Search

In this study, researchers used a longitudinal multisite qualitative cross-case study to examine the beliefs and practices of five beginning teachers related to critical historical inquiry. They collected interview, observation, and classroom artifact data over a 5-year period, from teacher preparation through the teachers' 4th year in the classroom. Using critical theory as the frame, the researchers found that the beginning history teachers tended to move along two pedagogical continuums: one related to the criticality of content and the other related to didactic- or inquiry- based instruction. Teachers were more successful in engaging in critical historical inquiry practices if they had well-developed conceptual and practice tools and had opportunities to teach within school contexts that supported the use of critical historical inquiry. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

This article explores how the Crash Course video series are being used as a content-focused resource in the social studies classroom. It argues that the Crash Course series, alongside its YouTube competitors, has significantly stepped in to fill a vacuum left by criticisms and the unpopularity of lectures, textbooks, and feature films. With over 15 million subscribers and accumulated views over 1.9 billion, Crash Course has become an important and ubiquitous force in history and social studies classrooms and represents a new genre of educational media found on YouTube. However, the dramatic rise in the popularity of educational videos online has not coincided with a growth in educational research, particularly in social studies and history education. This article explores the findings of a mixed-methods study that examines how and why history and social studies teachers are using Crash Course videos in their teaching and planning. In particular, it analyses descriptive statistics derived from the results of a teacher survey (n = 181) and semi-structured interviews with seven social studies teachers who have used Crash Course in their classrooms. The authors found that teachers in the study are regularly using the Crash Course video series to deliver content which is clearly meeting a need many social studies teachers have. The videos-short, easily accessible, and fun-fit nicely with demands to keep students engaged, reduce reliance on textbooks, and explore new content that teachers have little time to learn themselves. This study also found that rarely, if ever, are teachers inviting students to evaluate or assess the content, trustworthiness, or perspective of Crash Course videos. This article discusses what is gained and what are the risks of embracing Crash Course in the social studies and history classroom. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

The digital revolution has widened the array of curriculum materials available to history teachers. Given the variable quality of these new materials and the deeply contextual nature of teaching, educators need better tools for selecting among the vast options available. This study aimed to validate a device designed for that purpose, called the Curriculum Materials Evaluation Tool (CMET). Using a questionnaire and think-aloud interview, the study examined how four social studies teachers evaluated a novel material set for potential classroom use, and how the CMET mediated their analysis. Findings showed that the teachers preferred when materials are readily accessible and adaptable for their specific teaching context, in contrast to "one-size-fits-all" resources that dominate the Web. The CMET appeared to foster a deeper and broader analysis of the given material set, especially regarding its political and cultural orientation. The study suggests that teachers' role in vetting and adapting digital materials be recognized and embraced. The CMET can contribute to that end through its use in district adoption committees, teacher professional development, and collaborative curriculum research. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

History education holds strong potential for students to examine how racism and other intersecting forms of oppression embedded within U.S. institutions have and still impact today's social fabric. When rooted in Martell and Stevens' "thinking like an activist" framework, history education provides opportunities for preservice teachers (PSTs) to see, understand, and disrupt the dominant narrative. They can begin to reimagine their roles as future leaders in the classroom and beyond to ensure that all students thrive and not just survive. Thus, for this qualitative study, we engaged our PST in a book study of A Different Mirror for Young People: A History for Multicultural America. Through intentional content and pedagogical choices, we investigated the question, "How do preservice teachers make sense of history using the 'thinking like an activist' framework?" Findings indicated how Takaki's different mirror, as a counternarrative centering the perspectives and experiences of historically marginalized groups, allowed PSTs 1) to unlearn oppressive structures (cultural preparation), 2) begin to develop a sociopolitical consciousness of systemic oppression, albeit through an outsider's perspective (critical analysis), and 3) to analyze how collective action in the past enacted change-although through an already, but not yet, understanding of their role in social change in the present (collective action). [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

This essay explores transnational history education through the China–Korea–Japan CAMPUS Asia ENGAGE Program. Utilising active learning, project-based activities and joint history textbook creation, students navigate East Asia's contested past. The approach encourages a shift from national to transnational identities, fostering a 'global citizen' perspective. By deconstructing conventional history narratives and constructing alternative, intersectional viewpoints, students develop a nuanced understanding that transcends divisive national boundaries. This pedagogical strategy underscores the potential of active learning in advocating global history perspectives for conflict resolution and reshaping historical memory. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

