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Abstract The aim with this study is to examine how practicing history teachers in upper secondary school deal with historical thinking concepts. The three main questions are: which concepts do teachers use in their courses and when do they use them? How can teachers’ use of different historical thinking concepts be described in terms of reconstruction and construction? What factors influence teachers when they work with historical thinking concepts?   To answer these questions, the material, for example tests, lesson plans and notes of seven teachers has been analyzed. These analysis were followed by interviews with the teachers.   The empirical data have been handled in two steps. The first step is a survey of what historical thinking concepts teachers use and when they use them. The survey was done as a detailed reading of the teachers’ material. In this survey two historical thinking concepts, evidence and cause and consequence, have been selected for further analysis, which is the second step.   The results show that when teachers deal with the historical thinking concept of evidence they show their students models and ways to handle evidence. This is not the case when teachers handle the historical thinking concept of cause and consequence. Models are shown here as well but not to the same extent. The result also shows that the teachers’ handling of evidence in a greater extent leads to construction compared with their handling of cause and consequence.   The explanations provided in the study also point to the different character between the two concepts and what form of test the teachers’ use and what words are used to communicate for example cause and consequence. Furthermore, the explanations also indicate that the teachers’ view of what historical knowledge contains of, together with what kind of students and what other subject they teach play some part in their dealing with historical thinking concepts. / Vilka tankeredskap hanterar historielärare i sin undervisning och när framkommer dessa i de kurser lärare undervisar i? Hur hanterar lärare tankeredskap i termer av rekonstruktion och konstruktion? Dessa frågor ställs i denna studie som bygger på en analys av sju lärares undervisningsmaterial och på uppföljande intervjuer med lärarna. I den första delen kartläggs de tankeredskap som lärare hanterar i hela kurser som de undervisar i. Ett resultat av denna del är att orsak och konsekvens är det dominerande tankeredskapet som lärare hanterar. Ett annat resultat är att tankeredskapens förekomst i lärarnas kurser uppvisar stora variationer. I den andra delen sker en fördjupad analys av två tankeredskap, källor och källkritik samt orsak och konsekvens. I denna analys framkommer att lärarnas hanterande av källor och källkritik i större utsträckning kan beskrivas i termer av konstruktion, jämfört med lärarnas hanterande av orsak och konsekvens. I analysen framkommer också att lärare kan hantera tankeredskap i två steg; det som i studien kallas tankeredskap som modell respektive tankeredskap som process. / <p>Ingår i CSD-serien.</p> / Ingår i CSD-serien

The dissertation explores middle-school students' abilities to engage in historical thinking. I dispute the Hallam-Piaget model, which discourages analytical thinking through the assumption that children lack skills to think critically about history. My historical narrative inquiry model (1) teaches procedural knowledge (the process of "doing" history); (2) enhances interpretative skills; (3) cultivates historical perspectives based upon evidentiary history; and (4) encourages student authorship of historical narratives. In the fall semester of 2006, with a classroom of twenty-five seventh-graders, I initiated a research study designed to explore the impact of the historical narrative inquiry model through a sequence of thirty-two lessons. The lessons involved small- and large-group activities, including oral presentations, discussions about primary documents, and consideration of the relation between narratology and the creation of written history. Students generated their own historical narratives in order to articulate their perspectives. Eight students having varied reading-level proficiency served as primary participants in the study. Each of these students received pre- and post-intervention interviews. Outcomes reflected the enhancement of pedagogy intended to facilitate historical thinking and historical empathy in the classroom.

