such as ‘thinking skills’, history teachers now need to be clearer than ever when debating with non-history colleagues and managers what constitutes a legitimate historical focus or a valid historical question. Rob Phillips’ work on the under-represented concept of significance provides history departments with fresh criteria to support such experimentation and debate.

Source/Credit:

Teaching History

Pingel, Falk. “Reform or Conform: German Reunification and Its Consequences for History Schoolbooks and Curricula.” (2006)

Anne Marie — Wed, 23 Oct 2013 22:00:47 +0000

Citation:

Pingel, Falk. “Reform or Conform: German Reunification and Its Consequences for History Schoolbooks and Curricula.” In School History Textbooks Across Cultures: International Debates and Perspectives, edited by Jason Nicholls, 61-82. Oxford: Symposium Books, 2006.

Abstract/Summary:

The author begins his discussion of history education and textbook publishing in Germany by explaining how the reunification of Germany in 1990 came as a threat to East German professors. Though several embraced the ideas and methodologies of the West, many challenged the West’s approach to history and took less prominent or influential positions, or found themselves unemployed altogether. Pingel characterizes professors from the German Democratic Republic (GDR) as threatened, cautious, skeptical, resigned, and even unyielding in the presence of historians from the West.

Pingel then reviews the way in which, before 1989, East and West German textbooks and curricula both had to address the ‘national question,’ though they did so from opposing ideological premises. In the 1950s, reunification was seen as a likely option for West Germany. In the 1960s, textbooks in the West refused to recognize East Germany as sovereign state, and treated Germany as a divided country. West German reforms in the late 1960s tried to replace this view with one of mutual recognition. Textbooks in the 1970s and 1980s furthered this by presenting partition as a fact of life – one that is unacceptable, but irreversible. In the 1980s attempts were made to compare textbooks. Some discussion emerged, but teachers were generally unwilling to analyze one another’s schoolbooks because of fundamental differences in ideology. West Germany was able to enter into formal textbook discussions with Poland, but it was not able to do so with the GDR. The GDR felt West German textbook recommendations undermined communism.

In the GDR, textbooks in the 1950s also anticipated reunification. By the 1960s, however, the two states were recognized as a more permanent reality, wherein the GDR was the inevitable product of social development. Reunification in this light would mean the Federal Republic (West Germany) being absorbed into the GDR. In the GDR, textbooks revealed history that was centered on nationalism within the context of Socialism and the Soviet Union. By the 1980s, curriculum reforms stemming from the idea of perestoika attempted to reflect a more realistic interpretation of history, but the reality of a rapidly changing political climate left history teachers confused and challenged. This fostered debate, however, which paved the way for GDR history methodologists to present reforms in the late-1989-1990 period. These reforms, however, were ultimately not implemented because textbooks from West German publishers began to replace GDR history books, even before reunification took place. Teachers who could not reorient themselves lost their jobs or were forced out of their subject area. The textbook publication section of Volkseigener Verlag Volk und Wissen was closed down, leaving no publisher in the former GDR to compete with West German publishers and their history books.

In the GDR, the history textbook had been essential to the history classroom. Initially the West German textbooks were well received in the East, but with time ideological issues arose over content. Teacher’s manuals created further issues and the author suggests that many teachers reverted to old GDR textbooks to develop their lessons. Textbook creators in West Germany found it difficult to understand the thinking of students in East Germany, and it was not until ten years after reunification that both sides worked together to develop textbooks. Initially in 1990 debate emerged, but a regional approach to history was decided, which helped satisfy ideologically driven concerns about content. Teachers in GDR struggled, however, with new language and the interpretation of concepts with undertones not familiar to their way of thinking. By the late 1990s, problematic areas had been identified and the varying interests of the students from the East in contrast to those in the West had been acknowledged and considered.

Source/Credit:

Katie Gemmell

Pomson, Alex D. M., and Ron Hoz. “Sought and Found: Adolescents’ ‘Ideal’ Historical Conceptions as Unveiled by Concept Mapping.” (1998)

ulrike — Wed, 05 Aug 2009 22:47:30 +0000

Citation:

Pomson, Alex D. M., and Ron Hoz. “Sought and Found: Adolescents’ ‘Ideal’ Historical Conceptions as Unveiled by Concept Mapping.” Journal of Curriculum Studies 30(3) (1998): 319-37. http://www.tandf.co.uk/journals/tf/00220272.html

Abstract/Summary:

Describes the use of cognitive mapping to identify historical conceptions by examining whether adolescents' historical knowledge can be characterized according to distinctions between critical and traditional orientations. Presents three "ideal conceptions'" of Jewish history: (1) theological; (2) sociological; and (3) critical/historical. Finds that students' conceptions of history are neither traditional nor critical.

Source/Credit:

ERIC

Poole, Emma. “Ignorance of Our History 'Appalling'; Historian Wants Mandatory Teaching of Achievements in Canadian Classrooms” (2002)

ulrike — Thu, 28 Apr 2011 00:02:30 +0000

Citation:

Poole, Emma. “Ignorance of Our History 'Appalling'; Historian Wants Mandatory Teaching of Achievements in Canadian Classrooms” The Windsor Star April 15, 2002, A8.

Abstract/Summary:

Dr. David Bercuson, director of the Centre for Strategic and Military Studies at the University of Calgary, told a Global Sunday panel that most Canadians have no idea of the country's achievements.

"I think when you try to explain to Canadians the tremendous accomplishments that they have made as a nation . . . they don't understand what you're talking about because they haven't seen the examples put before them in school," said Bercuson.

"Very few Canadians know anything about the Canadian involvement in the Korean War and yet it was the third largest conflict that we've been involved in," said Bercuson.

Source/Credit:

Proquest

Porat, Dan A. “A Contemporary Past: History Textbooks as Sites of National Memory.” (2001)

ulrike — Fri, 12 Jul 2013 18:47:56 +0000

Citation:

Porat, Dan A. “A Contemporary Past: History Textbooks as Sites of National Memory.” In International Review of History Education, Volume 3: Raising Standards in History Education, edited by Alaric Dickinson, Peter Gordon, and Peter J. Lee, 36-55. London: Woburn Press, 2001.

Abstract/Summary:

The author begins with the example of George Orwell’s 1984 and the changing of history. Through this example the author describes how different conceptions of history have deep epistemological roots that perpetuate the memory of the past and enforce national memory. While there is a distinct difference between history, which sees the past from multiple perspectives, and memory, which views the past from a single vantage point, there are some commonalities. Historians centre their understandings of the past on analysis and interpretation of social situations and sources. The chapter aims to explore the way authors of textbooks have dealt with the tensions between collective memory, which will enhance national identification and critical history and promote historical thinking. Many studies have stated that textbooks contain facts, however the author argues that facts cannot be removed from interpretation. For example, he follows the changing depiction of the second-century revolt against the Romans and the rule of Israel. The changing of the accounts in the textbooks has social and political goals, according to the author, and it has implications for education. Textbooks in Israel in the 1950s-1960s discussed a mesmerizing past, 1970s and 1980s an ‘objective’ past and in the 1990s a universal past. History textbook narratives change with each new generation and the social and political factors; they narrate history for students and suppress alternative accounts. The author concludes with a discussion for the need to revamp history textbooks that are less authoritative and aid to switch to historical understanding. Students can think historically, however history education has to go further than textbooks to engage students in critical thinking.

Source/Credit:

Erika Smith

ulrike — Wed, 12 Dec 2012 20:56:16 +0000

Citation:

Pratt, Daniel D. "Good Teaching: One Size Fits All?" In An Update on Teaching Theory, edited by Jovita Ross-Gordon: San Francisco: Jossey-Bass, Publishers, 2002.

Abstract/Summary:

In North America there is a trend toward a new educational orthodoxy that says all teacher development should follow a constructivist path to good teaching. This chapter provides a counter argument based on five different orientations to teaching, learning and knowledge.

Source/Credit:

teachingperspectives.com

Preston, Jane P., Michael Cottrell, Terrance R. Pelletier, and Joseph V. Pearce. “Aboriginal Early Childhood Education in Canada: Issues of Context.” (2012)

ulrike — Thu, 26 Sep 2013 23:26:10 +0000

Citation:

Preston, Jane P., Michael Cottrell, Terrance R. Pelletier, and Joseph V. Pearce. “Aboriginal Early Childhood Education in Canada: Issues of Context.” Journal of Early Childhood Research 10(1) (2012): 3-18.

Abstract/Summary:

Herein we provide a literature synthesis pertaining to the state of Aboriginal early childhood education in Canada. We identify key features of quality Aboriginal early childhood programs. The background and significance of early childhood education for Aboriginal peoples is explicated. Cultural compatibility theory is employed as the philosophical basis to conceptualize quality Aboriginal early childhood education. Based on this theoretical premise, we suggest Aboriginal early childhood programs should incorporate Aboriginal pedagogy, be infused with Aboriginal language and culture, be adequately staffed by qualified Aboriginal educators, be structured to empower Aboriginal communities and incorporate full-day kindergarten. Prominent Aboriginal early childhood programs are featured within the article.

Source/Credit:

ERIC

Pushor, Debbie, and Bill Murphy. “Schools as Protectorates: Stories Two Mi'kmaq Mothers Tell.” (2010)

ulrike — Thu, 26 Sep 2013 23:31:14 +0000

Citation:

Pushor, Debbie, and Bill Murphy. “Schools as Protectorates: Stories Two Mi'kmaq Mothers Tell.” Canadian Journal of Educational Administration and Policy 114 (2010).

Abstract/Summary:

In 1965, Memmi introduced the concept of a protectorate. "Whenever the colonizer states, in his language, that the colonized is a weakling, he suggests thereby that this deficiency requires protection. From this comes the concept of a protectorate" (pp. 147-8). While this concept is 45 years old, it is an apt metaphor for thinking about current school landscapes, and about how educators are positioned on those landscapes to use their professional knowledge of teaching and learning as protectors of children and parents. We assert that while all parents experience "protection" in their children's schools, such protection plays out more strongly with First Nations parents because of historical, societal, socioeconomic, and political divisions (Shields, Bishop, & Mazawi, 2005). As we inquire into stories two Mi'kmaq mothers tell of their experiences with teachers and administrators, we pull forward narrative threads that make visible how parents are marginalized when schools are structured and administered as protectorates. We invite a reconsideration of who is seen to hold knowledge on school landscapes and whose knowledge counts.

Source/Credit:

ERIC

Ramirez, A. Y., Mary Murray Autry, and Mary Lou Morton. “Sociopedagogy: A Move beyond Multiculturalism toward Stronger Community.” (2000)

ulrike — Wed, 05 Jun 2013 18:45:49 +0000

Citation:

Ramirez, A. Y., Mary Murray Autry, and Mary Lou Morton. “Sociopedagogy: A Move beyond Multiculturalism toward Stronger Community.” Multicultural Education 7(4) (2000): 2-9.

Abstract/Summary:

Examines how teacher educators can confront diversity while addressing preservice teachers' individual uniquenesses, describing one university's required course on pluralism. By critically examining their histories, educators learned the importance of going beyond issues of race and ethnicity. Four common themes emerged from examining educational practices supporting multiculturalism. Discusses dilemmas of teaching the course, instructor ethnicity, student resistance, and course materials.

Source/Credit:

ERIC

Ramsay, Stephen. “The Hermeneutics of Screwing Around; or What You Do with a Million Books.” (2014)

ulrike — Mon, 17 Feb 2014 19:31:39 +0000

Citation:

Ramsay, Stephen. “The Hermeneutics of Screwing Around; or What You Do with a Million Books.” In Pastplay: Teaching and Learning History with Technology, edited by Kevin Kee, 111-20. Ann Arbor: University of Michigan Press, 2014.

Abstract/Summary:

There is a never-ending, unsatiated search for truth and wisdom. Nonetheless, that has not stopped philosophers and the like from attempting to create a declared path to what is known. It is this same train of thought that aids professors create class curricula and syllabi. All one can do is survey a field while presenting a topic that in turn will resonate. It is in this state of unease with the unknown that new ways of knowing are devised. This state of flux and anxiety can also be linked to the early days of the Internet and its seemingly chaotic order. As with what happened with print media, there was an attempt to create sense out of the chaos using guides and tools such as Google. The author describes how this turmoil is present in his field of literary studies, the debates about canonicity and who is in and who is out. With the vast amount of material that exists, one may never even be close to creating a reliable guide to a cannon and may only ever be able to create a random sampling. The author describes that there are some solutions that have been proposed such as accepting our ignorance and the fact that we will never know it all. He continues with a discussion of how using a library in different ways for specific research can follow the premise discussed above. Following this is a discussion of searching and browsing and how the two terms are different. The author concludes the chapter by stating that there are too many books for one to ever read and one should neither try to read them all nor pretend that they have but one’s personal path through the vast archive is important.

Source/Credit:

Erika Smith

Rand Grimes, Anne and Robert Kline. “Experts, Evaluators, and Explorers: Collaborating with Kids.” (2010)

ulrike — Mon, 15 Jul 2013 20:40:43 +0000

Citation:

Rand Grimes, Anne and Robert Kline. “Experts, Evaluators, and Explorers: Collaborating with Kids.” In Connecting Kids to History with Museum Exhibitions, edited by D. Lynn McRainey and John Russick, 75-92. Walnut Creek, CA: Left Coast Press, 2010.

Abstract/Summary:

It is important to change the approach of history museums in the creation of history exhibitions in order to make them more kid-friendly. There are three advantages to working with children: they know what it is like to be a child; children can become regular on-call consultants for the museum; and having children around the museum grounds the museum team and reminds them what it means to be a family friendly institution. Children can be a part of the process of exhibition development taking on roles such as audience experts, skilled evaluators and collaborators that inspire. The examples summarized in the chapter explore new and exciting ways to develop history exhibitions with children being included and engaged in both the process and the product. Although there are history museums that are already using children’s feedback in exhibition development, there is a difference between exhibitions created for children and those that are created with children. Rand Grimes and Kline explore how to involve children in the exhibition design process from the beginning instead of after the exhibition is already completed. Children can be used in object selection, content development and the wording of text panels and labels. Children can also help influence the design by helping museums determine the interest, functionality, readability and comprehension of an exhibition. It is also important to use summative evaluations at the end of an exhibition in order to determine how the children respond to the finalized exhibition.

Source/Credit:

Erika Smith

Raptis, Helen. “Exploring the Factors Prompting British Columbia's First Integration Initiative: The Case of Port Essington Indian Day School.” (2011)

ulrike — Thu, 26 Sep 2013 23:28:12 +0000

Citation:

Raptis, Helen. “Exploring the Factors Prompting British Columbia's First Integration Initiative: The Case of Port Essington Indian Day School.” History of Education Quarterly 51(4) (2011): 519-43.

Abstract/Summary:

Little empirical research has investigated the integration of Canada's Aboriginal children into provincial school systems. Furthermore, the limited existing research has tended to focus on policymakers and government officials at the national level. Thus, the policy shift from segregation to integration has generally been attributed to Canada's 1951 revisions to the Indian Act that enabled Native children to be educated "in association with other children." No research to date has probed local integration initiatives in Canada during the years immediately following World War II. This paper explores the factors impacting integration at Port Essington, a small town on the northwest coast of British Columbia, less than 100 miles from Ketchikan Alaska. The author argues that the decision to integrate the children of Port Essington Indian Day School into the public school system had less to do with integration policy at the national level than with a multitude of local and regional factors, including the inability to secure a teacher, power struggles between church and government officials, socioeconomic shifts in the area, demographic changes resulting from the evacuation of Japanese Canadians from the West Coast, and the local trustees' need for financial assistance to maintain the "white" school. Furthermore, this paper illustrates the extent to which government actions in one sphere can inadvertently but seriously impact operations in others. This paper offers a glimpse into the workings of a day school in one of British Columbia's most remote areas in the last decades of the nineteenth century and into the first half of the twentieth. As such, it contributes to a small body of research on Indian day schools, a literature that has been eclipsed by the vast scholarship on residential schooling. It also begins to fill a gap in the literature on post-World War II initiatives for integrating Aboriginal children into the province's public schools.

Source/Credit:

ERIC

Ravitch, Diane. "The Educational Backgrounds of History Teachers." (2000)

ulrike — Fri, 04 Dec 2009 00:04:57 +0000

Citation:

Ravitch, Diane. "The Educational Backgrounds of History Teachers." In Knowing, Teaching, and Learning History: National and International Perspectives, edited by Peter N. Stearns, Peter Seixas and Sam Wineburg, 143-55. New York: New York University Press, 2000.

Abstract/Summary:

Ravitch provides a statistical exploration of history teaching by discussing the findings from the U.S. Department of Education’s National Center for Education Statistics on the educational backgrounds of history teachers. She finds that while a greater percentage of history teachers had social studies backgrounds in 1998 than in 1996, there remains a very low percentage of teachers who actually have a history background, which makes the concentrated teaching of history a challenge. Looking at state requirements for teacher certification and state curricular standards that exacerbate this problem, she emphasizes that this situation can be reversed at the same level. She concludes her discussion by identifying two areas needing further research: state policies for future history teachers, and the educational backgrounds of social studies teachers.

Source/Credit:

Samantha Cutrara

Reich Rawson, Elizabeth. “It’s About Them: Using Developmental Frameworks to Create Exhibitions for Children (and Their Grown-ups).” (2010)

ulrike — Mon, 15 Jul 2013 20:39:52 +0000

Citation:

Reich Rawson, Elizabeth. “It’s About Them: Using Developmental Frameworks to Create Exhibitions for Children (and Their Grown-ups).” In Connecting Kids to History with Museum Exhibitions, edited by D. Lynn McRainey and John Russick, 49-73. Walnut Creek, CA: Left Coast Press, 2010.

Abstract/Summary:

In this chapter, Reich Rawson explores the question of exhibitions as it shifts from “what is this exhibition about?” to “who is this exhibition for?” Museums are moving towards becoming more visitor-centric as museum exhibitions and programming are being designed. Reich Rawson, in her position as a curator at the Brooklyn Children’s Museum, explores the use of a developmental framework when creating history exhibitions for children. She begins with an explanation of developmental frameworks and then lists four lines of inquiry when researching them: children’s developmental milestones or ages, front-end evaluation to determine prior knowledge, literature review to locate one’s place in the field, and curriculum goals and objectives in relation to the exhibition topic. Reich Rawson discusses each of the four lines of inquiry using charts and examples to buoy her argument. For example, she uses children and historical thinking to situate the topic. Reich Rawson then explains how to create a developmental framework and how to apply it to exhibition development. She explains how to apply the framework when the exhibit is being conceptualized, the formative evaluation stage, when the exhibit is being designed and in the final design stages. Reich Rawson states that an exhibition that uses a developmental framework, which has been vetted through the process outlined in this chapter, will produce exhibitions that “truly are learning environments tailor-made to engage all our visitors.”

Source/Credit:

Erika Smith

Reich, Gabriel A. "Testing Historical Knowledge: Standards, Multiple-Choice Questions and Student Reasoning." (2009)

Anne Marie — Mon, 05 Oct 2009 23:09:20 +0000

Citation:

Reich, Gabriel A. "Testing Historical Knowledge: Standards, Multiple-Choice Questions and Student Reasoning." Theory and Research in Social Education 37(3) (2009): 325-360.

Abstract/Summary:

This article explores the reasoning employed by high school students to answer a set of multiple-choice history questions. The questions come from New York State's Global History and Geography Regents exam. The Regents exams, together with a particularly well-regarded and ambitious set of content standards, are the cornerstone of the state's standards-based accountability system. Using "think-aloud" and interviews with a small sample (n=13) of urban 10th graders, the knowledge and skills elicited by a small sample of items are explored. This article begins with a discussion of the state standards and the discipline-based knowledge and skills that they describe. It continues with a report on the extent to which the student-participants were exposed to the material included in the administered items by a teacher whose pedagogy was commensurate with state standards. The bulk of the paper focuses on two test items that were particularly effective at discriminating between high and low performers. The reasoning and knowledge employed by participants when answering these questions are explored. The findings support previous research indicating that the assumptions made by adults about what items measure are often only partially correct. In the case of the items included in this study, they appeared to evoke knowledge and skills in three domains - history content, literacy, and test-wiseness - but not the discipline-based thinking so highly prized by the standards.

Source/Credit:

Theory and Research in Social Education

Resor, Cynthia Williams. “Place-Based Education: What is Its Place in the Social Studies Classroom?” (2010)

ulrike — Wed, 27 Apr 2011 23:13:59 +0000

Citation:

Resor, Cynthia Williams. “Place-Based Education: What is Its Place in the Social Studies Classroom?” Social Studies 101(5) (2010): 185-88. http://www.taylorandfrancisgroup.com/

Abstract/Summary:

Place-based education is a growing trend in education. This article defines place-based education and briefly examines its use across the disciplines. To better understand the wider concept, meanings of the geographical term place are analyzed. Place-based education in a social studies classroom is examined using two hypothetical scenarios, demonstrating that place-based education is indeed appropriate in the social studies.

Source/Credit:

Academic Search Complete

Richard, Chantal, Anne Brown, Margaret Conrad, Gwendolyn Davies, Bonnie Huskins, Sylvia Kasparian. “Markers of Collective Identity in Loyalist and Acadian Speeches of the 1880s: A Comparative Analysis.” (2013)

ulrike — Wed, 06 Jul 2016 21:27:16 +0000

Citation:

Richard, Chantal, Anne Brown, Margaret Conrad, Gwendolyn Davies, Bonnie Huskins, Sylvia Kasparian. “Markers of Collective Identity in Loyalist and Acadian Speeches of the 1880s: A Comparative Analysis.” Journal of New Brunswick Studies 4 (Fall 2013), 13-30.

Abstract/Summary:

This article presents the results of a research project comparing the speeches and sermons of Acadians and descendants of the Saint John Loyalists in the 1880s. At this pivotal moment in New Brunswick history, Loyalist descendants were celebrating a century of survival and progress while Acadians were regrouping after a century of silence. Each group sought to assert its place in a rapidly evolving society. Since neither group could claim for itself a specific geographic territory or a centralized government, a collective identity could be shaped only through the recognition of common values, a shared past, and a collective future. Using text analysis software programs Hyperbase and Sphinx, we explore the lexical worlds by which Loyalist descendants and Acadians expressed their collective identities, and we compare the specific traits and discursive strategies in each of these groups.

Source/Credit:

Journal of New Brunswick Studies

Riley, Karen L. “The Holocaust and Historical Empathy: The Politics of Understanding.” (2001)

ulrike — Fri, 12 Jul 2013 18:36:56 +0000

Citation:

Riley, Karen L. “The Holocaust and Historical Empathy: The Politics of Understanding.” In Historical Empathy and Perspective Taking in the Social Studies, edited by O.L. Davis Jr., Elizabeth Anne Yeager, and Stuart J. Foster, 139-66. Lanham, MD: Rowman & Littlefield, 2001.

Abstract/Summary:

It is difficult to choose secondary and primary sources for young historians. According to the author, two factors affect a student researcher’s decision when choosing sources. The first is in regards to his or her set of unique experiences and, secondly, how the researcher filters the available sources through a personal lens. Since we live in an information-rich world, student researchers often do not have a sustained attention of the past. This impedes historical understanding, which requires in-depth analysis and perspective taking. According to the author, history is one of the most controversial subjects taught. In reference to the Holocaust, since it is so politically charged, there are more issues than simple understanding. There may be difficulties in attempting to balance the cognitive and affective aspects of the Holocaust objectively. It is important for student researchers to build a framework around which to understand history through analysis of historical evidence. The author continues the article in three separate sections. The first deals with the politics of the Holocaust and how it is often a challenge to teach and sometimes creates a barrier to historical understanding. The second section discusses a methodological process and outcome interpretation of historical empathy in relation to the Holocaust. The final section critiques three popular curriculum guides on the Holocaust within the framework of historical empathy. The author concludes by discussing the considerations teachers face when teaching the Holocaust, such as whether to use prepared curriculum materials. The author also suggests that teachers employ the four constructs of historical empathy as outlined in the text and by Yeager, which provides students a framework for examining a historical event. Teachers must be cognizant of their positionalities and be clear about the reasons for teaching the Holocaust.

Source/Credit:

Erika Smith

Rivière, Angel, María Núñez, and Federico Fontela. “Influence of Intentional and Personal Factors in Recalling Historical Texts: A Developmental Perspective”. (1998)

ulrike — Thu, 15 Oct 2009 19:00:40 +0000

Citation:

Rivière, Angel, María Núñez, and Federico Fontela. “Influence of Intentional and Personal Factors in Recalling Historical Texts: A Developmental Perspective”. In International Review of History Education, Vol. 2: Learning and Reasoning in History, edited by James F. Voss and Maria Carretero, 214-26. Portland, OR: Woburn Press, 1998.

Abstract/Summary:

This chapter is grounded on three hypotheses: 1) that intentional factors in historical narratives, such as expressions about people’s desires and beliefs, influence the comprehension and recalling of historical discourse; 2) that personal factors, such as explanations for particular human actions, also have the same effect; and 3) that learning history implies acquiring the ability to establish links between intentional and non-intentional factors and personal and suprapersonal processes.

The authors draw from their study in which they examined the weight of intentional factors on the history learning of 144 elementary and high school students. Students were first given a text about the Nazi Party’s rise to power in Germany and then asked a series of questions to test their recall ability. Generally, the authors found that good recall of non-personal and non-intentional factors was due to students’ ability to apply present schemata to past events.

Source/Credit:

Ana Laura Pauchulo

Roberts, Patrick. “Am I the Public I Think I Am?: Understanding the public curriculum of museums as ‘complicated conversation.’” (2006)

ulrike — Fri, 02 Oct 2009 22:23:39 +0000

Citation:

Roberts, Patrick. “Am I the Public I Think I Am?: Understanding the public curriculum of museums as ‘complicated conversation.’” Journal of Museum Education 31(2) (2006): 105-12.

Abstract/Summary:

Focused on the role of curriculum theory in museum education, this essay considers William Pinar's suggestion that curriculum be understood as a "complicated conversation." An examination of "The Price of Freedom: Americans at War," an exhibit at the Smithsonian's National Museum of American History, Behring Center, offers an example of how museums might be viewed as authentic sites of "subjective and social reconstruction." The author draws on Elizabeth Ellsworth's concept of "pedagogical address" as well as work in the field of rhetoric in order to explore the performative aspects of "The Price of Freedom" as a public curriculum.

Source/Credit:

ERIC

Rogers, P. “History: The Past As a Frame of Reference.” (1987)

ulrike — Thu, 08 Oct 2009 22:55:03 +0000

Citation:

Rogers, P. “History: The Past As a Frame of Reference.” In The History Curriculum for Teachers, edited by C. Portal, 3-21. London, UK: Falmer Press, 1987.

Abstract/Summary:

In this chapter Rogers presents a case for making history a compulsory subject occupying approximately two-thirds of school time for every student. The author presents “capital benefit” as the primary reason for introducing history as required course. Generally, capital benefit is defined as a “frame of reference” that informs how we understand the present thus history education should be compulsory in schools because it can help students understand their lives today. This frame of reference is constructed in terms of two key aspects of historical knowledge, its explanatory nature and its use of analysis. Specifically, analysis is a useful tool for students to learn how to use because, as Rogers maintains, people need to know how to interpret the past rather than merely approach history learning as a collection of facts and information.

Source/Credit:

Ana Laura Pauchulo

Rosa, A., F. Blanco, and J.A. Huertas. “Uses of Historical Knowledge: An Exploration of the Construction of Professional Identity in Students of Psychology.” (1998)

ulrike — Wed, 05 Jun 2013 21:08:21 +0000

Citation:

Rosa, A., F. Blanco, and J.A. Huertas. “Uses of Historical Knowledge: An Exploration of the Construction of Professional Identity in Students of Psychology.” In International Review of History Education, Vol. 2: Learning and Reasoning in History, edited by J. F. Voss & M. Carretero, 61–78. Portland, OR: Woburn Press, 1998.

