The article proposes an approach that is based on the assumption that the fostering of the political-critical dimension in the study of history can develop an effective historical consciousness among young students of history that will strengthen their independent informed thinking, reflective skills, and the ability to show empathy. First, I…

History teachers, teacher-researchers, government agencies and history education academics in England often report that students are frequently incapable of producing complex, polythetic or developmental narratives over long time scales. This lack of an overview tends to result in deficiencies in their application of the key concepts of the…

This article analyses the development and achievements of the area of History in the Tuning-Latin America Project from its launch in 2004 to its completion in 2013. Through two phases and nine general meetings, academics from Argentina, Brazil, Chile, Colombia, Costa Rica, Cuba, Guatemala, Mexico and Peru, along with academics from Spain, Portugal…

The past twenty years have seen a dramatic change in the research of history education and its meaning in the Western academic world. Basically, there are three productive research directions: (1) a growing interest in cultural studies; (2) an exploration of various educational paths towards shaping a historical consciousness; and (3) cognitive…

Many school districts across North America have turned to a framework for curriculum design and instruction called "Understanding by Design." Included in the framework is a call for teachers to create "essential questions" that provocatively ask students to consider and learn the "big ideas and core processes within the…

Background/Context: Educators, parents, politicians, and the media often complain that young people know little history and compare them unfavorably to better-educated, earlier generations. However, the charge is exaggerated. Young people have performed poorly on history tests for decades. Students' poor scores on one test in particular, the focus…

Secondary school history textbooks in South Korea, Japan, and the United States have long struggled to give meaning and significance to the war waged on the Korean Peninsula between 1950 and 1953. Comparing commonly-used, contemporary history textbooks from each of these three nations, this analysis suggests that students on both sides of the…

This article describes one of many inquiry investigations the author designed for her fifth grade students in order to provide real and meaningful reading experiences through primary documents. There are two main goals for such a lesson: students will comprehend historical events accurately and in a way meaningful to them, and they will develop…

If history teachers' aim is to teach students how to think, why not ask: What forms of thought do historians use, and what specific techniques will inculcate these forms? In this article, the author proposes a fundamental shift, from courses with a focus on the mastery of data to courses with a priority on learning the historian's craft. The…