Discovering Different Perspectives of World War II in Sixth-Grade Social Studies Classrooms.

A study recorded and analyzed instances of how middle school students develop their skills of historical thinking and perspective taking through the use of two methods: textbook analysis and oral history interviews. First, students analyzed textbook treatment of the atomic bombing of Hiroshima and Nagasaki in their U.S. and Japanese history textbooks. Then, they interviewed Japanese and Americans who had different historical perspectives about World War 2, with a special focus on the atomic bombing of Hiroshima and Nagasaki (Japan). Seven questions directed the study, among them: (1) Can students find different treatments of the historical event in Japanese and American textbooks? (2) How do students interact with oral history narrators with different historical perspectives? and (3) How do students analyze different perspectives of the historical event? Participants, two rural Georgia sixth-grade classes, completed a 3-week unit on World War 2, compared textbooks from Japan and the United States, discussed a hypothetical situation with Hiroshima as their community, and engaged in a sustained oral history interview experience. Data revealed that the majority of the students were able to find different treatments of the atomic bombing of Hiroshima and Nagasaki in U.S. and Japanese textbooks. Most students found that the U.S. textbook paid little attention to the historical event of Nagasaki and Hiroshima, devoted little space to the bombing, and exhibited a superficial perspective. The introduction of oral history activities helped almost all students to develop their historical thinking, general analysis, and critical thinking skills. (Contains 61 references. Appended are sample oral history questions and a data sheet.) (BT)