This Policy Discourse Analysis (PDA) explores 19 state legislative documents focused on the teaching of disability history in K-12 schools. Framed through critical perspectives on constructions of disability and race, alongside discourse theory, we iteratively analyzed these legislative documents to understand (a) how disability and disability history are constructed (particularly in relation to whiteness); and (b) the stated purpose of the legislation and who is meant to benefit materially as a result of the laws. We find the legislation upholds dominant notions of whiteness and ability as part of school curriculum, while simultaneously constructing disability history as in the past and disability justice as already achieved, centering the learning and awareness of white, nondisabled students. We offer discussion and implications for research and practice surrounding policy implementation of teaching disability history. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

This essay examines the author's experience since 2018 in developing and teaching a third-year undergraduate course on the history of time at a Singapore university, for students specializing in East and Southeast Asian history and the history of technology. History courses are traditionally taught in a chronological format, with clear periodization, and a nearly exclusive focus on written and audiovisual "texts." The author has found that such an approach is less effective for a course on the history of time, a subject that suggests no obvious periodization or linear narrative, and for which many of his students lack a precise vocabulary. To solve these challenges, the author has borrowed autoethnographic exercises developed by scholars in other disciplines and assigned unconventional tasks such as building water clocks and curating time capsules. While the course has proven popular, it has also invited questions about what a global history of time looks like. Although the industrial and technological history of time is accessible to his students, much of the recent work on temporality presumes a familiarity with European and North American social and political issues that students outside of those regions may lack. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Students have their first contact with the subject of history in elementary education. At this point, they have still not developed the reading strategies that this type of domain requires. At elementary level, teachers must support their students to contextualize information and make explicit the relationships among ideas as a basic aspect of historical reasoning in the classroom. This paper explores the ways in which teachers with specific experience in teaching history in elementary education support their students to access the contents and relationships in history textbooks. Results show how teachers often contextualized and shared the ideas and the relationships among those ideas needed to understand the text. However, once the help provided to their students has been analysed in relation to the perceived level of complexity, the data reveal that teachers focused on the less complex ideas and relationships, rather than on the more complex ones. This seemingly paradoxical strategy could be explained by the discrepancy between the intrinsic complexity of texts and the learners' historical background knowledge. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Focusing on episodes of student-generated and - sustained talk during document-based disciplinary history discussions, this study explored what teacher candidates prioritize and value about social studies discussions, and how these priorities align with their actions and goals as facilitators. Using a complex systems-based model, we investigated candidates' goals as they planned for, facilitated, and reflected upon student sense-making relative to three common orientations for social studies discussions: disciplinary history, participatory civics, and critical literacy. Findings revealed that candidates employed elements from all three orientations, yet without clear alignment to any particular approach. This misalignment reflected tensions between candidates' stated goals, beliefs about student engagement, and instructional decisions. We draw implications for teacher education to support candidates in developing coherent practices for discussion facilitation that align with their instructional visions and socio-cultural contexts. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Evaluating the trustworthiness of sources is important in today’s society. However, research has shown that students struggle when applying this skill. This study in history education aims to gain insight into students’ procedural knowledge about evaluating the trustworthiness of sources and into the value students attach to learning this skill. Grade 9 students (N = 132) performed tasks and filled out a questionnaire. Students applied more correct criteria of trustworthiness than they reported knowing. They considered this skill somewhat important and useful, but less interesting. Procedural knowledge and task value were significant predictors of students’ task performance. Therefore, it is important to make students aware of the knowledge they implicitly possess and to make learning this skill more interesting for students. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

"Last Paper Standing: A Century of Competition Between the Denver Post and the Rocky Mountain News" by Ken J. Ward is a book that explores the history of the battles between these two newspapers and their struggle for survival in the digital age. The author provides a blow-by-blow account of the circulation wars, using extensive research and interviews with key players. The book highlights the ruthless publishers, questionable business decisions, and the impact of great journalism and sensationalism. It also emphasizes the importance of product differentiation and local news in sustaining a loyal audience and profitability for news outlets. However, despite their efforts, both newspapers ultimately failed to adapt to new media and the changing newspaper business model. [Extracted from the article]

John C. B. Webster, Studying History. Delhi: Primus Books, 2019, xiv + 195 pp. ₹ 120, ISBN: 9789352907748 (Hardback). [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

The Accounting History International Emerging Scholars' Colloquium 2024 is a forum for emerging scholars in accounting history to present their research proposals and receive feedback from senior faculty members. The colloquium will be held as part of the 12th Accounting History International Conference in Siena, Italy. Interested individuals are invited to submit their research proposals, biographical details, and CV to Carolyn Fowler by May 31, 2024. The proposals should include information such as the project title, background, research objectives, methodology, period selection, limitations, expected contribution, and key references. Formal invitations will be issued after the review of the proposals. [Extracted from the article]

