Keith C. Barton

“Back When God Was Around and Everything”: Elementary Children’s Understanding of Historical Time

In order to investigate elementary children’s understanding of historical time, we conducted open–ended interviews with 58 children from kindergarten through sixth grade. In order to overcome the limitations of previous research in this area, we asked children to place pictures from various periods of American history in order and to talk about their reasoning. We found that even the youngest children made some basic distinctions in historical time and that those became increasingly differentiated with age. Dates, however, had little meaning for children before third grade, and, although third and fourth graders understood the numerical basis of dates, only by fifth grade did students extensively connect particular dates with specific background knowledge. At all ages, children’s placement of most pictures revealed substantial agreement with one another and with the correct order; this agreement indicates a significant body of understanding of historical chronology. History instruction in the elementary grades, then, might productively focus on helping students refine and extend the knowledge they have gained about history; information which relies on dates, however, is unlikely to activate their temporal understanding.

‘They still use some of their past’: historical salience in elementary children's chronological thinking

Fifty‐eight students at seven grade levels (kindergarten through sixth) from three population groups (urban, suburban and rural) were presented with the task of chronologically ordering a set of nine historical pictures and ‘thinking aloud’ about the task. The results of this study provide increased evidence regarding the kind and sources of childrens historical knowledge, and how they deploy that knowledge. The most accessible historical knowledge for early and middle grade children apparently relates to changes in material culture and the patterns of everyday life. It appears, too, that the intertexts that inform childrens historical understanding, especially prior to fourth grade, provide better information about material culture than about other aspects of change over time. In addition, some children at all grade levels linked history to such sociocultural issues as race and gender. Finally, by fifth grade, children were learning a new reference system that consisted of specific eras (Colonial, Revo...

A Sociocultural Perspective on Children’s Understanding of Historical Change: Comparative Findings From Northern Ireland and the United States

This research examines the extent to which specific forms of historical representation in Northern Ireland and the United States serve as “cultural tools” that shape understanding of change over time. On the basis of classroom observations and interviews with children in Northern Ireland, and using comparisons with previous U.S. research, this study found that children in the two locations differed in their explanations of how and why social and material life has changed over time. These distinctions correspond to differing historical representations; children in Northern Ireland are less likely, for both political and pedagogical reasons, to encounter the kinds of national narratives common in the United States. These findings suggest that educators should consider how reliance on a single format for presenting historical information influences and limits children’s historical thinking.

Trying to “see things differently”: Northern Ireland Students’ Struggle to Understand Alternative Historical Perspectives

Abstract This study illustrates the processes by which 8 pairs of adolescents in Northern Ireland struggled to come to grips with tensions between school and community history. Findings are based on data collected through open-ended, semi-structured interviews with students from a variety of backgrounds. Although these students appreciated the attempt by schools to present a neutral and balanced approach to the past, many had difficulty fully engaging with alternative historical perspectives. These findings suggest that a balanced history curriculum may fail to challenge students deeply enough to help them integrate competing views of the past in ways that withstand community pressure. Greater engagement with multiple historical perspectives may require that schools address the affective component of contentious history, that they help students reflect on contemporary representations of the past, and that they expose students to the diversity of perspectives that exist within seemingly monolithic political and religious categories.

Reflecting on elementary children's understanding of history and social studies: An inquiry project with beginning teachers in Northern Ireland and the United States.

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 knowledge and their own instructional techniques. Teachers initially believed that inadequate cognitive development and lack of background knowledge limited children’s ability to understand history and social studies; however, after taking part in these projects, they developed a new appreciation for children’s prior ideas and a clearer commitment to their own role in building on that knowledge. These findings suggest that structured investigations, focused on specific disciplinary content, have the potential to encourage beginning teachers’ reflection on their students’ cognition and to enhance their own sense of professional responsibility.

Elicitation Techniques: Getting People to Talk About Ideas They Don’t Usually Talk About

Abstract Elicitation techniques are a category of research tasks that use visual, verbal, or written stimuli to encourage participants to talk about their ideas. These tasks are particularly useful for exploring topics that may be difficult to discuss in formal interviews, such as those that involve sensitive issues or rely on tacit knowledge. Elicitation techniques can also reduce power imbalances between interviewers and respondents, and they can enhance participants’ ability to elaborate on their own conceptions of the world, rather than limiting them to categories derived from theory or previous research. Among the most useful of such techniques are those that involve respondents in arranging stimulus materials, constructing materials in response to stimuli, and explaining stimulus materials. Each of these has been used to explore important topics in social education, and familiarity with a range of elicitation techniques enables researchers to overcome many barriers to productive interviewing.

