Understanding History Teaching

"Drawing on fieldwork in secondary schools and on research studies worldwide, the authors pose fundamental questions about the way teachers teach and learners learn" -- book cover.

This book provides a comprehensive and radical guide to the challenges facing history and history teaching in contemporary schools

* How do pupils make sense of the past? * What is the relationship between the way historians construct interpretations of the past and the way pupils learn history in schools? This book draws together developments in a wide range of fields: in academic history, in the study of language and in classroom research on pupil learning, as the basis for a distinctive approach to the teaching and learning of history in school. Chris Husbands analyses four approaches to learning about the past: through looking at evidence, through the language of the past, through story and through the imagination. He emphasises the ways in which pupils and historians structure their own interpretations of history and considers the implications for teachers by examining the ways in which classroom talk, writing and assessment can support the development of sophisticated understandings of the past.

A rethinking of teaching methodology in history classrooms As issues of history and memory collide in our society and in the classroom, the time is ripe to rethink the place of history in our schools. Knowing, Teaching, and Learning History represents a unique effort by an international group of scholars to understand the future of teaching and learning about the past. It will challenge the ways in which historians, teachers, and students think about teaching history. The book concerns itself first and foremost with the question, "How do students develop sophisticated historical understandings and how can teachers best encourage this process?" Recent developments in psychology, education, and historiography inform the debates that take place within Knowing, Teaching, and Learning History. This four-part volume identifies the current issues and problems in history education, then works towards a deep and considered understanding of this evolving field. The contributors to this volume link theory to practice, making crucial connections with those who teach history. Published in conjunction with the American Historical Association.

Primary history is one of the richest areas of teaching and learning, but in order to teach it well you need a strong understanding of key historical concepts and the content of the national curriculum. Combining a detailed focus on the core skills and principles underpinning good history teaching, this book will help you to: · appreciate the key concepts that underpin historical understanding · engage deeply with the programmes of study for Key Stage 1 and 2 · understand the links between historical reasoning and constructivist accounts of how children learn · apply a cross-curricular approach to your teaching · assess children’s historical understanding

"Understanding History Teaching is an enjoyable read with a logical and flowing structure. It lives up to its goal of appealing to both academic and professional readers with both academic depth and real insights and opportunities for the professional teacher to draw from. It presents its data and interpretations in a manner which does not avoid the issues revealed within the research but has an uplifting effect on the reader and leaves them feeling optimistic about the quality of History teaching in UK secondary schools." Robert Wyness, Student, De Montfort University, Leicester,UK * Why do we teach and learn about the past? * How is history taught in schools? * What are the influences on the way teachers teach and pupils learn about the past? History is one of the most ideologically disputed of school subjects. Over the past generation, the subject has experienced fundamental changes in content, pedagogy and approach. This book is the first detailed account of the way history is taught in schools to be published for 30 years. Drawing on fieldwork in comprehensive schools, and on research studies worldwide, the authors pose fundamental questions about the way teachers teach and learners learn. They consider its purposes on teaching about the past in a world of accelerating change. The book sets out to explore the realities of classroom history teaching and to offer pointers for the development on the subject in a new century.

Research on history instruction and learning is emerging as an exciting new field of inquiry. The editors prepared this volume because the field is at an important moment in its development -- a stage where there is research of sufficient depth and breadth to warrant a collection of representative pieces. The field of research on history teaching and learning connects with both traditional research on social studies and with recent cognitive analyses of domains such as mathematics and physics. However, the newer research goes beyond these activities as well. Where traditional research approaches to social studies instruction and learning have focused on curriculum, they have avoided the study of purely disciplinary features, the textual components of history and the concomitant demands, as well as the nature of various learners. Where recent cognitive analyses of mathematics and physics have dealt with misconceptions and knowledge construction, they have avoided topics such as perspective-taking, interpretation, and rhetorical layerings. The new work, by contrast, has been concerned with these issues as well as the careful analyses of the nature of historical tasks and the nature of disciplinary and instructional explanations. The lines of research presented in these chapters are both compelling and diverse and include a range of topical questions such as: * What affects the quality of teaching? * How are historical documents interpreted in the writing of history? * How is history explained? * What are the classroom demands on an elementary school social studies teacher? * What does text accomplish or fail to accomplish in educational settings? * How do teachers think about particular topics for history teaching? Although much of the research reflects a grounding in, or the influence of, cognitive psychology, not all of it derives from that tradition. Traditions of rhetoric, curriculum analysis, and developmental psychology are also woven throughout the chapters. The editors envision this volume as a contribution to educational research in a subject matter, and as a tool for practitioners concerned with the improvement of instruction in history. They also anticipate that it will contribute to cognitive science.

Few topics in modern history draw the attention that the Holocaust does. The Shoah has become synonymous with unspeakable atrocity and unbearable suffering. Yet it has also been used to teach tolerance, empathy, resistance, and hope. Understanding and Teaching the Holocaust provides a starting point for teachers in many disciplines to illuminate this crucial event in world history for students. Using a vast array of source materials—from literature and film to survivor testimonies and interviews—the contributors demonstrate how to guide students through these sensitive and painful subjects within their specific historical and social contexts. Each chapter provides pedagogical case studies for teaching content such as antisemitism, resistance and rescue, and the postwar lives of displaced persons. It will transform how students learn about the Holocaust and the circumstances surrounding it.