Abstract/Summary:

This chapter discusses how students see the past, understand history, and look to the future and whether or not they see a role for themselves in the construction of the future once they have completed a history course. Historical narratives convey morals and place individuals within a trajectory of events. The goal of history education, according to the author, is to inquire into human nature in order to create a more active and informed citizenship. The authors continue with a discussion of the difficulties and problems of transmission style, teaching and rote memorization of history for students and how using historical thinking and reasoning in the classroom would enhance student learning and understanding of history. They continue with a discussion on the history of psychology and how it aids, and is a part of, teaching intellectual history. Intellectual histories deal not only with events and change but also with describing the products of intellectual endeavours. The aim of the research project the authors discuss is two-fold: how does a course on history of psychology affect how students view psychology; and how does taking the course affect (or not) the choices the students make in relation to their future? Before the authors discuss the research project, they describe the characteristics of the history of psychology course. After taking the course, while students could add more information (names and dates) into their narratives of the past, the structure remained relatively the same, linear and simplistic, with events flowing in sequence. The students moved from historical knowledge to a historiographical style (3 different types: mentalistic saga, positivist romance, and distal romance). The teachings in the course offer students more information and reflection on events in the past but it neither has an effect on the historical narrative received nor does it affect students’ orientation for future action.

Source/Credit:

Erika Smith

Rose, Shari Levine. “Fourth Graders Theorize Prejudice in American History.” (2000)

ulrike — Wed, 05 Aug 2009 22:50:37 +0000

Citation:

Rose, Shari Levine. “Fourth Graders Theorize Prejudice in American History.” International Journal of Historical Learning, Teaching and Research 1(1) (2000). http://centres.exeter.ac.uk/historyresource/journal13/archive.htm

Abstract/Summary:

This article describes the explanations three fourth grade students developed to account for prejudice and discrimination as they studied Michigan history. The results of this study demonstrate that students' theories parallel those of social scientists who have grappled with similar questions about why people dislike or discriminate against those who are different. Moreover, the students in this study explained past actions by looking to what Collingwood (1946) refers to as ‘the inside of the event’ -- the thoughts in the minds of historical actors. The article explores how these students' historical sense-making is subject-specific, constructed, and situated in multiple contexts.

Source/Credit:

International Journal of Historical Learning, Teaching and Research

Rosenberg, Tracy Jean. “History Museums and Social Cohesion: Building Identity, Bridging Communities, and Addressing Difficult Issues.” (2011)

ulrike — Wed, 12 Dec 2012 22:12:23 +0000

Citation:

Rosenberg, Tracy Jean. “History Museums and Social Cohesion: Building Identity, Bridging Communities, and Addressing Difficult Issues.” Peabody Journal of Education 86 (2) (2011): 115-28.

Abstract/Summary:

Museums have the capacity to enhance social cohesion, which is the product of a trusting, connected community. History museums and historic sites, in particular, can serve communities by stimulating dialogue on difficult issues, accurately representing all the people of a nation, and creating forums for discussion among groups with disparate opinions. History museums promote social cohesion by solidifying the identities of their audiences—as members of communities, ethnic groups, nations, and the world. This article combines extensive research with firsthand experience in history museums to accurately portray the ways different museums affect social cohesion. It looks first at what social cohesion is, and the ways in which both civil society and educational organizations contribute to it. It makes the argument that museums share attributes of both civil society and educational organizations. This article then addresses the different ways museums contribute to defining identity, bridging community divides, and addressing society’s most difficult issues. It does this with in-depth analysis of several Holocaust museums and the movement in Russia to memorialize sites of Stalinist terror.

Source/Credit:

Taylor and Francis Online

Rosenzweig, Roy. "How Americans Use and Think about the Past: Implications from a National Survey for the Teaching of History." (2000)

ulrike — Fri, 04 Dec 2009 00:10:55 +0000

Citation:

Rosenzweig, Roy. "How Americans Use and Think about the Past: Implications from a National Survey for the Teaching of History." In Knowing, Teaching, and Learning History: National and International Perspectives, edited by Peter N. Stearns, Peter Seixas and Sam Wineburg, 262-83. New York: New York University Press, 2000.

Abstract/Summary:

In this chapter Roy Rosenzweig discusses some of the findings from his 1994 study with David Thelen reported in The Presence of the Past: Popular Uses of History in American Life (Columbia University Press, 1998). Through an extensive telephone survey with average Americans, Rosenzweig and Thelen looked at how Americans use and understand history. They found that, contrary to popular belief, Americans feel strongly connected to history, although personal and familial histories were more important than national histories. Here Rosenzweig touches upon the implications of these findings for history teaching.

Source/Credit:

Samantha Cutrara

Ross-Fichtner, Brittany. “Performing Sidewalk Chalk Politics: A Memorial for Jack Layton in Nathan Phillips Square, Toronto.” (2013)

ulrike — Wed, 03 Dec 2014 22:09:56 +0000

Citation:

Ross-Fichtner, Brittany. “Performing Sidewalk Chalk Politics: A Memorial for Jack Layton in Nathan Phillips Square, Toronto.” In Diverse Spaces: Identity, Heritage and Community in Canadian Public Culture, edited by Susan Ashley, 208-30. Newcastle Upon Tyne: Cambridge Scholars Publishing, 2013.

Abstract/Summary:

Ross-Fichtner’s article examines the ways in which people of Toronto used the medium of sidewalk chalk to playfully and temporarily transform Nathan Phillips Square into an outlet for alternative forms of political engagement through its encouragement of public participation, commemoration of Layton’s political legacy, disappearance into the realm of memory and promotion of a larger public dialogue. On August 22, 2011 Toronto’s Nathan Phillips Square transformed into a multilingual, multicultural and political mosaic of chalk messages, following the death Canadian politician Jack Layton. Layton died from an undisclosed form of cancer only three and a half months after leading the New Democratic Party to its greatest victory in a Canadian federal election where it became the Official Opposition for the first time in Canadian history. Layton and the New Democratic Party presented a clear political alternative to Canada’s Conservative Prime Minister Stephen Harper, and Toronto’s Mayor Robert Ford. The chalk messages persisted to be written and re-written despite three heavy bouts of rain in the days prior to Layton’s funeral on August 27; by August 24, just two days after Layton’s death, the memorial had spread to the size of a hockey rink on the square. Many of the messages quoted Layton’s own words, expressed gratitude towards him and listed various political sentiments. It was the promise of its departure that partially led to the success of the chalk memorial. Ross-Fichtner dually argues that the chalk memorial functioned as performance and public art, where the political potential lay in its theatricality.

Source/Credit:

Kelsey Wood-Hrynkiw

Rouet, Jean-François, M. Anne Britt, Robert A. Mason, and Charles A. Perfetti. “Using Multiple Sources of Evidence to Reason About History.” (1996)

ulrike — Thu, 08 Oct 2009 22:39:08 +0000

Citation:

Rouet, Jean-François, M. Anne Britt, Robert A. Mason, and Charles A. Perfetti. “Using Multiple Sources of Evidence to Reason About History.” Journal of Educational Psychology 88(3) (1996): 478-93.

Abstract/Summary:

This article investigated whether students’ ability to reason with and about documentary evidence is influenced by the composition of the document set they study. Two groups of college students read sets of history documents containing a variety of document types (e.g. historian essays, participant accounts). One group was also given primary documents, and the other group received additional historian essays that cited the primary documents. The students’ task was to read the documents, rate their usefulness and trustworthiness, and write a short opinion essay on the controversy described in the documents. Results revealed that the presence of primary documents influenced how students rated the documents and on which criteria they based this interpretation. These results suggest that exposing students to a variety of document types, especially primary documents, within a reasoning task changes how students represent and reason about documents and historical problems.

http://www.apa.org/journals/edu/

Source/Credit:

cat.inist

Rouet, Jean-Francois, Maureen A. Marron, Charles A. Perfetti, and Monik Favart. “Understanding Historical Controversies: Students’ Evaluation and Use of Documentary Evidence.” (1998)

ulrike — Wed, 21 Aug 2013 18:40:25 +0000

Citation:

Rouet, Jean-Francois, Maureen A. Marron, Charles A. Perfetti, and Monik Favart. “Understanding Historical Controversies: Students’ Evaluation and Use of Documentary Evidence.” In International Review of History Education Volume 2: Learning and Reasoning in History, edited by J. F. Voss & M. Carretero, 95-116. Portland, OR: Woburn Press, 1998.

Abstract/Summary:

One of the most important issues for those who research the history of learning is to determine how students learn and how they come to understand history. According to the authors, even though students may understand history differently, it is important to understand how students read, comprehend and interpret documents. There are three different levels when comprehending a text as described by the authors: verbatim representation of the text, the propositions of the text, and description of what the text is about rather than the features of texts themselves. Readers expect certain structures in text and use these as guideposts for understanding content. The authors purport that the comprehension of historical documents differs from other text as reading, evaluating and integrating historical documents is not fully captured by the situation model used by other types of text. The authors discuss how comprehending documents differs from other forms of general comprehension through a description of the situation model. They argue that a model of general comprehension does not and cannot adequately paint a picture of how students comprehend historical documents and events. They continue with a discussion of their research concerning college students’ evaluation and use of multiple documents about the Panama Canal. They discuss what students know about documents and how they evaluate the sources of information, and continue with a discussion of their results concerning how students use documentary evidence in their writings. The authors conclude that students need to have extensive knowledge of the sources they are reading, not only of the content but also the history of the author, the date of publication, the document type, etc. The authors discovered that students put their greatest trust in textbooks even though they recognize the varying characteristics of sources. Novice historians focus on the content of the source whereas the more experienced focus on the source parameters as well.

Source/Credit:

Erika Smith

Rouet, Jean-François, Monik Favart, M. Anne Britt, and Charles A. Perfetti. “Studying and Using Multiple Documents in History: Effects of Discipline Expertise.” (1997)

ulrike — Wed, 05 Aug 2009 23:24:23 +0000

Citation:

Rouet, Jean-François, Monik Favart, M. Anne Britt, and Charles A. Perfetti. “Studying and Using Multiple Documents in History: Effects of Discipline Expertise.” Cognition and Instruction 15(1) (1997): 85-106. http://www.tandf.co.uk/journals/titles/07370008.asp

Abstract/Summary:

Examined the influence of college students' expertise on use of multiple documents about a historical controversy. Found that strategies did not differ significantly across the groups of expert and non-expert students. However, evaluation of usefulness varied as a function of document type and students' expertise. Furthermore, novices and experts differed in how they expressed and supported their opinions.

Source/Credit:

ERIC

Rüsen, Jörn. “Historical Consciousness: Narrative Structure, Moral Function, and Ontogenetic Development.” (2004)

ulrike — Mon, 27 Dec 2010 22:01:28 +0000

Citation:

Rüsen, Jörn. “Historical Consciousness: Narrative Structure, Moral Function, and Ontogenetic Development.” In Theorizing Historical Consciousness, edited by Peter Seixas, 63-85. Toronto: University of Toronto Press, 2004.

Abstract/Summary:

In this chapter, first published in History and Memory in 1989, Jörn Rüsen defines four ways of using history (or four types of historical consciousness) by telling a story about the historical relationship between two Scottish clans and the ways this relationship could be interpreted in the present. Rüsen defines historical consciousness as a meaningful nexus between past, present, and future – a way to translate the past into the present for the future – and that a value-laden interpretation of history can generally translate into four types of historical consciousness: traditional, exemplary, critical, or generic. Using s

Source/Credit:

Cutrara

ulrike — Thu, 07 Jul 2016 19:36:38 +0000

Citation:

Sandwell, Ruth W. “‘Read, Listen, Discuss, Act’: Adult Education, Rural Citizenship and the Canadian National Farm Radio Forum.” Historical Studies in Education/Revue d’histoire de l’éducation, 24, no. 1 (2012): 170-94.

Abstract/Summary:

The Canadian National Farm Radio Forum was launched in January 1941 as an innovative partnership among three newly-formed organizations: the Canadian Association for Adult Education (CAAE), the Canadian Broadcasting Corporation (CBC), and the Canadian Federation of Agriculture (CFA). During the winter months from 1941 to 1965, the Farm Radio Forum supplemented weekly radio broadcasts for the casual listener with printed educational materials that were mailed in advance to registered rural discussion forums. This article explores these broadcasts, and argues that the discussions and the reports sent back from the discussion groups to the central offices of the National Farm Radio Forum provided the core of a distinctive and immensely popular experiment in adult education and grassroots rural, often radical, social activism in mid-twentieth century Canada.

http://historicalstudiesineducation.ca/index.php/edu_hse-rhe/article/view/4256/4335

Lancée en janvier 1941, la Tribune radiophonique agricole nationale du Canada s’est avéré un partenariat innovateur de trois organismes fondés depuis peu : l’Association canadienne pour l’éducation des adultes (ACÉA), la Société Radio-Canada (SRC) et la Fédération canadienne de l’agriculture (FCA). Pendant les mois d’hiver de 1941 à 1965, la Tribune radiophonique agricole en complément de ses émissions hebdomadaires fournissait à l’intention de ses auditeurs du matériel pédagogique expédié à l’avance, par la poste, à des forums de discussion agréés. Cet article étudie ces émissions et soutient que les discussions ainsi suscitées et les rapports subséquents envoyés par les groupes de discussion au siège social de la Tribune radiophonique agricole constituaient le cœur d’une expérience particulière très appréciée en éducation des adultes et en activisme populaire — souvent radical — au milieu du vingtième siècle au Canada.

Source/Credit:

Historical Studies in Education/Revue d’histoire de l’éducation

Sandwell, Ruth, and John Sutton Lutz. “What Has Mystery Got to Do with It?” (2014)

ulrike — Wed, 05 Feb 2014 19:42:09 +0000

Citation:

Sandwell, Ruth, and John Sutton Lutz. “What Has Mystery Got to Do with It?” In Pastplay: Teaching and Learning History with Technology, edited by Kevin Kee, 23-42. Ann Arbor: University of Michigan Press, 2014.

Abstract/Summary:

History is no longer fun; in an attempt to cover the curriculum and pack in as much information as possible, the element has been lost. Students are assessed on their penchant for regurgitation and not for the true learning that is taking place. However, now there is the option to meld the tenets of game-based learning and the purpose of history teaching. It is through this amalgamation that history can become fun. In this chapter, the authors take up the call to explain and demonstrate how game-based learning, through their history-based game The Great Unsolved Mysteries in Canadian History, and historical thinking and knowing can enhance history teaching and make it ‘playful.’ The authors draw on two different academic discussions. The first explores the research that has been completed in learning and teaching of school-based history. The second discussion centers on the discipline of history and the theoretical and methodological developments within the field. It is at the intersection of these two discussions that the authors purport lies the explanation of why their history-based interactive game, both theoretically and through research, brings to bear both the playful and serious aspects of history education. The authors also aim to explain why their online history project is so widely used and recommended as a method of history education. They begin by discussing history educators and their impact on research and the field of history education. The chapter continues with a discussion of historians and how they have shaped the field of history education. The authors conclude the chapter with an explanation and discussion of their history-based game, including a description of the mysteries available.

Source/Credit:

Erika Smith

Sandwell, Ruth. "The Great Unsolved Mysteries of Canadian History: Using a Web-based Archive to Teach History." (2005)

ulrike — Tue, 27 Oct 2015 20:59:24 +0000

Citation:

Sandwell, Ruth. "The Great Unsolved Mysteries of Canadian History: Using a Web-based Archive to Teach History." Canadian Social Studies 39, no. 2 (2005).

Abstract/Summary:

Over the past few years, there has been a growing trend in the use of primary documents, those original historical documents used by historians, to teach history in high school and even elementary classrooms. This article uses the author's experience of designing a web-based history education project, The Great Unsolved Mysteries in Canadian History project (www.canadianmysteries.ca) to explore some of the promise and problems of using primary documents to teach history. The article suggests that this approach not only makes history more interesting to students, but it does so by drawing students into the processes of critical and imaginative thinking needed to 'do' history.

Source/Credit:

Canadian Social Studies

Sandwell, Ruth. “History is a Verb: Teaching Historical Practice to Teacher Education Students.” (2011)

ulrike — Wed, 13 Feb 2013 22:20:52 +0000

Citation:

Sandwell, Ruth. “History is a Verb: Teaching Historical Practice to Teacher Education Students.” In New Possibilities for the Past: Shaping History Education in Canada, edited by Penney Clark, 224-42. Vancouver: UBC Press, 2011.

Abstract/Summary:

In this chapter Sandwell discusses her attempt to bring historical thinking to bear on teacher education students in the teacher education program at the University of Toronto, which in turn will hopefully affect the secondary students the teacher candidates will eventually teach. Instead of trying to effect change from a top-down approach, such as changing curriculum, Sandwell champions a grass-roots movement such as her teacher education elective history course. In this course students were first taught what primary documents are and then were taught the myriad of ways they can be used in the teaching of history. Students’ main objective of the course was to create a lesson plan that used the tenets of historical and critical thinking. The students were also to read academic articles related to historical thinking and to form discussions in class. Sandwell’s objective was to teach a course in which teacher education students would learn how to teach history in a way that closely resembles what historians do and what history is.

Source/Credit:

Erika Smith

Sandwell, Ruth. “Reading Beyond Bias: Teaching Historical Practice to Secondary School Students.” (2003)

ulrike — Wed, 05 Aug 2009 23:34:02 +0000

Citation:

Sandwell, Ruth. “Reading Beyond Bias: Teaching Historical Practice to Secondary School Students.” McGill Journal of Education 38(1) (2003): 168-86. http://mje.mcgill.ca/index

Abstract/Summary:

Social studies and history teachers have, in recent years, taken up with enthusiasm the use of "real" historical documents, (primary sources) in elementary and secondary classrooms across North America. Such documents have an immediacy, and often a personal element, that is more interesting to students than the history found in the average textbook. This paper argues, however, that the pedagogical promise of primary documents is too often limited to a superficial appeal, and the potential of primary documents to stimulate either critical thinking or deeper learning about the past is limited to an analysis of "bias." Beginning with a quick overview of the remarkable potential of primary documents in history education, the paper goes on to provide some practical examples of how teachers can most effectively use them in the classroom.

Source/Credit:

BNET

Sandwell, Ruth. “School History vs. the Historians.” (2005)

ulrike — Wed, 05 Aug 2009 23:28:56 +0000

Citation:

Sandwell, Ruth. “School History vs. the Historians.” International Journal of Social Education 20(1) (2005): 9-15. http://ijse.iweb.bsu.edu/

Abstract/Summary:

This article is largely the author's reflections on one particular aspect of history and social studies education, reflections that are very much those of an outsider. Nationally, she is not an American, but a Canadian, and professionally has been, until recently, a historian rather than a history educator. And the differences, are profound. This article is not concerned with the differences between American and Canadian history education; those differences deserve more attention than they can receive here. Instead, it focuses on the gulf that presently divides historians and history educators throughout North America. History teachers, in Canada and the United States, differ from each other in many ways, varying in their teaching practices, and their beliefs about what to teach and for what purposes. Yet, as a group they tend to overwhelmingly share a particular belief about what history, in essence, is: History is a story about people, events and trends that constitutes a strong and linear nationalist narrative of progress from the past to the present and future. For most educators, history is the most accurate story. This view stands in noted contrast to the tendency of Euro-American professional historians who, for the last half-century or so, have come to understand history as a process of critical enquiry concerning evidence left over from the past; evidence that historians interpret through complex, varied and contested narratives. Thus, for historians, history is someone’s coherent narrative interpretation of evidence. The process of historical enquiry--the dialogue among people about evidence from the past--is the best way to explore who we were and are, and how we can turn that into who we as a global community want to be.

Source/Credit:

ERIC

ulrike — Fri, 02 Oct 2009 22:26:30 +0000

Citation:

Schafer, Hermann. “Visitor Studies in the Haus der Geschichte der Bundesrepublik Deutschland (Museum for Contemporary History in Germany).” Visitor Behavior 11(1) (1996): 11-12.

Abstract/Summary:

The Haus der Geschichte has availed itself of the series of independent evaluation consultants from Germany and the United States for a variety of projects and with diverse goals. These have included identifying future visitors and their needs and thus creating an exhibition that is visitor oriented and geared to the ‘everyday’ visitor; examining exhibition design and testing different alternatives. With the help of these evaluation methods, the museum, which has grown from an initial staff of some dozen people in 1987 to about 100 people today, found its own exhibition ‘style;’ further, especially important given the political controversy and heated debates surrounding the museum, we were able to win public support for this project, its approach, and for its goals. As early as 1989 the first evaluations of label copy, presentation of objects and use of media in various exhibitions throughout Germany were conducted. Further, prior to opening, the socio-demographic composition of the anticipated visitors to the Haus der Geschichte and their expectations were evaluated.

http://www.visitorstudiesarchives.org/vb.php

Source/Credit:

Informal Science

Schweber, S. “Especially Special”: Learning about Jews in a Fundamentalist Christian School." (2003)

Anne Marie — Mon, 14 Sep 2009 21:06:30 +0000

Citation:

Schweber, S. "'Especially Special': Learning about Jews in a Fundamentalist Christian School." Teachers College Record. 105 (2003): 1693–1719.

Abstract/Summary:

Based on the premise that private religious schools function sociologically as crucibles for collective memory work, this study examined the image of Jews conveyed through a Holocaust unit as taught at a fundamentalist Christian school. After presenting an analysis of both the enacted and experienced curricular dimensions of the unit, we argue that studies of abstracted others--others studied about rather than interacted with--within communal religious schools potentially pose problematic implications for students' multicultural sensibilities. Moreover, we claim that, given these implications, religion, as a category, ought to be both more consistently included within multicultural education frameworks and more closely examined within lived, classroom practice.

http://scholarsportal.info.myaccess.library.utoronto.ca/cgi-bin/sciserv.pl?collection=journals&journal=01614681&issue=v105i0009&article=1693_slajiafcs

Source/Credit:

Teachers College Record

Schweber, Simone. “Simulating Survival.” (2003)

ulrike — Fri, 07 Aug 2009 21:06:51 +0000

Citation:

Schweber, Simone. “Simulating Survival.” Curriculum Inquiry 33(2) (2003): 139-88. http://www.wiley.com/bw/journal.asp?ref=0362-6784

Abstract/Summary:

This is a lengthy description of one teacher’s experience devising and facilitating a Holocaust teaching project. Schweber is very self-reflective about her own performance and curriculum design. Although her discussion centres around her own experiences, she is able to draw out some of the general problems that will confront any educator who is interested in including teaching about the Holocaust in their educational programs. In particular, Schweber raises the question as to whether it is appropriate to teach this topic in particular classrooms, such as elementary classrooms. A rebuttal to Schweber’s arguments and her response is included in this same issue.

Source/Credit:

OISE Preservice Teacher Education Program

ulrike — Fri, 16 Oct 2009 21:19:32 +0000

Citation:

Seixas, Peter and Carla Peck. “Teaching Historical Thinking.” In Challenges and Prospects for Canadian Social Studies, edited by Alan Sears and Ian Wright, 109-17. Vancouver: Pacific Educational Press, 2004.

Abstract/Summary:

Seixas and Peck begin this article by noting the difference between historical narratives such as those presented in movies and historical narratives as they should be presented in the classroom. Specifically, the authors maintain that while movies attempt to “sweep students in” through their accounts of the past, history learning in the classroom should aim to teach students to “approach historical narratives critically – precisely not to be swept in.” Thus, students should learn to ask of movies and textbooks: Who constructed the past as such? Why? How? Seixas and Peck argue that students should be able to construct their own historical narratives.

The first section of this chapter is divided into six subsections: “significance,” “epistemology and evidence,” “continuity and change,” “progress and decline,” “empathy (historical perspective taking) and moral judgement,” and “historical agency.” Here Seixas and Peck outline how their theoretical discussion can be applied to practice in a section titled “In the Classroom.” Thus, they offer teachers suggestions for moving away from rote learning and memorization exercises.

Source/Credit:

Ana Laura Pauchulo

Seixas, Peter and Penney Clark. “Obsolete Icons and the Teaching of History.” (2011)

ulrike — Wed, 13 Feb 2013 22:21:43 +0000

Citation:

Seixas, Peter and Penney Clark. “Obsolete Icons and the Teaching of History.” In New Possibilities for the Past: Shaping History Education in Canada, edited by Penney Clark, 282-301. Vancouver: UBC Press, 2011.

Abstract/Summary:

Seixas and Clark begin the chapter with a discussion of the pedagogy of icons and monuments around the world. Using the case study of the murals that were painted in the 1930s at the BC Legislature, the authors delve into the issue of historical consciousness and how it is passed on to future generations. A request to remove the murals was received by the BC Legislature in 2001 from a First Nations group as they were deemed to be offensive to First Nations. Following a 68 to 3 vote in the Legislature, it was decided that the murals would be covered. The authors used a sample of applicants to the Begbie Canadian History Contest as a research site. They analyze the answers of the students surrounding the mural controversy and place them into four categories – positive colonial past: fair and accurate pictorial representations; negative colonial past: fair and accurate pictorial representations; no statements about the colonial past: unfair and inaccurate pictorial representations; and negative colonial past: unfair and inaccurate pictorial representations. It was determined that both historians and the general public are “ready to historicize the monuments themselves.” The authors then discuss how, when looking at a monument, people need to recognize the era of the monument’s construction, understand what actually happened in the colonial era and consider what should be done with a monument through the lens of the present. Despite the removal of the colonial murals from the BC legislature, the colonial past has not been erased.

Source/Credit:

Erika Smith

Seixas, Peter, and Penney Clark. “Murals as Monuments: Students’ Ideas about Depictions of Civilization in British Columbia.” (2004)

ulrike — Fri, 07 Aug 2009 21:26:20 +0000

Citation:

Seixas, Peter, and Penney Clark. “Murals as Monuments: Students’ Ideas about Depictions of Civilization in British Columbia.” American Journal of Education 110(2) (2004): 146-71. http://www.journals.uchicago.edu/loi/aje

Abstract/Summary:

Around the world people confront monuments that celebrate historical origins, movements, heroes, and triumphs no longer seen as worthy of celebration. While an analysis of these "lieux de memoire" themselves can reveal historical consciousness, the sites become particularly interesting at the moment when they inspire debate, namely, when people ask what can be done with these artifacts of earlier power configurations, outdated modes of understanding, and bygone identities. Recent protests over a series of murals depicting the origins of civilization in British Columbia, located in the central rotunda of the British Columbia Legislative Buildings, offer this opportunity. This article analyzes a sample of 53 essays written by senior high school students, responding to the dilemma of what to do about the murals. It explores four different orientations toward the past implicit in the student responses, using theoretical frames adapted from Nietzsche and Ruesen. These have implications for identities, public policies, and the teaching and learning of history in the present.

Source/Credit:

ERIC

Seixas, Peter, Dan Fromowitz, and Petra Hill. “History, Memory and Learning to Teach.” (2002)

ulrike — Fri, 07 Aug 2009 21:27:49 +0000

Citation:

Seixas, Peter, Dan Fromowitz, and Petra Hill. “History, Memory and Learning to Teach.” Encounters on Education 3 (2002): 43-59.

Abstract/Summary:

How do individual and social memories get re-worked in the crucible of a teacher education program, as student-teachers prepare to teach history to the next generation in a democratic, multicultural, and multinational state? This study posits four key competencies that student-teachers need in order to transcend history as the simple transmission of social memory. It takes the form of intertwined autobiographical narratives of the three authors: two were student-teachers and the third, their instructor. It recounts their experience with memory and history prior to the teacher education program and then follows them through the program and into the schools. While it demonstrates their work with critical historical competencies, it also acknowledges a necessary persistence of issues of memory.

Source/Credit:

Encounters on Education

Seixas, Peter. "What Is Historical Consciousness?" (2006)

ulrike — Thu, 10 Dec 2009 23:35:01 +0000

Citation:

Seixas, Peter. "What Is Historical Consciousness?" In To the Past: History Education, Public Memory, and Citizenship in Canada, edited by Ruth W. Sandwell, 11-22. Toronto: University of Toronto Press, 2006.

Abstract/Summary:

In this chapter, Peter Seixas explores the meaning of historical consciousness by looking at how it intersects with public memory, citizenship, and history education. Seixas grounds his definition in a series of everyday questions that typify the idea of historical consciousness and claims that although they are difficult to answer, it is natural for people to ask about the link between the past, present, and future which should form the basis of how to teach and learn history. Building on the work of British researchers, Seixas expands the list of “second-order concepts,” or the tools used by historians to construct historical accounts, which he argues should be privileged in history education; these concepts are evidence, significance, continuity and change, progress and decline, empathy/perspective taking, moral judgement, and agency. Although he acknowledges that it is a challenge to emphasize these second-order concepts and shift priorities in history education from content to action, he claims that this emphasis will teach students skills that are integral for negotiating our multinational, pluralist society.

Source/Credit:

Samantha Cutrara

Seixas, Peter. “Assessment of Historical Thinking.” (2011)

ulrike — Tue, 15 Jan 2013 18:55:12 +0000

Citation:

Seixas, Peter. “Assessment of Historical Thinking.” In New Possibilities for the Past: Shaping History Education in Canada, edited by Penney Clark, 139-53. Vancouver: UBC Press, 2011.

