The Changing Structures of Historical Knowledge and Undergraduate Curriculum. Paper Number 1.

Advocating reform of the history curriculum, this paper builds upon the "paradigmatic" impact of scientific advancement upon social and cultural, as well as intellectual and scientific, communities. Historians are constructing new paradigms of the discipline structure by stressing theory, methodology, and by relating historical knowledge to general knowledge, all pointing to the necessity of an interdisciplinary approach to promote good scholarship and analytic history. New perspectives are reflected in historians' works but not in curriculum structure. The profession could incorporate changes, first, by delineating theories of curriculum accepted by history departments, and second, by examining tactics utilized to transform the curriculum, eight of which are: 1) structuring curriculum to reflect a particular theory of history; 2) introducing new methodology courses; 3) providing alternative courses of study; 4) using senior level interdisciplinary seminars; 5) encouraging a particular approach to history through requirements; 6) incorporating area studies courses into the curriculum; 7) using national history at an introductory level; and 8) developing courses with topical and thematic approaches. Historians and educators, if able to harmonize curriculum structures with the new paradigms in historical thinking, could revitalize higher education. (SJM)