In recent years, the Swedish educational system has undergone considerable change. A new curriculum and swift digitization via the implementation of the "one-to-one" system have increased the call for new teaching methods in schools. Previous research indicates that working with primary sources can enhance students’ historical thinking and historical empathy. The present licentiate dissertation aims to investigate Swedish upper secondary school students’ use of critical thinking and historical empathy when utilizing digitized primary sources, such as the parish registers stored in the Demographic Data Base at Umeå University.         Five classes in grades 1-3, comprising 110 students, in the ages 16 to 19, and three teachers participated in the study. The students were assigned with compiling a report based on the digitised primary source material and presenting their findings in a written paper or oral presentation. The study was evaluated through (1) interviews with students and teachers, (2) classroom observation of the students while working with the material, (3) questionnaires on the students´ view of history, and (4) the completed assignments.           The study shows that all the students achieved some result based on the information found in the digitised primary sources. While they applied historical empathy and historical thinking, it was mixed with presentism. The majority did not make use of corroboration, but those who did displayed more examples of historical thinking and historical empathy, primarily evident in grades 2 and 3 and in the free discussions held after the presentations. The students’ perception of primary sources shifted as a result of this exercise: Their preference for using primary sources had increased, although their trust in primary sources had simultaneously decreased. Teachers and students alike were generally satisfied with the assignment but argued that the database needed improvement in order to enhance its usefulness. Over the course of the assignment, students frequently expressed that the individuals in the digitized material came to life for them, generating feelings of empathy.         The study’s contribution to history didactics is twofold. First, it clearly demonstrates how upper secondary students can make use of historical thinking and historical empathy when studying digitised parish records, even though they have difficulty contextualizing their results. Secondly, it provides insight into how Swedish students learn history and the kind of history that interests them. The results are predominantly in agreement with those from previous studies but this study is pioneering in basing its findings on primary sources that are digitised. / En dator till varje elev, det som ofta kallas en-till-en, har skapat nya förutsättningar för undervisning. I denna studie får gymnasieelever arbeta med digitaliserade primärkällor i historieundervisningen. Elevernas förmåga att använda historiskt tänkande, historisk empati och kontextualisering undersöks, och elevernas inställning till historieämnet kartläggs före och efter mötet med de digitaliserade källorna. Samtliga elever klarar av att genomföra sökningar i det digitaliserade källmaterialet, och de uppvisar i högre eller lägre grad historiskt tänkande, historisk empati och kontextualisering under lektionerna och i sina skriftliga och muntliga redovisningar. Elevernas inställning till historieämnet påverkas i viss mån. Främst förändras deras syn på primärkällor.

The present study explores the reception of historical feature films in history education. It is concerned with how pupils experience the films as well as the significance of the feature film for their understanding and interpretation of history. The study incorporates empirical data from classroom projects in two different Swedish upper secondary schools where film was used as an educational tool. Observations of classroom activities were made and interviews with twelve pupils and their history teachers were conducted. The study applies a phenomenological approach. The lifeworld of the pupils is in focus, specifically the aspect of the lifeworld they live and experience in history class when film is used as a means of understanding the past. The phenomenon studied is thus how the pupils experience the film, and through the film, history itself. Theoretical notions from film reception studies and history didactics are used as analytic tools. The study shows how emotional and cognitive processes converge in the pupils’ meaning making of the films. The embodiment of the films’ narrative is an important factor that contributes to both the understanding of the film as well as of history. The pupils experience the films emotionally, feeling both empathy and antipathy for the various characters, physically through sight and sound as well as embodied reactions, and cognitively through an understanding of the film’s narrative. Embodied experience is fundamental for history to become materialized. The audiovisual portrayal and materialization of the past becomes embodied in the pupils so that the experience of the film and of the historical lifeworld presented therein becomes part of their lifeworld. Generally, pupils consider the films to be trustworthy, though this perceived accuracy depends on how authentically the narrative is performed and the pupils’ previous store of historical knowledge.  A didactic dilemma to consider when using historical feature film in the classroom is the contradiction between the aesthetic experience of a feature film and its use as a tool for understanding the past. The captivating character of feature film evokes empathy and engagement with the films’ characters regardless of the degree of historical accuracy. This is a critical issue for teachers; there needs to be balance between respect for the pupils’ aesthetic experience of the film and the need to guide them to develop for example the skills of historical empathy, where distance is necessary for the pupils to be able to consider different perspectives.