Abstract/Summary:

In this chapter, Seixas discusses the topic of assessment in relation to historical thinking. There are two types of assessment, summative assessment (accountability) and formative assessment (student learning). Seixas also adds that a prior component to assessment has been goals that are seen as a progression to some end. These goals are inextricably linked to assessment with different aims and consequences, dependent upon the student’s school level. The goals for historical consciousness and historical thinking are different than the more generic student goals. According to the Canada-wide Benchmarks of Historical Thinking Project there are six assessment goals: establish historical significance; use primary source evidence; identify continuity and change; analyze cause and consequence; take a historical perspective and understand the ethical dimension of historical interpretation. Seixas continues with a discussion of a cognition and learning model of historical thinking and a developmental model. He illustrates tasks teachers can undertake to elicit historical thinking and cognition in their students. He concludes with a case study analyzing how students’ performances of historical cognition can be assessed. Seixas, cognizant of the pressures on present-day teachers, understands the need to work with teachers to develop ways to assess historical thinking that are practical for the classroom.

Source/Credit:

Erika Smith

Seixas, Peter. “Beyond 'Content' and Pedagogy': In Search of a Way to Talk About History Education.” (1999)

ulrike — Wed, 05 Jun 2013 18:34:23 +0000

Citation:

Seixas, Peter. “Beyond 'Content' and Pedagogy': In Search of a Way to Talk About History Education.” Journal of Curriculum Studies 31(3) (1999): 317-37.

Abstract/Summary:

One of the least examined forms of school/university collaboration is that which brings together scholars in a given discipline and teachers in the corresponding school subject. The paper investigates four summer institute sites of the California History Social Science Project, focusing on the language used by historians and teachers to describe their own and each other’s roles and contributions. The study reveals two sets of discourses. The first involves the notions of 'content' and 'pedagogy.' Although these terms seem to level the playing field of professional authority between discipline-based professors (as 'content experts') and teachers (as 'pedagogy experts'), they provide a problematic, fundamentally technical model of history teaching and learning. The second, revolving around 'doing the discipline,' provides a far more satisfactory account of, and trajectory for, collaborative professional work aimed at teaching and learning for understanding. (http://www.tandfonline.com/doi/abs/10.1080/002202799183151)

Source/Credit:

Taylor and Francis Online

Seixas, Peter. “Conceptualizing Growth in Historical Understanding.” (1996)

ulrike — Fri, 16 Oct 2009 21:18:20 +0000

Citation:

Seixas, Peter. “Conceptualizing Growth in Historical Understanding.” In Handbook of Education and Human Development: New Models of Learning, Teaching, and Schooling, edited by David R. Olson and Nancy Torrance, 765-83. Oxford, UK: Blackwell, 1996.

Abstract/Summary:

The basis of this chapter is the dearth of investigations into historical thinking and learning. Thus, this chapter is an exploration of the issues faced in constructing a collective experience of the past that make up the structure of historical understanding. The chapter is divided into two sections: “Elements in the Structure of the Discipline of History” and “Toward a New Pedagogy of History.”

In the first section, Seixas begins by outlining different theoretical understandings of how it is that the past is and becomes significant in relation to the present. Second, Seixas maps the different factors that inform how historians, teachers, and students assign meaning to the past and differentiate between what is to be believed as truth and what is not. Third, he highlights the inherent relationship between continuity and change which structures both how the “naïve thinker” and the “expert thinker” will understand how concepts, ideas, and social relations change over time and how the movement of time is conceptualized. The fourth part of this section is a short discussion of how people organize the past in relation to present notions of progress and decline and how teachers can probe students’ understanding of these concepts as a starting point for historical inquiry in the classroom. In the fifth section, Seixas draws from various studies to explain how it is that students might understand the past and make sense of the people who lived through that past through empathy and moral judgments. Lastly, Seixas draws our attention to the need to teach about the relationship of the historian to relationships of power so that they can ask critical questions such as “who makes historical change and how?”

In his conclusion, Seixas notes that his aim was to highlight the issues that students face when studying history and maintains that it is the duty of researchers who study history teaching and learning to expose these issues for other researchers, for students, and for teachers.

Source/Credit:

Ana Laura Pauchulo

Seixas, Peter. “Confronting the Moral Frames of Popular Film: Young People Respond to Historical Revisionism.” (1994)

ulrike — Fri, 07 Aug 2009 21:15:44 +0000

Citation:

Seixas, Peter. “Confronting the Moral Frames of Popular Film: Young People Respond to Historical Revisionism.” American Journal of Education 102(3) (1994): 261-85. http://www.journals.uchicago.edu/loi/aje

Abstract/Summary:

Inquires about the moral dimensions of high school students' understanding of two films' representations of the past. The film "Dances with Wolves" was viewed as a transparent window on the 19th-century West, but no moral frame was examined. "The Searchers" was viewed as a deeply flawed product of the 1950s.

Source/Credit:

ERIC

Seixas, Peter. “Forces for Change in the Teaching and Learning of History: Introduction to a Special Issue of Canadian Social Studies.” (1998)

ulrike — Fri, 07 Aug 2009 21:21:13 +0000

Citation:

Seixas, Peter. “Forces for Change in the Teaching and Learning of History: Introduction to a Special Issue of Canadian Social Studies.” Canadian Social Studies 32(2) (1998): 44-68.

Abstract/Summary:

Introduces the articles and topics featured in this special theme issue. The articles revolve around two major developments: the cognitive revolution in psychology and the historiographic revolution in history. Reviews the history of these two revolutions and notes articles relevant to each.

Source/Credit:

ERIC

Seixas, Peter. “Historical Consciousness: A Scheme of Progress in Knowledge for a Post-Progressive Age.” (2005)

ulrike — Wed, 05 Jun 2013 21:03:03 +0000

Citation:

Seixas, Peter. “Historical Consciousness: A Scheme of Progress in Knowledge for a Post-Progressive Age.” In Narrative, Identity and Historical Consciousness, edited by Jürgen Straub, 141-62. New York, Oxford: Berghahn Books, 2005.

Abstract/Summary:

A common complaint is that history is taught in North American and European schools in a rote manner and through the memorization of factual information. The author aims to articulate a concept of historical consciousness that would be useful for the practice of history in schools. According to the author it must do two things: it must recognize student’s prior historical consciousness and define the trajectory of development in that consciousness. The author uses the work of Jorn Rusen and his four stages of development in historical consciousness: traditional, exemplary, critical, and genetic. He then uses these four stages to inform seven issues that are encountered by historical thinkers: historical epistemology, historical significance, continuity and change, progress and decline, moral judgment, historical agency, and empathy. He uses Rusen’s four types of historical consciousness to suggest how different types of historical thinkers may approach the seven issues listed above. He concludes with an examination of how the notions of historical consciousness can be made practical for students. He uses an example of students confronting filmic text and another where they consider the historical significance. He concludes with a discussion on the limitations of using this framework for historical consciousness.

Source/Credit:

Erika Smith

Seixas, Peter. “Historical Understanding among Adolescents in a Multicultural Setting.” (1993)

ulrike — Fri, 07 Aug 2009 21:08:26 +0000

Citation:

Seixas, Peter. “Historical Understanding among Adolescents in a Multicultural Setting.” Curriculum Inquiry 23(3) (1993): 301-27. http://www.wiley.com/bw/journal.asp?ref=0362-6784

Abstract/Summary:

The author of this study examines six students' construction of historical knowledge as shaped by school and family. The author explores students' perceptions of the disjunctions and interactions between the two sources of historical understandings. Students representing a range of social studies achievement and ethnic backgrounds were selected from grade 11 classes in a large, urban, multicultural school. Classroom participant-observations and two in-depth interviews with each student provide the data. The students' patterns of historical understanding are analyzed with particular attention to the following elements: historical significance, historical evidence and authority, and historical agency, empathy, and moral judgment. The author suggests that family experiences and other sources of information outside school strongly influence the way in which students understand history. He explores some of the problems generated when the complexities of historical meaning making remain unrecognized in school social studies. Finally, the author suggests advantages, particularly in the multicultural classroom, of shaping curricular content and classroom activities to enable students to examine and build upon their prior historical knowledge.

Source/Credit:

Curriculum Inquiry

Seixas, Peter. “Introduction to Theorizing Historical Consciousness” (2004)

ulrike — Tue, 24 Sep 2013 23:25:43 +0000

Citation:

Seixas, Peter. “Introduction.” In Theorizing Historical Consciousness, edited by Peter Seixas, 3-24. Toronto: University of Toronto Press, 2004.

Abstract/Summary:

History is used to give context and meaning, including change over time. This volume builds upon the work that began on ‘historical consciousness’ in 2001 at the University of British Columbia. The discipline of history has been studied first as a progression of national narratives and then as a professionalization, with scientific accountability, scrutiny of evidence and archival sources. Yet, according to the author, these methods of study are but a mere portion of the discipline and thus a critical take on historiography emerged. Seixas discusses collective memory and how the change in historiography has affected our notions of the past. He also discusses ‘memory studies’ and how they have affected the field of history in multiple arenas such as schools, museums, archives, etc. Collective memory and ‘historical consciousness,’ apparently very similar, are different which is quite evident in the work of German historians, even though they have varying definitions of the term. Seixas purports that ‘historical consciousness’ has the same tenets as collective memory yet it brings to bear the problems associated with the modern practices of historiography and the varying memory practices due to cultural practices, time periods etc. He is aligned with the definition of historical consciousness as defined in the journal History and Memory:”‘the area in which collective memory, the writing of history and other modes of shaping images of the past in the public mind merge.” Seixas concludes with a discussion of the five principles needed to enhance the theorization of ‘historical consciousness,’ the relationship between/among: academic and public history; theory, empirical research and practice; the comparative imperative; need for value commitments; and historicizing the study of historical consciousness.

Source/Credit:

Erika Smith

Seixas, Peter. “Mapping the Terrain of Historical Significance.” (1997)

ulrike — Fri, 07 Aug 2009 21:19:59 +0000

Citation:

Seixas, Peter. “Mapping the Terrain of Historical Significance.” Social Education 61(1) (1997): 22-77. http://www.socialstudies.org/socialeducation

Abstract/Summary:

Summarizes a Canadian study that attempted to determine how a diverse group of high school students identified and understood events of historical significance. The students' responses ranged from generally objective and analytical to wildly subjective. Includes a recommended exercise for establishing students approaches to and definitions of historical significance.

Source/Credit:

ERIC

Seixas, Peter. “Popular Film and Young People's Understanding of the History of Native American-White Relations.” (2007)

ulrike — Thu, 15 Oct 2009 18:59:27 +0000

Citation:

Seixas, Peter. “Popular Film and Young People's Understanding of the History of Native American-White Relations.” In Celluloid Blackboard: Teaching History with Film, edited by Alan S. Marcus, 99-120. Greenwich CT: Information Age Publishing, 2007.

Abstract/Summary:

In this chapter Seixas aims to explore whether students make the same assumptions about films as they do about textbooks in their history learning. Specifically, he uses the films “Dances with Wolves” (1990) and “The Searchers” (1956) to examine the kinds of judgements that ten high school students made about the films such as when and if they choose to question the accuracy of the narrative. Students were shown segments of each of the films and, after each segment, asked to say what the segment was about. They then were asked to complete questionnaires about basic demographic information and their film-viewing habits.

Seixas found that, in contrast to students’ conception of “The Searchers,” most students viewed “Dances with Wolves” as an accurate representation of the past. This may have been because the cinematic and social conventions employed in the latter made the film much more “believable.” Additionally, students may have favoured “Dances with Wolves” because they agreed with its interpretive stance of the past – a story of Aboriginal historical decline rather than a celebratory narrative of historical development as in “The Searchers.” While it is clear that films such as “Dances with Wolves,” which are part of the popular culture, help students understand that “the past can be a source of meaning in the present,” Seixas warns that students’ willingness to accept the media’s representation of the past without critique should be a concern for all history educators.

Source/Credit:

Ana Laura Pauchulo

Seixas, Peter. “Popular Film and Young People’s Understanding of the History of Native American-White Relations.” (1993)

ulrike — Fri, 07 Aug 2009 21:13:35 +0000

Citation:

Seixas, Peter. “Popular Film and Young People’s Understanding of the History of Native American-White Relations.” The History Teacher 26(3) (1993): 351-70.

Abstract/Summary:

This study looks at students’ uncritical use of popular films to understand history. Seixas argues that films can be successfully used in the social studies classroom if carefully paired with other films: “Viewing other films whose underlying interpretive framework is less congenial to their own, may provide the stimulus for students to examine all film … critically” (p. 366). He further suggests that other forms of evidence will be used by students to critically examine the film’s historical message and that the curriculum needs to use techniques from cinema history and film criticism.

Source/Credit:

Melissa Otis-Dixon

Seixas, Peter. “Preservice Teachers Assess Students' Prior Historical Understanding.” (1994)

ulrike — Fri, 07 Aug 2009 21:17:17 +0000

Citation:

Seixas, Peter. “Preservice Teachers Assess Students' Prior Historical Understanding.” The Social Studies 85(2) (1994): 91-4. http://www.heldref.org/pubs/tss/about.html

Abstract/Summary:

Describes a learning activity in which preservice social studies teachers determine the prior historical understanding and attitudes of secondary students through class discussions, questionnaires, and other techniques. Discusses the implication of the findings regarding historical knowledge, concepts of time, and student interest in history.

Source/Credit:

ERIC

Seixas, Peter. “Review of Research on Social Studies.” (2001)

ulrike — Fri, 16 Oct 2009 21:15:42 +0000

Citation:

Seixas, Peter. “Review of Research on Social Studies.” In Handbook of Research on Teaching, 4th Edition, edited by Virginia Richardson, 545-565. Washington, D.C.: American Educational Research Association, 2001.

Abstract/Summary:

Seixas’ review of studies on teaching and learning in the social studies curriculum across North America begins on the premise that in the previous ten years (from 1991) social studies has been absent from research scholarship on teaching and learning. Thus, this chapter does not include research on history teaching but rather “what is left over in research on teaching of the subject of social studies once research on teaching history is removed.”

First Seixas suggests that there were two important developments on research in teaching in the 1980s that highlighted the limited relationship of social studies to any particular and clear academic discipline as a problem for developing research on theory and practice in social studies. These two developments stemmed from Shulman’s 1986 study on understanding the connection between “content” and “pedagogy” as well as Armento’s 1986 study in which she suggested that more research is needed on understanding the “conceptual properties” of the discipline of social studies and the “psychological processes” of learning in social studies. Second, Seixas acknowledges that fundamental changes in conceptualizations of social and cultural knowledge such as concerns of gender, non-Eurocentric approaches, and a shift away from the metanarrative process have impacted social studies research.

Seixas addresses how it is that these fundamental changes have informed social studies research by outlining three different areas of research in which people have attempted to account for these changes in their studies. “Writing on the Meanings and Purposes of Social Studies Teaching” focuses on the literature that has grappled with the issue of defining social studies. “What do Social Studies Teachers Know and Believe?” deals with studies on factors that inform social studies teaching, and lastly “Social Studies Teachers in Classrooms and Departments” is concerned with a body of research that focuses on how teachers teach social studies.

Seixas maintains that a stronger bridge must be built between the field of social studies and academia so that the issues of power and knowledge construction can begin to inform theory and practice on the task of teaching students how to critically “read the texts that structure their lives, and write the ones that might restructure the world.”

Source/Credit:

Ana Laura Pauchulo

Seixas, Peter. “Schweigen! Die Kinder! or Does Postmodern History Have a Place in the Schools?” (2000)

ulrike — Thu, 08 Oct 2009 22:56:37 +0000

Citation:

Seixas, Peter. “Schweigen! Die Kinder! or Does Postmodern History Have a Place in the Schools?” In Knowing, Teaching and Learning History: National and International Perspectives, edited by P. Stearns, P. Seixas & S. S. Wineburg, 19-37. New York: New York University Press, 2000.

Abstract/Summary:

In this chapter Seixas offers suggestions for history educators using three specific approaches: 1) the collective memory approach; 2) the disciplinary approach; and 3) the postmodern approach.

Collective memory is defined as “enhancing collective memory” which refers to teaching the past as how it happened. Within this approach arguments are made for the need to teach history from an agreed upon perspective of how the past unfolded. The disciplinary approach encourages teachers to teach students to understand the past based on a variety of documents. Grounded in the assumption that students will consequently learn how to use disciplinary criteria, disciplinary history equips students with the necessary skills to interpret the inevitable contradictions there are between different accounts of the past. Thus, this approach counters the assumption of a single narrative on which the collective memory approach is based. Lastly, the postmodern approach asks students to understand how the past is constructed by different groups rather than to arrive at the most appropriate historical narrative. This approach rejects notions of objectivity and truth on which the two previous approaches rely. While all of these approaches have problems, Seixas argues that one of the main concerns for history education is to involve students in social and political debates about the meaning of the past and how to engage with the past in the present.

Source/Credit:

Ana Laura Pauchulo

Seixas, Peter. “Standards for Historical Thinking: History Education Reform in Oakland, California.” (2001)

ulrike — Wed, 05 Jun 2013 21:06:39 +0000

Citation:

Seixas, Peter. “Standards for Historical Thinking: History Education Reform in Oakland, California.” In International Review of History Education Vol 3: Raising Standards in History Education, edited by Alaric Dickinson, Peter Gordon and Peter Lee, 1-19. London: Woburn Press, 2001.

Abstract/Summary:

Recent literature on history education and pedagogical reform is built on the notion of teaching or thinking for understanding. History is viewed as a set of problems with the discipline of history seen as a set of practices to help approach these problems with the teaching of history as the development of students’ competencies in such practices. Historical thinking is at the centre of this notion of history. In the past, history standards in North America have been focused on the topics to be covered and not how to cover them or how to use historical thinking, thus creating a gap between what is being taught and what is being researched. The author focused his chapter on the Oakland Unified School District in California, which is one of the first to build standards around historical thinking. Historical thinking consists of practices that are needed to confront the problem of knowledge on the past. The notion of historical thinking for the standards in Oakland was based on five elements: chronology, evidence, diversity/multiple perspectives, interpretation and significance. The author also discusses how the standards were set by the Oakland Unified School District describing the five aforementioned elements. The chapter concludes with some of the difficulties the Oakland Unified School District faced as well as its decisions and understandings surrounding using historical thinking.

Source/Credit:

Erika Smith

Seixas, Peter. “Student Teachers Thinking Historically.” (1998)

ulrike — Fri, 07 Aug 2009 21:22:36 +0000

Citation:

Seixas, Peter. “Student Teachers Thinking Historically.” Theory and Research in Social Education 26(3) (1998): 310-41. http://www.socialstudies.org/cufa/trse

Abstract/Summary:

Notes that there have been no studies of student teachers' learning how to use primary sources to teach history. Generates general characteristics of the task based on discussions among historians and philosophers. Uses these to frame an investigation of difficulties encountered by student teachers while learning to use primary sources.

Source/Credit:

ERIC

Seixas, Peter. “Students' Understanding of Historical Significance.” (1994)

ulrike — Fri, 07 Aug 2009 21:18:36 +0000

Citation:

Seixas, Peter. “Students' Understanding of Historical Significance.” Theory and Research in Social Education 22(3) (1994): 281-304. http://www.socialstudies.org/cufa/trse

Abstract/Summary:

Maintains that, to write meaningful history, historians work implicitly with criteria of historical significance. Reports on a study of 14 10th-grade students' opinions about the significance of historical events. Concludes that attention to students' understanding of historical significance would enhance the teaching and learning.

Source/Credit:

ERIC

Seixas, Peter. “The Place of the Disciplines within Social Studies: The Case of History.” (1997)

ulrike — Fri, 16 Oct 2009 23:06:19 +0000

Citation:

Seixas, Peter. “The Place of the Disciplines within Social Studies: The Case of History.” In Trends and Issues in Canadian Social Studies, edited by I. Wright and A. Sears, 116-29. Vancouver: Pacific Educational Press, 1997.

Abstract/Summary:

In this chapter Seixas argues that history education should provide students with the ability to read history critically. As such, history education should provide the students with the conditions necessary to ask : “Who constructed this account and why? What sources did they use? What other accounts are there of the same events or lives? How and why do they differ? Which should we believe?”

Seixas identifies six elements of historical thinking. The first, significance, refers to students’ need to distinguish between the significant and the trivial aspects of historical accounts. The second, epistemology and evidence, focuses on how students make choices about who and what resources to interpret as experts and therefore who to believe. The third, continuity and change, considers how students understand change occurring over time based on their age as well as their previous lived experiences. Progress and decline, the fourth element, refers to how students evaluate historical change as either progress or decline. The fifth element, empathy and moral judgment, focuses on the need to both understand the similarities and differences between those in the present and those in the past. Lastly, historical agency considers how people made decisions and choices in the past so as to remove them from their position as victims.

Seixas provides history educators with suggestions on how to incorporate these six elements into their teaching so as to foster critical thinking. Specifically, in response to the fact that history teaching in Canada is most often taught as a part of the social studies curriculum, Seixas makes suggestions for distinguishing “generic ‘critical thinking’” from the critical thinking necessary for history education.

Source/Credit:

Ana Laura Pauchulo

Seixas, Peter. “The Purposes of Teaching Canadian History.” (2002)

ulrike — Thu, 13 Oct 2011 00:14:40 +0000

Citation:

Seixas, Peter. “The Purposes of Teaching Canadian History.” Canadian Social Studies 36(2) (2002).

Abstract/Summary:

In this address given at the Association for Canadian Studies’ “Giving the Future a Past” Conference in 2001, Seixas works to define the purposes of teaching Canadian history in a time of intensified historical consciousness. He begins by disagreeing with historian W.L. Morton that the purpose is to create myth, or a collective memory. Instead, he suggests that we need to distinguish between myth and history. On the one hand, myths are impossible to challenge, no matter the addition of new evidence, and that in our diverse society, they do not allow for a reconciliation of differing accounts of the past. Critical historical discourse, on the other hand, allows us to work to reconcile differing accounts by bringing the arguments into the classroom.

He argues that there is a renewed interest in the past at the beginning of the twenty-first century for several reasons: because tradition is falling apart; global migration and multiculturalism; the toppling of old regimes; the empowerment of previously disempowered groups; and globalization. These changes reduce the power of myth to unify society. So, we need historical consciousness, which revolves around six questions: (1) How did things get to be as we see them today?; (2) What group or groups am I a part of, and what are its origins?; (3) How should we judge each other’s past actions?; (4) Are things basically getting better or are they getting worse?; (5) What stories about the past should I believe?; and (6) Which stories should we tell? Good answers to these questions must meet three criteria: (1) comprehend the interpretive choices and constraints in using sources from the past to construct historical accounts; (2) understand the pastness of the past; and (3) acknowledge complexity and uncertainty. Seixas argues that if we can make use of these criteria, we can advance, not just intensify, historical consciousness, and that schools are in the best position to do so. He concludes by arguing that the purpose of teaching Canadian history is to help students learn how to deconstruct mythic narratives of the past.

Source/Credit:

Katherine Joyce

Seixas, Peter. “Who Needs a Canon?” (2007)

ulrike — Thu, 15 Oct 2009 18:40:32 +0000

Citation:

Seixas, Peter. “Who Needs a Canon?” In Beyond the Canon: History for the 21st Century, edited by Maria Grever and Siep Stuurman. London: Palgrave-Macmillan, 2007.

Abstract/Summary:

In this chapter Seixas examines the television series “Canada: A People’s History” to illustrate how a canon functions and how it excludes. To understand how the historical canon influences high school students’ constructions of Canadian history he draws from a larger study in which they gave students forty minutes to write their narratives.

According to Seixas, the history education canon is the dominant historical narrative which in turn is often concerned with nation building. In “Canada: A People’s History” the dominant historical narrative defines Canada as always having been egalitarian and is thus aimed at unifying a seemingly divided nation. The construction of this narrative in the series relies on three principal aspects of canonical history: heroic figures, a linear narrative of progress, and a historical epistemology reliant on excluding the process inherent to historical representation such as critique and varying interpretations. In contrast, Seixas found that students’ narratives vary greatly and that these differences are due primarily to the experiences that each individual student has had in Canada. To conclude, Seixas maintains that collective memory is going to differ between students and that schools are only responsible for providing students with the necessary tools to inform their individual constructions of collective memory – that is, the ability to think critically about contrasting interpretations and representations of history and, thus, to challenge the canon.

Source/Credit:

Ana Laura Pauchulo

Semmet, Sylvia. “Controversiality and Consciousness: Contemporary History Education in Germany.” (2012)

ulrike — Tue, 19 Nov 2013 22:59:56 +0000

Citation:

Semmet, Sylvia. “Controversiality and Consciousness: Contemporary History Education in Germany.” In History Wars and the Classroom: Global Perspectives, edited by R. Guyver and T. Taylor, 77-88. Charlotte, NC: Information Age Publishing, 2012.

Abstract/Summary:

Modern history education in Germany is described as facilitating students’ ability to think historically on their own in order to engage their lives with historical understanding and use causal relationships, events and their country’s history in order to be responsible and informed citizens. However, the difficulty lies in the fact that there are sixteen different education systems with sixteen different history curriculums. According to Semmet, to understand the teaching of history in Germany one needs to understand education in Germany as a whole. She discusses the state of history education in German schools, which begins in primary schools, and how cross border and multi-lingual programs are promoted. It is not surprising that German history is one that many students need to come to terms with, especially the country’s role in the first and second world wars. However, there are two topics that have not been discussed in German history: the rise and fall of Hitler’s Nazi regime and the Holocaust, and the history of the German Democratic Republic (GDR). Semmet concludes with a discussion of tasks in history education that remain to be accomplished: the relationship of the federal and state levels of government, actual outcomes of Holocaust and GDR education, maintenance of disciplinary knowledge, and the tendency to include history in a less distinct classroom which encompasses wider subject areas.

Source/Credit:

Erika Smith

Shaffer, Sharon. “Never too Young to Connect to History: Cognitive Development and Learning.” (2010)

ulrike — Mon, 15 Jul 2013 20:38:56 +0000

Citation:

Shaffer, Sharon. “Never too Young to Connect to History: Cognitive Development and Learning.” In Connecting Kids to History with Museum Exhibitions, edited by D. Lynn McRainey and John Russick, 31-47. Walnut Creek, CA: Left Coast Press, 2010.

Abstract/Summary:

In this chapter, Shaffer explores constructivist theory and how it can be related to children’s learning in a history museum. She begins with a discussion of history and how powerful it is for children. For a child, history is viewed as everything that has already happened as they view it initially in connection to people, places and things rather than through a sequence of events. As children mature more nuanced views on history emerge. Shaffer follows with an explanation of constructivist theory, biology vs. environment, through the views of four theorists: John Dewy, Lev Vygotsky, Jean Piaget, and Howard Gardner. It is important to understand the characteristics of a young learner and Shaffer explores four areas of learning and historical understanding in young children: sense of time, a personal history, sequencing, and sorting and classifying. Shaffer concludes with a discussion on history museums and how they must devise sensory experiences that are relevant to and engaging for children. It is through the lens of constructivist theory that museums can create exhibitions that allow children to “experience history in meaningful and age appropriate ways.”

Source/Credit:

Erika Smith

Shand, Kristen. "The Interplay of Graph and Text in the Aquisition of Historical Constructs." (2009)

Anne Marie — Mon, 05 Oct 2009 22:58:54 +0000

Citation:

Shand, Kristen. "The Interplay of Graph and Text in the Aquisition of Historical Constructs." Theory and Research in Social Education 37(3) (2009): 300-324.

Abstract/Summary:

Graphs are often conjoined with text passages in history textbooks to help students comprehend complex constructs. Four linkages connect text and graphs: appropriate elements, fitting patterns, suitable labels and causal markers. Graphs in current textbooks contain few such linkages and seldom mirror the construct under study. An experiment conducted with seventh grade students investigated the effect on construct comprehension of loosely and tightly linked graphs. The experiment (n=118), employed a mixed-model design with reading ability as a between -subjects factor and graph treatments as a within-subjects factor. An analysis of variance with planned Helmert contrasts showed that proficient and advanced readers scored significantly higher on construct comprehension with a tight graph supporting a text passage as opposed to a loose graph.

Source/Credit:

Theory and Research in Social Education

Sheehan, Mark. “Little is Taught or Learned in Schools: Debates over the Place of History in the New Zealand School Curriculum.” (2012)

ulrike — Tue, 21 Jan 2014 23:40:08 +0000

Citation:

Sheehan, Mark. “Little is Taught or Learned in Schools: Debates over the Place of History in the New Zealand School Curriculum.” In History Wars and the Classroom: Global Perspectives, edited by R. Guyver and T. Taylor, 107-24. Charlotte, NC: Information Age Publishing, 2012.

