Recent research on historical thinking has instigated important disciplinary conversations and changes in pedagogical practice. They have, however, largely focused on the primary and secondary school sector, highlighting the gap in corresponding research into tertiary education. It is important to look at the experiences of history students at…

This is a quasi-experimental mixed methods study of a curriculum intervention focused on the interdisciplinary teaching of history, literacy, and the visual arts. In this study I address three questions: (1) How does students' learning in history change following their participation in an interdisciplinary history-literacy-visual arts…

Teaching an introductory survey course in a typical lecture hall presents a series of related obstacles. The large number of students, the size of the room, and the fixed nature of the seating tend to maximize the distance between instructor and students. That distance then grants enrolled students enough anonymity to skip class too frequently and…

This case study examines a U.S. History class where a veteran teacher uses challenging primary source documents and a debate to encourage his students to think critically about history. The teacher is knowledgeable about the subject matter and articulates a clear purpose for teaching. Surprisingly, the author finds that the teacher's methods,…

Every few years in the United States, history teachers go through what some believe is an embarrassing national ritual. A representative group of students sit down to take a standardized U.S. history test, and the results show varied success. Sizable percentages of students score at or below a "basic" understanding of the country's history.…

The traditional approach to the education of newcomer students separates English language development from content instruction. It is assumed that English language proficiency is a prerequisite for subject-matter learning. The authors take the alternate view that the integration of historical thinking and digitized primary sources enhances English…

The complexity and interrelatedness of aspects of the geosciences is an important concept to convey in an undergraduate geoscience curriculum. A synthesis capstone project has served to integrate pattern-based learning of an introductory Earth History course into an active and process-based exercise in hypothesis production. In this exercise,…

In this study, we examined how high-school students utilized a hypermedia learning environment (HLE) to acquire declarative knowledge of a historical topic, as well as historical thinking skills. In particular, we were interested in whether self-regulated learning (SRL; Winne & Hadwin, 1998; Zimmerman, 2000) processing was related to the…

This article presents four guidelines for providing direct instruction in thinking skills in social studies and history at any grade level. The author first describes, with examples, three major components of any thinking skill that students need to know. Second, he presents teaching techniques for making these components explicit. Third, he…

"Contextualization", the act of placing events in a proper context, allows teachers to weave a rich, dynamic portrait of a historical period for their students. As teachers strive to identify enduring themes and patterns, they must teach students to appreciate the particular policies, institutions, worldviews, and circumstances that shape a given…

Over the last decade there has been an increased focus on high-stakes standardized tests in reading and math. Social studies has been devalued in the classroom as many teachers and administrators focus their attention on reading and math instruction to avoid the punitive consequences of the No Child Left Behind Act. (2001). Based on this…

The aim of this research is to understand how sixth grade students use their imagination skills in the historical thinking process and, by doing so, how they construct the past. In this respect, first, an exhibition/museum was visited in the context of social studies during history lessons in a primary school in Kadikoy district in Istanbul. Then,…

References to the past have taken one or another of two general forms, which we call mythic and historical, or a mix of the two. We tend to think of mythic accounts of the past as belonging to oral cultures and historical forms to be one of the "consequences of literacy." Mythic accounts have tended to refer to an original beginning whose events…

Lesson planning is a critical task in the education of pre-service teachers, but the author has often questioned the extent to which traditional lesson plan formats truly contribute to the teaching and learning of history. Since current research in history education calls for an emphasis on building "historical thinking" skills and content…

Key to introducing information and communication technologies in museums is to support meaning-making activity in encounters with artefacts. The study presented in this paper is exploratory in nature and investigates the use of social and mobile technologies in school field trips as a means of enhancing the visitor experience. It is anchored in…