* Peter Seixas: Introduction. I. Historiographies and Historical Consciousness. * Chris Lorenz, Professor of Philosophy and Medothology of History, Leiden University and Free University of Amsterdam. 'Towards A Theoretical Framework For Comparing Historiographies: Some Preliminary Considerations'* James Wertsch, Department of Education, Washington University, St. Louis. 'Specific Narratives and Schematic Narrative Templates'* Jorn Riisen, Institute for the Advanced Studies of the Humanitiies, Essex. 'What Is Historical Consciousness? A Theoretical Approach To Empirical Evidence'* Mark Phillips, Department of History, Universtiy of British Columbia. 'Historical Distance: An Introduction'* II. History Education and Historical Consciousness * Jocelyn Letourneau and Sabrina Moisan, Department of History, Laval University, Quebec. 'Young People's Assimilation of a Collective Historical Memory'* Peter Lee, University of London Institute of Education. 'Understanding History'* Christian Laville. 'Historical Consciousness and History Education: What To Expect from the First for the Second'* Roger Simon, Ontario Institute for Studies in Education, University of Toronto. 'The Pedagogical Insistence of Public Memory'* Kent den Heyer (ed.). 'A Dialogue on Narrative and Historical Consciousness'* III. The Politics of Memory and History Education * Tony Taylor, Faculty of Education, Monash University, Victoria, Australia. 'Disputed Territory: Some Political Contexts for the Development of Australian Historical Consciousness'* John Torpey, Departments of Sociology and History, University of British Columbia. 'The Pursuit of the Past: A Polemical Perspective'

Theorizing Historical Consciousness

Review(s) of: The big six historical thinking concepts, by Peter Seixas and Tom Morton, Nelson Education, Toronto, Ontario 218 pages, $99.00 order through Amazon Canada.

The big six historical thinking concepts [Book Review]

A new framework for teachers’ professional development

In view of growing emphasis in the field of education world-wide, and particularly in the United Arab Emirates, there is a strong demand for the refinement of instructional practices through practical and effective professional development. Teacher-led Professional Development (TLPD) is implemented by teachers in the field, rather than by external practitioners. It involves collaborative and reflective meetings, peer observation, and the cooperative refinement and implementation of strategies. This study investigated educators’ perceptions of the value of TLPD, and explored their notions on its impactful instructional benefits. In a sequential mixed-methods approach, data were first collected via a questionnaire from 305 educators from private schools in Abu Dhabi and Al Ain. Then classroom observations, semi-structured interviews and document analysis yielded qualitative data. The findings revealed that teachers perceive TLPD to be effective for: 1) collaboration; 2) meeting school-wide priorities; 3) building leadership capacity; and 4) creating professional learning communities; thus 5) consolidating effective school leadership. These findings may offer principals, policymakers and teachers’ solid insights into establishing a professional learning programme that contributes to effective reform, with practical and immediate advancement in pedagogy, positively impacting the educational process in the UAE and world-wide.

Investigating Teachers’ and Educational Leaders’ Perceptions and Practices on the Effectiveness of a Teacher-led Professional Development Model in Abu Dhabi Private Schools

The primary school

https://pure.uva.nl/ws/files/32305240/1_s2.0_S0742051X17302263_main.pdf

A successful professional development program in history: What matters?

The teaching of historical time is an important aspect in elementary school curricula. This study focuses on the effects of a curriculum intervention with “Timewise,” a teaching approach developed to improve students’ understanding of historical time using timelines as a basis with which students can develop their understanding of historical phenomena and periods. The study, in which 16 teachers from grade 2 (ages 7–8) and from grade 5 (ages 10–11) participated, represents the first curriculum intervention on the understanding of historical time in elementary schools in the Netherlands. The effects were measured in a quasi-experimental pre-/post-test design. Mixed model linear analyses showed that for both grade 2 and grade 5, students in the experimental condition (N = 396) scored significantly higher on the post-test than students in the control condition (N = 392), with a medium effect size. Implications for the teaching of historical time in elementary school and in teacher training are discussed.

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Improving elementary school students’ understanding of historical time: Effects of teaching with “Timewise”

This study focuses on the development of the understanding of historical time of pupils in primary school. We present a developmental model with three stages: emergent, initial and continued understanding of historical time. Based on this model, we constructed an instrument to measure how pupils aged 6–12 perform. The participants were 1457 pupils from 7 Dutch primary schools. The analysis of the data showed that in all three stages pupils in higher grades significantly outperformed pupils in lower grades and that pupils’ performances were influenced by the variables gender and parents’ education. In all grades, there seemed to be room for improvement, especially in the lower grades (ages 6–9) where pupils have hardly had any teaching on the understanding of historical time. However, in the higher grades as well (ages 10–12), pupils could improve on the level of continued understanding of historical time.

Primary school pupils’ performances in understanding historical time

This study focuses on problems in pupils’ reasoning when they situate historical phenomena in time. The context is the Dutch curriculum with 10 eras and characteristic features, which was implemented to support pupils in orientating themselves in time. Twenty-two pupils aged 6–12 conducted assignments in which they had to place historical phenomena in time. Next to problems that were described in previous studies, problems were identified that related to the names and icons of the 10 eras, which sometimes helped, but also hindered pupils in their reasoning. Awareness of these problems is helpful for teachers, teacher trainers and educational policymakers.

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Marjan de Groot-Reuvekamp

Papers

A successful professional development program in history: What matters?

Improving elementary school students’ understanding of historical time: Effects of teaching with “Timewise”

Primary school pupils’ performances in understanding historical time

‘Everything was black and white … ’: primary school pupils’ naive reasoning while situating historical phenomena in time