Syftet med denna avhandling var att studera problemen relaterade till grundskolans historieundervisning på lågstadiet och som bidrar till att gymnasieelever inte har den kunskap som krävs för att konstruera stora och användbara bilder av det förflutna. Denna undersökning syftar till att skapa en förståelse för vilka arbetssätt som lärare använder på lågstadiet i deras historieundervisning som gynnar elevens utveckling gällande förståelse och kunskaper för historiska tidsbegrepp, så eleverna får med sig de förkunskaper som krävs från lågstadiet. För att synliggöra lärandet hos eleverna kommer en kvalitativ metod att användas genom att undersöka sex lågstadielärares lektionsplanering vid arbete med historiska tidsbegrepp samt en semi-strukturerad intervju med samma lärare som är kopplad till deras historieundervisning vid arbete med historiska tidsbegrepp. Genom att använda historiskt tänkande som teoretisk grund för den empiriska analysen visade undersökningen att problemet gällande lågstadielärares historieundervisning inte var enkel att förstå, utan snarare mångfacetterad och knepigare än vad tidigare forskning visat. / The purpose of this thesis was to study the problems related to elementary school history teaching in primary school and which contributes to that high school students do not have the knowledge required to construct large and useful pictures of the past. This study therefore aims to create an understanding of which working methods that teachers use in primary school in their history teaching that benefit the pupil’s development regarding understanding and knowledge of historical time concepts, so that the pupils get the prior knowledge required from primary school. Therefore, a qualitative method will then be used to examine six primary school teachers´ lesson planning when working with historical time concepts and a semi-structured interview. That is linked to their history teaching when working with historical time concepts. By using historical thinking as a theoretical basis for the empirical analysis, the study showed that the problem regarding primary school teacher´s history teaching was not easy to understand, but rather multifaceted and trickier than previous research has shown. / <p></p><p></p>

The main purpose of this multiple case study is to investigate how high school history teachers in Sweden use historical explanations in their classroom teaching.  Specifically, the study explores how explanations are constructed in the clasroom interactions, and what thinking tools, if any, the teachers use to help students grasp central aspects of the historical explanation in question. The case study is based upon observation data from the classrooms of five Swedish high school teachers. A theoretical underpinning of this study is that historical explanations are best understood as cases of complex causality. In order to describe these cases as they are presented in the context of a classroom, a model for analysis is used which draws upon research conclusions from several fields, chiefly instructional theory (Gaea Leinhardt), theory of history (C.Behan McCullagh) and historical thinking (Peter Seixas). The study presents each teacher as a separate case in one chapter, while another chapter focuses on what different tools each teacher uses in his/her explanations. In the last empirical chapter, the teachers’ explanations are discussed in relation to how they emphasize and relate to diffent historical thinking concepts. The study shows that while explanations are intimately interconnected with causality, their use is intertwined with other historical thinking concepts. Furthermore,  teachers use a multitude of different tools when working with  explanations. While certain tools aim at reinforcing students’ thinking about causality, they may simultaneously weaken the explanation’s value for something else, such as historical empathy. Thus, the importance of planning for specific teaching objectives is emphasized by the study. / Förmågan att resonera om orsaker och konsekvenser för att därigenom förklara historiska skeenden är en central förmåga i historisk kunskap. Hur gör lärare när de arbetar med historiska förklaringar i undervisningen? Den frågan är utgångspunkten för denna studie, som bygger på klassrumsstudier av fem yrkesverksamma historielärares undervisning. Särskild vikt läggs vid att identifiera olika redskap som lärarna använder för att tydliggöra olika aspekter av förklaringar i undervisningen.  Undersökningen visar hur förklaringar i undervisningspraktiken påverkas av faktorer som kursinnehåll, elevgrupp och undervisningens målsättningar. Ett antal didaktiska redskap för att arbeta med förklaringar identifieras. Vidare visar undersökningen också hur förklaringar i undervisningspraktiken kan vara sammanflätade med andra aspekter av historisk kunskap, som historisk empati och källhantering.

