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Current research is foregrounded on Historical Education and on the works by Rüsen (1989, 2001, 2010), Barca (2000, 2008) and Schmidt (2008). The manner young students identify historical evidence and the concept of source for the production of historical knowledge is investigated. Further, the concept of temporality in History and in life is also discussed. A field research was conducted in two schools in Londrina PR Brazil, featuring observations in the History class and the analysis of a questionnaire on how students work the historical concepts, such as temporality and historical source. Historical evidence and the relationships they establish between taught History and life were also analyzed. Data analysis took into consideration the two categories, young people and students. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Current investigation deals with learning concepts which foreground the organization of official documents of the Brazilian government for High School (age bracket 15 -17 years). The above includes the analysis of curricular documents on the Brazilian Curricular Guidelines of History for the High School, coupled to The Brazilian Exam for High School Children (ENEM), criteria for the assessment of textbooks and research with teachers and students. The qualitative method was adopted within case studies and the perspective of content analysis in bibliographical and documental investigation. Analyses reveal the proposition of the organization of historical knowledge as from two axes, or rather, contextualization and interdisciplinarity, coupled to the predominance of the concept of historical learning based on the development of competences. Contextualization and its articulation with the concept of competences in the documents were specifically focalized by foregrounding the concept of learning on the theory of historical awareness. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

What do young and adults students think about History and its social function? This research, whose main objective is to analyse the relationship that students have with historical knowledge and if they ascribe a practical sense for historical learning, was guided by this initial inquiry. In other words, we investigate the significance of historical knowledge to the students and to what extent the teaching of history has influence on the formation of a critical and reflective thinking about themselves and the contemporary world. Thus, we established dialogues with current academic production outlined in Education field devoted to the study of adult education in Brazil, as well as with the contributions from the Theory of History, along with the assumptions of history didactics and the concept of historical consciousness developed by Jörn Rüsen (2001a) and Agnes Heller (1993). The discussions about youth and adult education were emphasized due to the need of understanding about what is this field of education, its importance and representativeness in Brazilian education scenery. The historical consciousness, understood as a set of operations by which men interpret their experience of life and seek answers to various situations that time imposes, was highlighted for being also a way by which the individuals express their ideas, thoughts, and representations and senses about History. This research involved 66 youth and adults students of a public schoool in Guarapuava city, PR. The data were collected through an investigative tool that consists in a set of historical questions (closed and discursive) involving meaning, interest, satisfaction, trust, temporality, experience in the classroom and practical life, and were analysed by using the Escala Likert (PAIS 1999; CERRI, MOLAR, 2010) and also the technique of textual analysis called Content Analysis (BARDIN, 1977). In examining each question and its answers, it was possible to realize a multiplicity of interpretations, since the historical consciousness is not homogeneous. However, the students performed reflections, to a greater or lesser degree, as from their social experiences with the discipline. The result indicated that history, far from being a "school subject" or a "bunch of nonsense," is for young people and adults a way that enables the interpretation and understanding of the reality, the present and their personal life as part of the changes in society. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]