The purpose of this study is to examine the historical consciousness and the use of history among pupils in 6th grade, in Swedish elementary school. To do this, the aim is to answer the following questions: Which types of history use are to be found among 6th graders, and how are these expressed? What historical consciousness/historical thinking do 6th graders display, and how is this expressed? What interest do 6th graders have in history? The method used in this study is a survey, which has been answered anonymously by 60 pupils in four different classes, from four different elementary schools, and in four different Swedish suburbs. The final analysis is based on theories on historical thinking/historical consciousness, uses of history, and history cultures, described by important historians, such as Rüsen, Ammert, and Karlsson. The study has led to the conclusion that, although a large majority of the pupils say that they are interested in history and think it is relevant, very few of them can mention uses of history outside the school context. The answers do not reveal a notably developed historical consciousness, even though there are signs expressing historical consciousness to a limited extent. One of the main characteristics of historical consciousness among the pupils is their use of concepts for historical change, such as development and consequence.

É possível aprender História com sentido para a Vida? Esta pesquisa, cujo objetivo é compreender em que medida o pensamento histórico de estudantes brasileiros e portugueses apresenta aspectos de uma consciência histórica pertinente para a reflexão acerca das demandas da cultura histórica contemporânea, pautou-se por essa indagação. Em outras palavras, procurou verificar como o ensino de História, nas escolas públicas de Brasil e Portugal, tem contribuído para o desenvolvimento de uma consciência histórica que possibilite a satisfação das carências de orientação temporal e constituição de identidade na sociedade atual. Para a consecução dessa meta coletou informações com o intuito de conhecer os diferentes perfis de caráter socioeconômico e cultural dos grupos pesquisados, além de narrativas discentes geradas pela interpretação de um fato histórico comum a Brasil e Portugal - a transferência da família real portuguesa (1808). Tal material empírico foi analisado com critérios quantitativos e qualitativos, balizados pela interpretação do repertório teóricoepistemológico composto por experiências de autores de diferentes áreas do conhecimento histórico como a Filosofia da História, a Didática da História e a Educação Histórica. Este percurso possibilitou a construção de uma tipologia de análise narrativa que permite verificar as tendências de constituição do sentido histórico à orientação temporal subsumidas a grupos pesquisados. Em outras palavras, o exercício meta-histórico realizado ao longo da pesquisa permitiu a elaboração de uma tipologia que indica qual ou quais tipos de consciência histórica são predominantes nos discursos de um grupo. Finalmente, discutir com os estudantes como os conceitos estruturadores do pensamento histórico atuam para construir conhecimento, mediado pela consciência histórica subsumida à argumentação, se constitui como a proposição desta pesquisa. Potencializar as ideias históricas através de princípios metodológicos que invistam no desenvolvimento da argumentação é função intransferível do ensino de História e, por isso, conceitos metahistóricos podem ser trabalhados nas aulas do ensino básico, paulatina e progressivamente, como meios pelos quais se articula o pensamento histórico. Dessa forma, a História mostrará como é área do conhecimento fundamental para a geração de reflexão e autorreflexão acerca das experiências humanas. Aprender História com sentido para a Vida. / This research aims at understanding how far the historical thinking of Brazilian and Portuguese students present aspects of a historical consciousness relevant to discuss about Contemporary Historical Culture, in order to answer the question: is it possible to learn History with sense to life?. In other words, the aim of this work is to verify how the History teaching in the public schools in Brazil and Portugal has contributed to the development of a historical consciousness that enables the satisfaction to fulfill the lack of time orientation and identity formation in contemporary society. In order to achieve this goal, data was collected in order to know the different profiles of socioeconomic and cultural of the groups searched, beyond the students narrative about their interpretation of a common historical fact to Brazil and Portugal - the transfer of the Portuguese royal family (1808). This empirical material was analyzed with quantitative and qualitative criteria, guided by the studies on a theoretical epistemology of author experiences from different areas of historical knowledge as the Philosophy of History, the Didactic of History and the History Education. This way of study has enabled the construction of an analysis narrative typology which allows verifying the trends of historical sense formation to time orientation subsumed to groups searched. In other words, the metahistorical exercise done throughout the research allowed the development of a typology that indicates how or what types of historical consciousness are predominant in a group discourse. Finally, discuss with students how the concepts of historical thinking work to build knowledge, mediated by the historical consciousness subsumed to the argument, it is the aim of this research. Improve the historical ideas through methodological principles that invest in developing the argument is indelible function of teaching history and therefore, metahistorical concepts can be worked in class , gradually and progressively, as the means by which articulates historical thought. Thus, history will show how the area of fundamental knowledge is to generate reflection and self reflection about the human experience. Learn History with sense to Life.