History Education and National Identity in Northern Ireland and the United States: Differing Priorities.

Keith C. Barton is associate professor of education at the University of Cincinnati. S YEARS AGO, IN A SOCIAL STUDIES methods class for preservice teachers, a student asked, “Do children in other countries study U.S. history in fifth grade, too?” Shocked by her question, I responded (hopefully without being too condescending), “No, children in other countries study their own history, not ours.” I now know that my response was only partly correct. Although students in other countries do not routinely study U.S. history in the elementary grades, they also may not study their own history. At the time, it had never occurred to me to doubt my answer. Based on my experiences as a student, teacher, and teacher educator in the United States, I took it for granted that social education was essentially similar throughout the world—that a basic part of the subject would be the study of each country’s own past. Children in other countries, I thought, would study their history just as we study ours. But after spending 6 months researching the historical understanding of children in Northern Ireland, I now realize just how mistaken I was. Students in the United States are exposed continually to experiences, in school and out, that reinforce their identification with the history and development of the United States. But experiences in other countries do not always reflect this emphasis on national history and identity. In Northern Ireland, for example, the story of the region’s and the nation’s past are almost completely omitted (for both political and pedagogical reasons) from the primary curriculum and from most other public forums where young children learn about history. This difference in the amount of attention devoted to national history affects the historical understandings children develop in the two locations. It influences their understanding of historical evidence, the nature and direction of change over time, and the purpose for learning about the past. Looking more closely at the differences in teaching and learning in the two countries provides the opportunity to reflect on the role of national history in the U.S. curriculum and to judge whether changes are needed in the way the subject is taught.

Home Geography and the Development of Elementary Social Education, 1890–1930

Home geography was the principal means by which primary students in the United States learned about the social world from the 1890s through the 1920s. This subject was rooted in the German subject of Heimatkunde, and it reflected the changing nature of the academic discipline of geography in the late nineteenth century. Its content focused on basic human activities, starting with the experiences closest to students and gradually expanding outward. This curriculum was fundamentally similar to that which would later be known as “expanding horizons,” and an analysis of its development calls into question several assumptions about the history of social studies and its relationship to other subjects. Most notably, it demonstrates that the elementary curriculum did not have a single invention or founding but evolved gradually out of previous patterns and was influenced by developments both in the United States and Europe. In addition, the relationship between home geography and the university discipline makes it clear that at the primary level, the transition to “social studies” did not involve replacing earlier, disciplinary content with the integrated study of the social world, but merely reflected a new name for a curriculum that was already well in place.

History teaching and the perpetuation of memories: The Northern Ireland experience

Teaching history in a society that has experienced violent and on-going conflict, at least partially as a consequence of contested views of national identity, presents significant challenges for educators. This is particularly true in Northern Ireland, where the continued existence of two parallel educational systems often has been implicated in the perpetuation of community divisions, and where new directions in education are regularly promoted as important contributors to peace and reconciliation (Murray, Smith and Birthistle, 1997). This chapter examines the role of formal history instruction in Northern Ireland schools and points to some of the ways history teaching may help to overcome — or perpetuate — perceptions of community antagonism rooted in the past. In particular, we explore whether an emphasis on evidence-based inquiry and the avoidance of questions of identity, provides the most appropriate balance of historical approaches in a setting such as Northern Ireland.

Research, Instruction, and Public Policy in the History Curriculum: A Symposium

Abstract Editors Note: As educators and policy—makers have attempted to reform or revitalize the school curriculum in the past decade, the history curriculum has been the subject of numerous research efforts and policy initiatives. But, as several of these authors note, policy recommendations are rarely informed by careful attention to either research on historical thinking and learning or to the concerns of classroom teachers. The following essays, which are based on a symposium held at the 1995 annual meeting of the College and University Faculty Assembly of NCSS, analyze the relationships among research, instruction and public policy regarding the history curriculum, and suggest ways of conceptualizing the future of history education. THEORY AND RESEARCH IN SOCIAL EDUCATION encourages reader responses that sustain and extend the dialogue initiated by this set of essays. See the Information for Authors in this issue for reply guidelines.