Abstract
In this article, we make the case for teaching historical controversy on disciplinary and educational grounds. We outline an approach for teaching controversial history topics that engages students with authentic historical problems, such as historical controversies or actual debates taken up by historians, and allows students to participate in history as an interpretative enterprise. The disciplinary approach we suggest can also help teachers practically manage the challenges of teaching contentious topics by drawing on the disciplinary methods and standards used in history. Teaching controversial topics is challenging in many contexts, and in this article we highlight some of the challenges teachers in Singapore face when teaching controversial topics in history classrooms. We also draw on research that examines the conceptions Singaporean students hold about history and the nature of accounts in history. We argue that teaching historical controversy can help students develop their conceptual understanding of historical accounts, understand the nature of history as a discipline, and build their historical knowledge. We conclude by arguing that in a time of widespread access to multiple and often competing accounts about past and present in social media, a discipline-based history education is more important than ever.
Highlights
The teaching of controversial issues in history classrooms is often the focus of intense academic, public and political debate (Baildon et al, 2014; Foster, 2014)
We make the case for teaching historical controversy on disciplinary and educational grounds, and highlight some of the challenges teachers in Singapore face when teaching controversial topics in history classrooms
We outline a disciplinary approach to teaching historical controversy that aims to help students develop their conceptual understanding of historical accounts, understand the nature of history as a discipline, and build their historical knowledge
Summary
The teaching of controversial issues in history classrooms is often the focus of intense academic, public and political debate (Baildon et al, 2014; Foster, 2014). Notes: At this stage, students should have a reasonable understanding of some of the key issues involved, and have reviewed the evidence historians have used to support or challenge the contention, that is, whether Operation Coldstore was a genuine security threat or if the event was politically motivated. Approaching the study of the past through processes and procedures governing the historical discipline allows students to develop deeper familiarity with the nature of historical knowledge They can learn about the kind of work that historians do, and understand how historians interpret and use evidence to support the claims they make about past events. For students to develop more sophisticated and powerful understandings of history, they need more experience and guided practice in thinking about historical accounts and how they can be evaluated This lesson, and the forms of scaffolding provided, represents a first step in helping students come to grips with a complex past and the nature of historical accounts. They indicated that they saw this approach as leading to deeper enquiry into subject matter, and that it helped students to connect their learning in the classroom to the work of historians
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