Historical Thinking Research Articles

Introduction: The Crowd in the History of Political Thought—Visions of the People

Abstract The article introduces the second part of a symposium, “The Crowd in the History of Political Thought,” which is being published as a two-part special issue, and which explores visions of the role of the people and populism in the writings of past thinkers. The articles in this second part are by European scholars with disparate interests and approaches to the history of political thought. Populism proves difficult to define, partly because populist politicians evince different understandings of “the people” and the purpose of government. The liberal, democratic, and national visions of “the people” can be harmonious but can also become disharmonious. Untangling them by exploring how thinkers in the history of political thought distinguished between crowds and peoples can help us to better understand the ideological dynamics of our moment. Articles on Hobbes and Spinoza offer disparate accounts of the differences between peoples and crowds. Herder, by contrast, helps us understand the political self-determination of peoples, while Schmitt and Arendt offer rival visions of the tensions between democratic and liberal principles.

From Human to Machine: Investigating the Effectiveness of the Conversational AI ChatGPT in Historical Thinking

In the digital age, the integration of technology in education is gaining attention. However, there is limited evidence of its use in promoting historical thinking. Students need to develop critical thinking skills to address post-truth and fake news, enabling them to question sources, evaluate biases, and consider credibility. With the advancement of artificial intelligence (AI), historical thinking becomes even more crucial, as chatbots appear capable of analysing, synthesizing, interpreting, and writing similarly to humans. This makes it more difficult to distinguish between human and AI-generated resources. This mixed study explores the potential of AI in developing an argumentative historical text compared to future teachers. After 103 preservice teachers were instructed in historical thinking, they assessed a text written by a human and an AI-written text without knowing their authors. The obtained results indicate that participants assessed the AI text better based on historical thinking skills. Conversely, when asked about the capability of AI to develop a similar text, they emphasized its impossibility due to the belief that AI is incapable of expressing personal opinions and reflecting. This highlights the importance of instructing them in the correct use and possibilities of AI for future historical teaching.

Exploring dialogic education used to teach historical thinking within the cultural context of East Asia: A multiple-case study in Taiwanese classrooms

Empirical evidence suggests that dialogic education is an effective way to develop students' higher order thinking and reasoning skills. In history education, curriculum goals share these aims, especially in Taiwan's latest national curriculum reform. It is then important to explore whether and how dialogue is being used to this end in history classes and the form that dialogic education takes in this East Asian cultural context. This study explored the features of Taiwanese teachers' talk and how it was used to teach historical thinking. Video recordings were made of a total of 6 lessons by three high school teachers. Descriptive statistics of word frequency of teachers' discourse using Nvivo (v.12) in complement with fine-grained qualitative analysis of whole class dialogue from a sociocultural perspective shed light on the various discursive strategies that the teachers used to facilitate students' historical reasoning. Findings suggest that some prominent features in Taiwanese teachers' talk include the hybrid use of monologue and dialogue and the hybrid of short-term and long-term dialogue for teaching historical thinking and reasoning. This study contributes significantly to the theoretical discussion of dialogic education for history classes in the East Asian cultural context. Moreover, it has practical implications for how teachers could use this hybrid form of talk to introduce the elements of historical thinking to students. Limitations of the study are also discussed at the end of the article.

English Vocabulary: The Basics (Book Review)

As David Wilkins once pointed out, the significance of vocabulary in language and communication cannot be downplayed, which breathes life into ideas and thoughts, transforming them from abstract notions into concrete, meaningful expressions. However, until recently, vocabulary was often an overlooked element of language learning (Meara, 1980). As time has gone by, scholars have given vocabulary research more and more attention. With such history in mind, English Vocabulary: The Basics by Michael McCarthy reflects the importance of vocabulary in language and language learning with an introductory text for novices completely new to the area of vocabulary studies. As its title suggests, the book aims to provide readers with a fundamental understanding of key concepts underpinning this complex and multifaceted field. [First paragraph]

What is (and was) a person? Evidence on historical mind perceptions from natural language