The present study explores the reception of historical feature films in history education. It is concerned with how pupils experience the films as well as the significance of the feature film for their understanding and interpretation of history. The study incorporates empirical data from classroom projects in two different Swedish upper secondary schools where film was used as an educational tool. Observations of classroom activities were made and interviews with twelve pupils and their history teachers were conducted. The study applies a phenomenological approach. The lifeworld of the pupils is in focus, specifically the aspect of the lifeworld they live and experience in history class when film is used as a means of understanding the past. The phenomenon studied is thus how the pupils experience the film, and through the film, history itself. Theoretical notions from film reception studies and history didactics are used as analytic tools. The study shows how emotional and cognitive processes converge in the pupils’ meaning making of the films. The embodiment of the films’ narrative is an important factor that contributes to both the understanding of the film as well as of history. The pupils experience the films emotionally, feeling both empathy and antipathy for the various characters, physically through sight and sound as well as embodied reactions, and cognitively through an understanding of the film’s narrative. Embodied experience is fundamental for history to become materialized. The audiovisual portrayal and materialization of the past becomes embodied in the pupils so that the experience of the film and of the historical lifeworld presented therein becomes part of their lifeworld. Generally, pupils consider the films to be trustworthy, though this perceived accuracy depends on how authentically the narrative is performed and the pupils’ previous store of historical knowledge.  A didactic dilemma to consider when using historical feature film in the classroom is the contradiction between the aesthetic experience of a feature film and its use as a tool for understanding the past. The captivating character of feature film evokes empathy and engagement with the films’ characters regardless of the degree of historical accuracy. This is a critical issue for teachers; there needs to be balance between respect for the pupils’ aesthetic experience of the film and the need to guide them to develop for example the skills of historical empathy, where distance is necessary for the pupils to be able to consider different perspectives.

La place des jeux vidéos dans la culture populaire n’est plus à démontrer. Consommés avidement par un public de plus en plus large, ils s’intéressent à une variété d’objets, notamment le passé. Parmi les discours de l’histoire profane, les jeux vidéos sont sans doute les plus neufs. Cela étant, ils intéressent de plus en plus éducateurs et didacticiens qui s’interrogent à propos de leurs effets sur les apprenants et de leur intégration dans le cadre des cours de sciences humaines et sociales. Or, les écrits disponibles sur les jeux vidéos historiques ne sont pas nombreux et ne nous renseignent que sur certains jeux (Assassin’s Creed, Sid Meier’s Civilization). De plus, ils occultent presque totalement la question de la représentation de l’agentivité historique, alors même que les jeux vidéos se démarquent d’autres représentations profanes de l’histoire en favorisant une interaction avec le récit historique présenté. Notre recherche tente donc d’amener un éclairage nouveau en proposant une typologie de la représentation de l’agentivité au sein des jeux vidéos historiques, dans une perspective didactique. Pour ce faire, nous avons élaboré une méthodologie exploratoire et qualitative qui utilise l’étude de cas multiples. Notre corpus est composé de cinq jeux, tirés de différents archétypes vidéoludiques : Assassin’s Creed : Black Flag, Battlefield 1, Company of Heroes, Medieval 2 : Total War et Papers Please. Nous avons enregistré près de 56 heures d’extraits vidéos, répartis inégalement entre les cas de notre étude. Les extraits ont été analysés dans le cadre d’une analyse de contenu thématique à codage mixte. Les résultats de notre recherche montrent entre autres que la représentation de l’agentivité est directement liée à la nature et à la catégorie dans laquelle s’inscrit le jeu et que les récits historiques mis en scène adoptent une vision traditionnelle de l’agentivité historique. De plus, les facteurs de changements historiques sont liés aux contraintes qu’imposent les jeux vidéos en tant qu’objets techniques. / The place of video games in popular culture is well established. Consumed by an increasingly large audience, they are interested in a variety of subjects, notably the past. Among the discourses of popular history, video games are arguably the newest. However, they are of increasing interest to educators and didacticians who wonder about their effects on pupils and their integration into humanities and social science courses. However, available research on historical video games are not numerous and only tell us about certain games (Assassin’s Creed, Sid Meier’s Civilization). In addition, they almost completely avoid the question of historical agency, even as video games set themselves apart from other popular representations of history by fostering interaction with the historical narrative they present. Our research therefore attempts to shed a new light on the matter by designing a typology of the representation of agency within historical video games, from a didactic perspective. To do this end, we have developed an exploratory and qualitative methodology that uses a multiple case study. Our corpus is made up of five games, drawn from different video game archetypes : Assassin’s Creed: Black Flag, Battlefield 1, Company of Heroes, Medieval 2: Total War and Papers Please. We recorded nearly 56 hours of video clips, unevenly distributed between the cases in our study. The excerpts were analyzed as part of a thematic mixed-coded content analysis. The results of our research show, among other things, that the representation of agency is directly linked to the nature and the type in which the game falls and that the historical narratives staged adopt a traditional view of historical agency. In addition, the factors of historical change are linked to the constraints imposed by video games as technical objects.