Abstract/Summary:

History is not widely taught in the New Zealand curriculum. It is taught only as an elective, in the last three years of secondary school with a largely Eurocentric focus. In the first ten years of schooling, history is interspersed with social studies, where students do not necessarily develop a firm grasp of what is the past and what constitutes the discipline of history. Students in New Zealand learn relatively little about their own history and past. The chapter discusses the debates concerning history education in New Zealand over the two and a half years preceding the writing of the chapter. Sheehan focuses on secondary history as opposed to the history embedded in social studies for the reasons described above. He divides his chapter into three sections. The first discusses the differences between the approaches of history educators and social studies educators in the study of the past. The second section delves into how the indigenous population in New Zealand has been represented in history education, which has garnered widespread public attention. Lastly, the impacts of the newly developed and launched competency-based curriculum on history education are explored. Sheehan concludes by stating that the new curriculum offers teachers the flexibility to assist students in creating links between the past and the present and to foster historical thinking.

Source/Credit:

Erika Smith

Sheehan, Mark. “The Place of ‘New Zealand’ in the New Zealand History Curriculum.” (2010)

Fri, 29 Jul 2011 13:55:23 +0000

Citation:

Sheehan, Mark. “The Place of ‘New Zealand’ in the New Zealand History Curriculum.” Journal of Curriculum Studies 42(5) (2010): 671-91.

Abstract/Summary:

The article provides an historical perspective on the debate over a New Zealand senior history curriculum that emerged in the 1980s and has remained largely intact over the subsequent 20 years. While the contested nature of history education is an international phenomenon, New Zealand stands apart: there school history is largely Eurocentric in orientation, narrowly topic-based, and few students engage with significant and controversial aspects of the national past. This avoids the 'history wars' of the international arena by not requiring students either to focus on contested features of New Zealand history or to include a local perspective on international events. An historical perspective on history education is timely. In 2010 a non-prescriptive, competency-based curriculum with a citizenship focus and influenced by the ideas of the 'knowledge society' is being implemented in New Zealand. This has significant implications for history education.

Source/Credit:

Informaworld

Sheftel, Anna, and Stacey Zembrzycki. "’Questions are More Important than Answers’: Creating Collaborative Workshop Spaces with Holocaust Survivor-Educators in Montreal." (2015)

ulrike — Wed, 27 Jan 2016 19:57:05 +0000

Citation:

Sheftel, Anna, and Stacey Zembrzycki. "’Questions are More Important than Answers’: Creating Collaborative Workshop Spaces with Holocaust Survivor-Educators in Montreal." In Beyond Testimony and Trauma: Oral History in the Aftermath of Mass Violence, edited by Steven High, 212-34. Vancouver: UBC Press, 2015.

Abstract/Summary:

ulrike — Fri, 07 Aug 2009 21:36:40 +0000

Citation:

Shemilt, Denis. “The Devil's Locomotive.” History and Theory 22(4) (1983): 1-18.

Abstract/Summary:

That history has its characteristic logic, methods, and perspectives follows from its being what Paul Hirst calls a "form of knowledge." The British Schools Council Project "History 13-16" was founded on the assumption that history should be taught to adolescents as such a form. An analysis of "History 13-16" suggests that adolescents can address highly abstract questions when they are appropriately presented. There are four general, selective, simplified, and idealized models of adolescent construction of historical narrative. At Level I historical narrative is seen as lacking inner logic; logic enters the story as the simple linkage of events contiguous in time. At Level 11 historical narrative is seen to embody a Calvinistic logic in which everything is connected and continuous. At Level III adolescents are impressed by the complexity and density of the story. At Level IV adolescents develop an inkling of period as something more than a chronological connection. There is a firm understanding that events cannot be dissociated from their specific contexts. "History 13-16" students show a more sophisticated grasp of history than do children following conventional content-based courses, although only a minority construe at Level IV. If the levels of construal can be interpreted as developmental stages, as seems reasonable, it should be possible to "spiral" a history curriculum around basic structural concepts. The aim of teaching history should be the liberal one of enabling children to make sense of and to see the value of history, not the vocational one of training historians.

Source/Credit:

History and Theory

Short, Geoffrey and Bruce Carrington. “Children's Constructions of their National Identity”. (1999)

ulrike — Thu, 15 Oct 2009 19:02:08 +0000

Citation:

Short, Geoffrey and Bruce Carrington. “Children's Constructions of their National Identity”. In Critical Multiculturalism: Rethinking Multicultural and Antiracist Education, edited by Stephen May, 172-90. London: Falmer Press, 1999.

Abstract/Summary:

The aim of this chapter is twofold; first they examine possible reasons for why British anti-racist educators have given little attention to “the new racism,” and second they explore how it is that “the new racism” impacts children’s conceptualizations of their own national identity.

Drawing from Barker (1981), the authors generally define “the new racism” as the United Kingdom’s New Right’s imposition of its narrow and exclusive construction of British national identity into the National Curriculum in England and Wales. For the study, the authors interviewed 256 children from elementary schools in the United Kingdom and in the United States. The semi-structured interviews were centered on five general questions: “Are you British (American) or something else?”; “What makes a person British (American)?”; “Is everyone who lives in this country British (American)?”; “Is it possible to stop being British (American) and become something else?”; “Is being British (American) important to you?”

Based on the findings, Short and Carrington conclude that as long as ethnic minorities in Britain are viewed by the white majority as British only in the legal sense they will continue to be discriminated against. The authors end the chapter with recommendations for creating a curriculum that can counter “the new racism.” Among these recommendations are the need to identify misconceptions about different faith communities, the need to teach children to accept that ‘unusual’ cultural practices should not be understood as a danger to “the common good,” and that teachers must make it explicit to their students that Britain is, and has been for many years, a culturally diverse country with a strong social fabric.

Source/Credit:

Ana Laura Pauchulo

Short, Geoffrey, and Bruce Carrington. “Antisemitism and the Primary School: Children's Perceptions of Jewish Culture and Identity.” (1995)

ulrike — Fri, 07 Aug 2009 22:11:46 +0000

Citation:

Short, Geoffrey, and Bruce Carrington. “Antisemitism and the Primary School: Children's Perceptions of Jewish Culture and Identity.” Research in Education 54 (1995): 14-24.

Abstract/Summary:

This article discusses the problem of excluding anti-Semitism in anti-racist education in the United Kingdom, especially given its resurgence across Europe. Short and Carrington argue that anti-Semitism should be included in anti-racist education and begin at the primary school level. They go on to discuss how it should be taught, including inquiring how much children know about and their attitudes towards Judaism. Generally, most non-Jewish children know very little about Judaism and what they know is often wrong and based on stereotypes.

Source/Credit:

Melissa Otis-Dixon

Short, Geoffrey, and Bruce Carrington. “The Development of Children's Understanding of Jewish Identity and Culture.” (1992)

ulrike — Fri, 07 Aug 2009 22:09:51 +0000

Citation:

Short, Geoffrey, and Bruce Carrington. “The Development of Children's Understanding of Jewish Identity and Culture.” School Psychology International 13(1) (1992): 73-89. http://spi.sagepub.com/

Abstract/Summary:

There are many similarities between anti-Semitism and otherforms of ethnic and racial prejudice. Yet while British educationalistshave in recent years given much attention to the impact of racismon people of Afro-Caribbean and South Asian descent, they haveall but ignored the problem of anti-Semitism. There is no researchin Britain on the nature of anti-Semitism in the primary school;and no published evaluation of an initiative to tackle thisform of prejudice in any type of school. The data we presentgo some way towards rectifying this situation. The assumptionunderpinning the data is that no intervention to reduce prejudicecan hope to succeed unless it takes account of children's existingbeliefs and assumptions. Based on semi-structured interviewswith eight to thirteen year olds, we explore the developmentof children's understanding of Jewish identity and culture andconsider related issues. This research forms part of a widerstudy of the extent to which such understanding may vary, interalia, with social class, gender, ethnicity and geographicallocation.

Source/Credit:

School Psychology International

Sieborger, Rob. “Dealing with a Reign of Virtue: The Post-Apartheid South African School History Curriculum.” (2012)

ulrike — Tue, 21 Jan 2014 23:43:21 +0000

Citation:

Sieborger, Rob. “Dealing with a Reign of Virtue: The Post-Apartheid South African School History Curriculum.” In History Wars and the Classroom: Global Perspectives, edited by R. Guyver and T. Taylor, 143-58. Charlotte, NC: Information Age Publishing, 2012.

Abstract/Summary:

Change in the school curriculum in post-apartheid South Africa has been both expected and unexpected. In order to describe and examine these changes, Sieborger uses a three-pronged approach, or three surfaces as he describes them. The first surface is ‘phony wars’ which describes the instances where conflicts in the history curriculum were anticipated but never materialized or occurred in unforeseen ways. Through the second surface he details the intended curriculum and how it affected developments. The final surface is dedicated to truth and reconciliation or the lack of it. The three issues described above did not exist in a vacuum and affected one another. Sieborger designs the chapter around the three surfaces discussing each in turn using examples. He concludes the chapter by comparing the post-apartheid history curriculum to a Rubik’s cube. It was his intent with the chapter to offer a chronology, to compare and contrast four different curriculums, to expose the weaknesses in their intent and to highlight the unexpected.

Source/Credit:

Erika Smith

Simon, Roger I. “Museums, Civic Life, and the Educative Force of Remembrance.” (2006)

ulrike — Fri, 02 Oct 2009 22:45:14 +0000

Citation:

Simon, Roger I. “Museums, Civic Life, and the Educative Force of Remembrance.” Journal of Museum Education 31(2) (2006): 113-22.

Abstract/Summary:

Public history is inherently pedagogical. How it is enacted has implications for civic life now and in the future. A democratic society requires forms of public history beyond those that provide recognition and affirmation of existing identities and values. A museum-based public history is needed that fosters on-going work of repair and reinvention of existing institutions. A sketch is provided in this article of the epistemological framing of one such exhibition.

Source/Credit:

ERIC

Simon, Roger I. “The Pedagogical Insistence of Public Memory.” (2004)

ulrike — Tue, 21 Jan 2014 23:31:08 +0000

Citation:

Simon, Roger I. “The Pedagogical Insistence of Public Memory.” In Theorizing Historical Consciousness, edited by Peter Seixas, 183-201. Toronto: University of Toronto Press, 2004.

Abstract/Summary:

The author begins by detailing the story of Sore Voloshin, and other Lithuanian Jews, during the Holocaust. Through the Testimony and Historical Memory Project, historians at the University of Toronto are focused on contemporary questions of Holocaust Memory. As well, they are studying how to read, respond and listen to the testaments of Jews from the Lodz and Vilna ghettos during World War II, through diaries, memories, video testimony, poetry and songs. The purpose of the chapter is not only to consider the possibilities of learning through these forms of remembrance, even though this is the work that Simon practices. Rather, it is also to speak to the overarching pedagogy and ethics of the work being completed at the University of Toronto, “the touch of the past,” as they have called it. The purpose of their work is to deduce the responsibility of the current population in historical memory, a process initiated by those who were subject to violence. These texts and other forms of testimony urge readers to reckon and assume a logic of accountability within their responses through memorialization, historical study, retribution, apology, reparation, a sense of ‘never again,’ and reconciliation. The interest of Simon and his colleagues is in the new memorial spaces and how one deals with them. He dicusses their work on ‘touch of the past’ and what it entails. It is through using listening as thought process, and initializing public memory into education, that society can understand testimonies in a way that enables recognition of the stories as ‘genuine transgressors.’ While we cannot manipulate them into categories we understand, we recognize that they are necessary to create new forms of social life.

Source/Credit:

Erika Smith

Simon, Roger I. “The Pedagogical Insistence of Public Memory.” (2004)

ulrike — Mon, 27 Dec 2010 22:22:07 +0000

Citation:

Simon, Roger I. “The Pedagogical Insistence of Public Memory.” In Theorizing Historical Consciousness, edited by Peter Seixas, 183-201. Toronto: University of Toronto Press, 2004.

Abstract/Summary:

In this chapter, Roger Simon discusses the possibilities of public history as a site for ethical learning. He wants remembrance to be understood as a burdensome gift in which the public must learn to respond to the gift in a relational and just way. He suggests that to live relationally in the present with and for the past, it is important to ask questions and listen “as if the lives of others really matter.” While this chapter diverges from the majority of historical consciousness theory found within the Theorizing Historical Consciousness collection, it teases out a different reading of historical consciousness and the possibilities for being historically conscious.

Source/Credit:

Cutrara

Simon, Roger I., Jörn Rüsen, and others (Edited and introduced by Kent den Heyer). “A Dialogue on Narrative and Historical Consciousness.” (2004)

ulrike — Mon, 27 Dec 2010 22:23:10 +0000

Citation:

Simon, Roger I., Jörn Rüsen, and others (Edited and introduced by Kent den Heyer). “A Dialogue on Narrative and Historical Consciousness.” In Theorizing Historical Consciousness, edited by Peter Seixas, 202-11. Toronto: University of Toronto Press, 2004.

Abstract/Summary:

This chapter is an edited dialogue that took place primarily between Roger Simon and Jörn Rüsen during a symposium on historical consciousness in 2001. This dialogue highlights the theoretical dissidence between fundamental concepts of historical consciousness, such as remembrance and historical trace, and how discussions of historical consciousness could be broadened to incorporate more nuanced forms of remembrance. With Simon coming from a postmodern background and Rüsen from a structuralist background, their conversation explored what is theoretically possible through the current conceptualization of historical consciousness. Simon in particular used the conversation to push for a broadened definition of historical consciousness, one that would not be so contingent on narrative.

Source/Credit:

Cutrara

Simon, Roger, Jörn Rüsen, and others. “A Dialogue on Narrative and Historical Consciousness" (2004)

ulrike — Tue, 21 Jan 2014 23:33:14 +0000

Citation:

Simon, Roger, Jörn Rüsen, and others. “A Dialogue on Narrative and Historical Consciousness,” edited and introduced by Kent Den Heyer. In Theorizing Historical Consciousness, edited by Peter Seixas, 202-12. Toronto: University of Toronto Press, 2004.

Abstract/Summary:

This chapter consists of a dialogue between Roger Simon and Jörn Rüsen following a symposium in August 2001. There are different approaches to historical consciousness discussed within the dialogue and it offers readers an opportunity to view a trace of the theoretical and research-driven engagement with the topic by two historians working within the field. While both Simon and Rusen view the study through moral reflection and action, their approaches are quite different, especially with regard to identity, recognition and narratives. Simon’s study of historical consciousness focuses on the limits of interpreting concepts and narratives in order to better understand lives and events in the past. On the other hand, Rusen focuses on the need for conceptual frameworks to discuss and measure how the past becomes meaningful in the present. Den Heyer explores the myriad of differences between Simon’s and Rüsen’s approaches to studying and classifying historical consciousness. The chapter concludes with a script of the dialogue concerning historical consciousness between Rusen, Simon and other academics.

Source/Credit:

Erika Smith

Singer, Judith Y, and Alan J. Singer. “Creating a Museum of Family Artifacts.” (2004)

ulrike — Fri, 02 Oct 2009 22:46:48 +0000

Citation:

Singer, Judith Y, and Alan J. Singer. “Creating a Museum of Family Artifacts.” Social Studies and the Young Learner 17(1) (2004): 5-10.

Abstract/Summary:

Students at all levels need to have opportunities to represent themselves in their work in ways that are meaningful to them. The Family Artifact Museum Project provides an opportunity for students to accomplish this as they bring their family stories into the classroom and see how the lives of ordinary people are part of history. This project came about as a creative way to address New York's social studies and literacy learning standards and national social studies thematic strands. This article gives several examples of these types of projects, from pre-school up to fifth grade, and describes how students of different ages were able to participate in a developmentally appropriate way. Teachers can use this type of project to introduce social studies themes and to build a sense of community in the classroom. It was found that the Family Artifact Museum can support multicultural and culturally-relevant pedagogy, transform social studies classrooms into "laboratories of culture," promote literacy, and introduce children to what it means to be an historian.

http://www.socialstudies.org/publications/ssyl

Source/Credit:

ERIC

Smith, Julia, and Richard G. Niemi. “Learning History in Schools: The Impact of Course Work and Instructional Practices on Achievement.” (2001)

ulrike — Fri, 07 Aug 2009 22:13:22 +0000

Citation:

Smith, Julia, and Richard G. Niemi. “Learning History in Schools: The Impact of Course Work and Instructional Practices on Achievement.” Theory and Research in Social Education 29 (2001): 18-42. http://www.socialstudies.org/cufa/trse

Abstract/Summary:

The connection between high school courses and student knowledge on standardized tests has seldom been studied in social studies fields—and almost never on a national basis and with a wide range of statistical controls. We look at the relationship between course work in U.S. history and performance on the 1994 National Assessment of Educational Progress (utilizing the 1994 High School Transcript Study to measure course enrollments). We find that students who take more and higher-level course work, who reported greater emphasis on a broad array of historical topics, and who experienced more “active” instruction performed better on the NAEP test even after adjusting for numerous student and family characteristics. The findings provide support both for increasing the amount of history course work and for enlightened instructional practices.

Source/Credit:

Theory and Research in Social Education

Soren, Barbara J. “Museum Experiences that Change Visitors.” (2009)

ulrike — Thu, 12 Sep 2013 23:33:36 +0000

Citation:

Soren, Barbara J. “Museum Experiences that Change Visitors.” Museum Management and Curatorship 24(3) (2009): 233-51.

Abstract/Summary:

Transform, transforming, and transformative are common terms for describing museum spaces, the creation of objects on display, and experiences for visitors. But is there evidence that museums profoundly change visitors through their objects, collections, exhibitions, public programs, and websites? The nature of transformational museum experiences and potential ‘triggers for transformation’ are the focus of this article. Two case studies describe ways in which visitors articulate change they have experienced. Included are projects about teachers and artists during an intense two-week summer institute in an interdisciplinary museum and about visitors to a traveling exhibition highlighting the role Canada plays in international development. Individuals’ comments and questions indicated that experiences with authentic objects and the unexpected, highly emotional responses, new cultural and attitudinal understandings, as well as motivation to become more proactive in the way they live their lives, may have been triggers for transformational experiences.

Source/Credit:

Taylor and Francis Online

Sosniak, Lauren A., and Carole L. Perlman. “Secondary Education by the Book.” (1990)

ulrike — Fri, 07 Aug 2009 22:14:55 +0000

Citation:

Sosniak, Lauren A., and Carole L. Perlman. “Secondary Education by the Book.” Journal of Curriculum Studies 22(5) (1990): 427-42. http://www.tandf.co.uk/journals/tf/00220272.html

Abstract/Summary:

Maintains that U.S. education should not be studied as a single entity. Interviews 44 students to understand how their learning experiences vary across the subjects of mathematics, science, English, and history. Finds that, although instruction revolves around the textbook, it is used differently in each subject. Discusses these patterns of use, focusing on history instruction.

Source/Credit:

ERIC

Spector, K. “Framing the Holocaust in English Class: Secondary Teachers and Students Reading Holocaust Literature.” (2005)

ulrike — Thu, 28 Apr 2011 00:05:54 +0000

Citation:

Spector, K. “Framing the Holocaust in English Class: Secondary Teachers and Students Reading Holocaust Literature.” PhD diss., University of Cincinnati, 2005.

Abstract/Summary:

In this qualitative research study of three secondary school Holocaust literature units in the Midwest, I examined responses from 3 teachers and 126 students as they constructed the Holocaust in English class. The participants at the first site, Adams 2003, were part of a middle class suburban community and were within a school with 98% Whites. I returned to this site in 2004 to co-teach the Holocaust literature unit with the teacher with a critical literacy focus. Over the two years, 91 8th grade students and 1 teacher participated in the study at Adams. The second site, River Hill 2004, was in a high poverty urban center with 98% Blacks. The total number of participants at River Hill was 35 10thgraders and 2 teachers.

I spent 369 observational hours within the three schools, and I tape recorded class sessions, small group discussions, and interviews with teachers and students. I also collected all written or drawn artifacts that the students produced. I began analyzing data by looking for the narrative frames (Ricoeur, 1984, 1988) participants used to interpret the Holocaust. Within these frames, I used critical discourse analysis (Fairclough, 1995; Gee, 1997; Rogers, 2004) to further analyze the data.

I found that teachers and 79 of 126 students at both schools used religious narrative frames to interpret Night (Wiesel, 1982), sometimes with lethal implications for Jews. I also found that students at Adams in 2003 and 2004 used narratives of hope to interpret the The Diary of Anne Frank (Goodrich & Hackett, 1994). In order to maintain their hopeful narratives, students eviscerated Anne from her treacherous surroundings and even stashed her death in what Morris (2001) referred to as "memory holes." Students in all three units also enfigured Hitler as the sole, and demonic, perpetrator of the Holocaust, enfigured Jews as sheep being led to the slaughter, and claimed to learn 368 different lessons. As for the teachers, they each wanted their students to learn lessons of tolerance through their study of the Holocaust, and none of the three teachers taught students the history of antisemitism before the 20th century.

Source/Credit:

Proquest Dissertations and Theses

Spock, Daniel. “Imagination: A Child’s Gateway to Engagement with the Past”. (2010)

ulrike — Mon, 15 Jul 2013 20:42:27 +0000

Citation:

Spock, Daniel. “Imagination: A Child’s Gateway to Engagement with the Past”. In Connecting Kids to History with Museum Exhibitions, edited by D. Lynn McRainey and John Russick, 117-35. Walnut Creek, CA: Left Coast Press, 2010.

Abstract/Summary:

Spock discusses how imagination can be employed and harnessed in museum experiences and exhibitions. He begins with a historical description of museums and how they began as Wunderkammer, which evoked a sense of wonderment in the visitor. While it is far from habit in a history museum to see imagination as an important part of the toolkits, imagination in both children and adults can be harnessed to create memorable museum experiences. Spock discusses how imagination is important in play and, in turn, in children’s understanding of the world around them. It is more engaging for both youth and adults to imagine what it was like and to experience history. This may be why living-history sites are more popular with children than austere history museums. There are important aspects of imagination and its realization in history museums: forethought, imagining the past, the creation of meaning through imagination, imaginative role-play and make-believe, imaginative empathy, and how these imaginations become memories or, as Spock more broadly defines it, learning. Children use imagination to understand the world around them and, therefore, it is important for history museums to engage children’s imagination.

Source/Credit:

Erika Smith

Stahl, Stephen A., Cynthia R. Hynd, Bruce K. Britton, Mary M. McNish, and Dennis Bosquet. “What Happens When Students Read Multiple Source Documents in History?” (1996)

ulrike — Fri, 07 Aug 2009 22:16:07 +0000

Citation:

Stahl, Stephen A., Cynthia R. Hynd, Bruce K. Britton, Mary M. McNish, and Dennis Bosquet. “What Happens When Students Read Multiple Source Documents in History?” Reading Research Quarterly 31(4) (1996): 430-56.

Abstract/Summary:

Examines processes used when high school students were presented with documents about the Tonkin Gulf Incident. Finds that mental models created by students were more internally consistent after reading at least two documents, but did not become more consistent after that. Notes that students tended to ignore information in the texts when giving their opinion, despite taking copious notes.

Source/Credit:

ERIC

Stanistreet, Paul. “More than Bricks and Mortar.” (2009)

ulrike — Thu, 12 Sep 2013 23:29:53 +0000

Citation:

Stanistreet, Paul. “More than Bricks and Mortar.” Adults Learning 20(10) (2009): 28-31.

Abstract/Summary:

Gaythorne Row, a terrace of Victorian back-to-back houses in Great Horton, was earmarked for demolition when, in 1986, Bradford Industrial Museum took possession of the three cottages and transported them, brick by brick, to the museum site four miles away. The houses were built in 1876, a year later than the old worsted spinning mill in which the museum is based. The museum wanted one of the houses to capture, as exactly as possible, life as it was lived by working-class people in Bradford in the 1870s, complete with period furniture and the plumbing and fittings of the time, and had plans for the other two houses to reflect life in the 1940s and 1960s respectively. The end result would be, in effect, a study of a form of housing which, in the words of local historian Kenneth Kenzie, symbolised the working class in Bradford for over a century. The museum, however, realised that such an intensive project would be impossible for existing staff to undertake alongside their other duties. The 1875 Group was formed by volunteers in 2007 to restore and reinterpret a back-to-back house at Bradford Industrial Museum. The project has provided the museum with a wealth of new research material, objects for display and written and audio information for visitors, as well as inspiring a passionate interest among the volunteers. The author found out what motivates a remarkable group of learners.

Source/Credit:

ERIC

Stanley, Timothy J. "Whose Public? Whose Memory? Racisms, Grand Narratives and Canadian History." (2006)

ulrike — Thu, 10 Dec 2009 23:52:55 +0000

Citation:

Stanley, Timothy J. "Whose Public? Whose Memory? Racisms, Grand Narratives and Canadian History." In To the Past: History Education, Public Memory, and Citizenship in Canada, edited by Ruth W. Sandwell, 32-49. Toronto: University of Toronto Press, 2006.

Abstract/Summary:

Timothy Stanley argues that the since public memory relies in a large part on a national grand narrative, it is important to understand how the grand narrative works to exclude and make invisible narratives of racism and racialized individuals from the “imagined community” of the Canadian nation. As an example, Stanley uses the Dominion Institute surveys to underscore that a white, Eurocentric, anglophone version of Canada is the one many Canadians understand to be natural and inevitable. He also illustrates the impossibility of narrating the history of anti-Asian racism in Canada, as proof that the grand narrative works in conjunction with political and social spaces to make natural the patterns of racist exclusion in our present and past. He suggests that it is important to “re-imagine” history as overlapping stories of connection and struggle in order to confront the monolithic grand narrative that frames our access to nation.

Source/Credit:

Samantha Cutrara

Stanley, Timothy J. “Why I Killed Canadian History: Towards an Anti-Racist History in Canada.” (2000)

ulrike — Wed, 12 Dec 2012 21:37:16 +0000

Citation:

Stanley, Timothy J. “Why I Killed Canadian History: Towards an Anti-Racist History in Canada.” Histoire sociale / Social History 33(65) (2000) 79-103.

Abstract/Summary:

Anti-racism provides the basis for a richer understanding of the past, an understanding that is potentially more sensitive to the requirements of generally accepted standards of historical criticism than is the nationalist framework that shapes most historical writing about Canada. An anti-racist history takes seriously the existence of racisms and asks questions about their roles in shaping institutions and experiences, including those of dominant groups. It encompasses previously excluded meanings through a broader understanding of the historical record: written, oral, and material. It views the rise of nationalism and nation-states within the larger context of European colonialism, transforming nationalist projects (such as the making of Canada) into historical problems to be explained, rather than taking them for granted as organizing devices for the study of the past. It allows questions to be asked about how some identities come to be seen as fixed, how certain ones become normalized and others marginalized. Anti-racism thus has the potential to develop a better history than the nationalist one whose loss is lamented by J. L. Granatstein in Who Killed Canadian History?

L’antiracisme nous permet de mieux comprendre le passé. Cette compréhension est peut-être plus sensible aux exigences des normes généralement acceptées de la critique historique que ne l’est le cadre nationaliste sur lequel s’appuie l’écriture historique au sujet du Canada. Une histoire antiraciste prend au sérieux l’existence du racisme et s’interroge sur son rôle dans le façonnement des institutions et des expériences, y compris celles des groupes dominants. Elle englobe des sens précédemment exclus en suscitant une compréhension élargie du document historique : écrit, oral et matériel. Elle voit la montée du nationalisme et de l’État-nation dans le contexte plus large du colonialisme européen, transformant les projets nationalistes (comme la création du Canada) en problèmes historiques à expliquer plutôt qu’en y voyant à priori des dispositifs organisants pour l’étude du passé. Elle permet de s’interroger sur la façon dont certaines identités viennent à être considérées fixes, comment certaines deviennent normalisées et d’autres, marginalisées. L’antiracisme a donc le potentiel de déboucher sur une meilleure histoire que l’histoire nationaliste dont J. L. Granatstein déplore la perte dans Who Killed Canadian History?

