The Literature of Historical Thinking/Reasoning/Literacy.

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This concept shall be discussed in relation to 4 explorations of Historical Understanding from the years 2000 to 2008. The Readings that have been included are: Van Boxtel and Van Drie's study into Historical Reasoning, Peter Seixas in the Centre for Historical Consciousness, Peter Lee in the International Journal of Historical Learning, Teaching and Research and Chapter 3 of Making History by Taylor and Young for the Curriculum Corporation.

Within the current literature on History Education there has yet to be a consensus as the terminology that covers what is actually being taught in History. The popular notion of History is a collection of knowable facts about the past and what is to be taught in History classrooms is a regurgitation of these facts. However in the last few years and what this article will attempt to cover is the exploration by various scholars into what is actually being taught in History in schools. As Peter Lee puts it “there is more to history than knowledge of token past events, but there is not always agreement as to what this 'more' should be.” (Lee, 2005) What constitutes this 'more' is explored by a number of scholars in connection to what constitutes the “aim of history education" (Van Boxtel & Van Drie, 2008). Van Boxtel and Van Drie suggest that there are four terms that are used when describing the concepts, within the readings covered for this review the three main terms used are Historical Literacy (P. Lee, Taylor and Young), Historical Reasoning (Van Boxtel & Van Drie) and Historical Thinking (P. Seixas), Van Boxtel and Van Drie recall a forth; Historical Consciousness (Van Boxtel & Van Drie, 2008). Within the context of this review the term Historical Literacy will be used when referring to th...

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...for the need to define the grounds on which educators should stand when approaching the study of History, and that each can in their own way attempt to do so, however it seems that a more cogent language needs to be found to facilitate in any further discussion into Historical Literacy.

Works Cited

Lee, P. (2005). Historical Literacy. International Journal of Historical Learning, Teaching and Research

Seixas, P. (2006). Benchmarks for Historical Thinking: A framework for assessment in Canada. Centre for the Studty of Historical Consciousness .

Taylor, T., & Young, C. (2004). Chapter 3: Historical Literacy. In Making History: a guide for the teaching and learning of history in Australian schools.

Van Boxtel, C., & Van Drie, J. (2008). Historical Reasoning: Towards a Framewrok for Analyzing Students' Reasoning about the Past. Educational Psychologyl Review .

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