“To understand why we are doing what we do now” – a qualitative study of dance historyteaching within the course Dansteori. This essay illustrates how teachers at upper secondary schools relate to teaching dance history within the course“Dansteori”, focusing on the aim that students should critically review different dance history writings. The study uses interviews and open-ended questionnaires, and the material have been analyzed qualitatively and discussed inrelation to historical thinking and norm-critical pedagogy. The study shows that a historical-scientific perspective is important in how teachers talk about the subject, but less important when it comes to what students should gain fromtheir studies. Instead, a general knowledge of dance history and an ability to connect ones dancing to a historical context, is at the center. The study also shows a conflict between the content and the time given as well as the student’s maturity. In relation to the theoretical perspectives, the historical-scientific perspective is prominent. By contrast, the norm-critical perspective is not as clear, and as I understand it, the critical scrutiny lies primarily within the norm rather than as a means of looking outside the Western box. The next challenge is therefore to not only review the conditions for how history is created, but also to question and change the structures that create knowledge.

This essay illustrates how teachers at upper secondary schools relate to teaching dance history within the course “Dansteori”, focusing on the aim that students should critically review different dance history writings. The study uses interviews and open-ended questionnaires, and the material have been analyzed qualitatively and discussed in relation to historical thinking and norm-critical pedagogy. The study shows that a historical-scientific perspective is important in how teachers talk about the subject, but less important when it comes to what students should gain from their studies. Instead, a general knowledge of dance history and an ability to connect ones dancing to a historical context, is at the center. The study also shows a conflict between the content and the time given as well as the student’s maturity. In relation to the theoretical perspectives, the historical-scientific perspective is prominent. By contrast, the norm-critical perspective is not as clear, and as I understand it, the critical scrutiny lies primarily within the norm rather than as a means of looking outside the Western box. The next challenge is therefore to not only review the conditions for how history is created, but also to question and change the structures that create knowledge.

This licentiate thesis explores the activity of historical reasoning in terms of primary source analysis among upper secondary school students. The thesis is a compilation of two scientific articles in history didactics. Two Learning studies, a theory-informed and interventionistic research methodology, were organised to explore historical reasoning. Three research questions are ad- dressed: (1) what does it mean to be able to analyse historical primary sources, (2) what is critical to discern when learning primary source analysis, and (3) what is characteristic for the processes of learning and meaning- making when students work with source analysis assignments? The first article uses phenomenography to explore fifteen students’ perceptions of a historical primary source and the difficulties they face when examining the source. Data was collected through a series of group interviews where stu- dents were asked to respond to a historical letter. The analysis resulted in four qualitatively different categories of perceptions of the source and three critical aspects that emerged between the categories. It is suggested that it is critical to (1) discern and separate the historical perspective, (2) to discern and separate the perspective of the historical actor and (3) to discern and separate the subtext of the source in relation to the historical context. The second article uses a form of content focused conversation analysis to ex- plore the processes of learning and attributing meaning when students work with primary sources. Data was collected through audio recordings of stu- dents’ collaborative work on two assignments. The main results are descrip- tions of the students’ learning and meaning making processes. For instance, when students discern and separate the historical perspective and historical actors’ perspectives. An interesting finding was a strategy used by students to take on the roles of hypothetical historical agents. It is suggested that cer- tain aspects of school culture might inhibit students’ learning of primary source analysis and that students’ life-world perspective is vital in creating meaning. Finally, historical reasoning is discussed in relation to the concept of historical consciousness and it is argued that historical reasoning should include the perspectives of deconstruction, subjectivity and interpretation to better comply with history teaching.