This study examined the experience of a first-year teacher's encounter with Confederate heritage while teaching about slavery and its legacy in a nearly all-white rural high school in a southern state. Data was collected in four interviews over the course of one academic year and through the participant's journaling of critical incidents in her classroom. Data was analyzed through a series of open and pattern coding. The teacher, identifying as a white suburban-raised Northern, adopted the framework of multiple perspectives to foster students' understandings about the harmfulness of Confederate symbols. Yet, the participant felt disillusioned and, at times, ineffective due to her limited experience in Neo-Confederate spaces, tensions between her white identity and teaching about race, her students' academic disinterest, and a lack of subject-specific mentoring. Findings demonstrate the presence of context-specific impediments, or hard contexts, that make the task of teaching hard history even more difficult in some settings and posit limitations of a multiple perspectives framework on issues of racial justice. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Scholars have long identified fostering democratic citizenship as a primary purpose of public schooling in the United States, as schools should intentionally prepare students with the knowledge and skills needed for active, informed democratic citizenship. In addition, global interconnectedness has reshaped needed civic competencies to participate in civic life. This conceptual article considers the intersections between civic and world history education, assessing the relationship between the two disciplines in order to create a framework of best practices in world history civic education. Global citizenship discourse is analyzed using this framework, considering how different forms may reinforce or undermine world history's purpose of preparing students with pluralist understandings for global democratic living. Drawing on components of history education, world history, and global citizenship education scholarship, this article seeks to establish epistemological clarity as to how world history can contribute to meaningful civic education and vice versa. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

In response to the growing need for more relevant school history, the notion of historical consciousness has come to represent a way to help students understand the links between past, present, and future. However, translating the construct into practice in an ongoing puzzle in the field. Recently, efforts have been made to operationalize historical consciousness via a competency-based approach, but this is arguably problematic, because its proponents view historical consciousness as a hermeneutic quest for meaning yet operationalize it as a set path of mental processing. This article explores a different approach based on meaning-making practice. It does so through an extensive review and synthesis of the relevant literature, and based on the results, it suggests operationalizing historical consciousness through negotiating the presence of the past, inquiring about the past with the help of disciplinary and everyday habits of mind, and building a sense of historical being. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Background: The study aims to consider the prospect possibilities of gamification in historical education and its influence on the development of key professional competencies of workers necessary in current condition of humanitarian sphere development. Methods: An experimental study theoretically substantiates the prospects for the gamification of education on the example of history education, in which 40 students from the Рeoples' Friendship University of Russia and Sechenov First Moscow State Medical University took part. A pedagogical model of gamified history study has been developed and implemented into a 3-month online learning course "Technology for constructing historical interpretations." The following technological tools were used to support the implementation of gamified learning: the Academy Learning Management System (LMS), the Facebook social network, social media information resources, augmented and virtual reality technologies. A survey was conducted on the Academy LMS platform, in which students were asked to assess the promising opportunities for the impact of gamified learning on the development of key professional competencies in terms of the degree of influence. Results: The research results confirmed that the creation of a joint creative and expanded gaming experience leads to the acquisition of practical knowledge and allows learners to acquire skills that are highly relevant for professionals of the 21st century. The students confirmed that educational progress was achieved due to the effective organization of their learning activities, group changeover at the stages of developing historical interpretations, and gamification, which caused a feeling of excitement and qualitatively influenced the desire to achieve the best educational results. Gamified learning allowed educators to keep students' interest in the subject of study. Conclusions: According to the results of a survey of students at the end of the course, it was concluded that gamification in history education has a positive effect on the evolutionary development of a personality adaptive to the socio-economic conditions of the 21st century. A model of the evolutionary vertical and horizontal development of the personality has been described. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

The article explores how to enact justice-oriented pedagogy and foster students' critical engagement in history classroom advocate for cultivating activist thinking in the history classroom. Topics include teachers can use "Teaching History for Justice" to show students how activism was used to seek justice, how past social movements connect to change society; and justice-oriented teaching practices with history pedagogy for the history and social studies K-12 classroom.

