The purpose of this study is to explore how historical content is influenced by inquiry design aimed at developing students’ critical thinking skills and being relevant to students. As a background, educators have suggested that inquiry-based learning can be one approach to developing students' critical historical thinking skills. At the same time, a single focus on developing students' disciplinary thinking has been criticized for neglecting the existential dimension of history education. One inquiry model that aims to combine the relevance of the historical topic to students and the qualification of students' historical thinking is the American Inquiry Design Model, IDM (Swan et al. 2018). At the center of the IDM framework is an overarching question that frames the inquiry, referred to as a compelling question. The function of a compelling question is to be relevant in relation to both the subject matter and the students. Little is known about how these two qualitative dimensions are aligned in teachers’ inquiry designs (cf. Conrad et al. 2024). The empirical data consists of 14 inquiry designs  by secondary school teachers in Sweden. The inquiries were structured according to the IDM framework and communicated through a so-called blueprint, i.e. an organizational scheme for teaching the inquiry. The blueprints were analyzed qualitatively using a historical didactical framework referred to as the contact zone model (Johansson2023). The model distinguishes between two levels, an event level and a discursive level, as well as between the aspects of time and space. Preliminary results from the contact zone analysis will be presented, and the results are intended to provide teachers and teacher educators with guidance in selecting content in designing inquiries in history education.

This is a mainly conceptual and argumentative article which presents a model for enquiry-based teaching (Swedish acronym FDU - frågedrivenundervisning). The purpose is to suggest and discuss how enquiry-based teaching can contribute to organising qualified subject teaching in history, religious education and social studies. This is dealt with through two sections. The first section presents a structure for enquiry-based teaching through tested teaching designs in the three subjects, and the second section discusses certain qualities of enquiry-based teaching that we argue should be maintained. Based on actual teaching and teachers' experiences of designing enquiry-based teaching, the article positions FDU as a subject didactic teaching model. Hordern's (2022) framework for normative knowledge practices forms the theoretical starting point for discussing FDU as a subject didactic model that can help teachers in designing, planning, implementing and evaluating qualified subject teaching.The article argues that FDU can be regarded as a normative knowledge practice that is characterised by the qualities of being enquiry-based, prospective, consistent, assessment-oriented, and continuous. 

The aim of the research project (financed by Swedish Institute for Educational Research) is to develop the enquiry method as an educational approach for teachers to develop students’ critical abilities. Enquiry is a student-active method with the potential to enhance students’ learning under the guidance and instruction from proficient teachers. Therefore, it requires high demands on teachers' academic and subject didactical knowledge. The project is a researcher-teacher collaborative study where around thirty teachers from three school subjects (history, religious education and social studies) have designed and tested enquiries. During the three-year project (2020-2023) three research questions will be addressed: 1) how the method works as a knowledge-generating approach for students in a Swedish school context, 2) what characterizes teachers’ competence to construct and teach enquiries, and 3) how this competence can be advanced within the framework of a professional learning community.

We present the theoretical context for a professional development seminar series called Doing Enquiry, and empirical samples and experiences from its implementation including enquiries designed and performed by the history teachers. Starting from the IDM-framework (Swan, Lee, & Grant, 2018), this seminar series focuses on the collaborative construction of enquiries. A hypothesis for the seminar series was that it would be crucial to provide an opportunity to take the role of the teacher as well as being positioned as a pupil in the construction phase of an enquiry. So far, preliminary results will reflect on the second and third question. The results indicate that some elements in history teachers’ competences, that professional development can enhance, are particularly important, e.g., a systematic approach to the planning, implementation and teaching of an enquiry; using a shared subject didactic knowledge within a professional community; and, deep academic knowledge. 

In 2012, Uganda celebrated 50 years as an independent state following more than half a century under colonial rule. Since independence, Uganda has experienced a period of political turmoil and civil war within its constructed colonial borders. Given these historical experiences, what do students find important about their nation's history and what history do they relate to when asked to explain their contemporary society and envisage possible futures? This article argues that Ugandan students' historical orientation is informed by and dependent on these students' local contexts. Furthermore, those students adopting a retrospective approach to history, compared with those applying a prospective approach, made more sophisticated judgements about the past. The study on which this article is based explores 219 narratives written by 73 Ugandan upper secondary students. The narratives were elicited through written responses to three assignments and were designed to capture different approaches to history, specifically prospective and retrospective approaches. Participants originated from two distinct regions: central and northern Uganda. The empirical results show how different approaches to history influence the students' narratives. For instance, value judgements about past developments were more common among students applying a retrospective approach. Students from northern Uganda were generally more inclined to tell a story of decline.

School history has been seen as a major platform for the construction of collective memory in contemporary societies. In recent years considerable attention has been brought to what stories students bring with them into the classroom. However, this research has mainly been carried out in the Western world and less so in the postcolonial states of Africa. In 2012 Uganda celebrated 50 years as an independent state after being colonized for more than half a century. Since Independence, Uganda has experienced a period of both political turmoil and civil war within its constructed colonial borders. Given these historical experiences, what do Ugandan students find important about their nation’s history and what history do they relate to when asked to explain their contemporary society and possibly envisage for their future? This study explores 219 narratives written by 73 Ugandan upper secondary students. Narratives elicited through written responses to three assignments. The assignments were designed to capture different approaches to history: a prospective and a retrospective approach. To handle the concept of ‘nation’ as a presupposed category and possibly different colonial  and postcolonial experiences within Uganda the student narrative sampling were chosen from two different regions; Central and Northern Uganda. In engaging with analysis narrative analysis has been used as a method to explore what the students regarded as historically significant and what patterns among the narratives that point towards particular historical orientations. The findings suggest that Ugandan students’ historical orientation is informed and dependent on the local context of the students. Furthermore, the empirical results show how different approaches to history influence the student narratives. For instance, valued judgments on past developments were more common with the retrospective approach. Students from Northern Uganda were generally more inclined to tell a story of decline. 

In 2012, Uganda celebrated 50 years of independence. The postcolonial era in the country has been marked by political turmoil and civil wars. Uganda, like many other postcolonial states in Africa, cannot be described as an ethnically or culturally homogenous state. However, history education has globally been seen as a platform for constructing national identities in contemporary societies. At the same time, it is assumed that specific historical experiences of countries influence historical understanding. This study takes its starting point in the theories of historical consciousness and narrativity. A narrative could be viewed as a site where mobilization of ideas of the past to envisage the present and possible futures is made and hence the narrative expresses historical orientation. Through the concept of historical orientation historical consciousness can be explored, i.e. what history is viewed as significant and meaningful. The aim in the study is to explore in what ways students connect to their historical pasts.

The study explores 219 narratives of 73 Ugandan upper secondary students. Narratives elicited through written responses to three assignments. Designed to capture different approaches to history: either to start from the beginning and narrate history prospectively or to depart from the present narrating retrospectively. The colonial experience of Uganda affected the sampling in the way that students were chosen from two different regions, Central and Northern Uganda. The comparison was a way to handle the concept of ‘nation’ as a presupposed category. Narrative analysis has been used as a method to explore what the students regarded as historically significant and what patterns among the narratives that point towards particular historical orientations.

The empirical results show how different approaches to history, a prospective or a retrospective approach, influence the student narratives. For instance, valued judgments on past developments were more common with the retrospective approach. The results also show differences in evaluating past developments according to regional origin. Students from northern Uganda were generally more inclined to tell a story of decline. Also, it is argued that the student narratives were informed by a meta-narrative of Africa. It was as common to identify oneself as African as it was to identify as Ugandan.