The notion of historical thinking has in recent years become popular in research on history education, particularly so in North America, the UK and Australia. The aim of this paper is to discuss the cognitive competencies related to historical thinking, as expressed by some influential Canadian researchers, as an history educational notion from…

Historical empathy involves a process of attempting to understand the thoughts, feelings, experiences, decisions, and actions of people from the past within specific historical contexts. Although historical empathy has been a rich area of study in history education for several decades, this research has largely taken place outside of Canada. In…

In pursuit of an alternative perspective on the so-called 'statues controversy', this essay brings recent interpretations of the enduring 'power', 'gaze' and 'magic' of statues into alignment with critical histories of iconoclasm, sacred and secular, and New Materialist accounts of our multiple entanglements with the object histories of inherited…

This study explores how undergraduates, as historical thinkers, learn to interact with history and construct their understanding of the past, and examines the role that primary and secondary sources play in narrative construction and revision. Using the African American civil rights movement as a content focus, participants used images to create…

Alex Ford and Richard Kennett both welcome the renewed emphasis on knowledge within recent curriculum reforms in England, but are concerned about some of the ways in which the principle of a 'knowledge-rich' curriculum has been interpreted and transformed into particular pedagogical prescriptions. In this article they explain their reasons for…

The disapplication of level descriptions in the 2014 National Curriculum has spurred many history departments to rethink their approach not only to assessment but to their models of progression. In this article Rachael Cook builds on the recent work of history teachers such as Ford (TH157), Hawkey et al (TH161), Luff (TH164) and Arscott and Hinks…

This article explores an underlying tension between two understandings of historical consciousness. On one hand, the concept is often perceived as a specific ability to historicize the world and thus appears as a modern cultural achievement. On the other hand, it is also conceptualized as an anthropological universal as the ability to make sense…

As an object of inquiry for research and educational purposes, this article introduces the concept of "history-as-interpretive-filter" and operationalises it as a novel approach to examining the impact of individuals' historical consciousness on their epistemic positioning when faced with social problems of a historical character. In…

The article provides a new interpretation of the most widely cited essay on historical consciousness, Friedrich Nietzsche's 'On the use and abuse of history for life' from 1874, reconnecting it to current debates in educational science and the role of the historian and educator in a post-colonial situation. It reminds us how historical…

The introduction of online elements to museums and cultural sites has opened up new ways for visitors to engage with the past, with nature, with culture, and all other treasures of the museum. However, docent training has lagged behind visitor-facing educational initiatives. By blending online elements into docent education programs, staff…

Alex Alcoe was concerned that mastery of certain keywords and question formulae at GCSE perhaps obscured fundamental gaps in his students' understanding of the nature of causation. These gaps were revealed when he invited Year 12 students to make explicit, by annotating a diagram, their understanding of the relationship between particular causal…

This article centers on a theoretical discussion of how use of history can be addressed as a distinct concept, analytically and pedagogically. The point of departure is the field of history education research in the Nordic countries where the concept has become a term to denote the space of action between historical consciousness and historical…

Weaknesses in pupils' grasp of historical chronology are a commonplace in popular discussion of the state of history education. However, as Blow, Lee and Shemilt argue, although undoubtedly necessary and fundamental, mastery of chronological conventions is not sufficient: the difficulties that pupils experience when learning history are…

Focusing on students' attempts to explain the relative significance of different factors in Hitler's rise to power, Catherine McCrory explores the vexed question of why students who seem able to express necessary historical knowledge on one occasion cannot effectively reproduce it on another. Drawing on a detailed analysis of what it actually…

Current study aimed to present Social Studies teacher candidates' views on historical thinking skills. Study was conducted using qualitative design and working group was composed of a total of 121 teacher candidates (62 females and 59 males) attending Social Studies Teaching Department of Karadeniz Technical University and Adiyaman University…