The Historical Literacy of Secondary School Pupils: A Case Study of the Concept Causation

Abstract

History education is about the development of the historical literacy of pupils, and, consequently, the understanding of historical concepts such as causation. The purpose of the study was to contribute to an understanding of what cognitive processes are involved in learners’ causal explanation of historical events, and which teaching strategies could be implemented in classrooms to enhance the historical thinking and understanding of learners. Two explanatory research questions were formulated. A non-experimental research design involving quantitative data was used for this study. The systematic probability sampling technique was used to identify the sample of the study. Fifty respondents (five groups of ten) participated in the research project. A groupadministered questionnaire was used to collect the data. The data was analysed by means of descriptive statistical analysis. The study revealed that different groups of learners produced different historical explanations depending on their age and knowledge and experience of history. An exemplar causation lesson of how to engage pupils in real historical thinking and understanding was included.