Operationalizing Historical Consciousness: A Review and Synthesis of the Literature on Meaning Making in Historical Learning

Popa, Nathalie

doi:10.3102/00346543211052333

Cited by 27 publications

(21 citation statements)

References 79 publications

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“…However, the study does offer important insights into the Australian context, where current student-centred research is lacking, and provides a point of comparison with international contexts. It shows Australian students are unique in their tendency to describe History as a subject that is relevant to their lives, and supports the claim that History offers a distinctive lens for interpreting the worlda finding that runs counter to existing history education research that suggests young people tend to see it as a subject area that is irrelevant to their lives (Miguel-Revilla, 2022;Popa, 2022).…”

Section: In Closingsupporting

confidence: 59%

“…Holbrook et al, 2022) and scholarship on historical consciousness and history education (e.g. Ammert et al, 2022;Clark and Grever, 2018;Clark and Peck, 2019;Popa, 2022) considers the efficacy of applying conceptions of the triadic past-present-future nexus in contemporary contexts. In Australia, the rationales of official History curricula also purport to represent a discipline that has contemporary relevance and equips students to 'take an informed position on how the past informs the present and future' (VCAA, 2020: 2).…”

Section: Introductionmentioning

confidence: 99%

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‘Learning from history is something that is important for the future’: Why Australian students think history matters

Cairns

Garrard

2023

Policy Futures in Education

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Research suggests young people generally do not perceive History to be a subject that is relevant to their lives and futures. Across the world, history curriculum policy regularly attracts public debate but, as it is usually dominated by political rhetoric, the students who experience it remain overlooked as policy actors with valuable perspectives. This article foregrounds the voices of Australian secondary school students by drawing on a national online survey that asked students about the relevance of History and the reasons for choosing it as a subject in the post-compulsory years. Concerned about lagging national enrolments in post-compulsory History subjects, we argue that student perspectives provide essential insights into understanding issues related to the status and sustainability of history education. Our thematic analysis demonstrates that students position the present and the future as key touchstones to measure the relevance of History. It explores how these themes relate to prevailing discursive conditions: popular discourse around the purpose of history, young people’s sense of temporality and hope during volatile times, and the futures discourse that frames the Australian curriculum policy context. The research provides impetus for innovating history curriculum policy and education policy more broadly in ways that are responsive to students.

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Section: In Closingsupporting

confidence: 59%

Section: Introductionmentioning

confidence: 99%

‘Learning from history is something that is important for the future’: Why Australian students think history matters

Cairns

Garrard

2023

Policy Futures in Education

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“…This effect might be further compounded if the social media account does not give detailed information about the production process or the sources of the historical information. In this regard, history education researchers emphasize the importance of historical consciousness and the ability to reflect on (media) representations of the past (Pandel, 2017;Popa, 2022), including the consciousness of fictionality, historicity, and time. To date, however, it has not been empirically examined whether the experience of PSI with a historical figure indeed affects followers' historical consciousness by blurring the boundary between fiction and reality/past and present.…”

Section: Posting From Thementioning

confidence: 99%

“…Followers might perceive PSI as an actual social interaction with the historical figure (Sophie Scholl) and may therefore be less aware of the fictional characteristics of the presentation (e.g., Sophie Scholl is played by an actress). History education researchers emphasize historical consciousness as the main ability that enables recipients to reflect on historical (media) representations (Pandel, 1987;Popa, 2022). Pandel (2017) described historical consciousness according to subdimensions including consciousness of time, reality, and historicity (Pandel, 2017).…”

Section: Historical Consciousnessmentioning

confidence: 99%

Posting from the Past - A Longitudinal Study of the Potentials of Parasocial Interaction with a Historical Figure for History Education

Frentzel-Beyme¹,

Holtze²,

Szczuka³

et al. 2022

Preprint

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Historical figures were increasingly brought onto Instagram providing insights into the past from a first-person perspective by nonverbally and verbally addressing followers in stories or posts. This type of representation is known for promoting parasocial interaction (PSI), the illusion of a face-to-face interaction with a media figure. Consequently, historical Instagram accounts may offer a novel platform for historical learning via PSI with historical figures. This longitudinal study aims to investigate PSI and actual interaction (e.g., liking, commenting) with the historical figure on social media and the resulting educational potentials: interest in and knowledge about the historical figure, and followers’ consciousness of the accounts’ fictionality and characteristics of the past. To investigate this, followers of the German historical Instagram account: ichbinsophiescholl, were surveyed at two time points (t1: N = 239; t2: N = 84). The findings revealed that followers’ actual interaction was positively related to the experience of PSI, which was in turn supported by their general interest in history. PSI did not increase over time but was positively associated with interest in the historical figure. Moreover, followers experiencing PSI were more aware of the historical characteristics of the account but less aware of its fictionality.

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“…Seixas (2012) argues that history education plays a central role in building the ability of students to answer questions of historical consciousness "to help them make sense of who they are, where they stand, and what they can do" as citizens with responsibilities in a rapidly changing world (p. 21). Popa (2022), however, also emphasises the more personal elements of historical consciousness, defining it as "a disposition to engage with history so as to make meaning of past human experience for oneself, or in other words, to make the historical past one's own" (p. 174).…”

Section: The Context For This Researchmentioning

confidence: 99%

What for the future, from learning the past?

Neill

Bell

Belgrave

et al. 2022

nzaroe

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Important curriculum development work has progressed since the 2019 announcement that Aotearoa New Zealand histories would become compulsory learning across all schools. Much effort has gone into considering how learning ‘our’ histories can engage, inspire and empower children in schools through years 1 to 10, and recent writing has focused on how to address challenges in building knowledge and capability to meet those aims. However, what will be the effects beyond those years? Will students still be drawn to choose history in their senior school years, or will they be ‘over it’? In a quest to gauge the implications of the new curriculum, our research team surveyed secondary school history students on their motivations and areas of interest in learning history, and their views on Aotearoa New Zealand history becoming compulsory for Years 1-10. Findings from our research confirmed that students’ past engagement with history influenced their ongoing interest, motivation and understanding of the subject. However, the positive learning that had drawn them to history was often about everyone else’s history rather than their own. Students identified international histories – often involving war or conflict – as favourite topics. So, while most supported the implementation of the new curriculum, they equally expressed concern that the local focus should not be at the expense of wider perspectives. They felt history could become repetitive and boring; elements which could put students off engaging with history in future. We conclude by presenting important considerations for ensuring such negative impacts do not occur.

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Operationalizing Historical Consciousness: A Review and Synthesis of the Literature on Meaning Making in Historical Learning

Cited by 27 publications

References 79 publications

‘Learning from history is something that is important for the future’: Why Australian students think history matters

‘Learning from history is something that is important for the future’: Why Australian students think history matters

Posting from the Past - A Longitudinal Study of the Potentials of Parasocial Interaction with a Historical Figure for History Education

What for the future, from learning the past?

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