An important philosophical tradition identifies persons as those entities that have minds, such that mind perception is a window into person perception. Psychological research has found that human perceptions of mind consist of at least two distinct dimensions: agency (e.g. planning, deciding) and experience (e.g. feeling, hungering). Taking this insight into the semantic space of natural language, we develop a generalizable, scalable computational-linguistics method for measuring variation in perceived agency and experience in large archives of plain-text documents. The resulting text-based rankings of entities along these dimensions correspond to human judgments of perceived agency and experience assessed in blind surveys. We then map both dimensions of mind in historical English-language corpora over the last 200 years and identify two salient trends. First, we find that while women are now described as having similar levels of agency as men, they are still described as more experience-oriented. Second, we find that domesticated animals have gained higher attributions of experience (but not agency) relative to wild animals, especially since the rise of the global animal rights movement in the 1980s.

Historical Thinking and Its Relationship to The Attitudes Towards Historical Studies Among Students of The Tenth Grade in The Hebron Governorate

This study aimed to identify the level of historical thinking and its relationship to the attitudes towards historical studies among the tenth-grade students in Hebron Governorate. The study consisted of 360 male and female students who were selected by the cluster method. The researcher prepared a list of preferred behaviors to measure historical thinking and a questionnaire to measure the attitudes towards historical studies, and their validity and reliability were verified, and the tools were distributed in the field, and the study reached the following results: The total degree of historical thinking among tenth grade students in Hebron Governorate reached 0.576, which is a medium degree, and the results showed that there were no statistically significant differences in the level of historical thinking among tenth grade students in Hebron Governorate due to the gender variable, while the results showed that there were differences according to the variable of achievement level in favor of the students who have achieved more than 90. The study also found that the degree of attitudes towards historical studies among tenth grade students in Hebron governorate is (3.30), which is a medium degree, and there are no statistically significant differences in the level of attitudes towards historical studies among tenth grade students in Hebron governorate due to the gender variable, level of achievement. The results also showed the existence of a statistically significant relationship between the level of historical thinking and the degree of tendency towards historical studies among the tenth graders in Hebron Governorate. Keywords: historical thinking, attitudes, tenth grade students, historical studies.

Review and Scholarly Syntheses as Anti-Racist Action

At the final session of the 2022 Literacy Research Association Conference, Catherine Compton-Lilly, Marcus Croom, Mary McVee, and Allison Skerrett presented critical work related to equity, representation, and race in literacy scholarship. Panelists shared concerns and pursued a shared goal. Specifically, as literacy scholars, they recognized that like the empirical research conducted in classrooms and communities, review scholarship—scholarship that aspires to make sense of large bodies of available research—is always subject to systemic biases, privileging, and racism. In this panel session, we intentionally sought to dismantle biases through four review-oriented projects that—each in its own way—attempts to counter the systemic whitewashing that has characterized review scholarship in literacy. The collective synthetic, counter-narrative that we presented is significant to literacy education. As we explained, the historical omission of scholarly reviews conducted by Scholars of Color requires a reclaiming of the field. Significantly, the omission is not a minor oversight. Scholarly reviews have long-term effects on scholarly communities; reviews provide novice and established scholars with macro views of the literacy field; in short, reviews identify what is important and worthy of scholarly attention and it is with this history in mind that the Integrative Review Panel for LRA 2022—and this current set of articles—were organized. Across our papers, we explore silences and obfuscations relative to the voices of Scholars of Color, the experiences of Communities of Color, and the education of all children. We view our public presentation of these syntheses as intentionally anti-racist acts designed to name, describe, and recognize the contributions of BIPOC (an acronym for Black, Indigenous, and People of Color) scholars and communities. We are confident that the LRA community will continue to find this work impressive, inspiring, and important.