Source/Credit:

Histoire sociale / Social History

Stearns, Peter N. "Getting Specific about Training in Historical Analysis: A Case Study in World History." (2000)

ulrike — Fri, 04 Dec 2009 00:19:43 +0000

Citation:

Stearns, Peter N. "Getting Specific about Training in Historical Analysis: A Case Study in World History." In Knowing, Teaching, and Learning History: National and International Perspectives, edited by Peter N. Stearns, Peter Seixas and Sam Wineburg, 419-36. New York: New York University Press, 2000.

Abstract/Summary:

In this chapter Peter Stearns uses a comparison-based model for teaching world history in an undergraduate program. He found that having multiple smaller assignments throughout the term based on charting the similarities and differences between cultures on particular topics increased students’ ability to handle unfamiliar comparative situations during the course, although these charts did not necessarily help students understand causation.

Source/Credit:

Samantha Cutrara

Stearns, Peter N. “Goals in History Teaching.” (1998)

ulrike — Wed, 20 Nov 2013 17:42:12 +0000

Citation:

Stearns, Peter N. “Goals in History Teaching.” In International Review of History Education, Vol. 2: Learning and Reasoning in History, edited by J. F. Voss & M. Carretero, 281-93. Portland, OR: Woburn Press, 1998.

Abstract/Summary:

The main purpose of history is to study the change of history over time, with social change being a main tenet. History teachers should aim to provide students with an understanding of what has changed over time and what problems they may encounter when attempting to study it. There are issues besides human actions, such as continuity and causation, to consider when studying change over time. There are four difficulties in defining the goals of teaching history: lack of definition of the overall teaching goals; the subject is characteristically viewed as factual coverage; it is viewed mainly as offering the moral and value lessons in history; and the analytical complexities of the discipline. The author describes and discusses the advantages of focusing history teaching on change. He concludes with three areas that need to be enhanced in history teaching and history education research with a focus on change: work on the relationship of sequential exposures of change; need to use the types of exercises that facilitate students’ ability to grasp the analysis of historical change; and improvement in the development of educators’ ability to evaluate students skills in historical change analysis. The goal of history education should be to create collaborations aimed at furthering the learning process of students.

Source/Credit:

Erika Smith

Sterry, Pat. “Social Interaction of Family Visitors at Heritage Tourism Sites: Establishing a research program.” (1996)

ulrike — Fri, 02 Oct 2009 22:48:01 +0000

Citation:

Sterry, Pat. “Social Interaction of Family Visitors at Heritage Tourism Sites: Establishing a research program.” Visitor Studies 9(1) (1996): 127-33.

Abstract/Summary:

Traditionally, visitor studies have focused on the individual as a unit of analysis, with museum visitors dominating the field of study. Findings show that most visitors are accompanied by family and friends, yet groups appear to be a neglected area of study. There are, of course, significant American studies of family groups in museums with additional and significant studies by McManus and others in the UK (see studies by Blud, 1990; Cone & Kendall, 1978; Diamond, 1986; Hilke, 1988; Hilke & Balling, 1989; McManus, 1994). The purpose of my paper is to draw attention to the potential and dynamic of family group research and the need to establish a research program in a variety of heritage sites and attractions, not just museums.

Source/Credit:

Informal Science

Stevens, Scott. “Cultural Mediations: Or How to Listen to Lewis and Clark's Indian Artefacts.” (2007)

ulrike — Fri, 02 Oct 2009 22:49:20 +0000

Citation:

Stevens, Scott. “Cultural Mediations: Or How to Listen to Lewis and Clark's Indian Artefacts.” American Indian Culture and Research Journal 31(3) (2007): 181-202.

Abstract/Summary:

In this article, the author maps the complex history of objects collected on the Lewis and Clark expedition. He follows the objects from the Peale Museum where they were first exhibited to their final destination, the Peabody Museum at Harvard University. The author sheds light on how the manipulation and exhibition of one collection can encompass many meanings and be equally valuable, for different reasons, to Natives and non-Natives alike, most interestingly when representing two histories usually understood as parallel rather than interwoven.

http://www.books.aisc.ucla.edu/aicrj.html

Source/Credit:

ERIC

Stewart, Alistair. “Whose Place, Whose History? Outdoor Environmental Education Pedagogy as ‘Reading’ the Landscape.” (2008)

ulrike — Wed, 12 Oct 2011 23:30:32 +0000

Citation:

Stewart, Alistair. “Whose Place, Whose History? Outdoor Environmental Education Pedagogy as ‘Reading’ the Landscape.” Journal of Adventure Education and Outdoor Learning 8(2) (2008): 79-98.

Abstract/Summary:

Stewart is interested in ‘unsettling’ the nature/culture divide that is present in present-day Australian culture by using cultural and environmental histories to reveal how people in the past related to the land. He is particularly interested in the process of history education that takes place through physical engagement with place. He suggests that “it is essential that outdoor environmental educators consider carefully the ways in which outdoor experiences introduce participants to particular ‘stories’ of the land, whose land it is or had been, and how it has changed over time” (82). He provides a short history of Australia in order to demonstrate changes in the land, and then explores how historical accounts can be used as pedagogical tools in ‘reading’ the landscape. Although Stewart is focused on outdoor environmental educators, his arguments can readily be taken up by history teachers: instead of worrying that without teaching the history of the place they will be dispossessing those who came before, teachers can employ places to help explore the past and place human-environment relationships in their historical context.

Source/Credit:

Katherine Joyce

Storey, Robert. "Pessimism of the Intellect, Optimism of the Will: Engaging with the ‘Testimony’ of Injured Workers." (2015)

ulrike — Wed, 27 Jan 2016 19:52:27 +0000

Citation:

Storey, Robert. "Pessimism of the Intellect, Optimism of the Will: Engaging with the ‘Testimony’ of Injured Workers." In Beyond Testimony and Trauma: Oral History in the Aftermath of Mass Violence, edited by Steven High, 56-83. Vancouver: UBC Press, 2015.

Abstract/Summary:

Using examples from Canada and abroad, this chapter analyzes “accident stories” that are told by those who are injured in the workplace. A Canadian worker is seriously injured every 19 seconds, and three die per day. Fighting for compensation can be an isolating and traumatizing process as the cases are settled individually; hence, when workers have the ability to share their stories, for example through the Ontario injured workers movement and the Injured Workers History Project, it can lead to solidarity and action advocating for better workplace conditions. As Steven High describes it, “Pain and suffering need not be pathologized as an individual problem.” The research that has been gathered “enables them [the workers], simultaneously, to uncover, learn, and use their history to, in Orlando Buonastella’s words, contest the official and dominant discourses whose purpose it is to demonize and erase them…becoming…a hybrid of what Linda Shopes calls ‘citizens-scholars-activists.’”

Source/Credit:

ulrike — Thu, 07 Jul 2016 19:18:11 +0000

Citation:

Abstract/Summary:

Source/Credit:

Shannon Leggett

Taylor, Tony. “Denial in the Classroom: Political Origins of the Japanese Textbook Controversy.” (2012)

ulrike — Tue, 19 Nov 2013 23:00:37 +0000

Citation:

Taylor, Tony. “Denial in the Classroom: Political Origins of the Japanese Textbook Controversy.” In History Wars and the Classroom: Global Perspectives, edited by R. Guyver and T. Taylor, 89-106. Charlotte, NC: Information Age Publishing, 2012.

Abstract/Summary:

In 2005, a history war erupted between China and Japan with South Korea joining forces with China. The issue stemmed from Japan’s revised version of a history textbook. Although the anger on the part of the Chinese may have been righteous and warranted, it was used for political opportunism and as a foothold in the superpower race that China and Japan were embroiled in and not necessarily solely in opposition to the textbook. An analysis of the timing of the conflict situated within the political landscape of the time is important and explored by the author in terms of Beijing’s Realpolitik and Japan’s resurgence of nationalism. The author concludes with a discussion of Japanese history education and how it changed over time and affected the textbook debate, including the rise of modern Japanese nationalism.

Source/Credit:

Erika Smith

Taylor, Tony. “Disputed Territory: The Politics of Historical Consciousness in Australia.” (2004)

ulrike — Mon, 27 Dec 2010 22:24:14 +0000

Citation:

Taylor, Tony. “Disputed Territory: The Politics of Historical Consciousness in Australia.” In Theorizing Historical Consciousness, edited by Peter Seixas, 217-39. Toronto: University of Toronto Press, 2004.

Abstract/Summary:

In this analytical discussion of Australia’s “history wars,” Tony Taylor explores the politics behind the National History Project. While he agrees that history classrooms are important sites for building historical consciousness, he questions the motives of federal politicians who revived the urgency to learn and study Australia’s national history. He posits that there is a need to bring history educators and academic historians together, but the National History Project may be too top-down to be effective for teachers or historians. In this chapter Taylor provides history and details of the history wars, reactions from teachers and historians, and suggestions for future collaboration.

Source/Credit:

Cutrara

ulrike — Wed, 27 Apr 2011 23:03:10 +0000

Citation:

Thornton, Stephen J. and Keith C. Barton. “Can History Stand Alone? Drawbacks and Blind Spots of a “Disciplinary” Curriculum.” Teachers College Record 112(9) (2010): 2471-95.
http://www.tcrecord.org/

Abstract/Summary:

Over the past quarter-century, many historians, politicians, and educators have argued for an increase in the amount of history taught in schools, for a clear separation of history and social studies, and for an emphasis on disciplinary structures and norms as the proper focus for the subject. Unfortunately, discussions of history education too often rest on the problematic belief that the academic discipline can provide direction for the nature of the subject in general education.

Throughout much of the 20th century, U.S. history educators made common cause with other social educators to promote principled and critical understandings of society. Both groups stood in opposition to calls for more nationalist views of history education. In the mid-1980s, however, this situation began to change, as a coalition of historians, educational researchers, and political pressure groups promoted history as a subject distinct from and independent of the larger realm of the social studies. This new coalition has been unable to avoid conflicts over the selection of content, however, and approaches favored by nationalists often clash with the more critical and inclusive perspectives of historians.

In this article, we trace the relationship between historians and other social educators during the 20th century and explore how the forces favoring a realignment of history and social studies coalesced in the mid-1980s. We argue that this coalition has led to an unproductive emphasis on history as a “separate subject” and a resulting lack of attention to the goals of history in general education.

Conclusions: The academic discipline of history cannot, by itself, provide guidance for content selection because educators face restrictions of time and coverage that are not relevant in the context of academic historical research. In addition, educators must concern themselves with developing students’ conceptual understanding, and this necessarily requires drawing on other social science disciplines. If students are to develop the insights that historians have most often promoted for the subject, historians must return to their place within the conversation of social studies education.

Source/Credit:

Education Full Text

Thornton, Stephen J. “What is History in US History Textbooks?” (2006)

ulrike — Wed, 23 Oct 2013 21:33:32 +0000

Citation:

Thornton, Stephen J. “What is History in US History Textbooks?” In School History Textbooks Across Cultures: International Debates and Perspectives, edited by Jason Nicholls, 15-25. Oxford: Symposium Books, 2006.

Abstract/Summary:

Thornton begins by explaining the complex role of textbooks in American history education. Textbooks can be viewed as repositories of historical knowledge, a representation of expected learning, or as curriculum materials with intended educational consequences. From these roles emerge issues in areas such as social group representation, how and why textbooks are used, and the student’s educational experience given the type of information that textbooks include or exclude. Thornton argues that the educational significance of textbooks cannot be examined outside of the instructional encounters between teachers and students in which they are used. He thus sets about highlighting the nature of the study of history in American schools before specifically looking at textbooks.

In American education, history as an independent school subject is only found in the second half a student’s education, or the final six to seven years of schooling. Throughout schooling, however, it is typically found embedded in the social studies curriculum in subjects such as geography, economics, or current events. Thornton points out that one important goal of history education in the American context, regardless of where it is found, must be understood: it is not only for the development of the human person, but for the formation of citizens who understand, believe in, and are committed to core national values. Thus its purposes are often non-academic, economic or sociopolitical. Furthermore, there is a textbook adoption process that more than half of the states enforce, which also influences the type of history that students encounter in schools. The author illuminates the difference between history found in school textbooks and that found in textbooks of higher education by discussing the way in which history about Hiroshima is often presented to students in a one-sided and uncritical manner. Rather than engaging students in debating the validity of Truman’s reasoning in dropping the atomic bomb, students are taught about the necessity of his decision.

American history textbooks are typically arranged chronologically and present the political history of the American nation; this is a version of history that is centered on European American men. Thornton reports that increasingly advocates are calling for the curriculum to be rearranged altogether rather than treating alternative views of history as special interest topics that are simply tacked onto the curriculum. Studies often examine content included or missing from textbooks, but the author points out that this yields limited insight into how and in what depth topics are treated, and says nothing about how students engage with the material. Limited research has been devoted to the latter area, which Thornton suggests is perhaps more significant. The author closes by pointing to the centrality of the textbook in American education, and its resilience in providing a master narrative of unity and progress in spite of abundant historical research that has deconstructed this notion.

Source/Credit:

Katie Gemmell

Tomkins, George. “The Social Studies in Canada.” (1983)

ulrike — Wed, 22 Feb 2012 22:29:07 +0000

Citation:

Tomkins, George. “The Social Studies in Canada.” In A Canadian Social Studies, edited by Jim Parsons, Geoff Milburn, and Max van Manen, 12-30. Edmonton: University of Alberta Press, 1983.

Abstract/Summary:

Tomkins begins this chapter with an overview of the history of social studies in Canada, beginning in the early twentieth century. He argues that it is difficult to define ‘social studies’ because it is difficult to define its nature and purpose in the curriculum; however, he further argues that the goal of ‘citizenship’ is the closest that Canadians have come to articulating a purpose of social studies. He concludes the chapter by outlining the sources and influences on curriculum policy in the social studies, arguing that the social studies curriculum is probably more subject to political pressures and public demands than other subjects, due to its social nature. Throughout the chapter, Tomkins notes the place of history within the social studies. He also provides an annotated bibliography of important sources in both research about and the teaching of social studies.

Source/Credit:

Katherine Joyce

Topolski, Jeretz. “The Structure of Historical Narratives and the Teaching of History.” (1998)

ulrike — Fri, 12 Jul 2013 18:54:26 +0000

Citation:

Topolski, Jeretz. “The Structure of Historical Narratives and the Teaching of History.” In International Review of History Education, Vol. 2: Learning and Reasoning in History, edited by J.F. Voss and M. Carretero, 9-22. Portland, OR: Woburn Press, 1998.

Abstract/Summary:

According to the author, successful teaching of history should always take into account three things: the development, achievements and tendencies in the philosophy of history. The author discusses the importance of studying the philosophy of history and the implications this has on the field of history education. Historical narrative is the main point of interest when studying and discussing didactic history activities. Current conclusions in history education include the need for historical thinking and attitude of teachers towards historical narration. The author distinguishes three layers of historical narrative: the surface or informing (logical and grammatical) layer, the persuasive or rhetorical layer, and the theoretical-ideological or contolling (steering) layer. The author concludes the article with a discussion of each of the layers in turn describing the frame, tensions and the elements of the layers.

Source/Credit:

Erika Smith

Torney-Purta, Judith. “Dimensions of Adolescents’ Reasoning about Historical Issues: Ontological Switches, Developmental Processes, and Situated Learning.” (1994)

ulrike — Fri, 16 Oct 2009 22:20:35 +0000

Citation:

Torney-Purta, Judith. “Dimensions of Adolescents’ Reasoning about Historical Issues: Ontological Switches, Developmental Processes, and Situated Learning.” In Cognitive and Instructional Processes in History and the Social Sciences, edited by James F. Voss and Mario Carretero, 103–22. Hillsdale: Erlbaum, 1994.

Abstract/Summary:

This study focuses on two questions: 1) “What is conceptual change in the social and political domain of knowledge dealing with contemporary political events and with historical events?” and 2) “What is important about developmental processes as they intersect with instructional processes to influence conceptual change in this domain?” Answers to these questions were derived from problem solving tasks and concept mapping tasks conducted with fourteen to seventeen year old students in Project ICONS and with twelve to fourteen year old students participating in educational activities in the classroom organized in conjunction with a museum exhibit.

Novice history learners distinguish important from non-important information based on how often the teacher mentions the event and/or person. Torney-Purta concludes that the processing of everyday experiences plays a significant role in students’ understanding of history. Further, based on the results from the data collection the author suggests that teachers tailor their history instruction to students’ prior knowledge. Lastly, the results indicate that active participation in the classroom is not enough: students must have opportunities to discuss historical issues with each other and participate in developing individual and unique projects and activities in order to promote conceptual change.

Source/Credit:

Ana Laura Pauchulo

Torpey, John. “The Pursuit of the Past: A Polemical Perspective." (2004)

ulrike — Tue, 21 Jan 2014 23:34:58 +0000

Citation:

Torpey, John. “The Pursuit of the Past: A Polemical Perspective." In Theorizing Historical Consciousness, edited by Peter Seixas, 240-55. Toronto: University of Toronto Press, 2004.

Abstract/Summary:

According to the author, most people are able to keep a balance between their present, past and future, despite whatever unhappy memories the past may entail. Nevertheless, this balance seems to have been disrupted within recent years with a specific notion of the past being constantly present. History is no longer simply a progressive notion of heroic tales but rather a history laced with injustice and crime. As a result, many countries are tasked with addressing the burden of these histories. According to Torpey, the introduction of this morbid and depressing form of history is a response to the collapse of a future. He discusses the issues with this situation, including the factors which account for our current concerns with the past. Our nations, deprived of a narrative of progress such as socialism and the nation-state, are lacking direction. The only narrative of progress is the progression of the world into a truly market-based society and yet, as a whole, we lack a collective dream to energize large groups of people due to the influx of individualism over collective visions. Torpey discusses how the collapse of the future can be linked to two declining factors in society, socialism and the nation-state. He states that a society without a vision for a more humane future is doomed to live in the horrors of the past. Without this vision, society is left with a desire to right past wrongs as a way to supplement the vision for a brighter and better future.

Source/Credit:

Erika Smith

Torpey, John. “The Pursuit of the Past: A Polemical Perspective.” (2004)

ulrike — Mon, 27 Dec 2010 22:25:22 +0000

Citation:

Torpey, John. “The Pursuit of the Past: A Polemical Perspective.” In Theorizing Historical Consciousness, edited by Peter Seixas, 240-55. Toronto: University of Toronto Press, 2004.

Abstract/Summary:

This brief chapter is the final one in a collection focusing on the theoretical dimensions of historical consciousness and as such contextualizes the current social, political, and cultural interest in memory and historical consciousness. Providing context to the West’s interest in the past, John Torpey names socialism and nationalism as contributing to the collapse of the future, and argues that there is a need for the past to fill its place. He claims that because we live with perpetual “post” conditions, only looking backward can satisfy our need for a reference point beyond our immediate reality.

Source/Credit:

Cutrara

Trofanenko, B. “Interrupting the Gaze: On Reconsidering Authority in the Museum.” (2006)

ulrike — Fri, 02 Oct 2009 22:52:02 +0000

Citation:

Trofanenko, B. “Interrupting the Gaze: On Reconsidering Authority in the Museum.” Journal of Curriculum Studies 38(1) (2006): 49-65.

Abstract/Summary:

Thinking about the museum's engagement in educational programmes is increasingly adopting a more critical perspective on the implications of a programme in authorizing and defining particular knowledge. While objects are still invoked to define history and culture and to underscore their authority, the museum's claim to educational purposes is being questioned by the museum itself. This has resulted in changes to the ways in which student learning occurs within the museum. Using data gathered during a year-long study of the changing role of a Canadian regional history and ethnology museum, this paper argues that the changing role of the museum prompts reconsideration of their roles not only as sites of knowledge but also as sites of knowledge-production.

http://www.tandf.co.uk/journals/tf/00220272.html

Source/Credit:

ERIC

Trofanenko, Brenda and Avner Segall. “Addressing the Pedagogical Purpose of Indigenous Displays: The Case of the National Museum of the American Indian.” (2012)

ulrike — Wed, 12 Dec 2012 22:14:47 +0000

Citation:

Trofanenko, Brenda and Avner Segall. “Addressing the Pedagogical Purpose of Indigenous Displays: The Case of the National Museum of the American Indian.” Diaspora, Indigenous, and Minority Education: Studies of Migration, Integration, Equity, and Cultural Survival 6(3) (2012): 141-56.

Abstract/Summary:

In museums with Indigenous objects, the exhibits present a particular representation of the culture and history of Indigenous peoples. More recently, the move toward partnerships with Indigenous communities represents a radical departure from long-held attitudes about the relationship between Indigenous people and museums. This article both examines the permanent exhibits at the Smithsonian Institution’s National Museum of the American Indian and uses qualitative data from visitors’ experiences to explore the pedagogical nature of this museum’s exhibits and the degree to which they challenge and confirm the public’s conceptualizations of Indigenous identities. In considering the museum’s pedagogical address (Ellsworth, 2005), this article suggests the need for educators to consider what is not presented in exhibits and the degree to which what is presented obscures new understandings from the visiting public.

Source/Credit:

Taylor and Francis Online

Trofanenko, Brenda M. “The Educational Promise of Public History Museum Exhibits.” (2010)

ulrike — Thu, 12 Sep 2013 23:23:46 +0000

Citation:

Trofanenko, Brenda M. “The Educational Promise of Public History Museum Exhibits.” Theory and Research in Social Education 38(2) (2010): 270-88.

Abstract/Summary:

Public history museums play a critical role in validating a nation’s history. The museum’s institutional strategies of object display are used to define a particular representation of past events. Museum displays of war are of particular interest not only because they provide evidence of past wars, but also because they serve to advance national identity, nationalism, and patriotism--often without critical reflection on their broader educational impact. By examining one exhibit at the Smithsonian Institute’s National Museum of American History (NMAH), “The Price of Freedom: Americans at War,” the author shows how the NMAH displays war as a significant event in U.S. history. She also shows how this representation of various wars does not encourage the viewing public to critically consider how the value and meaning of war is framed within a museum context.

Source/Credit:

Taylor and Francis Online

Trofanenko, Brenda. “Dare We Know the Nation? Considering the Nexus of Discursive Leveraging and Identity.” (2008)

ulrike — Wed, 12 Dec 2012 19:36:04 +0000

Citation:

Trofanenko, Brenda. “Dare We Know the Nation? Considering the Nexus of Discursive Leveraging and Identity.” Discourse: Studies in the Cultural Politics of Education 29(2) (2008): 257-72.

Abstract/Summary:

The public history museum holds an inherent pedagogical purpose to define the nation through a history considered collectively supported by its citizenry. Widely acknowledged criticism often accompanies such exhibits and prompts calls for a more critical examination of the narratives advanced through the affirmed educational intent held by museums. How scholars are engaging the question of how--and even whether--history can succeed in interrogating the strategies utilized by the public history museum means reconsidering what role social education holds in advancing a critical sensibility about how nation is defined. This article offers a theoretical analysis that reviews the inherent nationalist purpose advanced by the public museum, and the tensions educators could face when seeking to better understand how it affirms a particular understanding of history and of the nation. This article suggests that social education needs to address its role to engage critically the complicity the public history museum holds in defining and guarding the nation, and in confronting the museum authority of history and exhibition practices.

Source/Credit:

ERIC

Trofanenko, Brenda. “Displayed Objects, Indigenous Identities, and Public Pedagogy.” (2006)

ulrike — Fri, 02 Oct 2009 22:50:43 +0000

Citation:

Trofanenko, Brenda. “Displayed Objects, Indigenous Identities, and Public Pedagogy.” Anthropology and Education Quarterly 37(4) (2006): 309-27.

Abstract/Summary:

In this article, I describe how one group of student examines indigenous identity formation as dynamic and open to reinterpretation. Drawing on field observations and interviews with students in a 16-month ethnographic study, I examine how one group of students worked toward understanding how indigenous identity was determined by curatorial authority and historically defined museum practices. I argue that students can question the traditional pedagogical conceptions of indigenous culture that ought to be reconsidered within the public museum, and that working to historicize such conceptions makes more explicit student knowledge production of identity.

Source/Credit:

ERIC

Trofanenko, Brenda. “Playing into the Past: Reconsidering the Educational Promise of Public History Exhibits.” (2014)

ulrike — Mon, 17 Feb 2014 19:37:40 +0000

Citation:

Trofanenko, Brenda. “Playing into the Past: Reconsidering the Educational Promise of Public History Exhibits.” In Pastplay: Teaching and Learning History with Technology, edited by Kevin Kee, 257-69. Ann Arbor: University of Michigan Press, 2014.

Abstract/Summary:

Public history museums are considered to be powerful educational institutions. They are moving beyond the traditional forms of displays to include technology and the opportunities offered by the Internet have allowed museums to reach a wider digital audience. The last few years have seen an influx of research and scholarship in the relationship between museums and digital technologies. However, there have been issues raised by the research. The first concerns how the influx of digital technologies affects the level of involvement of the visitor with historical inquiry and the identification of objects, analyzing the information and understanding how it relates to historical events. The second issue relates to how museums see themselves as guardians of the past, culture and national identity and, in doing so, abridge the information relayed about an object when technology could enhance the experience with further information and context. Museums are at the state where they now must focus on how technology can aid their mandates and in reaching their goals and not rely on the adage that since the museum is there the public will come. According to the author, what is often missing for museums is the opportunity for youth to use technological tools to grapple with the resources. She states there are two reasons that museums limit the amount of play in their galleries. The first relates to how the museum staff members are so focused on the end goal, presenting the truth through factual knowledge, that they overlook any presentation of information other than the traditional didactic methods. The second issue discusses how the knowledge that is to be gained from an object is viewed unilaterally with only one correct response and is not open to interpretation. The author suggests that students, if given the opportunity, have the capacity to question historical narratives and engage with a historical consciousness. The author uses the case study of grade seven students’ engagement at the National Museum of American History as they sought to view the museum as an education resource. She presents an explanation of the research including the work that students completed. The author concludes with the suppositions of the research and how they can aid museums.

Source/Credit:

Erika Smith

Tsybulskaya, D., and J. Camhi. “Accessing and Incorporating Visitors’ Entrance Narratives in Guided Museum Tours.” (2009)

ulrike — Fri, 02 Oct 2009 22:53:23 +0000

Citation:

Tsybulskaya, D., and J. Camhi. “Accessing and Incorporating Visitors’ Entrance Narratives in Guided Museum Tours.” Curator 52(1) (2009): 81-100.

Abstract/Summary:

Museum visitors arrive at an exhibit or tour with their own individual experiences, memories and knowledge related to the subject — in a phrase, their “entrance narrative.” We tested what happens to participants in guided tours when the guide first accesses — by two different methods — the entrance narratives of their visitors, and then makes specific connections from these entrance narratives to the content of the tour. The subject of the tour was a guided tree walk at Hebrew University’s open-campus museum. Behavioral measures and questionnaires both indicated that accessing and incorporating participants’ entrance narratives profoundly enhanced their experience. The enhancement was somewhat greater among visitors from the general public than among groups of university students. We suggest that guides could use the simple methods described here, in a wide variety of tour types, to enhance visitor experiences.

Source/Credit:

Informal Science

Turkel, William J., and Devon Elliott. “Making and Playing with Models: Using Rapid Prototyping to Explore the History and Technology of Stage Magic.” (2014)

ulrike — Mon, 17 Feb 2014 19:34:19 +0000

Citation:

Turkel, William J., and Devon Elliott. “Making and Playing with Models: Using Rapid Prototyping to Explore the History and Technology of Stage Magic.” In Pastplay: Teaching and Learning History with Technology, edited by Kevin Kee, 175-97. Ann Arbor: University of Michigan Press, 2014.

Abstract/Summary:

The authors discuss how various groups are forming a community that is creating a new social movement focused on tweaking and bending technology as they choose. They continue with a discussion of O’Reilly Media, which publishes information on the campaign. The community extends outside of the purview of O’Reilly Media and overlaps with many other interest groups around the globe. Most relevant to the work the authors are completing and describing in the chapter are the people who are dedicated to producing software, hardware platforms and computer programs that make small scale 3D printing possible. They describe each of the technologies throughout the chapter offering examples and each of the designers of the technologies believe in open source, making the instructions and the details of their work available online. The authors suggest that humanists and historians can use this work for almost no cost to teach, learn and play and experiment with new technologies, including social media. They believe that this is the time for humanists to be experimenting and playing with technologies.

Source/Credit:

Erika Smith

Turkel, William, Kevin Kee, and Spencer Roberts. “A Method for Navigating the Infinite Archive.” (2012)

ulrike — Thu, 07 Jul 2016 19:38:16 +0000

Citation:

Turkel, William, Kevin Kee, and Spencer Roberts. “A Method for Navigating the Infinite Archive.” In History in the Digital Age, edited by Toni Weller. New York: Routledge, 2012.