This article represents an attempt to establish a fruitful dialogue among the field of border studies, history education, sociocultural psychology, and the history of cartography. Seminal studies on borders have asserted that the historical maps included in textbooks are basically an imagined representation. This paper will consider the extent to which cultural and educational origins and uses of these maps, particularly in school settings, act as a support to historical essentialist views. Via the example of history education in Argentina, we carried out an empirical and theoretical examination of the processes of cultural production and consumption of historical maps and their relationship to historical master narratives. Results show that most laypeople largely think of national borders as possessing an essential and immutable character. We consider that closer study, from a sociocultural perspective, of the relationship between master narratives and historical maps may add an enriching element to the existing body of work produced by border studies. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

The present study focuses on memory work in school textbook illustrations of the Finnish Civil War (1918). A thematic narrative analysis shows how the content and meanings conveyed through visual narratives have developed in the past century. Besides changes in specific narrative, the interpretation of the functions of themes shows a gradual change in the schematic narrative template: the hegemonic, victor's narrative has been gradually replaced with alternative accounts since the 1950s. The defeated side has been represented in school textbooks since the 1950s, and since the 1990s, the narrative has evolved from pointing out the similarities between the two sides to arousing emotions of sympathy for the victims of the War. Since the 2000s, visual images have been used to highlight multi-perspectivity in history. This study shows how the cultural trauma and reconciliation process has been conveyed in educational material and how the narrative templates may dynamically change. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Howard Zinn's A People's History of the United States is a polarizing historical survey that has become a common subject of social studies curricular battles. This mixed methods study uses survey data and interviews with teachers who frequently assign the book to understand who uses this text and why. Findings reveal that the text has functional, pedagogical, and political appeal for teachers who are committed to including multiple perspectives and critiquing historical narratives. That these teachers are not primarily animated by Zinn's intention for the text to inspire students' participation in social movements should undermine critics' fears of indoctrination and sloppy history teaching, but may disappoint supporters of the text hoping for more critical pedagogical motivations. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Once focused primarily on European and Chinese history, South Korea's world history courses are moving toward a global approach that spans multiple regions. In the midst of this curricular shift, we examined how Korean teachers conceptualize world history for themselves and for their instruction. We interviewed eight Korean teachers using card-sorting tasks and a think aloud methodology. Findings revealed that all participants sorted the cards differently when considering instruction compared to when they sorted cards for their own understanding, suggesting the role of teachers as instructional gatekeepers even in a country with a centralized National Curriculum. The Korean teachers discussed three instructional challenges in making these changes: connecting world historical events to students' present lives, unpacking for students events that spanned across large amounts of time and space, and managing students' preconceived notions or attitudes about different cultures. The ways in which participants dealt with these challenges differed. Additionally, in-service teachers made more complex connections between events and focused less on regions than did pre-service teachers. We discuss the cultural tools that Korean participants used in making instructional decisions as well as implications for curriculum development and teacher education for world history in South Korea and beyond. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Background/Context: To adapt to increasingly diverse classrooms, some school districts are trying to offer additional curriculum that represents the diversity of their students. California, where half of school-age children are Latinx, is at the forefront of including Latinx histories in its curriculum. The state's 2017 California History-Social Science Framework claims to prioritize "engaging and relevant" history curriculum. Yet, as this article reveals, curricular inclusion does not always lead to complex representations of Latinx histories. Purpose/Objective/Research Question/Focus of Study: This article focuses on Mendez v. Westminster School District of Orange County (1946), a Mexican American school desegregation case, as an example of how Latinx experiences were diluted to appeal to a larger audience, gain traction, and justify their addition to the California framework. Research Design: This article includes analysis of five forms of data: historiography of the case, primary documents regarding the court trial and appeal, primary documents related to Mendez becoming part of the California framework, educational resources, and interviews with people who advocated for Mendez to be taught in K-12 classrooms. Findings: Although Mendez was included in the California History-Social Science Framework, the version that was embraced was more about Brown v. Board of Education than Mendez or Latinx school segregation. To appeal to a larger audience, the Mendez story had to attach itself to an already celebrated and well-known event. This gave rise to the "Mexican American Brown" interpretation that stretches the historical truth, exaggerating the connection between Brown and Mendez. Educational and curricular resources facilitated this process in three ways: (1) claiming that Mendez was the legal precursor to Brown; (2) fabricating Earl Warren's participation in Mendez; and (3) exaggerating the role that Thurgood Marshall and the NAACP had in Mendez. Historical actors were then used to corroborate the Mexican American Brown story. This article ends with analysis of what is lost when Mendez is represented in the California framework as the Mexican American Brown. Conclusions: Mendez v. Westminster's addition to the California framework signifies that it is an event worth learning. Yet, it is Mendez's relationship to Brown that made it worthy. This leads to an "illusion of inclusion," which gives the impression that Mexican Americans are being incorporated into the curriculum but actually fails to represent their unique experiences. Historical events that validate the stories of Latinx communities are still very much missing from curricular materials. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Asynchronous discussion boards are a common pedagogical tool used by history faculty to promote engaged learning, content comprehension, and historical thinking, writing, and research skills in online courses. Although many higher education institutions are increasing their online history course offerings, there is a gap in the literature about the effectiveness of online teaching on student learning. As initiatives aimed at promoting HIPs at colleges and universities continue to grow, there is a need to examine whether the implementation of the asynchronous discussion board can be considered a HIP, especially when promoting writing intensity and undergraduate research in online history courses. Therefore, the purpose of this study is to examine whether the facilitation of asynchronous discussion boards serves as a HIP. The researcher conducted this study with a total of 167 undergraduate students enrolled in three sections of an online survey United States history course where she taught at a large four-year university in a metropolitan region of the Southeast. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Debates surrounding national and international identity are becoming increasingly prevalent with the rise of nationalist and populist rhetoric in the public sphere. International schools, which are growing in number, serve as valuable sites for conducting research on national and international identity as they can be viewed as a representation of the increasing diversification of many schools around the world. The aim of the study described in this article is to determine how the national and international identities of young people are influenced by being educated in this context. The conceptual frame of the study brings together a variety of concepts related to identity, categorised under national identity, transnational identity and cosmopolitan identity. In addition, the concept of 'third space' is drawn upon to reflect on the individualised process of negotiating identity. The study, undertaken with two international schools in Belgium and Serbia, found that attending an international school influenced students in a variety of ways, with some students strengthening their sense of international identity and others their national affiliation. It also emerged that the curricula and culture of these two schools promoted a hierarchy of identities, with the highest value awarded to Anglo-Western identities. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Even though studies have shown that the impact of professional development on inquiry-based learning (IBL) tends to remain limited when it fails to consider teachers' beliefs, there is little known about how these beliefs influence teachers' adoption of IBL. In answer to this issue, the present study offers a framework that explains teachers' use of IBL through three constitutive dimensions of beliefs systems, covering the constructs of education, the self, and the context. This framework is empirically investigated through a survey study with 536 secondary school history teachers. The resulting data are used to estimate a structural equation model (SEM), which indicates that the framework is able to explain a relatively large portion (38%) of the variance in teachers' decision to implement IBL. Based on the findings, the implications for professional development and research on teachers' use of IBL in general, and within history education in particular, are discussed. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Curran, Conor Physical Education in Irish Schools, 1900-2000: A History. In his history, Conor Curran sometimes sets sport and physical education out in opposition to each other (p. 2) and sometimes moves between the two in the same sentence as if they are the same thing (p. 3). It is true, also, that these interviews expand insight into the experiences of teachers and allow for a more comprehensive insight into how policies on physical education were perceived by teachers. [Extracted from the article]