La recherche en didactique de l’histoire a analysé de nombreuses approches et ressources employées pour atteindre les diverses visées éducatives de l’enseignement des sciences sociales au secondaire. Elle traite cependant peu de l’usage des artéfacts ou des sites historiques pour faire apprendre aux élèves la démarche critique associée à la pensée historienne et à son mode de lecture. Dans le cadre de cette recherche qualitative et exploratoire, nous avons tenté de réduire cette lacune en documentant et en analysant l’apport d’un cours-voyage virtuel pour enseigner l’euristique de contextualisation partir d’artéfacts et de sites historiques de la Grèce ancienne pris comme objets d’interprétation de l’histoire. Cette étude de cas s’est déroulée dans un collège privé de la région métropolitaine de Montréal durant l’année scolaire 2019-2020. Les participants de cette étude (n= 23), âgés de 16 et 17 ans, étaient inscrits à un cours d’histoire hors programme menant à un voyage en Grèce. L’annulation des voyages scolaires au Québec à la mi-mars 2020 a eu pour effet de « virtualiser » le cours-voyage en intégrant le mode découverte (TD) du jeu vidéo à caractère historique Assassin’s Creed Odyssey. Afin de décrire l’apport de ce cours-voyage virtuel sur la mobilisation de l’euristique de la contextualisation, nous avons opté pour l’analyse de sources multiples et variées, comme le questionnaire, les lettres de motivation, l’observation participante, les productions didactiques et les entretiens de groupe. Les résultats obtenus montrent entre autres que les élèves accordent une grande confiance aux artéfacts, sites historiques et restitutions archéologiques pour étudier le passé. De plus, les élèves contextualisent des artéfacts et des sites historiques lorsqu’ils sont engagés dans une enquête historienne à titre d’interprètes de l’histoire. Enfin, les résultats indiquent que l’action médiatrice de l’enseignant dans les démarches d’apprentissage représente un atout pour la mobilisation des composantes de l’euristique de la contextualisation par les élèves. Ces résultats apportent un éclairage dans le champ indépendant, récent et à défricher de cette euristique de l’histoire, tout en interrogeant l’effet des pratiques enseignantes sur la mobilisation des composantes de la mise en contexte pour la compréhension des réalités sociales. Les résultats serviront de guides pour (re)penser nos cours, ainsi que pour juger de la progression des élèves et de l’efficacité de nos interventions éducatives. / Research in history didactics has analyzed many approaches and resources used to achieve the various educational aims of teaching social sciences in secondary school. However, it does not deal much with the use of artifacts or historical sites to teach students the critical approach associated with historical thinking and its mode of reading. As part of this qualitative and exploratory research, we have tried to reduce that gap by documenting and analyzing the contribution of a virtual field trip to teach a heuristic from artifacts and historical sites of ancient Greece taken as objects of interpretation of history. This case study took place in a private college in the Montreal area during the 2019-2020 school year. The participants in this study (n = 23) between the ages of 16 and 17 years old, were enrolled in an extra-curricular history course leading to a trip to Greece. The cancellation of school trips in Quebec in mid-March 2020 had the effect of “virtualizing” the initial field trip by integrating the Assassin’s Creed Odyssey Discovery Tour: Ancient Greece. To document and describe the contribution of this virtual field trip on the mobilization of the heuristics of contextualizing, we opted for the analysis of multiple varied sources such as a questionnaire, motivation letters, participant observation, historical inquiry, and group discussions. The results obtained show, among other things, that the students perceive artifacts, historical sites, and archaeological restitutions as documents of great confidence for the study of the past. Furthermore, students contextualize artifacts and historic sites when engaged in a historical inquiry as interpreters of history. Finally, the results indicate that the mediating action of the teacher in the learning process represents an asset for the mobilization of the components of the heuristic of contextualization by the students. These results shed light on the independent and recent field of research of this heuristic, while questioning the effect of teaching practices on the mobilization of the components of contextualization for the understanding of social realities. They will serve as guides for (re)thinking our courses, as well as for assess student progress and the effectiveness of our educational interventions.