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26 - Learning History

from Part V - Learning Disciplinary Knowledge

Published online by Cambridge University Press:  14 March 2022

By
Mario Carretero  and
Everardo Perez-Manjarrez
Edited by
R. Keith Sawyer
R. Keith Sawyer
Affiliation:
University of North Carolina, Chapel Hill
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Summary

History learning in schools often focuses on facts such as dates of important events and names of influential politicians or military leaders. This chapter instead considers history knowledge to be of two types: historical concepts and historical narratives. The chapter reviews two types of conceptual knowledge: first-order concepts like peasants and presidents, and second-order concepts like change and continuity, and cause and consequence. The chapter reviews many features of historical narratives, including the representation of national identity, the role of emotion in learning, the presence of mythical figures and motives, and the national or ethnic search for freedom or territory. A deeper understanding of history requires students to “think historically” – to engage in the professional practices of historians such as gathering evidence, developing theories, and translating the past into the present.

Keywords

historical conceptshistorical narrativesmisconceptionsconceptual developmentnarrative thought
Type
Chapter
Information
The Cambridge Handbook of the Learning Sciences , pp. 523 - 542
Publisher: Cambridge University Press
Print publication year: 2022

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