Scholars contend that disciplinary literacy is a productive route for all secondary learners, including those identified as struggling readers, to build knowledge. Relatedly, scholars point to disciplinary literacy as a socially just alternative to decontextualized skill instruction and deficit positioning. Yet, little research has examined how instructional contexts facilitate these youths’ participation in disciplinary literacy practices. I present the case of one ninth-grade history classroom. Participants were three students and one teacher. Data sources included 48 hr of observations, 11 semistructured interviews, ongoing ethnographic open-ended interviews, and classroom artifacts. By closely examining the enactment of one lesson and situating the analysis in the class’s yearlong academic and social trajectories, I show how disciplinary literacy provided avenues for youths to wrestle with and critique historical texts, compare perspectives across sociohistorical periods, see themselves in history, and disrupt deficit positioning in school. I discuss implications for secondary literacy and social studies education. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Both the Common Core Standards for Literacy and the College, Career, and Civic Life Framework for Social Studies State Standards underscore the importance of classroom discussion for the development of high-level literacy and subject-matter knowledge. Yet, discussion remains stubbornly absent in social studies classrooms, which tend toward rote memorization and textbook work. In this article, we discuss our efforts to design practice-based methods instruction that prepares preservice teachers to facilitate text-based, whole-class discussion. We propose a framework for facilitating historical discussions and illustrate it with examples from videos of teacher candidates enacting the practice in K-12 classrooms. The framework assists not only in conceptualizing and naming the discrete components that constitute disciplinary discussion facilitation but also in highlighting where novices appear to struggle. Our analysis has implications for improving teacher education that seeks to prepare novices for ambitious instruction called for by the new literacy and social studies standards. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