The objective of this study was to gain knowledge concerning what up-per secondary students need to learn to be able to construct historical explanations while working with historical sources. The study also explored how teaching could be designed to enhance student’s capabilities. The history didactical framework took its departure in the British Historical Thinking-tradition and the methodology was based on Learning Study, an iterative research method for analysis and enhancement of teaching and learning. Empirical data originates from one Learning Study undertaken in an upper secondary school performed in cooperation with three teachers teaching three different classes. The bulk of data consists of student interviews, video recordings from research lessons and essay texts performed by the students before and after research lessons. Variation Theory was used to analyse teaching and learning with the purpose to identify critical aspects of what characterizes the capabilities and what the students needed to learn to reason about causation, interpret and use historical sources. The historical content was framed on the late 19th century phenomenon known as The Scramble for Africa where the students were supposed to reason on the causes for thescramble while working with a variety of primary sources. The methodological design of the research-lessons was based on a combination of principles from Variation Theory and Learning Activity with the ambition to form an educational practice that would allow students to discern the critical aspects and advance their learning. The results show that the students who participated in this study needed to distinguish the following critical aspects to be able to construct Historical Explanations when working with sources: Cause To distinguish temporal aspects of historical change not to confuse causes and consequences. To distinguish that historical change are caused by societal structures and intervention by historical actors and do not occur by itself. To distinguish that historical change predominantly have their origin in several causes and cannot be reduced to single causes. To distinguish that historical explanations need support from evidence. Interpret and Use Historical Sources To asses sources critically rather than view them as neutral information. To contextualize sources to avoid presentism and literal interpretations. To corroborate sources to be able to validate claims and present different perspectives in a historical explanation. To see that values and limitations of sources depend on the historical questions we seek an answer to. To distinguish the difference between authentic sources and reliable claims.

Den här studien tar sin utgångspunkt i en av de förändringar som införandet av läroplanen 2011 innebar, nämligen att mellanstadieelever ska ges möjlighet att utveckla sin förmåga att föra historiska resonemang. Syftet är att bidra med kunskap om relationen mellan lärares planering för och mellanstadieelevers utveckling av historiskt resonerande och ämneslitteracitet. Genom deltagande observation följdes två lärare när de planerade arbetsområdet medeltiden och när lektionerna genomfördes i en klassi årskurs 5. Det empiriska materialet består av ljudupptagningar och fältanteckningar från planeringstillfällen, helklasslektioner, grupparbeten och elevtexter. Epistemologiskt utgår studien från antagandet att kunskap är socialt situerad, vilket är gemensamt för de teorier som används. Det historiska resonerandet sker i ett socialt sammanhang och ställer krav både på förmågan till historiskt tänkande och på förmågan att uttrycka sig i historia. I studien kombineras därför historiedidaktiska teorier om historiskt tänkande och resonerande med historiespecifik litteracitet. Resultatet visar att eleverna kan föra enkla former av historiska resonemang. Uppgifterna och den stöttning eleverna erbjuds i undervisningen är de redskap med vars hjälp de ges möjligheter att utveckla denna förmåga och att utveckla historiespecifik litteracitet. Uppgifterna i studien domineras av att vara öppna och manar eleverna till att vara aktiva och att samarbeta, men de organiserande begreppen och resonemangsformerna är ofta implicita. Den planerade stöttningen karaktäriseras av att gå från gemensamt arbete med uppgifter i helklass, till i smågrupper och avslutningsvis att genomföra dem individuellt. Eleverna ges med andra ord rika tillfällen till interaktion vilket är ett viktigt stöd i att utveckla det historiska resonerandet, däremot skulle de organiserande begreppen och det historiespecifika skrivandet kunna explicitgöras i större utsträckning. Det nära samarbetet i studien mellan lärarna och forskaren gör att studien kan vara en del i att fylla gapet mellan teori och praktik och mellanrummet mellan akademi och skola. Studien bidrar dessutom till den vetenskapliga grunden för mellanstadiets historieundervisning. / This study is based on one of the changes introduced by the Swedish curriculum in 2011, namely that middle school students should be given the opportunity to develop their ability to reason historically. The overall purpose of the study is to contribute knowledge about the relationship between teachers’ planning for and middle school students’ development of historical reasoning and disciplinary literacy with examples from a subject area about Swedish Middle Ages. The study examines the opportunities that students in grade 5 are offered to develop the ability to reason historically and to develop disciplinary literacy in history teaching. Epistemologically, the study is based on the assumption that knowledge is socially situated, which is common to the theories used. Historical reasoning takes place in a social context and demands both the ability to think historically and the ability to express oneself in history. The study therefore combines history didactic theories about historical thinking and reasoning with history-specific literacy. The research questions originate from problems and difficulties that history teachers in middle school experience in their teaching. To get answers to these questions, the practice-based research approach Educational design research has been used. Through participant observation, two teachers were followed in the planning and implementation of history teaching in a class in grade 5 for 12 weeks. The empirical material consists of audio