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Current analysis is a segment in the investigation for the doctoral thesis titled 'The Teaching of History in the First Cycle of Basic Education: The concept of historical time in children and the contexts for their development' (Solé, 2009), undertaken with children of the 1st CBE (6 - 10 years) in a school in the north of Portugal. The study was conducted with two groups, namely, 1st and 2nd years (24 students) and 3rd and 4th years (25 students) throughout two scholastic years. Current investigation lies within the investigation mode of interpretation, predominantly qualitative (Erickson, 1986) and may be considered a longitudinal case study (Yin, 2003) since it describes the learning and understanding process of historical time by children between the 1st and 4th year of two groups during two years. Following typology by Stake (2000), it may be called an instrumental case study since it shows how children develop the concept of time and the difficulties experienced in the process of teaching/learning and to understand how learning occurs through several strategies and procedures. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

The capacity to imagine is a key aspect of creativity and, in this paper, it is argued that it is this capacity which needs to be harnessed in history education for young people. Although the creation of fiction and the use of imagination has tended to be regarded as a literary method, in this paper it is argued that it has an important role to play in helping young people discover history - something which might normally be seen as a purely scientific process. An interdisciplinary approach is needed. Researchers who study pedagogy confirm that in contemporary education, how teachers are interested in their subject and how they use their imagination is becoming increasingly important (Zeldin 1995). The problem is not particularly ontological (what to present in a history class) - instead, it is epistemological (how to present it). The choice of material stems partly from the topic but even more from the approach to the topic. It also depends on the target audience (e.g. children of various ages and carrying out various roles), the values of the society and ideological choices (what we are trying to tell the students about a topic). [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

In the fall 2005 semester, the author designed a course in the history of America's modern wars hoping to encourage students to criticize and oppose the country's current aggressions in Afghanistan and Iraq. Surveys of student attitude change suggest that the course did promote criticism but did far less to facilitate student activism. The author concludes that instructors may need to model activism in addition to offering historical evidence. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

There is a growing concern throughout the UK and beyond about the lack of suitably qualified post-primary teachers in some subject areas, particularly mathematics, design and technology and the sciences. This paper reports on a survey of teacher qualifications in Northern Ireland which indicates that a significant percentage of teachers are unqualified in the areas of mathematics, physics, ICT, history and Irish, and that Key Stage 3 teachers tend to be less well-qualified than those at Key Stage 4 or post-16. Unqualified teachers are less likely to be found in the grammar sector than the non-grammar sector. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

The article offers opinion on helping students read and write history effectively. It is proven that the key to improving the asking of good questions is developing a better understanding of how professional historians do their work. Some students will always love history but almost all need to be taught how to write the kind of history that history instructors are fond of reading. It is important to share with the students the lesson that historian themselves have learned, that some questions are better to work with than others.

This article reports on a study that concerns the way in which preservice teachers negotiate historical inquiry-based teaching and learning in relation to their preexisting conceptions of social studies as a discipline. Thoughts and opinion that form preservice teachers' historical understanding at the start of a semester were examined. Data gathered from the examination was compared with students' thoughts and opinions at the end of the semester. Students were asked to write in their journals on how they believe social studies should be taught in elementary classrooms to learn the preservice teachers' goals and perceptions of social studies pedagogy. A variety of instructional strategies that focus on history as an inquiry-based discipline was introduced.

Provides information on teaching elementary students interpret history. Significance of teaching and learning history in elementary school; Challenges to interpreting the past with children; Misconceptions about history as a way of knowing.

Comments on teaching imperial history. Forms of learning favored for understanding the complexities of colonial and postcolonial realities; Information on a 1980 essay by William Appleman Williams.

This article argues that a factual emphasis in teaching history contributes to the impression that the subject is boring, and thus deter the revival of interest in it. History textbooks, indeed, can have a dullness all their own. This is especially true of those resorted to by schoolchildren and students desperately revising for examinations, which stick close to the facts. One Victorian rightly says that cramming for exams by memorizing facts was tantamount to stuffing the stomach with marbles. Yet some historians apparently want schoolchildren to learn facts so that their knowledge of them can be tested. It is interesting to note that many of those who advocate this approach to testing historical knowledge seem to be on the political right.