The politics of collective memory, over what counts as “official knowledge,” is crucial in education. With its primary focus on the politics of memory and how this works in the politics of school knowledge as its primary focus, Civil Rights Culture Wars gives us a rich historical picture of this process as it played out in a significant battle over a specific textbook in Mississippi. As some readers may already know, there have been a large number of interesting case studies of textbook controversies over the years, as well as a long history of studies that critically focus on the political and educational issues surrounding textbooks. As Eagles documents in great detail, this book became a center of ideological conflict and many conservative groups were clear that they would seek to block its approval. The conflict over the book in the courts, in the press, and in government agencies took years. There were defeats, partial victories, and then ultimately a vindication. Even though the implications of his analysis to more general issues of political and cultural theory are always there, Eagles’s account is not about the abstraction called the “state.” It reads more like an anguished drama, filled with real characters, biographies, and movements, from the authors of the textbook themselves, to state legislators, to educational administrators and state textbook adoption commission members, to judges, to members of the public who held varied political positions on the battle over inclusion and exclusion, over the epistemological fog, amnesia and memory, and so much more. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

The author reflects on her experience teaching present-day students about life under totalitarianism. Forty years of Communism is a long time; attitudes and opinions matured and shifted -- even (if we examine Havel's essay) those of his greengrocer. And what should be the focus of the teaching: the terror, the heroism, or the everyday business of living? How can one convey the different levels and subtleties of a world that history presents in black and white? The past could disappear in a hazy memory, but young people, once provoked, ask direct and practical questions that do connect the past to the present. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Everyone who writes anything – even non-fiction! – knows you discover things as you go along. Writing is a heuristic. Writing history is no different. Yet senior-secondary and tertiary exponents of the teaching and learning of history are often strangely tongue-tied on the matter of writing and thinking as engines of discovery in historical studies in particular, and in the humanities and sciences in general. The quirks and customs of the actual research and writing practices underpinning knowledge of histories, whatever the genre, are less often modelled and explicitly discussed in advanced classrooms than the products of the historical research, the so-called history ‘content’. This essay re-considers the theory and practice of writing essays in general, and history essays in particular. Specific ways in which writing enables discoveries and ways in which it deepens interpretations are explored. Conclusions are derived for a better agenda, other than offering more content, for an advanced-level history education. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

History as a subject area is facing increasing demands from the society to be more profitable and, sometimes, more conformist. The Tuning methodology, developed in cooperation with a large number of Universities worldwide, could offer a viable and sustainable way to take societal needs into account without compromising academic soundness. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

The paper shows that Tuning Project has generated indifference more than resistance within the French academic community. It proposes an analysis of the reasons of this situation: difficulties arising from Tuning itself, the resistance of the French academic tradition, the institutional inhibitors and facilitators. The impact of Tuning on French teaching history has not perhaps been as profound as it might have been. On the one hand, the national competence framework for the first cycle studies has been designed from the Tuning model based on both subject specific and generic competences and is a success, due in part to the perseverance of the French Bologna experts. On the other hand, the fact that today very few French academic programs are described in terms of learning outcomes signals the continued reluctance to embrace student-centred teaching and learning. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Tuning's progress in the discipline of history in the United States since 2009 illustrates the project's continuing capacity to develop “educational structures and programmes on the basis of diversity and autonomy”, maintaining the initiative's original European Union commitment in a markedly different academic environment across the Atlantic. Struggling initially against a backdrop of confusion, hesitancy, and resistance among US faculty, Tuning has been adopted by a steadily expanding number of educators in individual institutions, state systems, and the history discipline's premier professional society. Though operating, at times, in an uneven, imprecise, or pro forma manner, Tuning in the US manages to address several important goals: bringing a more coherent frame of reference to scattered conversations about higher education; framing a more meaningful discussion about the knowledge, skills, and non-monetized “value” developed through higher education; focusing on the central role of faculty discipline experts in the work of assessment, accreditation, and accountability; and engaging professional scholarly societies on questions of teaching and learning. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

The Tuning educational project for history has its supporters and its detractors. This overview of the articles contained in this special issue of the journal reflects on some of the complexities of implementing such an ambitious global project and the local and national priorities that have made the process both stimulating and challenging for those involved. And it argues that while lists of competences constitute valuable reference points for discussion of the arts and humanities curriculum in an international context, they should be seen as the starting point for a more detailed and broad-ranging set of global conversations about how we (should) teach our subjects and why this matters for students in today’s world. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Counterfactuals are turning points in the evolving future and are often used to describe how the present or future might be different if, at a past turning point, the other road had been taken. The purpose of this article is to apply counterfactual analysis that has often been used in studies of history to future studies, in particular to uncover unexpected events, such as “Black Swans.” When we consider counterfacts as a tool for forecasting, we deal with unfinished business of the present. The fork in the road may be clear enough, but the choice of the path has not yet been made. But someday that choice may be made or will have to be made, and in speculating about it, we form images of the future and imagine scenarios based on chains of causality stretching forward from the fork. Thus, counterfactuals are our legacy to the future. In effect, we say to our children—or theirs: “Here are some issues left over from our time; sorry we couldn’t solve them. We hope you have better luck.” [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Georg Lukács’ famous essay on reification, published in 1923 in the book History and Class Consciousness, had a lasting impact on several critical philosophical and sociological currents throughout the twentieth century and remains relevant to the present day. The fruitfulness and longevity of Lukács’ approach can to a large extent be traced back to his creative and bold attempt to articulate distinct interpretations of the process of modernization within a theoretical framework inspired, for the most part, by Karl Marx’s analysis of commodity fetishism. It has been noted many times that Max Weber’s approach to the connection between Western rationalism and modern capitalism plays a crucial role in Lukács’ essay, as does Georg Simmel’s enquiry into the cultural significance of the modern monetary economy. This article intends to explore the tensions that arise out of such a challenging endeavour by way of an imaginary dialogue between Weber and Simmel, taking place shortly after the publication of History and Class Consciousness. This allows us not only to reflect on some of the intricacies of Lukács’ seminal essay but also to delve into fundamental contrasts between the Simmelian and Weberian approaches to social reality and modernity. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