Abstract/Summary:

When traditional research methods were developed, evidence about the past was scarce and heritage repositories had to be visited in person. Human labour was required both to read and interpret sources and to create scholarly apparatus that facilitated their discovery and use. Historians now face the challenge of making sense of digital collections of sources that are so vast that they cannot be visualized or understood without computation. We describe a range of techniques that allow researchers to keep up-to-date with new information, to collect and automatically process thousands of sources, and to discover new patterns that require interpretation.

Source/Credit:

Kevin Kee

van Boxtel, Carla, and Jannet Van Drie. “Historical Reasoning: A Comparison of How Experts and Novices Contextualise Historical Sources.” (2004)

ulrike — Fri, 07 Aug 2009 22:21:30 +0000

Citation:

van Boxtel, Carla, and Jannet Van Drie. “Historical Reasoning: A Comparison of How Experts and Novices Contextualise Historical Sources.” International Journal of Historical Learning, Teaching and Research 4(2) (2004). http://centres.exeter.ac.uk/historyresource/journal8/8contents.htm

Abstract/Summary:

In order to make progress in the design of teaching methods that are able to provoke, support and measure high level historical reasoning, it is necessary to know more about important components, modes and specific problems of historical reasoning. In this paper we present a model with six related components of historical reasoning. This model is based upon a review of literature about historical reasoning and results of an expert-novice study that we conducted to get more insight in processes and difficulties of historical reasoning. We discern six components of historical reasoning 1) the asking of historical questions 2) contextualisation 3) putting forward claims and supporting them with arguments 4) the use of sources 5) the organisation of information to describe processes of change and explain or compare historical phenomena and 6) the use of (substantive and methodological) historical concepts. In this paper we focus on contextualisation.

Source/Credit:

International Journal of Historical Learning, Teaching and Research

Van Coeverden, Peter, Pamela B.Y. Wong, Christopher Harris, Markus G. Dyck, Louie Kamookak, Marie Pagès, Johan Michaux, and Peter T. Boag. "Toward a Non-invasive Inuit Polar Bear Survey: Genetic Data from Polar Bear Hair Snags." (2013)

ulrike — Tue, 17 Nov 2015 00:20:37 +0000

Citation:

Van Coeverden, Peter, Pamela B.Y. Wong, Christopher Harris, Markus G. Dyck, Louie Kamookak, Marie Pagès, Johan Michaux, and Peter T. Boag. "Toward a Non-invasive Inuit Polar Bear Survey: Genetic Data from Polar Bear Hair Snags." Wildlife Society Bulletin 37, no. 2 (2013): 394-401.

Abstract/Summary:

Louie Kamkookak and his co-authors conducted unique research in their polar bear conservation work: they undertook an Inuit-led non-invasive genomic DNA hair study of polar bears in M’Clintock Channel, Nunavut. This was done in order to determine individual and sex estimates for the population from 2006-09 and to compare their findings to the previous survey. This technique was deemed to be an effective, inexpensive, Inuit-inclusive alternative to “invasive aerial-mark-recapture” methodologies that are costly, and can hurt the animal due to the impact of human contact with it. As well, “these surveys might preserve the invaluable hunting and tracking techniques of Inuit hunters (especially those who no longer actively hunt), nurturing local knowledge of the land and promoting knowledge transfer to youth.” Their investigation concluded that the number of polar bears in the region had increased, and “although genetic sex estimates of matching genotypes are generally in agreement, the estimated sex ratio differs from that previously reported from aerial mark–recapture, which suggests a potential male bias in (their) sampling stations.”

Source/Credit:

Shannon Leggett

Van Dijk, Pieter A., Liam D.G. Smith and Betty Weiler. “To Re-Enact or Not to Re-Enact? Investigating the Impacts of First- and Third-Person Interpretation at a Heritage Tourism Site.” (2012)

ulrike — Wed, 12 Dec 2012 21:13:18 +0000

Citation:

Van Dijk, Pieter A., Liam D.G. Smith and Betty Weiler. “To Re-Enact or Not to Re-Enact? Investigating the Impacts of First- and Third-Person Interpretation at a Heritage Tourism Site.” Visitor Studies 15(1) (2012): 48-61.

Abstract/Summary:

The purpose of this study was to investigate the impacts of first-person street theatre reenactments versus third-person interpretation at a recreated 1850s gold-rush heritage tourism site. Data collected from 357 visitors following 7 different interpretive activities indicated that third-person interpretation produced significantly higher mean respondent ratings than those activities that used first-person interpretation on 6 of 10 cognitive, affective, and behavioral indicators. Further scrutiny revealed that third-person interpretation resulted in higher levels of cognitive and affective outcomes for some visitor audiences when compared to first-person interpretation, but that there was no difference between first- and third-person interpretation on most behavioral outcomes. Both types of interpretation may be needed in order to achieve a full range of visitor outcomes. A multivariate analysis of covariance illustrated the potential implication of activity length in determining visitor outcomes; that is, the longer the activity, the greater impact of interpretation on measured outcomes. Isolating the effect of type of interpretation versus duration requires further research.

Source/Credit:

Taylor and Francis Online

van Drie, Jannet, and Carla van Boxtel. “Enhancing Collaborative Historical Reasoning by Providing Representational Guidance.” (2004)

ulrike — Fri, 07 Aug 2009 22:22:57 +0000

Citation:

van Drie, Jannet, and Carla van Boxtel. “Enhancing Collaborative Historical Reasoning by Providing Representational Guidance.” International Journal of Historical Learning, Teaching and Research 4(2) (2004). http://centres.exeter.ac.uk/historyresource/journal8/8contents.htm

Abstract/Summary:

The main aim of this study is to promote historical reasoning in a computer-supported collaborative learning environment by providing representational tools. The CSCL environment we used enables pairs of students to collaborate on an historical inquiry task and in writing an essay. Sixty-five student-pairs from pre-university education participated in this research. Representational guidance was offered by a tool for the collaborative construction of an external representation, in order to select and organize information from the sources. Three different representational formats were compared with a control group: an argumentative diagram, an argument list and a matrix. As it is assumed that external representations can support both cognitive and interaction processes, we expected that using this tool would result in more historical reasoning, in the chat as well as in the text. The analyses included analyses of interaction processes in the chat, the quality of the constructed representation, the quality of the essay and the scores on the individual post test. The results indicate that each representational format has its own affordances and constraints. For example, Matrix users talked more about historical changes, whereas Diagram users were more focused on the balance in their argumentation. However, this did not result in differences in the quality of historical reasoning in the essay, nor in outcomes on the post-test.

Source/Credit:

International Journal of Historical Learning, Teaching and Research

van Hover, Stephannie D., and Elizabeth Anne Yeager. “Challenges Facing Beginning History Teachers: An Exploratory Study.” (2004)

ulrike — Fri, 07 Aug 2009 22:25:27 +0000

Citation:

van Hover, Stephannie D., and Elizabeth Anne Yeager. “Challenges Facing Beginning History Teachers: An Exploratory Study.” International Journal of Social Education 19(1) (2004): 8-21. http://ijse.iweb.bsu.edu/

Abstract/Summary:

Beginning teachers face a myriad of challenges as they enter schools, including a growing emphasis on standards and accountability, an increasingly diverse student population, and lack of support or mentoring. Current attrition rates for beginning teachers are high and continue to grow. This situation is more pronounced in low-income urban schools and in schools with large numbers of minority students. Research on beginning teachers demonstrates that novice teachers often struggle both psychologically and instructionally as they enter their first few years of teaching. This article begins by discussing different components of "best practice" in history instruction, particularly as they apply to methods courses and the instructional decisions of preservice and beginning teachers. Next, the research design and methods are described, followed by a description of key themes and issues emerging from the data. The article concludes with a discussion of the findings and analysis of implications for social studies teacher education.

Source/Credit:

ERIC

VanSledright, B. A., T. Kelly, and K. Meuwissen. “Oh, the Trouble We’ve Seen: Researching Historical Thinking and Understanding." (2005)

ulrike — Wed, 05 Jun 2013 21:04:48 +0000

Citation:

VanSledright, B. A., T. Kelly, and K. Meuwissen. “Oh, the Trouble We’ve Seen: Researching Historical Thinking and Understanding." In Research Methods in Social Studies Education: Contemporary Issues and Perspectives, edited by K. C. Barton, 207–33. Greenwich, CT: Information Age Publishing, 2005.

Abstract/Summary:

The authors describe the difficulties with attempting to understand and study historical thinking of young learners and understanding teachers and their epistemological practices. The authors begin with an example of how a technical glitch in research and practice can create theoretical troubles. They continue the chapter with more examples of difficulties that are met when conducting historical thinking research with young audiences and then present some tentative ideas of how they may be resolved. They describe how young children will usually not tell the interviewer everything they know when being interviewed. They suggest that students may focus on a specific part of the question or not be able to properly articulate all they know on a historical subject. The researcher should rephrase the question and be patient with the students as they struggle to articulate their points. Socio-cultural differences between the children and the researcher can also cause issues and often students will tell the researcher what they think they want to hear. It is important for researchers in history education to have a starting point from which to measure any changes, which is difficult when students, especially those in the United States are offered very little opportunity to develop historical thinking and reasoning skills. The authors continue with a study of teachers’ epistemology of historical thinking and understanding, which leads to a deeper and richer understanding of the past. However, what counts as understanding and what counts as knowledge in historical thinking is very important and varies for different groups. The authors discuss their focus on history education research on beginning teachers and their pedagogical decision-making and domain knowledge and how it relates to their use (or misuse) of historical thinking. It is important to make the distinction between history and the past and historical recall and thinking. The authors also discuss what is significant when discussing and studying historical thinking. They conclude with a discussion of “ambitious history teaching.”

Source/Credit:

Erika Smith

VanSledright, B. “From Empathetic Regard to Self-Understanding: Im/Positionality, Empathy, and Historical Contextualizations.” (2001)

ulrike — Wed, 05 Jun 2013 21:13:48 +0000

Citation:

VanSledright, B. “From Empathetic Regard to Self-Understanding: Im/Positionality, Empathy, and Historical Contextualizations.” In Historical Empathy and Perspective Taking in the Social Studies, edited by O. L. Davis Jr., E.A. Yeager, and S.J. Foster, 51-68. Lanham, MD: Rowman & Littlefield Publishers Inc., 2001.

Abstract/Summary:

The author begins the chapter with an example of the feeling of collective guilt of an Anglo-Saxon teacher concerning the removal of Cherokee from their ancestral homeland in what is now considered the United States. The author questions whether the teacher is empathetically engaged with the past. He states that there are two types of empathy, one in which we attempt to understand and make sense of why people in the past did what they did by attempting to get inside their heads and hearts and, secondly, a feeling of emotional empathy in response to a tragedy that is difficult to bear. Historical empathy is not simply placing oneself in another’s shoes, rather it requires a high level of thinking where the beliefs, values and goals of people of the past are entertained and worked with in order to explain and understand what was done in the past. There are five levels of historical empathy discussed in the chapter. The author continues with a discussion of the problems of historical empathy: that it requires a high level of self-examination regarding our experiences and assumptions, that there is a lack of well-honed tools and unbroken evidence to truly accomplish historical empathy, and the necessity of removing our positionalities in order to avoid being a presentist. He also discusses the empathetic historian as ‘psyche-snatcher’, time-traveler and necromancer. The author concludes with a discussion of how to move from empathy to historical contextualization and finally to self-understanding.

Source/Credit:

Erika Smith

VanSledright, Bruce A. “And Santayana Lives on: Students’ Views on the Purposes for Studying American History.” (1997)

ulrike — Fri, 07 Aug 2009 22:59:14 +0000

Citation:

VanSledright, Bruce A. “And Santayana Lives on: Students’ Views on the Purposes for Studying American History.” Journal of Curriculum Studies 29(5) (1997): 529-57. http://www.tandf.co.uk/journals/tf/00220272.html

Abstract/Summary:

Reviews and analyzes the responses of a small number of fifth graders, eighth graders, and high schoolers to detailed interviews concerning the purpose or efficacy of studying history. Reveals a sizable range of rationales characterized by age, interest, and ethnic background. Considers possible implications for teaching and curriculum development.

Source/Credit:

ERIC

VanSledright, Bruce A. “Can More be Less? The Depth-Breadth Dilemma in Teaching American History.” (1997)

ulrike — Mon, 10 Aug 2009 22:19:35 +0000

Citation:

VanSledright, Bruce A. “Can More be Less? The Depth-Breadth Dilemma in Teaching American History.” Social Education 61(1) (1997): 38-41. http://www.socialstudies.org/socialeducation

Abstract/Summary:

Contrasts two approaches to achieving depth in an 8th grade U.S. history class. One presents a detailed and chronological approach, the other a discipline-based matrix structure with chronological and regional evolutions as a backdrop. Favors stressing major principles and generalizations while focusing in depth on prototypical examples.

Source/Credit:

ERIC

VanSledright, Bruce A. “Studying Colonization in Eighth Grade: What Can It Teach Us about the Learning Context of Current Reforms?” (1996)

ulrike — Fri, 07 Aug 2009 22:29:58 +0000

Citation:

VanSledright, Bruce A. “Studying Colonization in Eighth Grade: What Can It Teach Us About the Learning Context of Current Reforms?” Theory and Research in Social Education 24(2) (1996): 107-45. http://www.socialstudies.org/cufa/trse

Abstract/Summary:

Describes a unit on North American colonization taught in an eighth-grade history class. Profiles the students' knowledge of colonial history before and after the class through in-depth interviews. Discusses current reform movements in social studies instruction and how they relate to this unit.

Source/Credit:

ERIC

VanSledright, Bruce A. “‘I Don’t Remember—the Ideas are All Jumbled in My Head’: 8th Graders’ Reconstructions of Colonial American History.” (1995)

ulrike — Fri, 07 Aug 2009 22:26:45 +0000

Citation:

VanSledright, Bruce A. “‘I Don’t Remember—the Ideas are All Jumbled in My Head’: 8th Graders’ Reconstructions of Colonial American History.” Journal of Curriculum and Supervision 10(4) (1995): 317-45.

Abstract/Summary:

Describes a naturalistic case study involving a class of urban, ethnically diverse eighth graders who had studied the exploration and British colonization of North America. Most had considerable difficulty reconstructing what they had learned and explaining why they were studying history. New history education standards may help students connect historical experience with their own lives.

Source/Credit:

ERIC

VanSledright, Bruce A., and Christine Kelly. “Reading American History: The Influence of Multiple Sources on Six Fifth Graders.” (1998)

ulrike — Tue, 11 Aug 2009 21:34:54 +0000

Citation:

VanSledright, Bruce A., and Christine Kelly. “Reading American History: The Influence of Multiple Sources on Six Fifth Graders.” Elementary School Journal 98(3) (1998): 239-65.

Abstract/Summary:

Examined effects of using textbook alternatives on six fifth graders' experiences learning about American history. Found that students preferred alternative texts. Using multiple sources raised no questions for students about validity and reliability of evidence. Students used an information-quantity criterion to judge validity of evidence. Three students showed emerging signs of advanced historical thinking.

Source/Credit:

ERIC

VanSledright, Bruce A., and Lisa Frankes. “Concept- and Strategic-Knowledge Development in Historical Study: A Comparative Exploration in Two Fourth-Grade Classrooms.” (2000)

ulrike — Tue, 11 Aug 2009 21:36:22 +0000

Citation:

VanSledright, Bruce A., and Lisa Frankes. “Concept- and Strategic-Knowledge Development in Historical Study: A Comparative Exploration in Two Fourth-Grade Classrooms.” Cognition & Instruction 18(2) (2000): 239-83.

Abstract/Summary:

Used interviews and observations of teachers and students to examine how historical concepts and research strategies were taught and learned in two fourth grade classrooms. Found that teaching method differences were obvious but student differences in concept- and strategic-knowledge development were subtle. Both teachers were partially successful in promoting conceptual and strategic knowledge.

Source/Credit:

ERIC

VanSledright, Bruce A., and Peter Afflerbach. “Assessing the Status of Historical Sources: An Exploratory Study of Eight US Elementary Students Reading Documents.” (2005)

ulrike — Tue, 21 Jan 2014 23:35:56 +0000

Citation:

VanSledright, Bruce A., and Peter Afflerbach. “Assessing the Status of Historical Sources: An Exploratory Study of Eight US Elementary Students Reading Documents.” In International Review of History Education, Vol. 4: Understanding History: Recent Research in History Education, edited by R. Ashby, P. Gordon and P. Lee, 1-19. New York: Routledge Falmer, 2005.

Abstract/Summary:

This chapter begins with a discussion of the Bacon Rebellion in 1676 by questioning the role of social class in the development of democracy in early American culture. Historians have pondered what the motives of the wealthy Nathanial Bacon were in leading an uprising to aid the poor. The authors question how we are to understand the events of 1676 and discuss how to assess the status of the documentary sources that remain. Assessing the sources offers historians information regarding what types of historical evidence can be used to interpret the events being studied. There are four steps required in assessing sources that begin with critical reading: attribution, identification, perspective, and reliability. The study was concerned with how eight novice US students developed academically in the domain of history using conflicting source materials concerning the Bacon Rebellion. The discussion includes the school context and curriculum, materials, procedures and methods. The students were given five different texts to use to get a clearer understanding of the events concerning the Bacon Rebellion. The chapter concludes with a discussion of the results of the study and how progress can be made in enhancing student’s critical thinking skills.

Source/Credit:

Erika Smith

VanSledright, Bruce A., and S.G. Grant. “Citizenship Education and the Persistent Nature of Classroom Teaching Dilemmas.” (1994)

ulrike — Tue, 11 Aug 2009 21:33:37 +0000

Citation:

VanSledright, Bruce A., and S.G. Grant. “Citizenship Education and the Persistent Nature of Classroom Teaching Dilemmas.” Theory and Research in Social Education 22(3) (1994): 305-39. http://www.socialstudies.org/cufa/trse

Abstract/Summary:

Maintains that the field of social studies defines its central purpose through endorsements of citizenship education. Reports on three case studies of elementary teachers using Catherine Cornbleth's three types of citizenship education: the illusory, the technical, and the constructive.

Source/Credit:

ERIC

VanSledright, Bruce A., and S.G. Grant. “Surviving Its Own Rhetoric: Building a Conversational Community within the Social Studies.” (1991)

ulrike — Tue, 11 Aug 2009 21:31:58 +0000

Citation:

VanSledright, Bruce A., and S.G. Grant. “Surviving Its Own Rhetoric: Building a Conversational Community within the Social Studies.” Theory and Research in Social Education 19(3) (1991): 283-304. http://www.socialstudies.org/cufa/trse

Abstract/Summary:

Argues for a conversational community within the social studies profession. Explores relevant attributes of such a community. Suggests that researchers ask (1) who speaks, (2) the topics of discourse, and (3) how language is used. Concludes that a conversational community does exist but is kept from its full potential by distrust between teachers and professors, among other factors.

Source/Credit:

ERIC

VanSledright, Bruce A., “How do Multiple Text Resources Influence Learning to Read American History in Fifth Grade?: NRRC Ongoing Research.” (1995)

ulrike — Fri, 07 Aug 2009 22:28:31 +0000

Citation:

VanSledright, Bruce A. “How do Multiple Text Resources Influence Learning to Read American History in Fifth Grade?: NRRC Ongoing Research.” NRRC News: A Newsletter of the National Reading Research Center (Sep. 1995): 4-5.

Abstract/Summary:

A naturalistic study explored a classroom in which multiple history text resources were present and actively used by fifth-grade students. The teacher used the textbook and supplemented it with a wide assortment of trade books. Students worked in small groups of 3 to 5 students. Data included field notes of classroom observations and in-depth interviews of a sub-sample of the class (3 males and 3 females of average achievement) before and after their unit on English colonization in North America. Six themes or patterns emerged: (1) students opted to use the trade books first, found them more interesting and informative, and enjoyed reading them more than their textbook; (2) textbook authors did not give an account of where they had obtained the information they used to construct their historical renditions; (3) students frequently used an information-quantity criterion to judge the different types of books available in terms of the quality as well as the different perspectives and material presented; (4) emerging from the use of a variety of text sources were some indications that students found the author's point of view important in making judgments about a source's reliability; (5) reading from various accounts did not foster many questions or concerns; and (6) students did not specifically note differences between textbooks and trade books. Findings suggest that students enjoy trade books and, when possible, gravitate to them for research projects.

Source/Credit:

ERIC

VanSledright, Bruce, and Jere Brophy. “Storytelling, Imagination and Fanciful Elaboration in Children's Historical Reconstructions.” (1992)

ulrike — Tue, 11 Aug 2009 21:30:16 +0000

Citation:

VanSledright, Bruce, and Jere Brophy. “Storytelling, Imagination and Fanciful Elaboration in Children's Historical Reconstructions.” American Educational Research Journal 29(4) (1992): 837-59.

Abstract/Summary:

Historical accounts by fourth graders at the beginning stage of learning history show that these young students lack an experience-based framework for grounding and connecting historical teaching. Implications for teaching history to elementary school students and aspects of children's reliance on imagination in constructing historical narratives are discussed.

Source/Credit:

ERIC

VanSledright, Bruce, and Peter Afflerbach. “Reconstructing Andrew Jackson: Prospective Elementary Teachers' Readings of Revisionist History Texts.” (2000)

ulrike — Tue, 11 Aug 2009 21:37:53 +0000

Citation:

VanSledright, Bruce, and Peter Afflerbach. “Reconstructing Andrew Jackson: Prospective Elementary Teachers' Readings of Revisionist History Texts.” Theory and Research in Social Education 28(3) (2000): 411-44. http://www.socialstudies.org/cufa/trse

Abstract/Summary:

Examines how the reading of two revisionist history text accounts concerning U.S. President Andrew Jackson influenced the historical interpretations and understanding of two prospective elementary teachers. Suggests that rhetorically powerful revisionist history texts may have the capacity to re-narrativize the thinking of prospective teachers receptive to new ideas about the past.

Source/Credit:

ERIC

VanSledright, Bruce. “Confronting History's Interpretive Paradox while Teaching Fifth Graders to Investigate the Past.” (2002)

ulrike — Mon, 10 Aug 2009 23:06:18 +0000

Citation:

VanSledright, Bruce. “Confronting History's Interpretive Paradox while Teaching Fifth Graders to Investigate the Past.” American Educational Research Journal 39(4) (2002): 1089-115.

Abstract/Summary:

Engaged a class of 23 diverse fifth graders in historical investigation of U.S. colonial history to help their thinking skills and understanding of the past. Focused on a teaching dilemma provoked by history's interpretive paradox and showed how the teacher /researchers found his pedagogical thinking changed by that encounter.

Source/Credit:

ERIC

VanSledright, Bruce. “Fifth Graders Investigating History in the Classroom: Results from a Researcher-Practitioner Design Experiment.” (2002)

ulrike — Mon, 10 Aug 2009 23:07:33 +0000

Citation:

VanSledright, Bruce. “Fifth Graders Investigating History in the Classroom: Results from a Researcher-Practitioner Design Experiment.” Elementary School Journal 103(2) (2002): 131-60.

Abstract/Summary:

This study assessed the influence of emphasizing historical investigation with fifth graders through documentation of classroom activities and students' analysis of historical documents and images before and after the design experiment. Data suggested that the investigative approach holds promise for teaching fifth graders how to analyze historical documents as evidence, identify the nature of the documents as sources, judge their reliability and perspective, and corroborate details across accounts.

Source/Credit:

ERIC

VanSledright, Bruce. “Narratives of Nation-state, Historical Knowledge, and School History Education.” (2008)

ulrike — Tue, 11 Aug 2009 21:28:30 +0000

Citation:

VanSledright, Bruce. “Narratives of Nation-state, Historical Knowledge, and School History Education.” Review of Research in Education 32(1) (2008): 109-46.

Abstract/Summary:

The author begins this article by suggesting that in the United States late 20th century immigration patterns have been perceived by some who consider themselves American natives because they were born in the country (even though their ancestors are of European stock) as threatening to soften the glue that preserves their vision of the right and true American culture. To explore the role changes in immigration patterns may play in how public school history education is shaped, understood, taught, and with what consequences in the United States, the author examines selective recent historical scholarship in that vein. After briefly attending to this scholarship as a means of providing some historical context, he moves to analyzing what often passes for U.S. history education in American grade-school classrooms--a narrative of national development and progress. Using additional research on teaching and learning U.S. history, the author turns to considering a series of consequences that stem from asking children and young adults to accept a collectively memorialized nation-building story as their own, as a part of their cultural identity. In particular, he labors to show that the U.S. nation-building story that sits at the center of how most children are taught and learn in history classes in American public schools is largely a prescriptive and conserving one that often molds and shapes in particular ways. He ends the article by exploring alternative conceptions of history education, ones that might result if educators pursued different visions of what such an education might accomplish.

Source/Credit:

ERIC

VanSledright, Bruce. “On the Importance of Historical Positionality to Thinking about and Teaching History.” (1998)

ulrike — Mon, 10 Aug 2009 23:01:55 +0000

Citation:

VanSledright, Bruce. “On the Importance of Historical Positionality to Thinking about and Teaching History.” International Journal of Social Education 12(2) (1998): 1-18. http://ijse.iweb.bsu.edu/

Abstract/Summary:

Maintains that historical understanding is possible only by taking the student's positionality, or prior understanding of the past, into consideration when teaching historical concepts and facts. Explains that through the ambitious efforts of the history teacher, such as questioning students on their epistemological positions, a student's positionality can change and grow.

Source/Credit:

ERIC

VanSledright, Bruce. “Questions of Action, Positionality, and Portrayal in Interpretive Research: A Response to Yvonna Lincoln.” (1998)

ulrike — Mon, 10 Aug 2009 22:22:17 +0000

Citation:

VanSledright, Bruce.“Questions of Action, Positionality, and Portrayal in Interpretive Research: A Response to Yvonna Lincoln.” Theory and Research in Social Education 26(1) (1998): 114-22.

Abstract/Summary:

Responds to the article "From Understanding to Action: New Imperatives, New Criteria, New Methods for Interpretive Researchers" (Lincoln, Yvonna). Uses a personal experience with educational research to comment on the research criteria that Lincoln calls positionality, portrayal, and action. http://www.socialstudies.org/cufa/trse

Source/Credit:

ERIC

VanSledright, Bruce. “What Does It Mean to Think Historically ... and How Do You Teach It?” (2004)

ulrike — Mon, 10 Aug 2009 23:09:54 +0000

Citation:

VanSledright, Bruce. “What Does It Mean to Think Historically ... and How Do You Teach It?” Social Education 68(3) (2004): 230-3. http://www.socialstudies.org/socialeducation

Abstract/Summary:

There is a lot of talk these days about thinking historically. Policy makers use the term. So do teachers, curriculum writers, test makers, and administrators. And above all researchers use it--a lot. A number of articles have been published in this very column concerning the topic, many by those who do history-education research. Some might argue that the term "thinking historically" has become nothing more than educational jargon, that educators use it as a metaphor for a significantly broad range of activities that occur in any given social studies classroom. Others might say that the term means different things to different people. As a result, it can be difficult to know what it means to teach it. The author attempts to address the question posed in the title, and clarify what is meant by historical thinking and therefore shed some light on how it could be more successfully taught.

Source/Credit:

ERIC

Vella, Yosanne. “Extending Primary Children’s Thinking Through the Use of Artefacts.” (2001)

ulrike — Tue, 11 Aug 2009 21:40:46 +0000

Citation:

Vella,Yosanne. “Extending Primary Children’s Thinking Through the Use of Artefacts.” International Journal of Historical Learning, Teaching and Research 1(2) (2001). http://centres.exeter.ac.uk/historyresource/journal2/journalstart.htm

Abstract/Summary:

This article reports part of the findings of a research project involving Maltese school children working with historical sources. In the actual research project there were various sessions each time involving different types of historical sources: artefactual, pictorial and written evidence. However this paper focuses on the findings involving children’s thinking with the artefacts only and is based on the Vygotskyian assertion that instruction can go ahead of maturational development. This research sees an “interventionist’ role on the part of the teacher as crucial in the intellectual development of pupils and tries to show how correct is the assumption that teaching methods can stimulate the pupil along the road of intellectual development. The article strongly suggests that in a social learning context conventional views of differences in pupil performance linked to IQ are mistaken.

Source/Credit:

International Journal of Historical Learning, Teaching and Research

von Borries, Bodo. "Concepts of Historical Thinking and Historical Learning in the Perspectives of German Students and Teachers." (1997)

ulrike — Thu, 08 Oct 2009 22:41:17 +0000

Citation:

von Borries, Bodo. "Concepts of Historical Thinking and Historical Learning in the Perspectives of German Students and Teachers." International Journal of Educational Research 27(3) (1997): 211-20.

