The influence of multiperspectivity in history texts on students’ representations of a historical event

Abstract

School history textbook narratives of a nation’s past often present limited perspectives, which may impede the aim of teaching history from multiple perspectives. Less is known about the influence of including multiple perspectives on students’ representations of the past. This study examines the extent to which students include multiple perspectives when processing a schoolbook text that includes multiple perspectives compared to a schoolbook history text containing fewer perspectives. Tenth grade students (N = 104) in four schools were randomly assigned to read one of two texts on the Dutch Revolt and asked to make a summary. Multiperspectivity was analysed through the representation of actors, aspects of scale, dimensions and historiography. The students working with the text having high multiperspectivity showed more perspectives in their representations. In the summaries, these students included significantly more perspectives than did the students using the text with fewer perspectives. Moreover, these students’ representations of the main actors were more nuanced. The students using the text with high multiperspectivity situated the conflict in a broader international context and integrated more historiographical dimensions. The insights generated by these outcomes emphasize the important role of textbooks when aiming to teach history from multiple perspectives.