Conceptual Change in History

The question dealt with in this chapter regards the extent to which results from research on conceptual change in science education can be applied to other domains, and in particular that of history. In order to answer this question, we must examine the peculiarities of history and history teaching and their possible implications for conceptual change. The chapter is divided into three parts. The first part consists in a discussion of the characteristics of history concepts and how they may influence students’ prior knowledge. Particular attention is paid to second-order concepts (evidence, cause, explanation, empathy, etc.) that seem to play a crucial role in history understanding. In the second part, the peculiarities of history as a discipline and their implications for history teaching and learning are reviewed. The third part deals with the comparison between conceptual change in history and science. The characteristics of students’ prior knowledge and the goals of conceptual change in history and science are compared. Finally, some general conclusions are discussed.

[1]  Evidence evaluation and reasoning abilities in the domain of history: an empirical study , 2001 .

[2]  Mario Carretero,et al.  Conceptual change and anomalous data: A case study in the domain of natural sciences , 1997 .

[3]  R. Driver,et al.  Young people's images of science , 1996 .

[4]  Margaret G. McKeown,et al.  The Assessment and Characterization of Young Learners’ Knowledge of a Topic in History , 1990 .

[5]  Mario Carretero,et al.  The collapse of the Soviet Union: A case study in causal reasoning , 1994 .

[6]  Linda S. Levstik,et al.  New Directions for Studying Historical Understanding , 1992 .

[7]  S. Itzkoff,et al.  What Is History , 1962, History of Education Quarterly.

[8]  C. Pontecorvo,et al.  Arguing and Reasoning in Understanding Historical Topics , 1993 .

[9]  Jere Brophy,et al.  Storytelling, Imagination, and Fanciful Elaboration in Children’s Historical Reconstructions , 1991 .

[10]  Jere Brophy,et al.  Fifth-Grade U.S. History: How One Teacher Arranged to Focus on Key Ideas in Depth. , 1992 .

[11]  Margaret G. McKeown,et al.  Outcomes of history instruction: paste-up accounts , 1994 .

[12]  Eleanor Rosch,et al.  Principles of Categorization , 1978 .

[13]  Sam Wineburg,et al.  Reading Abraham Lincoln: An Expert/Expert Study in the Interpretation of Historical Texts , 1998, Cogn. Sci..

[14]  Mario Carretero,et al.  Generating explanations in history , 2001 .

[15]  Phillip K. Wood,et al.  Developmental Range of Reflective Judgment: The Effect of Contextual Support and Practice on Developmental Stage , 1993 .

[16]  Mario Carretero,et al.  Explaining historical events , 1997 .

[17]  P. Pintrich,et al.  The Development of Epistemological Theories: Beliefs About Knowledge and Knowing and Their Relation to Learning , 1997 .

[18]  D. Woodruff,et al.  Relativistic and Dialectical Thought in Three Adult Age-Groups , 1986 .

[19]  J. Wertsch,et al.  The russian revolution: official and unofficial accounts , 2001 .

[20]  Lisa Frankes,et al.  Concept- and Strategic-Knowledge Development in Historical Study: A Comparative Exploration in Two Fourth-Grade Classrooms , 2000 .

[21]  Peter Lee,et al.  Researching children's ideas about history , 2001 .

[22]  Lucia Mason,et al.  Writing to Learn, Writing to Transfer , 2001 .

[23]  Karl Marx's Theory of History: A Defence. , 1982 .

[24]  Deirdre A. Kramer,et al.  Post-Formal Operations? A Need for Further Conceptualization , 1983 .

[25]  L. Febvre.  Combats pour l'histoire , 1953 .

[26]  S. Wineburg.  Historical Problem Solving: A Study of the Cognitive Processes Used in the Evaluation of Documentary and Pictorial Evidence , 1991 .

[27]  Ola Halldén,et al.  Re-framing the problem of conceptual change , 1994 .

[28]  Pat Thane,et al.  New Perspectives on Historical Writing. , 1993 .

[29]  Hayden White,et al.  The Content of the Form: Narrative Discourse and Historical Representation. , 1987 .

[30]  Susan Carey,et al.  `An experiment is when you try it and see if it works': a study of grade 7 students' understanding of the construction of scientific knowledge , 1989 .

[31]  Joke van der Leeuw-Roord.  The State of history education in Europe : challenges and implications of the "youth and history"-survey , 1998 .

[32]  B. Vansledright,et al.  Reading American History: The Influence of Multiple Sources on Six Fifth Graders , 1998, The Elementary School Journal.

[33]  Adrian Kuzminski,et al.  French historical method. The `Annales' paradigm , 1978, Medical History.

[34]  R. Collingwood,et al.  The Idea of History. , 1947 .

[35]  Maureen A. Marron,et al.  Understanding historical controversies: students' evaluation and use of documentary evidence , 2001 .

[36]  Stephen J. Thornton,et al.  Effects of Children's Understanding of Time Concepts on Historical Understanding , 1988 .

[37]  Karen Strohm Kitchner.  Cognition, Metacognition, and Epistemic Cognition , 1983 .

[38]  R. Porter,et al.  Revolution in history , 1986 .