Abstract/Summary:

Historical consciousness was studied by examining the different views of history found in German students and teachers. Student knowledge was found to be limited, with political opinions independent of historical interpretations. They adhere to cultural interpretations of history but do not practice them. In addition, general trends of historical teaching included that the audiovisual media have achieved dominance over the printed book, history is related to knowledge and documents and not to the role of construction in history, school media and the teacher seem to only weakly foster historical socialization, and adults no longer serve as the historical interpreters and custodians of cultural tradition.

http://www.sciencedirect.com/science/journal/08830355

Source/Credit:

Science Direct

von Borries, Bodo. "Methods and Aims of Teaching History in Europe: A Report on Youth and History." (2000)

ulrike — Fri, 04 Dec 2009 00:09:45 +0000

Citation:

von Borries, Bodo. "Methods and Aims of Teaching History in Europe: A Report on Youth and History." In Knowing, Teaching, and Learning History: National and International Perspectives, edited by Peter N. Stearns, Peter Seixas and Sam Wineburg, 246-61. New York: New York University Press, 2000.

Abstract/Summary:

Here von Borries looks at the perspectives of European teachers and students on learning and teaching history extrapolated from the 1995 Youth and History study. Broadly, he found that “traditional” history teaching dominated students’ experiences even though many teachers identified alternative, or student-centred, methods as pedagogical practices, and that there were distinct differences between the priorities of teachers and students for learning history. Von Borries concludes the article by emphasizing that history education should not focus on students’ memorizing a canonical world history narrative, since they are unable to do this, but instead on a problem-centered model that does not depend on a textbook.

Source/Credit:

Samantha Cutrara

von Borries, Bodo. “(Re-) Constructing History and Moral Judgment: On Relationships Between Interpretations of the Past and Perceptions of the Present.” (1994)

ulrike — Fri, 16 Oct 2009 22:21:33 +0000

Citation:

von Borries, Bodo. “(Re-)Constructing History and Moral Judgment: On Relationships Between Interpretations of the Past and Perceptions of the Present.” In Cognitive and Instructional Processes in History and the Social Sciences, edited by James F. Voss and Mario Carretero, 339-55. Hillsdale: Erlbaum, 1994.

Abstract/Summary:

This study is a report on the relationship between historical construction, moral decision, general concepts of historical progress, and mental operations of historical insight. Specifically, in this chapter von Borries reports on a 1991 pilot, quantitative study conducted with 1,000 students from sixth, ninth, and twelfth grade classrooms in Germany.

Generally, results indicate that as students get older they move away from a tendency to remain neutral and begin to formulate opinions about who acted correctly and incorrectly in a particular historical event. More specifically, cognition was highly dependent on grade level and there was a weak relationship between gender and cognition where it was found that boys knew a bit more than girls. Further, the author found that girls and younger students were less interested in history than boys and older students. Lastly, the dimension referring to moral judgments was closely related to gender.

Source/Credit:

Ana Laura Pauchulo

von Borries, Bodo. “Exploring the Construction of Historical Meaning: Cross-cultural Studies of Historical Consciousness among Adolescents.” (1995)

ulrike — Thu, 28 Apr 2011 00:08:23 +0000

Citation:

von Borries, Bodo. “Exploring the Construction of Historical Meaning: Cross-cultural Studies of Historical Consciousness among Adolescents.” In Reflections on Educational Achievement: Papers in Honour of T. Neville Postlethwaite to Mark the Occasion of his Retirement from his Chair in Comparative Education at the University of Hamburg, edited by Wilfried Bos and Rainer H. Lehmann, 25–59. New York: Waxmann Münster, 1995.

Abstract/Summary:

Historical consciousness has seldom been compared internationally. This article presents selected results from two pilot studies conducted in nine European countries with closed items in 1992 (8th-graders), and in eight European and Non-European countries with open stimuli in 1989/92 (high school and university students). Some methodological implications related to the problem of measuring highly culturally dependent phenomena are discussed. The findings are supplemented by some references to a representative comparison between students in East and West Germany in 1992, which rendered almost no differences in most constructs, but very heavy contrasts in the judgments of the two German states between 1949 and 1989.

Source/Credit:

Waxmann Münster

Von Borries, Bodo. “Representation and Understanding of History.” (1998)

ulrike — Wed, 21 Aug 2013 18:57:59 +0000

Citation:

Von Borries, Bodo. “Representation and Understanding of History.” In International Review of History Education, Vol. 2: Learning and Reasoning in History, edited by J. F. Voss & M. Carretero, 360-77. Portland, OR: Woburn Press, 1998.

Abstract/Summary:

This chapter discusses some of the preceding chapters in the book’s fourth section, History Teaching and Understanding. Von Borries states that, while the work completed by the preceding authors is valuable and useful, as with most works they do not offer a total solution for ‘historical learning’ or ‘historical consciousness.’ While Von Borries emphasizes important findings, he also is critical of certain details. He also provides parallel results from a representative study he completed on students in East and West Germany in 1992. He feels that through the presentation of these results, by linking them to findings of other authors in this section and by putting forth the proposal for further interpretation, the international network of information and exchange will improve. This may lead to the moderation of the limitations of the previous specialized studies. He discusses Voss et. al’s work on the perceptions of historical concepts and the research in Germany on social conventions and cultural particularity. He then discussesFernandez-Corte and Garcia-Madruga’s study, which deals with the construction of historical knowledge, and compares it to the research in Germany concerning whether to teach knowledge or adaptation. He then turns to Jacott et. al’s discussion of understanding historical characters and his study in Germany concerning the dependency of historical consciousness on age and culture. The author concludes that there is a need for cross-cultural comparisons, intensive studies on the effects of learning and teaching, comparisons of socially accepted values, and replications of some old studies with high methodological quality.

Source/Credit:

Erika Smith

von Heyking, Amy J. “Fostering a Provincial Identity: Two Eras in Alberta Schooling.” (2006)

ulrike — Tue, 11 Aug 2009 21:42:11 +0000

Citation:

von Heyking, Amy J. “Fostering a Provincial Identity: Two Eras in Alberta Schooling.” Canadian Journal of Education 29(4) (2006): 1127-56.

Abstract/Summary:

In this article, I analyse how schools in Alberta have defined the province's identity and its role in Confederation. During two eras, the 1930s and the 1980s, social studies curriculum and teaching resources contained assertions of provincial uniqueness. In the late 1930s, the progressive curriculum implemented in Alberta's schools represented the first time a strong provincial consciousness was evident. The resurgence of Western regionalism was reflected in reforms introduced in 1981. I note that schools have played a critical role in shaping a provincial, as well as national, identity. A list of Textbooks and Teaching Resources Reviewed is appended.

Source/Credit:

ERIC

von Heyking, Amy. “Historical Thinking in Elementary Education: A Review of Research.” (2011)

ulrike — Tue, 15 Jan 2013 18:57:19 +0000

Citation:

von Heyking, Amy. “Historical Thinking in Elementary Education: A Review of Research.” In New Possibilities for the Past: Shaping History Education in Canada, edited by Penney Clark, 175-94. Vancouver: UBC Press, 2011.

Abstract/Summary:

This chapter outlines the history requirements in elementary schools across Canada, research that has been completed mostly in the United Kingdom and the United States on the nature of children’s historical thinking, and how this research can inform teaching and learning in Canadian elementary history classes. The chapter begins with an overview and discussion of history in elementary social studies programs across Canada and how they vary and are similar by province (educational curriculum in Canada is determined provincially). The research section indicates that textbooks for elementary history instruction are of doubtful quality and even though children have previous knowledge of history (mostly personal history), they have limited understandings of the historical concepts taught in school. However, research shows that elementary students can develop advanced historical thinking skills if they are in a proper environment where there is an active engagement with source material, alternative accounts and teaching that builds upon their emerging understanding and skills. It is outlined that if children are to think historically they must have an understanding of how to come to know about the past. Children must have an understanding of continuity and change over time, supported by activities that allow young children to observe and record changes in themselves. It is also imperative that notions of historical significance, cause or agency and historical perspectives and judgments are made clear to children. According to von Heyking, children need “breadth and depth in order to progress in their historical thinking.” Children need information but it must be in a framework that allows them to come to grips with important substantive and procedural historical concepts using a range of resources such as textbooks, primary sources and fiction and non-fiction secondary sources. Much more research needs to be completed in the area of historical thinking of elementary school children in Canada.

Source/Credit:

Erika Smith

von Heyking, Amy. “Historical Thinking in the Elementary Years: A Review of Current Research.” (2004)

ulrike — Tue, 11 Aug 2009 21:45:39 +0000

Citation:

von Heyking, Amy. “Historical Thinking in the Elementary Years: A Review of Current Research.” Canadian Social Studies 39(1) (2004). http://www.quasar.ualberta.ca/css/Css_39_1/ARheyking_historical_thinking_current_research.html

Abstract/Summary:

Two important developments have occurred in the field of history education that have had important implications for elementary school teachers. First, our understanding of history as a discipline reflects a new understanding about the nature and purpose of history teaching. Second, we have a better understanding of the cognitive capacities of elementary school children, which means that new programs require even very young children in our schools to engage in historical thinking tasks. Peter Seixas (1996) identified six specific elements in the structure of the discipline of history that provide a coherent and thorough framework for an analysis of historical thinking. These elements will provide a framework for a review of current research into children's historical thinking and for suggested activities that would appropriately address these elements in elementary school history classrooms.

Source/Credit:

Canadian Social Studies

von Heyking, Amy. “Talking about Americans: The Image of the United States in English-Canadian Schools, 1900-1965.” (2006)

ulrike — Tue, 11 Aug 2009 21:43:45 +0000

Citation:

von Heyking, Amy. “Talking about Americans: The Image of the United States in English-Canadian Schools, 1900-1965.” History of Education Quarterly 46(3) (2006): 382-408.

Abstract/Summary:

At the beginning of the twentieth century, English-Canadian schools attempted to create citizens of good character who were loyal to a Canadian nation defined by its role in the British Empire. Because of the country's experience in World War I, Canadians refined their identity in the 1920s, keeping it distinct from its relationship with Britain. Schools introduced citizenship courses for the first time, which encouraged students to develop skills appropriate for life in a Canadian democracy. On the other hand, English-Canadians have long defined themselves in contrast to the very large English-speaking community to their south: the United States. Indeed, Canadian historian J. L. Granatstein insists "Canadian anti-Americanism...has for two centuries been a central buttress of the national identity." An examination of English-Canadian school curricula and textbooks, however, reveals an understanding of the United States more complex than antipathy. As the schools' understanding of Canadian citizenship and English-Canadian identity changed from 1900 to 1965, so did their images of the United States. This paper is a historical examination of the treatment of the United States in English-Canadian school texts from 1900 to 1965. It relies on a content analysis of curriculum documents and seventy-five textbooks used in history, geography, civics, and social studies courses in English-Canadian elementary and secondary schools during these years. This analysis also reveals change and continuity in the images of the United States taught to several generations of English-Canadian school children. Sometimes, the image was simply negative: it provided a convenient contrast for the myth of the steady, loyal, and law-abiding Canadian. Sometimes, it was very positive: seeing in America a model of freedom and democracy for the world, a model worth emulating.

Source/Credit:

ERIC

von Heyking, Amy. “Ties that Bind? American Influences on Canadian Education.” (2004)

ulrike — Tue, 11 Aug 2009 21:46:59 +0000

Citation:

von Heyking, Amy. “Ties that Bind? American Influences on Canadian Education.” Education Canada 44(4) (2004): 30-1, 33-4.

Abstract/Summary:

Concerns about the "Americanization" of Canadian schools have been raised frequently throughout the history of Canadian education. Fear of American influence was behind the requirement in the 1816 Common School Act in Upper Canada that all teachers take an oath of allegiance to the Crown. It was the reason for the strong promotion of the colonies' British identity during the era of the establishment of compulsory elementary schooling. But whether close ties between Canadian and American educators were viewed in positive or negative terms, it has never exactly been clear what is "American" about American education. Scholars have yet to write a coherent account of the extent to which Canadian education has been shaped by American values or the American educational experience. This article suggests that Canadian schools have been influenced by many of the same issues that faced American schools.

Source/Credit:

ERIC

Voss, J. F., J. Wiley, and J. Kennet. “Student Perceptions of History and Historical Concepts.” (1998)

ulrike — Wed, 05 Jun 2013 21:10:54 +0000

Citation:

Voss, J. F., J. Wiley, and J. Kennet. “Student Perceptions of History and Historical Concepts.” In International Review of History Education, Vol. 2: Learning and Reasoning in History, edited by J. F. Voss & M. Carretero, 307–30. Portland, OR: Woburn Press, 1998.

Abstract/Summary:

The authors describe research that has been completed in the field of history education in terms of how students understand history as a discipline, how they employ historical thinking, such as the nature of historical causation of historical ‘facts’, and evidence and possible historical laws and explanations of events. The authors describe the three tendencies in a novice understanding of history to be personification, simplification and objectification. The researchers asked students to rate their agreement or disagreement with a statement on a scale of 1-6 (or 7) to determine how students perceive history and historical concepts. The authors conducted two studies.

The first addressed two questions. 1. If you give students various statements about different aspects of history what do their agreement factors indicate about their perception of the historical factors? 2. Would the students rate particular statements to suggest they were naive about certain historical theorists, like Marxists? The authors developed five hypotheses concerning novice conceptions of history: they would view history as a simple timeline, would prefer singular causes or explanations, would be insensitive to the subjective nature of facts, would be insensitive to the historians role, and would not have a coherent theory of history. The authors then discuss the procedure and results of the first study with four conclusions: students do not intuitively hold a particular theoretical orientation, subjects tend to accept history controlled by human activity not by laws, students believe that historians establish facts by piecing together information they gather, and finally students believe historical change does not happen because of historical laws.

The second study focused on the statement categories and theoretical orientations using five categories: facts, causality, laws, agent, and accounts/explanation. The second study was employed to develop a better understanding of students’ conceptualizations of history, to determine whether they varied within three contexts: history, the Soviet Union Collapse, and everyday events. They investigated how knowledge of history is related to the conceptualization of history. They discuss the method and results of the second study, concluding that the subjects did not have an overall coherent view of historical concepts. They conclude with a discussion of novices as naive theorists, history as chronology, role of the historian, novice understandings as simplistic, the subjective nature of facts, understanding the explanations, and the limitations of their study.

Source/Credit:

Erika Smith

Voss, James F. and Jennifer Wiley. "A Case Study of Developing Historical Understanding via Instruction: The Importance of Integrating Text Components and Constructing Arguments." (2000)

ulrike — Fri, 04 Dec 2009 00:16:36 +0000

Citation:

Voss, James F. and Jennifer Wiley. "A Case Study of Developing Historical Understanding via Instruction: The Importance of Integrating Text Components and Constructing Arguments." In Knowing, Teaching, and Learning History: National and International Perspectives, edited by Peter N. Stearns, Peter Seixas and Sam Wineburg, 375-89. New York: New York University Press, 2000.

Abstract/Summary:

In this chapter Voss and Wiley look at the factors going into students’ processing and understanding of causation, argument construction, and multiple source literacy. In particular, they focus on their past research that looked at the differences between using multiple sources and single sources for student performance, and on research that looked at the effectiveness of writing argumentative essays on historical reasoning and synthesis.

Source/Credit:

Samantha Cutrara

Voss, James F., and Jennifer Wiley. “Developing Understanding While Writing Essays in History.” (1997)

ulrike — Thu, 08 Oct 2009 22:48:23 +0000

Citation:

Voss, James F., and Jennifer Wiley. “Developing Understanding While Writing Essays in History.” International Journal of Educational Research 27(3) (1997): 255-65.

Abstract/Summary:

Using the textbase-situation model of discourse processing and assuming a distinction of learning (recall of text contents) and understanding (relating different parts of text contents or text to non-text contents), it was found that individuals reading text contents from a number of sources who wrote an argumentative essay about the contents and then rated content elements for importance developed a better understanding of the contents than individuals writing a narrative essay and making importance ratings either before or after writing.

http://www.sciencedirect.com/science/journal/08830355

Source/Credit:

Science Direct

Voss, James F., and Laurie Ney Silfies. “Learning from History Text: The Interaction of Knowledge and Comprehension Skill with Text Structure.” (1996)

ulrike — Tue, 11 Aug 2009 21:48:24 +0000

Citation:

Voss, James F., and Laurie Ney Silfies. “Learning from History Text: The Interaction of Knowledge and Comprehension Skill with Text Structure.” Cognition and Instruction 14(1) (1996): 45-68. http://www.tandf.co.uk/journals/titles/07370008.asp

Abstract/Summary:

Examined the different influences of comprehension-skill and domain-knowledge components on learning from text. Found that learning from an expanded text with explicit causal relations was related to reading comprehension skill rather than prior knowledge, whereas learning from an unexpanded text that did not spell out causes was a function of prior knowledge rather than comprehension skill.

Source/Credit:

ERIC

Voss, James F., Joseph Ciarrochi, and Mario Carretero. “Causality in History: On the ‘Intuitive’ Understanding of the Concepts of Sufficiency and Necessity.” (1998)

ulrike — Wed, 21 Aug 2013 18:43:51 +0000

Citation:

Voss, James F., Joseph Ciarrochi, and Mario Carretero. “Causality in History: On the ‘Intuitive’ Understanding of the Concepts of Sufficiency and Necessity.” In International Review of History Education Volume 2: Learning and Reasoning in History, edited by J. F. Voss & M. Carretero, 199- 213. Portland, OR: Woburn Press, 1998.

Abstract/Summary:

An area of research that has been of interest of late has been the study of how individuals, who are particularly naive in a certain domain, perform tasks in that particular subject matter, such as physics. Generally, the results of the studies have concluded that naive individuals have intuitive concepts that are related to the domain but they are sometimes in conflict with the actual domain. Nonetheless, the majority of work in the field has been completed in mathematics and sciences. Therefore, the authors wish to study the domain of history and how their research is concerned with the naive perceptions of causality in history. The authors state that the study of causality in history is both important and controversial as it can be used to discuss how certain conditions can possibly play roles in producing historical events, which adds to our understanding of history. Yet it also is controversial as it does not simply involve cause and effect relationships, but rather a myriad of actions and events that occur over time. The study the authors discuss in this chapter pertains to two concepts that are important to the notion of causation in history, sufficiency and necessity. Their study was focused on how naive individuals personally perceived a given historical event as either sufficient or necessary and how individual difference variables could be related to an individual’s differing perception. The authors discuss what constitutes sufficiency and necessity in the study of causality in history and how individuals in the study perceived each of the concepts. They also discuss the methodology of their study and how each of the concepts and the materials and procedures of the study were explained to the subjects. The chapter concludes with the instructional implications of the authors’ research for the teaching and learning of history.

Source/Credit:

Erika Smith

Voss, James F., Mario Carretero, Joel Kennet, and Laurie Ney Silfies. “The Collapse of the Soviet Union: A Case Study in Causal Reasoning.” (1994)

ulrike — Fri, 16 Oct 2009 22:22:39 +0000

Citation:

Voss, James F., Mario Carretero, Joel Kennet, and Laurie Ney Silfies. “The Collapse of the Soviet Union: A Case Study in Causal Reasoning.” In Cognitive and Instructional Processes in History and the Social Sciences, edited by James F. Voss and Mario Carretero, 403-29. Hillsdale: Erlbaum, 1994.

Abstract/Summary:

This study is concerned with how people perceive historical causation. Specifically, the authors ask: “What do people believe to be the causes of historical events?” The authors asked thirty-two individuals to write an essay on the causes of the collapse of the Soviet Union and subsequently asked them to rate a list of possible causes by importance as well as show in detail how some of these causes produced the collapse. The individuals were undergraduate and graduate students as well as people not enrolled in college.

The data were analyzed into four themes: “narrative structure,” “abnormal conditions,” “necessity and sufficiency,” and “personalization of history.” Under narrative structure, the authors argue that a history narrative is not merely the telling of a story but rather that in their story telling the participants felt the need to consider an array of causes for the collapse. Similarly, in abnormal conditions the participants understood the cause of the collapse as an outcome of a number of interconnected causes and conditions. Further, within the theme necessity and sufficiency, it was clear that the participants understood the collapse as occurring because of the lack of seemingly necessary conditions. Lastly, under personalization of history the essays expressed a belief that historical events are not a consequence of the actions of one person but rather a number of individuals who were interconnected.

Drawing from this analysis the authors provide three suggestions for teachers regarding instruction: 1) instruction should emphasize the idea of multiple causation, 2) instruction should focus on the production of quality explanations, and 3) instruction should consider distant causes that may not be obvious and local.

Source/Credit:

Ana Laura Pauchulo

Wedgwood, Tamasin. “History in Two Dimensions or Three? Working Class Responses to History.” (2009)

ulrike — Wed, 27 Apr 2011 23:00:11 +0000

Citation:

Wedgwood, Tamasin. “History in Two Dimensions or Three? Working Class Responses to History.” International Journal of Heritage Studies 15(4) (2009): 277-97.
http://www.tandf.co.uk/journals/routledge/13527258.html

Abstract/Summary:

Research carried out by the author in North Carolina (2007) aimed to assess how museums might help rebuild identity in communities devastated by economic decline. Interviews, compared with examples from 'Time and Tide', Yarmouth, UK, suggested that working class people feel a strong need for history, intense emotional ties to the industrial landscape, and believe that museums can radically change their lives. The evidence suggested that the importance of history to people's sense of self has been underestimated, particularly in the case of the industrial poor. This paper considers reasons for this underestimation, and suggests that these groups may also have higher and more wide-ranging expectations of history than intellectuals do. It suggests these 'emotional' uses of history, rather than being inferior to academic history, may be richer, and that this 'three-dimensional' experience of history exhibited by the urban poor can enrich the two-dimensional historical experience of the researcher or museum professional.

Source/Credit:

Academic Search Complete

Weiler, Betty and Sam H. Ham. “Development of a Research Instrument for Evaluating the Visitor Outcomes of Face-to-Face Interpretation.” (2010)

ulrike — Wed, 12 Dec 2012 21:31:45 +0000

Citation:

Weiler, Betty and Sam H. Ham. “Development of a Research Instrument for Evaluating the Visitor Outcomes of Face-to-Face Interpretation.” Visitor Studies 13(2) (2010): 187-205.

Abstract/Summary:

This article details the development, testing, and refinement of a set of indicators and a data collection instrument designed to be used to evaluate the outcomes of face-to-face interpretation across a range of heritage-based visitor settings and experiences. One of a suite of data collection instruments, the self-completing visitor questionnaire incorporates a set of indicators that (a) reflects the types of visitor outcomes that managers actually want from their interpretive programs; (b) is theoretically valid based on what is known about the potential cognitive, affective, and behavioural outcomes of interpretation, and (c) requires minimal effort, expense, and little or no social research expertise to collect and analyse the data, yet produces results with acceptable validity and reliability. While management and industry-driven, the research is underpinned by some thirty years of evaluation theory and practice, and is thus grounded in theories of psychology and human behaviour and methods from the social sciences and from applied program evaluation. This makes the final set of indicators an important contribution to the literature, and the questionnaire itself a useful and practical tool for those whose expertise and responsibilities lie primarily with managing and delivering rather than researching and evaluating the outcomes of interpretation.

Source/Credit:

Taylor and Francis Online

Weintraub, Shelly. "'What's This New Crap? What's Wrong with the Old Crap?' Changing History Teaching in Oakland, California." (2000)

ulrike — Fri, 04 Dec 2009 00:07:38 +0000

Citation:

Weintraub, Shelly. "'What's This New Crap? What's Wrong with the Old Crap?' Changing History Teaching in Oakland, California." In Knowing, Teaching, and Learning History: National and International Perspectives, edited by Peter N. Stearns, Peter Seixas and Sam Wineburg, 178-93. New York: New York University Press, 2000.

Abstract/Summary:

Shelly Weintraub discusses the process of integrating the principles of historical thinking into the history standards for the Oakland Unified School District in California. As a teacher in the district, she experienced the contentious battle for choosing a history textbook in the 1990s, which left some grades without any central resource, and the subsequent development of the Historiography in-service series that bought historians and history education researchers together with history teachers to talk about the discipline of history. Over a multiyear period, a group of educators had emerged as leaders through this series and began to develop a curriculum model that focused on the historians’ task of “layering” evidence to construct historical accounts integrated with State standards for history. From this process, Weintraub reflects that a strong staff development program, curriculum materials with a historical inquiry focus, district standards for consistency, and standards-based assessment models, are key lessons they have learnt from developing these new standards.

Source/Credit:

Samantha Cutrara

Wertsch, James V. "Is It Possible to Teach Beliefs, as Well as Knowledge About History?" (2000)

ulrike — Thu, 03 Dec 2009 23:49:53 +0000

Citation:

Wertsch, James V. "Is It Possible to Teach Beliefs, as Well as Knowledge About History?" In Knowing, Teaching, and Learning History: National and International Perspectives, edited by Peter N. Stearns, Peter Seixas and Sam Wineburg, 38-50. New York: New York University Press, 2000.

Abstract/Summary:

In the 1990s, Wertsch conducted research with ethnic Estonians and found that while they knew the dominant history of joining the Soviet Union in 1940, they believed in a version that stood in stark contrast to the official version. These findings led Wertsch to think about the split between mastery of (knowing by rote) and appropriation of (intimately believing) history. Wertsch encourages a deeper consideration of this concept of appropriation in research on teaching and learning history and cites similar North American studies that gesture to a similar split between knowing official history while believing another, vernacular version. Wertsch’s unique perspective contributes to understanding historical instruction through the theoretical perspective of mediated action drawing from sociocultural analysis and complemented by the work on self-determination theory from psychology.

Source/Credit:

Samantha Cutrara

Wertsch, James V. “Specific Narratives and Schematic Narrative Templates.” (2004)

ulrike — Mon, 27 Dec 2010 22:00:00 +0000

Citation:

Wertsch, James V. “Specific Narratives and Schematic Narrative Templates.” In Theorizing Historical Consciousness, edited by Peter Seixas, 49-62. Toronto: University of Toronto Press, 2004.

Abstract/Summary:

Based on his research with Russian youth in post-Soviet times, James Wertsch focuses on the narrative organization of historical consciousness in this chapter. In his research, he found that although the youth could not recall the specifics of the national narrative, they were often able to impart the feel of the narrative, which led Wertsch to distinguish between specific narratives and schematic narrative templates. He found that while young people may not know the names and dates of mid-level historical events in specific narratives, they recognized the underlying pattern of the narratives in abstract, generalizable forms. Wetsch emphasizes that these schematic narrative templates should be recognized as a valuable component of historical consciousness and can also be used as a point of historigraphic comparison across generations.

Source/Credit:

Cutrara

Wertsch, James V. “Specific Narratives and Schematic Narrative Templates.” (2004)

ulrike — Tue, 24 Sep 2013 23:26:49 +0000

Citation:

Wertsch, James V. “Specific Narratives and Schematic Narrative Templates.” In Theorizing Historical Consciousness, edited by Peter Seixas, 49-62. Toronto: University of Toronto Press, 2004.

Abstract/Summary:

It is challenging to study historical consciousness as it draws upon many different disciplines. Therefore the author suggests using the common theme of the ‘narrative’ as used by Alasdair MacIntyre. The author uses the modern state as vehicle through which to discuss collective memory, since states often prescribe official accounts of the past. He begins with a definition of the terms “specific narratives” and “schematic narrative templates” and how they are used in history classrooms and textbooks. He then provides an example of the differences between specific narratives and schematic narrative templates of the Second World War in Russia by Soviet generations and post-Soviet generations. If using specific narratives, then collective memory has changed between the generations as the narratives have changed. However, since both generations are using the same schematic narrative template as described by Wertsch, then collective memory has changed very little. In conclusion, the chapter aims to distinguish between the two different levels of narratives and, also, the need to realize there is a difference between historical consciousness and collective memory.

Source/Credit:

Erika Smith

Wertsch, James V. “Struggling With the Past: Some Dynamics of Historical Representation.” (1994)

ulrike — Fri, 16 Oct 2009 22:23:50 +0000

Citation:

Wertsch, James V. “Struggling With the Past: Some Dynamics of Historical Representation.” In Cognitive and Instructional Processes in History and the Social Sciences, edited by James F. Voss and Mario Carretero, 323-38. Hillsdale: Erlbaum, 1994.