The goal for this study was to better understand how an ambitious teacher uses pedagogical content knowledge while planning learning environments that focus on disciplinary, inquiry-based practices in world history. We used Monte-Sano and Budano's (2012) framework for pedagogical content knowledge for teaching history to examine the teacher's planning over the course of a year. Through interviews and analysis of artifacts, we found more specific sub-categories that represent the various ways that the teacher thought about transforming, representing, framing, and attending to students' ideas about world history. Additionally, we found a hierarchical relationship in the aspects of the teacher's pedagogical content knowledge that aligned with her phases of planning (skeletal, unit planning, reflective) throughout the year. These findings highlight contentspecific issues in planning world history courses--particularly those focused on the earliest eras--including questions about how teachers can find appropriate resources, organize world history content for teaching, and help students understand world historical narratives. We conclude with a discussion of these issues and implications for teacher education, curriculum design, and further research. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

In recent decades we witnessed ongoing debates about the objectives of history education, with different underlying epistemological perspectives. This qualitative study explored prospective history teachers' beliefs about these objectives of history education. Prospective history teachers of six universities starting a teacher educational programme were invited to answer an open-ended questionnaire about history education. Six objectives were found: (1) memorising; (2) critical/explanatory; (3) constructivist; (4) perspective-taking; (5) moral; and (6) collective-identity objectives. Almost all prospective teachers mentioned several of these objectives. A distinction between two epistemological perspectives on historical knowledge representation (factual or interpretive), was used as a framework for categorising the different objectives. More than half of the respondents mentioned objectives of history education that represent history as factual and objectives that represent history as interpretive. We propose that in actual practice most history teachers are combining epistemologically opposing objectives for pedagogical, political and religious motives. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Students’ written argumentation, including historical argumentation, is an important aspect of standardized assessments under the Common Core State Standards (CCSS). This mixed methods study explores the differences in students’ written argumentation when inquiry methods of instruction are employed and a rubric designed for CCSS standardized assessment is used in evaluation. Results indicate that inquiry methods do not necessarily improve students’ argumentative writing when scored on CCSS criteria, though qualitative analysis reveals considerable differences in the demonstration of historical thinking by students in the treatment group. Many of these differences were captured with additional quantitative evaluation using a disciplinary specific instrument, though concerns remain regarding the ability to capture student knowledge through purely quantitative means. Implications for further assessment, research and instruction are discussed. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Background: Writing about the theory and best practices of using history-themed video games in the classroom stretches back at least to the 1980s. However, the literature on the subject is scattered, making it difficult for history educators considering the use of historical games.Purpose: This article provides an introduction for history educators to the use of computer-based historical games in history education. In this article, I provide differing definitions for types of historical games and discuss the importance of such distinctions for the history educator. I provide the strengths and biases inherent in the medium of computer-based historical games.Results: This article surveys best practices from the literature concerning the use of historical games in history class. The article concludes with a brief survey of potentially useful historical games. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