recordings and field notes from planning sessions and whole class lessons, audio recordings of group works and collection of student texts, both individual and collective. The licentiate thesis consists of two peer-reviewed articles, both published, and a commentary: Article 1 sheds light on middle school teachers’ conceptions of what historical reasoning entails specifically in writing and how teachers plan their lessons based on this. Seven planning sessions and one concluding conversation were followed through participant observation. A phenomenographic and a thematic analysis was made to answer the research questions. The results show that the teachers conceive of written reasoning in history as a) understanding the historical content, b) the active use of content concepts, c) shifting between time and space perspectives and d) perceiving text qualities. The results also show that teaching, according to the teachers, needs to include the use of teaching materials, be visually supportive, collaborative, reflective and attentive to text structure and linguistic patterns. Article 2 contributes knowledge about the opportunities that history teaching offers 5th grade students regarding historical reasoning, focusing on both historical thinking and history-specific literacy. The empirical material was collected during 15 lessons and analysed based on a model of historical reasoning and on theory of history-specific texts. The analysis is supported by a grammatical focus on temporality and causality. The result shows that middle school students use simple text activities such as retelling in historical reasoning about continuity and change. To a lesser extent, more complex textual activities, such as explanation and argumentation, which are important for historical reasoning about causes and consequences. However, oral processing of historical material offers opportunities to try more complex forms of historical reasoning and text activities. In the commentary the articles are related to each other through a synthesising analysis. The result of this analysis shows that middle school students are able to engage in simple forms of historical reasoning. The tasks and the scaffolding offered to students in the classroom are the tools that enable them to develop this ability and to develop history-specific literacy. The tasks in the study are predominantly open-ended and encourage students to be active and collaborative, but the organising concepts and forms of reasoning are often implicit. The planned scaffolding is characterised by moving from joint work on tasks in whole class, to small groups and finally to individual work. In other words, students are given ample opportunities for interaction, which is an important scaffolding in developing historical reasoning, but the organising concepts and history-specific writing could be made more explicit. One of the reasons why this is not already done may be that middle school teachers are often qualified in several subjects and thus may not have acquired sufficient knowledge of history, history didactics, and disciplinary literacy during their university education. In addition, the design of the history syllabus seems to have been influenced by history didactic research that has been carried out mainly in relation to older students. This also means that the middle school teachers do not have much scientific research to refer to, which means that they try out by themselves. With this study, I want to contribute to filling the research gap in Swedish context when it comes to historical reasoning in the middle school.

Uppsatsen diskuterar fem historielärares erfarenhet av att arbeta med skönlitteratur ihistorieundervisningen samt deras syn på dess användbarhet och roll i historieämnet.Studien har använt en kvalitativ metod och det empiriska materialet har bestått av femintervjuer med fem olika historielärare. Materialet har transkriberats och genomgått bådesortering samt reducering med hjälp av kodning där erfarenheter av att använda skönlitteratur ihistorieundervisningen på gymnasiet, hur skönlitteratur använts samt vilka möjligheter ochsvårigheter som finns med att arbeta med skönlitteratur i historieundervisningen var det somsöktes. Resultatet analyserades med hjälp av tidigare forskning samt tre begrepp, historisksignifikans, historiskt perspektiv samt evidens, från Seixas och Mortons teori kring historiskttänkande.Resultatet visar hur de fem lärarna arbetat med skönlitteratur i historieundervisningen ochde många fördelar som finns med skönlitteratur i historieundervisningen. Framför alltskönlitteraturens möjligheter att skapa ett intresse för ämnet hos eleverna, möjligheter att arbetamed källkritik och historiebruk samt för att hjälpa elever att utveckla sitt historiskaperspektivtagande sågs som positivt. Den stora svårighet som nämndes var den tidsbrist somfinns i historieämnet på gymnasienivå vilket har lett till att skönlitteraturen inte används i denutsträckning som hade önskats av lärarna. / This paper discusses five history teachers experience working with fiction in history teachingas well as their views on its usefulness and role in the subject of history.The study has used a qualitative method and the empirical material has consisted of fiveinterviews with five different history teachers. The material has been transcribed and then beensorted and reduced with the help of coding, where experiences of using fiction in historyteaching at upper secondary school, how fiction has been used and what opportunities anddifficulties there are in working with fiction in history teaching were what was sought. Theresult was analyzed using previous research and three concepts, historical significance,historical perspective, and evidence, from Seixas and Morton’s theory of historical thinking.The result shows how the five teachers worked with fiction in history teaching and themany advantages of using fiction in history teaching. Above all, fiction’s opportunities to createan interest in the subject among the students, opportunities to work with source criticism andthe use of history and to help the students develop their historical perspective-taking were seenas positive. The major difficulty that was mentioned was the lack of time in the history subjectat upper secondary school level, which led to fiction not being used to the extent that mighthave been desired by the teachers.

