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Towards Excellent Historical R easoning: The C ompetency of Historical P erspective T aking (HPT). Authors: Tim Huijgen , Carla van Boxtel , Wim van de Grift & Paul Holthuis Presenting author: Tim Huijgen The Netherlands HEIRNET 2014. Outline presentation. PhD research project
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Towards Excellent Historical Reasoning: The Competency of Historical Perspective Taking (HPT) Authors: Tim Huijgen, Carla van Boxtel, Wim van de Grift & Paul HolthuisPresenting author: Tim HuijgenThe NetherlandsHEIRNET 2014
Outline presentation • PhD research project • Theoreticalframework • Research questions • Method • Results • Discussion
PhD research project 2012 – 2018 • How do history teachers stimulate students’ ability to perform HPT? • How can we help students to perform HPT? • Performing HPT: measuring students’ ability to perform HPT • Performing HPT: students’ knowledge and strategies to perform HPT (explorative) • Stimulating HPT: development and validation of an observational protocol regarding teacher ability to stimulate HPT • Stimulating HPT: differences regarding teacher ability to stimulate HPT • Stimulating HPT: development of class material with a view to stimulating HPT (a quasi- experimental study)
Theoretical framework (1) • In order to be able to explain and evaluate the past, students must learn to consistently take into account that the past differs from the present. • HPT is considered as a very important competency in many history curricula of different countries
Theoretical framework (2) • HPT means attempting to see through the eyes of people who lived in other times and circumstances (Seixas & Morton, 2013) • HTP is the application of the knowledge that historical agents had particular perspectives on their world that affected their actions(Lee & Ashby, 2001) • However, many students suffer from presentism and therefore do not outline the historical context. • Presentismis the bias by which people assume that the same goals, intentions, attitudes, and beliefs existed in the past as they exist today (Barton & Levstik, 2004).
Theoretical framework (3) • In order to take a historical perspective: • Students should use a chronological, a spatial and a social cultural frame of reference • Students must be able to display historical empathy • Students must avoid presentism
Research questions • Which strategies and knowledge do students use in order to successfully take a historical perspective? • Which differences can be found between the strategies used by students classified as weak, as average and those classified as excellent when asked to take a historical perspective?
Method • Seven teachers each selected a weak, an average and an excellent student (n = 21) • HTP assignment (developed and validated by Hartmann and Hasselhorn, 2008) • The mean category scores (pop, roa and cont) were calculated for each of the students • The data protocols were analyzed by using the coding software programmeMultiple Episode Protocol Analysis (Erkens, 2003) • The coding categories were formulated
Results (2) • Students used: • Chronological historical knowledge (including thinking about continuity and change); social-economic historical knowledge; and social-political historical knowledge • Historical empathy students made personal connections with the historical agent • Excellent classified students (as compared to weak classified students): • Used specification of ignorance • Asked more questions about the source • Made more references to the source • Combined chronological knowledge with social-economic and social politicalknowledge
Discussion Limitations: • Small number of participants (explorative) • Subjective classification Practical implications: • Combining different frames of references • Specifyingtheir lack of knowledge Further research: • Students who did not display a lot of chronological and social knowledge, tried to take a historical perspective by making personal connections with the historical agent in order to understand the historical agent’s decisions • The relation between generic task strategies and domain-specific strategies
Contact or full paper? • t.d.huijgen@rug.nl • www.rug.nl/staff/t.d.huijgen