Snapshots from a Network (Penney Clark)

For me, the Research Snapshot has been the highlight of each e-Bulletin. The researchers who have contributed the snapshots ply their trade in a multitude of research sites, including museums, archives, departments of history, faculties of education, and centres established to support scholarship in history education. They represent many nations and a range of expertise from new scholars through to Canada Research Chairs. I see our 75^th and final snapshot as a wonderful opportunity to review the themes that have inspired contributors.

Students’ historical thinking is of central interest. Peter Seixas, UBC Centre for the Study of Historical Consciousness, raises questions about how to measure progression in students’ acquisition of historical understandings, as does Per Eliasson (SE). Amy von Heyking (CA) explores how students grapple with multiple perspectives on the past. Heather McGregor (CA) tackles the challenges of implementing a historical thinking approach in ways that are relevant to the Inuit population of Nunavut. In Québec, Catherine Duquette shares findings on the relationship between students’ historical thinking and their level of historical consciousness; Jocelyn Létourneau collects young people’s accounts of Québec history in order to determine their historical memory and historical consciousness; and Sabrina Moisan describes how teachers in her study, while acknowledging multiple perspectives, provided students with monolithic stories as if they were shared with all members of a particular group.

Marc-André Éthier (CA) and David Lefrançois (CA), Ruth Sandwell (CA), Robert Parkes (AU), Tony Taylor (AU), Allan McCully (GB), and Sirkka Ahonen (FI) explore “history wars” in varying contexts and for different purposes. McCully, for example, provides a list of eight principles for teaching history in Northern Ireland, and by extension, other divided societies.

Many researchers consider pedagogical applications. Investigations are being carried out on the use of resources in history teaching: Scott Metzger (US) on media; Penney Clark (CA), Felicitas Mcgilchrist (DE), Katalina Morgan (ZA), Vincent Boutonnet (CA), and Ismail H. Demircioglu (TR) on authorized textbooks; Viviane Gosselin (CA) and Brenda Trofanenko (CA) on museum exhibitions; Lindsay Gibson (CA) on archives and historic sites; and Jeremy Stoddard (US) on film and museums. Stuart Foster (GB) describes two large-scale national history programs in the United Kingdom: the First World War Battlefield Tours and the Centre for Holocaust Education. Bruce VanSledright (US) discusses his research on the epistemic beliefs of both students and teachers and asks compelling questions about furthering this work. Alison Kitson (GB) points out that effective teaching needs to engage with students’ pre-conceptions in order to help them analyze causes and consequences in more sophisticated ways. S.G. Grant (US) explores the notion of “ambitious teaching,” while Bob Bain (US) looks at “Big History.” Others, such as Jennifer Pettit (CA), Mona Gleason (CA), and Samantha Cutrara (CA) focus on student engagement with history. Mills Kelly (US) takes a uniquely light-hearted approach, describing ways to have “fun with history.” Michael Dawson (CA) and Eric Damer (CA) describe innovative approaches to teaching history to undergraduate and adult students.

Others consider use of evidence. Linda Levstik (US) describes the use of objects as evidence. Steven High (CA) makes a case for oral evidence. Lyle Dick (CA) comments on how primary source documents and Inuit oral history can be used as evidence in the context of the Finding Franklin mystery (canadianmysteries.ca). John Lutz (CA) discusses primary documents and Gene Allan (CA) discusses archival research. Maria Grever (NL), whose research interest is heritage education, looks at how material and immaterial traces of the past are used as primary instructional resources. Christina Cameron’s (CA) work centres on world heritage sites.

A number of researchers are interested in the relationship between students’ identities and history education. Mario Carretero (ES) and Anna Clark (AU) are both interested in national identity. Carla Peck (CA) looks at ethnic identities in Canada and Terrie Epstein (CA) at racial identities in the United States. Inspired by Epstein, Tsafrir Goldberg (IL) has worked with both Arab and Jewish Israeli students to explore notions of historical reasoning, learners’ identity, and peer deliberations of “charged” historical topics. Tim Stanley’s (CA) goal is to help young people link their own histories to broader communities. Helen Raptis (CA) looks at how multicultural identities affect both teachers and students. Marginalization in the history curriculum is another topic of interest and is addressed by both Jonathan Anuik (CA) and Kristina Llewellyn (CA).

History teacher pre-service education and teacher professional development are of interest to a number of researchers, including Nicole Tutiaux-Guillon (FR), John Allison (CA), and Joan Pagès and Antoni Santisteban (ES). Paul Zanazanian (CA), for example, is interested in the impact teacher understandings and uses of history may have on the manner in which they negotiate their public role and responsibilities as future practitioners. Jean-François Cardin (CA) looks at teacher professional development designed to help teachers gain the necessary tools for teaching particular concepts. Jennifer Tupper (CA) looks at teacher preparedness to teach the curriculum mandate of treaty education in her province of Saskatchewan.

Several researchers tell readers about collaborative and large-scale projects. Abby Reisman (US) describes her work with the Stanford History Education Group. Jill Colyer (CA) describes her role as national coordinator of the Historical Thinking Project. Sharon Cook (CA) tells readers about collaborations in the Educational Research Unit at the University of Ottawa, where researchers across disciplines have united to conduct research projects, sponsor events, and mentor graduate students.

Digital initiatives are a growing area for research. Henry Yu (CA) talks about the collaborative creation of “mobile museums and immersive video games.” Stéphane Lévesque (CA), founder of the Virtual Historian, and the duo of Kevin Kee (CA) and Shawn Graham (US) at the Centre for Digital Humanities, describe their work in digital history. Sean Kheraj and Alan MacEachern (CA), Director of the Network in Canadian History and Environment, a “sister-cluster” to THEN/HiER, talk separately about using the digital environment to experiment with approaches to knowledge mobilization. Historian Margaret Conrad (CA) uses two web-based initiatives in Atlantic Canada to highlight the potential of humanities computing.

Some researchers take more of a meta-perspective. Alan Sears (CA) writes about the professional experiences that led to his interest in history and citizenship education. Christopher Dummitt (CA) offers advice, suggesting that researchers “start with something we think we know, move backwards, ask open-ended questions, and be prepared to be surprised.” Michael Marker (CA) asks how indigenous communities can benefit from research conducted by scholars who are based outside those communities.

Several historians have described their own research projects. Thomas Peace (US) reports on his study of the work of Sawantanan, who was likely the first Native schoolteacher in what would become Canada. Rose Fine-Meyer (CA) examines the work of grassroots publishing organizations, community groups, and practicing teachers in infusing women’s history into the Ontario curriculum in the 1970s and 1980s. Christabelle Sethna (CA) describes findings of her work on the history of contraception. Jennifer Bonnell (CA) looks at public memory and environmental history in the context of the Don River Valley.

I thank each and every one of these researchers for taking the time to share their work with us. I apologize for truncating their messages so severely and I encourage readers to read the complete snapshots on the Featured Members page of our website. I wish these scholars all the best as they move forward to investigate other intriguing questions.

For images from these various research snapshots, please see our final e-Bulletin at /drupal_blank/sites/default/files/THENHiER-bulletin-79-March-16EN.pdf