This study investigated how young adolescents thought about the location of human rights issues and the nature of violations in differing geographic regions. Open-ended, task-based interviews were conducted with 116 students in Colombia, Northern Ireland, the Republic of Ireland and the United States. Although students in each location pointed to…

In order to investigate elementary school students' understanding of historical time, this study conducted open-ended interviews with 58 children in kindergarten through sixth grade. The students were asked to place nine illustrations from various periods of American history in chronological order and to talk about the reasoning behind the order…

Presents two composite and contrasting cases of how elementary school children are taught history. One student receives instruction heavily slanted toward institutional political history, while the other learns these concepts incorporated throughout social history illustrated with different types of learning activities. Suggests workable…

Because students should not only know stories about the past, but also understand the interpretive nature of historians' work, this study sought to discover whether instruction can develop elementary students' ability to engage in some aspects of historical interpretation. The study focused on fifth grade students. The research consisted of direct…

This paper reports on a study that represents a new approach to understanding early and middle grade children's development of historical time awareness. The study sought to embed children's time awareness in a sociocultural framework, and to move beyond linguistic symbol systems to incorporate visual data sources. The researchers began with three…

This study examines the historical understanding of 22 fourth-graders and 11 fifth-grade students in two classrooms in a suburban community near Cincinnati (Ohio). The classes were homogeneous racially, with no students of Hispanic, African-American, Asian, or Pacific Island descent in either class. The school reflects primarily middle and…

Children from kindergarten through sixth grade (n=58) were presented with nine pictures depicting scenes from the colonial era through modern times and arranged the pictures in chronological order. Distinctions in historical time became increasingly differentiated with age. (MAK)

Reports on the results of an experiment testing 58 elementary school students tasked with chronologically ordering a set of nine historical pictures and thinking aloud about their efforts. Provides increased evidence regarding the kind and sources of children's historical knowledge and how they deploy that knowledge. (MJP)

This paper addresses the role of history education in developing a shared sense of identity in modern democracies. It does so by presenting findings from research into children's ideas about history in the United States and Northern Ireland, two settings that share important political and social characteristics with Canada and other pluralist…

This study examined the understanding of historical time among elementary school students ages 6-12 years in Northern Ireland. Findings indicated that students relied on two effective tools (factual information about material history and their own experience) and two ineffective tools (looking for examples of progress/development, and anchoring…

Presents seven brief essays addressing recent research efforts and policy initiatives aimed at reforming the history curriculum. Notes that policy recommendations are rarely informed by research on either historical or pedagogical thinking. Authors include Keith C. Barton, Matthew T. Downey, Terrie L. Epstein, Linda S. Levstik, Peter Seixas,…

Beginning teachers in Northern Ireland and the United States conducted structured inquiry projects in which they investigated elementary children's understanding of history and social studies. Interviews with the teachers and analysis of their written assignments indicate that these investigations challenged their beliefs about children's prior…