Abstract/Summary:

In this chapter Wertsch examines the following question: “What cultural and psychological processes are involved in the production of historical representation, and how do these processes operate in various sociocultural settings?” Representation is understood as a process of employing cultural tools such as stories or narratives, strategies of argumentation, and mythic structures. Specifically, the study examined how twenty-four students from a small New England university represent “the origins” of the nation through writing.

Students mentioned five primary events as origins: Columbus’ arrival in America, the Pilgrims’ arrival in America, the Declaration of Independence, the signing of the US Constitution, and the Civil War. Generally, agency was given to European settlers. Nonetheless, students understand the past as the result of a variety of actors. To conclude, the author suggests that further research needs to be conducted to examine how it is that people use these master accounts of the past “for beneficial and detrimental purposes.”

Source/Credit:

Ana Laura Pauchulo

Wertsch, James V., and Mark Rozin. “The Russian Revolution: Official and Unofficial Accounts.” (1998)

ulrike — Fri, 12 Jul 2013 18:56:32 +0000

Citation:

Wertsch, James V., and Mark Rozin. “The Russian Revolution: Official and Unofficial Accounts.” In International Review of History Education, Vol. 2: Learning and Reasoning in History, edited by J.F. Voss and M. Carretero, 39-60. Portland, OR: Woburn Press, 1998.

Abstract/Summary:

Since the inception of history education in Russia, the way history was taught and interpreted was of great concern. This was most evident in the creation of an “official” history where all other forms of history were “unofficial” and therefore deemed incorrect by the government. Instead of focusing on political and institutional processes which are involved in the ‘production’ of history, the authors chose to focus their chapter on the processes of consuming official state histories and how these differed in Russia in the 1980s-1990s after Soviet control ended. There was a huge shift in the 1990s, with many of the teachers instructing students to disregard the history textbooks they had been reading. The authors continue with a discussion of official and unofficial history in the USSR prior to the 1980s and what the distinction is between the two. They also describe the different functions of official and unofficial history, and discuss the consumption of official history in the Soviet Union and how it was a form of mediated action. The ‘October Legend’ and the 1917 revolution played an important role in the Soviet history myth and this was the defining moment in history. The official account of the 1917 revolution changed as the government deemed it needed to be. The authors then discuss Russians’ view of history in the 1990s and how it differed from the Soviet era through the use of a study they conducted with 16 adults in Moscow in 1992-93. They conclude that in the early 1990s, the official history taught during the Soviet era had little impact on Russian adults’ impressions of the past. The Soviets failed to produce a history that was not consumed in a manner they had intended. The goal of the study was to not only understand what people knew about history but what they believed and internalized as well.

Source/Credit:

Erika Smith

Wiley, Jennifer, and James F. Voss. “Constructing Arguments from Multiple Sources: Tasks that Promote Understanding and Not Just Memory for Text.” (1999)

ulrike — Thu, 08 Oct 2009 22:49:44 +0000

Citation:

Wiley, Jennifer, and James F. Voss. “Constructing Arguments from Multiple Sources: Tasks that Promote Understanding and Not Just Memory for Text.” Journal of Educational Psychology. 91(2) (1999): 301-11.

Abstract/Summary:

In two experiments, understanding of historical subject matter was enhanced when students acted as historians and constructed their own models of an historical event. Providing students with information in a web site with multiple sources instead of a textbook chapter, and instructing them to write arguments instead of narratives, summaries, or explanations, produced the most integrated and causal essays with the most transformation from the original sources. Better performance on inference and analogy tasks provided converging evidence that students who wrote arguments from the web sources gained a better understanding than other students. A second experiment replicated the advantage of argument writing even when information was presented as an argument.

Source/Credit:

cat.inist

Wiley, Jennifer, and James F. Voss. “The Effects of ‘Playing Historian’ on Learning in History.” (1996)

ulrike — Tue, 11 Aug 2009 21:50:38 +0000

Citation:

Wiley, Jennifer, and James F. Voss. “The Effects of ‘Playing Historian’ on Learning in History.” Applied Cognitive Psychology 10 (1996): S63-S72.

Abstract/Summary:

The present study investigates conditions under which undergraduates may adopt a view of history more similar to that of historians and how learning and understanding may be affected under such conditions. Two manipulations, one of the reading material and the other of writing task, were introduced within the standard ‘read-to-write’ approach of history instruction. Undergraduates were either given a textbook chapter about Ireland between 1800 and 1850, or the same information in the form of separate sources. After reading the presented material they were instructed to write a history, a narrative or an argument regarding what produced the significant changes in Ireland's population between 1846 and 1850. It was expected that the separate source/argument writing condition would yield the most historian-like behaviour. Indeed, students in this condition learned the material as well as, or better than, students in any other condition, but had the best understanding of the material, especially of causal and explanatory relationships.

Source/Credit:

Applied Cognitive Psychology

Wills, John S. “Putting the Squeeze on Social Studies: Managing Teaching Dilemmas in Subject Areas Excluded from State Testing.” (2007)

ulrike — Tue, 11 Aug 2009 22:53:14 +0000

Citation:

Wills, John S. “Putting the Squeeze on Social Studies: Managing Teaching Dilemmas in Subject Areas Excluded from State Testing.” Teachers College Record 109(8) (2007): 1980-2046.

Abstract/Summary:

Background/Context: Recent research indicates that social studies is being "squeezed" from the elementary curriculum as instructional time is shifted to language arts and mathematics in response to state testing and the federal No Child Left Behind Act, especially in schools serving poor students and students of color. However, less is known about the specific curricular and instructional choices teachers make as they confront reduced instructional time for social studies, and the enacted curriculum resulting from these choices. Purpose/Objective/Research Question/Focus of Study: The purpose of this study is to analyze what happens to the enacted curriculum in social studies in elementary schools where instructional time for social studies was reduced in response to state testing in language arts and mathematics. Setting: This research was conducted at a rural elementary school in Southern California serving poor Latino, African-American, and White students, a low performing yet improving school as measured by state testing in language arts and mathematics. Research Design: A ten-month qualitative case study of social studies curriculum and instruction was conducted in one fourth-grade and two fifth-grade classrooms at one elementary school. Data Collection and Analysis: Data collection consisted of observation and videotaping of classroom lessons and activities in social studies during the 2002-2003 school year in three teachers' classrooms, consisting of a total of 125 videotaped observations. Interviews with teachers, students, and the principal, and the collection and analysis of student work and curricular materials supplemented this data. For this article, data analysis was based on the coding of field notes, analysis of transcripts of lessons and activities, and teacher interviews, to understand the curricular and instructional choices teachers made in social studies and the effect of these choices on the enacted curriculum. Findings/Results: Reduced instructional time in social studies has resulted in a reduction of the scope of the curriculum, the curtailment or elimination of opportunities to promote students' higher order thinking, and an increased emphasis at times on the simple reproduction of content knowledge. Conclusions/Recommendations: The institution of a system of accountability meant to improve teaching and learning for all students is instead undermining the quality of students' education in social studies, especially at low performing elementary schools serving poor students and students of color. As instructional time is shifted to language arts and mathematics the scope of the social studies curriculum and opportunities for thoughtfulness that would deepen students' understanding of history are being squeezed from the enacted curriculum.

Source/Credit:

ERIC

Wills, John S. “Who Needs Multicultural Education? White Students, U.S. History, and the Construction of a Usable Past.” (1996)

ulrike — Tue, 11 Aug 2009 21:52:04 +0000

Citation:

Wills, John S. “Who Needs Multicultural Education? White Students, U.S. History, and the Construction of a Usable Past.” Anthropology and Education Quarterly 27(3) (1996): 365-89.

Abstract/Summary:

A multicultural U.S. history curriculum offered in a mostly White middle school that focuses on the experiences of African-American slaves during the Civil War is described. This focus undermines students' ability to use history as a resource for thinking about contemporary race relations. A multicultural history curriculum is suggested.

Source/Credit:

ERIC

Wills, John S. “‘Some People Even Died’: Martin Luther King, Jr., the Civil Rights Movement and the Politics of Remembrance in Elementary Classrooms.” (2005)

ulrike — Tue, 11 Aug 2009 22:10:10 +0000

Citation:

Wills, John S. “‘Some People Even Died’: Martin Luther King, Jr., the Civil Rights Movement and the Politics of Remembrance in Elementary Classrooms.” International Journal of Qualitative Studies in Education 18(1) (2005): 109-31.

Abstract/Summary:

This article examines the interpretive practices and cultural texts that shape what teachers and students remember and forget during the annual observance of the King holiday in two second-grade classrooms. Drawing on data from an ethnographic case study of the curriculum in use and theory and research on collective memory, the author analyzes the contest between two commemorative narratives, one focused on King's boyhood experiences of discrimination and his advocacy of non-violent protest to end segregation, the other on remembering discriminatory practices in the South and the violence perpetrated by Whites against civil rights protestors. After discussing the nature of mnemonic socialization in these classrooms and the consequences of this struggle over collective memory for students, the paper concludes with a call to reconceptualize classrooms as 'critical mnemonic workspaces' where teachers and students are able to draw on a diversity of cultural resources for remembering multiple, even contradictory, pasts.

Source/Credit:

ERIC

Wilson, Lara. “The Canadian Archival System Today: An Analysis.” (2014)

ulrike — Wed, 17 Sep 2014 22:57:42 +0000

Citation:

Wilson, Lara. “The Canadian Archival System Today: An Analysis.” Canadian Issues (Spring 2014): 17-22.

Abstract/Summary:

Lara Wilson provides an overview of the Canadian archival system and explains its evolution from the 1970s to 2013 in a special edition of Canadian Issues/Thèmes canadiens that focuses on the advancement of Canada’s recorded memory. In addition, she discusses the significant literature and studies that contributed to improving and helping to sustain a functional archival system in Canada. Wilson then outlines the establishment of the Canadian Council of Archives and lists the organization’s mandates and roles. The article provides readers with an understanding of how archival institutions developed in Canada with regards to services, funding, and core archival activities such as appraisal of records and processing records through arrangement and description. Wilson concludes her article with the call for support for Canadian archives, arguing if we do not invest in the current and potential use of archives now, we risk losing a great opportunity to connect communities with the records they are seeking.

Source/Credit:

Emily Chicorli

Wilson, Robert A. "The Role of Oral History in Surviving a Eugenic Past." (2015)

ulrike — Wed, 27 Jan 2016 19:54:02 +0000

Citation:

Wilson, Robert A. "The Role of Oral History in Surviving a Eugenic Past." In Beyond Testimony and Trauma: Oral History in the Aftermath of Mass Violence, edited by Steven High, 119-38. Vancouver: UBC Press, 2015.

Abstract/Summary:

Wilson’s chapter investigates how oral history testimonials can be used to help the survivors of eugenics, specifically those who were deemed to be “mentally defective” and were surgically sterilized in western Canada through 1973. Wilson’s project, the Living Archives on Eugenics in Western Canada, documents the survivors’ stories to make sure that they are a part of the public historical record that will start to “break the silence.” This oral history project has been key to help the survivors move forward with their lives, as well as help rectify historical errors: “The stories that survivors are starting to tell both compensate for the paucity of accessible documentation on the history of eugenics in western Canada and redress some of the biases of academic history and philosophical reflection conducted in the absence of personal experience.”

Source/Credit:

Shannon Leggett

Wilson, Robert A. "The Role of Oral History in Surviving a Eugenic Past." (2015)

ulrike — Thu, 07 Jul 2016 19:19:03 +0000

Citation:

Abstract/Summary:

Source/Credit:

Shannon Leggett

Wilson, Suzanne M. “Research on History Teaching.” (2001)

ulrike — Fri, 16 Oct 2009 21:16:59 +0000

Citation:

Wilson, Suzanne M. “Research on History Teaching.” In Handbook of Research on Teaching, 4th Edition, edited by Virginia Richardson, 524-44. Washington, D.C.: American Educational Research Association, 2001.

Abstract/Summary:

This chapter grounds its analysis on debates and conflicts centered on questions such as: What is history? What are the goals of history teaching? and What is truth?, as they have played out primarily in the United States. Wilson focuses on three questions to structure her discussion: What is traditional history teaching like? What are researchers learning about ‘accomplished’ history teaching? and What explains good teaching?

Wilson’s review of research on traditional history teaching reveals that teachers rarely engage their students on an intellectual level, that they rely too heavily on textbooks and present themselves as the “knowers,” and that there is insufficient focus on critical thinking and problem solving. However, as Wilson points out, the 1980s saw a surge in research on “good” history teaching focusing on “expert teachers” or “accomplished teachers.” From her review of this research Wilson outlines three themes that structure her discussion of research on teaching and learning history in the rest of the chapter. First, she notes that there are diverse methods for how one conducts this research ranging from surveys to ethnographies. Second, there is a range of definitions for what makes a “good” teacher and “good” teaching practices. Third, there also exists variation in how researchers conceptualize history.

Wilson narrows her review down to two categories: how researchers explain “good” teaching and research and how students learn history. In the first category she divides the research into two camps which focus on explaining good teaching through observing teaching practices and on explaining good teaching through exploring the influence of teachers’ knowledge of and beliefs about their practices. In the second category Wilson traces research on history learning by the age of the learner and factors that contribute to learning.

She ends with suggestions on how to develop and improve future research on history teaching and learning.

Source/Credit:

Ana Laura Pauchulo

Wilson, Suzanne M., and Samuel S. Wineburg. “Peering at History through Different Lenses: The Role of Disciplinary Perspectives in Teaching History.” (1988)

ulrike — Tue, 11 Aug 2009 23:05:23 +0000

Citation:

Wilson, Suzanne M., and Samuel S. Wineburg. “Peering at History through Different Lenses: The Role of Disciplinary Perspectives in Teaching History.” Teachers College Record 89(4) (1988): 525-39.

Abstract/Summary:

This article examines how the academic backgrounds of four new history teachers (anthropology, political science, American studies, and history) influence their lesson planning and teaching styles. The implications of this research for teacher education and research on teaching are considered.

Source/Credit:

ERIC

Wilson, Suzanne M., and Samuel S. Wineburg. “Wrinkles in Time and Place: Using Performance Assessments to Understand the Knowledge of History Teachers.” (1993)

ulrike — Tue, 11 Aug 2009 23:07:05 +0000

Citation:

Wilson, Suzanne M., and Samuel S. Wineburg. “Wrinkles in Time and Place: Using Performance Assessments to Understand the Knowledge of History Teachers.” American Educational Research Journal 30(4) (1993): 729-69.

Abstract/Summary:

Responses of two high school history teachers on three performance assessments of teaching, part of the Stanford University Teacher Assessment Project, were analyzed. Differences that emerged in teacher attitudes and knowledge level illustrate what performance assessment can reveal about pedagogical knowledge and the implications for educational policy and practice.

Source/Credit:

ERIC

Wineburg, Sam. “Making Historical Sense”. (2000)

ulrike — Thu, 15 Oct 2009 18:57:42 +0000

Citation:

Wineburg, Sam. “Making Historical Sense”. In Knowing, Teaching, and Learning History: National and International Perspectives, edited by Peter N. Stearns, Peter Seixas and Sam Wineburg, 306-25. New York: New York University Press, 2000.

Abstract/Summary:

Unlike many studies which examine what students do not know about history, Wineburg focuses on what students do know about the past and what knowledge they bring to the classroom. Specifically, Wineburg asks: “What sources beyond teachers and textbooks contribute to their understanding? How do young people navigate between images of the past learned in the home and those encountered in school? How do they situate their own personal histories in the context of national and world history?”

In this chapter, Wineburg draws primarily from a longitudinal study he conducted with fifteen adolescents who attended three different high schools situated in neighbourhoods of various socioeconomic status in the United States. Primarily, the focus of this study was on understanding how these students conceptualized their own pasts including their family and neighbourhood histories.

Generally, Wineburg found that what students choose to remember and forget is a process shaped by public commemorations of key historical events and the media including film and literature. Thus, the author maintains that teachers should work to understand how it is that information that adolescents receive and retain in their daily lives inform their historical consciousness and how they can bring this information into the classroom to foster a critical conception of history.

Source/Credit:

Ana Laura Pauchulo

Wineburg, Samuel S. "The Psychology of Learning and Teaching History." (1996)

ulrike — Wed, 05 Jun 2013 23:42:11 +0000

Citation:

Wineburg, Samuel S. "The Psychology of Learning and Teaching History." In The Handbook of Educational Psychology, edited by D. C. Berliner and R. Calfee. New York: Macmillan, 1996.

Abstract/Summary:

provide some redress for [the] problem [of keeping up with psychology's current developments and awareness of the past] with special reference to psychological work on history / shed some light on present research efforts by sketching out some historical antecedents and providing some sense of context / discuss history's treatment by early educational psychologists working in the US / examine research conducted in Great Britain / this work goes back to the beginning of the 20th century / pick up the story with the programs of British psychologists working in the Piagetian tradition / review contemporary research programs that have arisen in the wake of the "cognitive revolution" / conclude with some speculations about future directions in this research area, and thoughts about the role that educational psychologists might play in shaping it. (http://psycnet.apa.org/psycinfo/1996-98614-013)

Source/Credit:

Psych Info Database Record

Wineburg, Samuel S. “Historical Problem Solving: A Study of the Cognitive Processes used in the Evaluation of Documentary and Pictorial Evidence.” (1991)

ulrike — Tue, 11 Aug 2009 23:10:08 +0000

Citation:

Wineburg, Samuel S. “Historical Problem Solving: A Study of the Cognitive Processes used in the Evaluation of Documentary and Pictorial Evidence.” Journal of Educational Psychology 83(1) (1991): 73-87. http://www.apa.org/journals/edu/

Abstract/Summary:

How people evaluate primary and secondary sources when considering historical questions was studied by asking eight historians and eight high school seniors to think aloud while reviewing written and pictorial documents about the Battle of Lexington. Differences between the groups are discussed concerning cognitive processes and beliefs about historical inquiry.

Source/Credit:

ERIC

Wineburg, Samuel S. “Historical Thinking and Other Unnatural Acts.” (1999)

ulrike — Tue, 11 Aug 2009 23:13:51 +0000

Citation:

Wineburg, Samuel S. “Historical Thinking and Other Unnatural Acts.” Phi Delta Kappan 80(7) (1999): 488-99.

Abstract/Summary:

The debate about the national history standards has become so fixated on the question of "which history" that we have forgotten a more basic question: Why study history at all? Mr. Wineburg answers that second question.

Source/Credit:

HighBeam Research

Wineburg, Samuel S. “On the Reading of Historical Texts: Notes on the Breach between School and Academy.” (1991)

ulrike — Tue, 11 Aug 2009 23:12:19 +0000

Citation:

Wineburg, Samuel S. “On the Reading of Historical Texts: Notes on the Breach between School and Academy.” American Educational Research Journal 28(3) (1991): 495-519.

Abstract/Summary:

Differences in the comprehension and interpretation of historical texts are discussed for eight high school students and eight historians. The sources of differences in the two groups and their epistemological stances are analyzed. Implications for reading comprehension and the place of history in the school curriculum are discussed.

Source/Credit:

ERIC

Wineburg, Samuel S., and Suzanne M. Wilson. “Models of Wisdom in the Teaching of History.” (1991)

ulrike — Tue, 11 Aug 2009 23:08:39 +0000

Citation:

Wineburg, Samuel S., and Suzanne M. Wilson. “Models of Wisdom in the Teaching of History.” History Teacher 24(4) (1991): 395-412.

Abstract/Summary:

Discusses teaching styles exhibited by two different history teachers. Describes both teaching styles as epistemological representations, although one consists of a passive approach while the other employs active teacher involvement. Stresses each teacher's use of primary sources to help students see both sides of issues and critically analyze textbook authors' interpretations of events.

Source/Credit:

ERIC

Wishart, Jocelyn and Pat Triggs. “MuseumScouts: Exploring How Schools, Museums and Interactive Technologies Can Work Together to Support Learning.” (2010)

ulrike — Wed, 12 Dec 2012 20:52:54 +0000

Citation:

Wishart, Jocelyn and Pat Triggs. “MuseumScouts: Exploring How Schools, Museums and Interactive Technologies Can Work Together to Support Learning.” Computers & Education 54(3) (2010): 669-78.

Abstract/Summary:

In this paper we report on the successes and challenges of a creative project involving museums, schools and interactive technologies. The MuseumScouts project is EU Comenius 2.1 funded and involves teachers, teacher educators, museum staff, students and researchers from five European countries: Germany (Berlin and Munich), Lithuania (Vilnius), Portugal (Porto), Austria (Linz), and the UK (Bristol and London). The MuseumScouts project arises from a European-wide desire to bring schools and cultural and educational institutions such as museums of different kinds, art galleries, science centres and historic buildings, together in collaborative learning experiences. The project aims to develop learner-centred approaches in the ‘museum’ environment: learners use information they collect during authentic learning opportunities to design short interactive multimedia teaching presentations with collaborative authoring tools. The focus is on knowledge acquisition, transformation and communication. During a ‘museum’ visit students (mainly 10–19 year olds but also, in some cases, adult learners) research specific artefacts, using a range of devices, from pencil and paper to Smartphones, to gather information in the form of notes and photographs. They then work in teams to create interactive multi-media presentations about the artefacts to inform and quiz their peers. The authoring tool, ‘Evolution’, which underpinned the project enables students to collaborate and work online. The principle is of ‘learning by teaching’: the idea that considering how to convey to others what you have understood yourself is an important process for ‘deep’ learning. The project has been run with groups of students at least once in each partner country and twice in several. Countries implemented the project activities in different subject areas, at different stages in the school curriculum and with differing amounts of available time. Student motivation and engagement were notable in all contexts. We present a review of findings common to all the partners in order to share experiences of implementing this pedagogic approach.

Source/Credit:

Elsevier

Wollaston, Isabel. “Negotiating the Marketplace: The Role(s) of Holocaust Museums Today.” (2005)

ulrike — Thu, 12 Sep 2013 23:34:45 +0000

Citation:

Wollaston, Isabel. “Negotiating the Marketplace: The Role(s) of Holocaust Museums Today.” Journal of Modern Jewish Studies 4(1) (2005): 63-80.

Abstract/Summary:

This paper explores four roles played by Holocaust museums today, as sites of mass tourism, memorials to the dead, vehicles of historical exposition, and living memorials educating subsequent generations about the “lessons” of the Holocaust. Whilst the paper refers to various Holocaust museums, it focuses on the Auschwitz museum and the Holocaust exhibition at the Imperial War Museum (IWM).

Source/Credit:

Author

Woodward, Arthur, David L. Elliott, and Kathleen Carter Nagel. “Beyond Textbooks in Elementary Social Studies.” (1986)

ulrike — Tue, 11 Aug 2009 23:16:53 +0000

Citation:

Woodward, Arthur, David L. Elliott, and Kathleen Carter Nagel. “Beyond Textbooks in Elementary Social Studies.” Social Education 50(1) (1986): 50-3. http://www.socialstudies.org/socialeducation

Abstract/Summary:

As much as 90 percent of classroom instructional time is structured by instructional materials, especially textbooks. Research shows, however, that textbooks alone are not enough. Analyses of elementary grade social studies textbooks reveal that the breadth is too wide and the depth too shallow. Specific examples are provided.

Source/Credit:

ERIC

Woodward, Arthur. “Textbooks: Less than Meets the Eye.” (1987)

ulrike — Tue, 11 Aug 2009 23:15:20 +0000

Citation:

Woodward, Arthur. “Textbooks: Less than Meets the Eye.” Journal of Curriculum Studies 19(6) (1987): 511-26. http://www.tandf.co.uk/journals/tf/00220272.html

Abstract/Summary:

Contends that if textbooks are to be improved it is essential that teachers, administrators, and textbook selectors become more demanding and discriminating consumers. Examines various textbook components that need improvement such as: (1) photographs; (2) basic skills exercises; (3) worksheets; and (4) content.

Source/Credit:

ERIC

Woyshner, Christine. "Notes Toward a Historiography of the Social Studies: Recent Scholarship and Future Directions." (2006)

ulrike — Fri, 12 Jul 2013 18:43:44 +0000

Citation:

Woyshner, Christine. "Notes Toward a Historiography of the Social Studies: Recent Scholarship and Future Directions." In Research Methods in Social Studies Education: Contemporary Issues and Perspectives, edited by Keith C. Barton, 11-38. Greenwich, Connecticut: Information Age, 2006.

Abstract/Summary:

The history of social studies is a relatively new area of study. This chapter describes and assesses the body of scholarship in the field of history of social studies and discusses the common interpretations as used by social studies historians. The author suggests additional lenses for historians to use when writing within the field, and continues with a historiographical review and analysis of the area in the last three decades. She states that the history of social studies is rooted in the progressive era and continues with a discussion of the history of social studies as described through a progressive lens. She continues with making a distinction between history and social studies and discusses the differences. She discusses research that has been completed on this topic in the field and illustrates the importance of knowing who the important masters of the field of the history social studies are. She states that historiography of social studies is one of contested curricular research. She has three suggestions to improve the field: that research continue to expand beyond the 20th century and the progressive-era origins of the field, call researchers to explore the multiple areas that have a stake in social studies education curriculum, and the importance of pursuing a broader social, political and economic context.

Source/Credit:

Erika Smith

Wunder, Susan. “Learning to Teach for Historical Understanding: Preservice Teachers at a Hands-on Museum.” (2002)

ulrike — Fri, 02 Oct 2009 22:54:31 +0000

Citation:

Wunder, Susan. “Learning to Teach for Historical Understanding: Preservice Teachers at a Hands-on Museum.” The Social Studies 93(4) (2002): 159-63.

Abstract/Summary:

In this article, the author shares her experience working with preservice teachers in a hands-on museum exhibit. The preservice teachers' responses suggest that the experience of working in a hands-on museum exhibit can be a valuable part of an elementary social studies methods course. Adequately preparing elementary social studies methods students to teach for historical understanding is a necessary and important endeavor. One aspect of that preparation is identifying and experiencing the artifacts and sources that are essential to such a process. The time at the museum was the author's attempt to help the preservice teachers learn to teach history in a hands-on way in their own classrooms.

http://www.heldref.org/pubs/tss/about.html

Source/Credit:

ERIC

Wyman, Bruce, Scott Smith, Daniel Meyers and Michael Godfrey. “Digital Storytelling in Museums: Observations and Best Practices.” (2011)

ulrike — Wed, 12 Dec 2012 20:54:53 +0000

Citation:

Wyman, Bruce, Scott Smith, Daniel Meyers and Michael Godfrey. “Digital Storytelling in Museums: Observations and Best Practices.” Curator 54(4) (2011): 461-8.

Abstract/Summary:

The museum landscape has changed dramatically over the last 20 years. Technology has made possible new kinds of interactions, visitor expectations have broadened, competition for time and resources has become increasingly intense, and the buildings serve ever-more-complex roles. As a result, interactive designers, including those of us at Second Story, have evolved our skills and approaches to keep pace. This article summarizes many of our observations while sharing some of the best practices that we have evolved to create engaging interactive installations, websites, and experiences. Despite changes in technology and user behavior, a core focus on great storytelling should drive interactive design and serve as the critical element for museums communication and connecting with their visitors.

Source/Credit:

California Academy of Sciences

ulrike — Tue, 21 Jan 2014 23:41:01 +0000

Citation:

Zajda, Joseph. “Transforming Images of Nation-Building: Ideology and Nationalism in History School Textbooks in Putin’s Russia, 2001-2010.” In History Wars and the Classroom: Global Perspectives, edited by R. Guyver and T. Taylor, 125-42. Charlotte, NC: Information Age Publishing, 2012.

Abstract/Summary:

The main aim of the study, outlined in the chapter by Zajda, is to explore the intersection between ideology, the state and nation building as described in history textbooks in Russia. He states that Russia, during this period, was in flux as it searched for an authentic Russian past, which ironically was sought in pre-communist Russian history. This led to difficulties in striking a balance between modernity and tradition. The textbooks described, which were written during the period 2001-2010, aimed to enhance a new sense of patriotism and national identity. Zajda begins the chapter by discussing ideology and nation building in Russian history textbooks and how historiography and critical thinking are reflected in them. He then describes the history textbooks in Russia during this period, giving specific examples of some of the topics featured in the textbooks such as Peter the Great, the revolutionary period, the Great Patriotic War, etc. Despite the practice of lauding the collective greatness of the Russian people, these textbooks exalted Russian individuals such as Lenin. The new history textbooks fail to recognize the suffering of the Russian people and the dichotomy of attempting to remain relevant using Western ideals and notions, while still holding on to Communist Russian tendencies.

Source/Credit:

Erika Smith