Starting from the first premise of history: Chinese environmental history’s ideological beginning, progress, and goals

Over five decades, environmental crises have spurred the study of environmental history and the field has seen immense growth. Chinese studies of environmental history have also flourished but the field is still young and needs to be developed further. Chinese environmental studies should build upon the first premise of history described in the Marxist theory of the relationship between humans and nature. Life-centered historical thinking must consider humans’ natural biological needs. To build appropriate narrative frameworks, we should learn from international methodologies and disciplines like ecology to explore the interactive and complex relationships between human systems and natural systems. With the goal of investigating Chinese “ways of life,” we must strengthen the study of environmental thought and ecological cultural history and find indigenous conceptual language to refine critical theories, improve scholarship, and highlight Chinese characteristics.

Adolescents and family history: Memories, testimonies, narratives, and perspectives

Kouseri

Lost on the Freedom Trail: The National Park Service and Urban Renewal in Postwar Boston

Lost on the Freedom Trail: The National Park Service and Urban Renewal in Postwar Boston

Reach Historical Thinking Skills: Developing Learning Models

The development of historical thinking skills is a significant accomplishment in achieving history learning objectives, and it requires special attention. To enhance these skills, students must practice historical research methods, which can support their historical thinking abilities. Through RnD, this study aims to improve students' historical thinking skills by creating innovative learning models. The research results indicate that the implementation of the developed product had a positive impact. The t-test post test of multiple choice questions in both classes showed a sig (2-tailed) level of 0.000, and the post test of historical thinking skills also showed a sig (2-tailed) level of 0.000. Both gains were below 0.05, indicating an average post-test difference in multiple choice and historical thinking skills in both classes. Based on the t-test results, we can conclude that the product positively affected the experimental class's learning outcomes and historical thinking skills.

The Essence of Life Education in China from the Perspective of the History of Educational Thought

The Essence of Life Education in China from the Perspective of the History of Educational Thought

The problem of teleological history education and the possibilities of a multispecies, multiscalar, and non-continuous history

ABSTRACT In its concern with orienting students in relation to past, present and future, history education is crucially placed to pioneer generative approaches for making sense of change over time and to equip students to critically scrutinise meanings of history. Impending climate catastrophe, the still unfolding global pandemic and rising xenophobic populism are interconnected crises that demand an expansive view of historical understanding that might equip students to recognise the myriad, powerful ways that meanings of history are imagined and mobilised in human societies. Yet, in the history curricula of Western nation-states, that task remains remarkably narrow, focused on the kinds of knowledge and understanding that modern historical thinking can produce. Our focus in this article is two-fold. First, we show how history curriculum in Australia, Canada, and the United States already implicitly conveys meanings of history – which we label ‘teleological’—and provides only limited opportunities to engage critically with alternate meanings of historical change. Second, we canvass some expanded and enlarged forms of historical thinking that embrace discontinuity, rupture and more-than-humanness that might help students and teachers imagine radically different futures.

Narrating Economic History and the History of Economic Thought in Urdu

Abstract Muḥammad Ilyās Barnī’s (1890–1959) ʿIlm ul-Maʿīshat (The Principles of Economics) is an economics textbook that was published in Aligarh in 1917 and claimed to be the first book of economics in Urdu. In the chapter selected for translation here, Barnī narrates the history of India’s trade relationship with Europe, showing how European colonialism exploited Indian industry and gradually placed it in a position of economic subordination. The accompanying introduction to the translation provides a brief overview of Barnī’s life and works, placing the book in the context of his writings on Islam, ethics, and economics. It also situates the book in the larger context of Indian economic thought in the late nineteenth and early twentieth centuries, particularly within debates on poverty, protectionism, and Indian trade. Ultimately, the introduction argues that the study of economic thought and economic history in Urdu reveals a key facet of early twentieth-century language politics in India by highlighting the project of making Urdu a language of social scientific modernity, while also pointing to the development of a vernacular economic critique of empire that became increasingly influential in colonial politics at the turn of the century.

LETTER TO THE EDITORS: THE EMPEROR HAS NO CLOTHES: A REPLY TO GINOUX AND JOVANOVIC

In this letter to the editors of the Journal of the History of Economic Thought, I present my results on Ragnar Frisch’s rocking horse model, published in an earlier issue of the same journal, and detail why the comments by Jean-Marc Ginoux and Franck Jovanovic on my paper have no grounding. I explain the role of initial conditions on the amplitude of cycles and trend in Frisch’s solution, and emphasize that my contribution was to show that Frisch built a model where cycles and growth came from the same economic mechanism.