This mixed methods study explored students' learning following an intervention unit, which focused on discipline-specific practices in elementary social studies/history. The following questions guided the research: To what extent does students' learning in social studies/ history change following their participation in a unit emphasizing disciplinary-specific practices? and How does their learning compare to students who learn the same content without this approach? Two fifth-grade teachers in a low socioeconomic district taught a disciplinary unit to their students, and a third fifth-grade teacher in the same district taught the same content to her students using a transmission approach. All students performed similarly on the pre-assessment; following the intervention students in the experimental classrooms made greater gains and demonstrated disciplinary-specific practices. This study has implications for elementary school instruction in social studies/history and literacy. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Background: Much research has been done on the factors that influence teachers' work. Yet the nature and scope of those factors, and their impact on teachers, remain unclear. Indeed, different literature bases on teachers' work present different and often contradictory conclusions. For example, some researchers claim that mandated accountability testing exerts the greatest impact on teachers' work. Yet other researchers claim that teachers' knowledge and beliefs have an equally strong impact on their work, as does mandated testing. These contradictory findings in the research seem to happen at least in part because most research into teachers' work only looks at one or two influences on that work and ignores how multiple factors work together to influence teachers' work. Purpose: Recognizing this background, this study examines three factors that influence teachers' work: mandated accountability testing, teachers' knowledge and beliefs, and teachers' milieu. The article examines each factor, both individually and collectively, for their combined influence on teachers' work. Setting: This study was conducted at a public middle school in south Texas. Population: Four social studies teachers participated in this study: 2 eighth-grade U.S. history teachers, 1 seventh-grade Texas history teacher, and 1 sixth-grade world cultures teacher. Research Design: The study encompasses 5 years of weekly interactions with social studies teachers at the school. I logged approximately 450 hours of nonparticipant observations, made field notes and audio recordings of regular classroom activities, conducted 13 semistructured interviews and had numerous informal conversations with the teachers, and attended teachers' department meetings. Open coding was used to closely analyze research texts. Findings: The analysis finds that these three factors do not influence teachers' work in isolation. Instead, they combine to form a complex "web of influence" on teachers' work. The article crafts a narrative of these teachers' experiences with these different factors and illustrates how the factors combine to impact their work. Conclusion: This article holds implications for school leaders, policy makers, and teacher educators. In short, it offers evidence about the unintended consequences of not taking a holistic approach to school leadership, educational policy, and teacher education. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

This qualitative study examines the expectations and beliefs parents, students, and teachers have about the teaching of heritage histories in public high schools. Students from three heritage groups, as well as their parents and teachers, were interviewed to shed light on this complex, often silent, relationship. This study is grounded in literature about the purposes of history education, historical distance, and collective memory/ heritage, which give shape to and help to explicate some of the more complex issues inherent in the teaching of heritage histories. Participants included four Hmong students, three of their parents, and their teacher in St. Paul, Minnesota; eight Chinese students, nine of their parents, and their teacher in Elmdale, California; and five Jewish students, five of their parents, and their teacher in Maple Lake, Illinois. Findings indicate that the three stakeholder groups believe that the public school history classroom is an appropriate and desired place for heritage histories to be taught. This is complicated, however, by several factors: the placement of the heritage history narratives within larger curricular and mainstream narratives, how the teachers choose to incorporate the heritage narratives into the formal classroom curriculum, and the changing nature of historical and generational distance. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

History is the most contested of curricular subjects in all western democratic states. This article begins by setting out competing models of a history curriculum highlighting the shifting trends that have taken place in different types of schools in England in recent years. The different models of a history curriculum are critiqued from the dual perspectives that underpin social justice, namely, redistribution and recognition. In identifying different priorities in school history, this article draws from two small-scale empirical research projects which elicited the perspectives of different groups of teenage school students towards history, and included students based in multi-ethnic schools as well as those in largely white, homogenous, schools in more deprived areas. An inclusive, multi-perspective and dynamic approach towards history curriculum development is offered as a way forward for addressing issues of social justice within a history curriculum. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

This article explores the experiences of a lecturer and students in a class on the World Wars, where wargaming is used alongside traditional lecturing as a learning experience. It outlines the processes used and then evaluates the various kinds of learning, historical and other, that occur. Drawing on literature associated with history education approaches, authentic learning, reflective practice, slow pedagogy and productive failure, the study’s methods track the students’ learning experiences across a semester in which they engage in a mixture of traditional learning experiences and authentic wargaming sessions. The paper concludes with the strengths and weaknesses of wargaming as a form of history pedagogy. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Racially diverse schools are often presented as places where students can learn to challenge racist discourse and practice. Yet there are a variety of processes through which such schools reproduce the very hierarchies they are meant to dismantle. Drawing on 18 months of fieldwork in two racially diverse South African high schools, I add to the literature by analyzing moments that threatened to undermine harmonious race relations. First, I focus on racially charged interpersonal incidents at school. Second, I examine how teachers dealt with topics of racial inequality that emerged in the context of the formal curriculum. School personnel addressed these challenges in ways that hindered discussions of interpersonal and structural racism. A normative climate limited students’ abilities to label racially charged incidents as racist. Further, teachers managed potentially conflictual classroom dynamics by downplaying the salience of contemporary racial stratification. I discuss the implications of these findings for scholarship on racial inequality in racially diverse schools. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]