This dissertation entailed a qualitative case study on the confluence of technology and social studies in fostering a constructivist education. Through the examination of pre-service social studies teachers’ understanding of the online primary source resources (OPSR), three themes emerged. The first exposed the fragmented understanding of important pedagogical theories of constructivism and historical thinking among participants; the second suggested that OPSR was mostly valued by pre-service teachers for its provision of primary sources; and the third related to how pre-service teachers viewed the current state of technology and context as problematic for technology integration. Accordingly, four findings were revealed. First, the pre-service teachers in the study demonstrated a limited understanding of the application of foundational theories central to their field of study; second, there were instances of deeper appreciation of the potential of OPSR, indicating that pre-service teachers’ theoretical understanding is ix nascent and may deepen overtime; third, the full potential of technologies such as OPSR was not recognized; and fourth, the pre-service teachers’ perceptions of school and educational system conditions tended to negatively influence their views toward the integration of technology into their teaching practices. Implications indicate that first, foundational pedagogical theories are critical with regard to technology integration in education and as such teacher preparation programs must not assume what is taught is what is learned; second, instances of deeper understanding among pre-service teachers only appeared during the application of their theoretical understandings; third, context is critical in how OPSR would be used in classrooms and such contextual issues must not be ignored by teacher preparation programs; and fourth, teachers’ technological pedagogical content knowledge (PCK/TPCK) is critical in the integration of technology in education. / text

The thesis focuses on how students learn history in the classroom, more precisely on their possibilities and difficulties in developing competence in the school subject of history. There is a particular emphasis on how they explain and understand historical processes and concepts within the subject of history. Participants are students of different grades, 8–19 years old. The purpose of the study is to explore how students learn history in concrete learning situations and my focus is on the types of knowledge students understand, learn, develop and use in comparison with what they are expected to learn.  This is done based on three fundamental and well-established principles of learning. To examine what kinds of knowledge students need I use three main types of knowledge: declarative content knowledge (facts and concepts), procedural knowledge (knowledge about how to do things) and self-regulatory knowledge (knowledge about how to regulate our memory, thought and learning). I also use concepts and insights from systemic functional linguistics (SFL) in order to explain why the students use language and communicate the way they do. The thesis shows that history is challenging for young students. Young students have difficulties with complex and abstract concepts in history as they treat concepts as facts. Older, more competent, students use concepts on a more abstract level and use different kinds of linguistic resources when formulating explanations of higher complexity, more similar to the way explanations in the domain of history are commonly written. The youngest students and some of the older students lacked factual knowledge, concept knowledge, domain specific self-regulatory knowledge and linguistic resources. Declarative content knowledge and facts are more important and more difficult for young students to understand, develop, organize and learn than previous scholars have shown empirically. Students’ abilities to understand facts and ideas in the context of a conceptual framework and to organize and structure facts with the help of concepts at different level of abstraction (conceptual understanding) are crucial. Students also need linguistic resources, both lexical knowledge and knowledge of text structures. Language is crucial both in the process of acquiring knowledge and in the process of communication. In the learning process, teaching is crucial, since individual students’ potential to develop competence depend on the potential of the teacher to discover and engage their preconceptions and arrange for learning in a way that give students the kind of knowledge they need.