Learning Style of Grade Eight Students: Basis on Enhancing Historical Thinking Skills Using Contextualized Learning Activities in Araling Panlipunan

This study aimed to craft contextualized learning activities based on student learning style with the evaluation of its effectiveness and the relationship with the perceived effectiveness of material to student historical thinking skills. This employed the descriptive correlational design of quantitative method as participated by 53 Grade Eight (8) respondents in San Isidro National High School who were chosen using the purposive sampling procedures. The data were gathered using pretest questionnaires, survey questionnaires, evaluation questionnaires, and posttest questionnaires which are validated with the help of the experts. Data communications were established before data gathering procedures and were analyzed using mean, standard deviation, and Pearson R. Findings revealed that the students prefer the visual learning style in studying Araling Panlipunan MELCS 1-8, the LA is generally agreed to be effective as to content in terms of adequacy (OWM=3.45, agree); coherence (OWM=3.44, agree); appropriateness (OWM=3.40, agree); and usefulness (OWM=3.43, acceptable). There was no significant relationship between the perceived effectiveness of the material and student’s historical thinking skills. The study recommends that to improve the efficiency of teaching and learning, Araling Panlipunan teachers may develop further their historical thinking abilities. This will also improve students' acquisition of these abilities.

Putting critical thinking at the center of history lessons in primary education through error- and historical thinking-based instruction

The teaching of history is often characterized by lecture-based lessons, where the student is a passive recipient of information, and the exams are based on memorization. However, many authors point out the importance of renewing its didactic in order to be critical of the information presented to them, so that students are actively involved. This quantitative and quasi-experimental study presents the results of an intervention with 134 pupils in the 6th grade of Primary Education with the aim of studying the impact of three methodologies on performance, motivation, perception and interest in history. For this purpose, 32 students followed an "Error-Based Learning" methodology, in which they had to solve activities with controlled errors; 33 followed a historical thinking model, working on its six dimensions; 33 were taught using a combination of the two former methodologies; and 36 followed a lecture-based methodology. The results show significant improvements in academic performance when working with errors, demonstrating that reflection on the veracity of the information shown has an impact on the result obtained. However, there are no significant differences in motivation, perception and interest in history.

The Capture of the Capitoline in Roman Historical Thinking

Abstract This article argues that the stories of Tarpeia and of Manlius Capitolinus are variations on a single, historically attested concern about internal enemies on the Capitoline. Moreover, the unusual presentation of these stories in Ovid in particular can be explained by various chemical properties of the mint, most likely located near the temple of Juno Moneta. Concerns about the safety of the mint in the late Republic may have driven authorial interest in these tales.

Effectiveness of a teaching methodology based on the theory of historical thinking through active methods and digital resources in Spanish adolescents

Twenty-first century education is firmly committed to training young people in new competencies that are transferable to a variety of life situations. Historical thinking as a methodological theory is emerging in a large number of countries. In thinking historically, the skills of the historians are used, so that the sources of the past can be interpreted and the generation of effective historical narratives can be enhanced. This study aims to compare the general perception of the teaching of history between two groups of baccalaureate students, with respect to the effectiveness and transferability of learning historical thinking. Specifically, the existing perception of the implementation of historical thinking competencies is collected after the pre- and post-evaluation of a unit plan developed with 93 students. A quantitative method was used, namely a quasi-experimental design with a non-equivalent control group. The results indicate a substantial improvement in the responses observed in the experimental group, compared to those obtained in the control group. This impact is associated with the didactic methodology implemented with both groups, which showed notable changes in the perception of the theory of historical thinking, as well as in the use of other digital resources and active methods. For the future, it is imperative to transfer these first indications to controlled evaluations of academic outcomes to consolidate the academic status of competency-based teaching in secondary education levels.

New Books across the Disciplines

New Books across the Disciplines