The purpose of this dissertation is to examine teaching about, and students’ understanding of, the use of history. Through a teaching intervention in which a vocational high school class worked with the Black Lives Matter protests and the demolition of Columbus statues in the summer of 2020, the study examines how inquiry-based learning about the use of history can be implemented in practice. The empirical data consists of classroom observations, student group discussions, interviews with students and teachers, as well as classroom materials and exam assignments collected during the fall of 2021. 

The theoretical framework draws on the concepts of historical consciousness, historical culture, and the use of history, alongside Brousseau’s theory of didactic situations, didactic contract, and adidactic situations. The results show that teaching the use of history through inquiry-based learning holds considerable potential for challenging and developing students’ historical consciousness. At the same time, both teachers and students must be provided with the necessary conditions—and a didactic contract—that enable and sustain such approach. 

The intervention introduced changes to the pace of instruction and to the way, history was approached, which in turned helped strengthen students’ narrative competence and their ability to reason about the use of history. The study also demonstrates that teaching about contemporary issues related to the use of history must account the relationship among content, students’ backgrounds, values and conceptions of the past and present. Overall, the thesis highlights the central role of historical culture for teaching and learning about the use of history. 

Historieundervisning har en viktig roll för att förstå dåtiden och nutiden men också hur och varför historia brukas utanför och inne i klassrummet. Denna avhandling följer en klass som hösten 2021 enligt en frågedriven modell arbetar med Black Lives Matter-protester och rivningen av Columbusstatyer i USA. Den undersöker hur elever förstår och resonerar kring historiebruk när de möter ett samtida, globalt och medierat historiebruksfall samt deras lärandeprocesser och hur undervisningen påverkas av den samtida historiekulturella kontexten.

Avhandlingen visar att historiebruksundervisning inte bara är meningsfull utan även nödvändig om historieundervisningen ska kunna utveckla och utmana elevernas historiemedvetande kring samtidsfrågor. Undervisningen bör sträva efter att finna en balans mellan att främja elevernas självständighet och kritiska tänkande i situationer där de brottas med olika källor och perspektiv på historien, och beakta elevernas skilda förutsättningar, värderingar och föreställningar om det förflutna och samtiden.

El propósito de esta tesis es examinar la enseñanza y la comprensión estudiantil del uso de la historia. A través de una intervención didáctica en la que una clase de formación profesional trabajó con las protestas de Black Lives Matter y la demolición de estatuas de Colón durante el verano de 2020, el estudio analiza cómo puede implementarse en la práctica una enseñanza por indagación sobre el uso de la historia. Los datos empíricos consisten en observaciones de aula, discusiones en grupos de estudiantes, entrevistas con estudiantes y docentes, así como materiales de clase y tareas de evaluación recopilados durante el otoño de 2021. 

El marco teórico se basa en los conceptos de conciencia histórica, cultura histórica y uso de la historia, junto con la teoría de las situaciones didácticas de Brousseau, el contrato didáctico y las situaciones adidácticas. Los resultados muestran que la enseñanza del uso de la historia mediante el aprendizaje basado en la indagación posee un potencial considerable para desafiar y desarrollar la conciencia histórica de los estudiantes. Al mismo tiempo, tanto docentes como estudiantes deben contar con las condiciones necesarias —y con un contrato didáctico— que posibiliten y sostengan dicho enfoque. 

La intervención introdujo cambios en el ritmo de la enseñanza y en la manera de abordar la historia, lo que a su vez contribuyó a fortalecer la competencia narrativa de los estudiantes y su capacidad para razonar sobre el uso de la historia. El estudio también demuestra que la enseñanza relativa a cuestiones contemporáneas de uso público de la historia debe considerar la interacción entre el contenido, las diversas condiciones, valores y concepciones que el alumnado posee sobre el pasado y el presente. En conjunto, la tesis subraya el papel central de la cultura histórica en la enseñanza y el aprendizaje sobre el uso de la historia. 

Historieundervisning spelar en central roll för att förstå hur och varför historia används i samhället. Denna avhandling följer en gymnasieklass som hösten 2021, genom en frågedriven undervisningsmodell, arbetar med Black Lives Matter-protesterna och rivningen av Columbusstatyer i USA. Studien undersöker hur elever tolkar och resonerar kring historiebruk när de möter ett samtida, globalt och medierat fall, samt hur deras lärandeprocesser formas av den historiekulturella kontexten. Resultaten visar att elevernas förståelse av historiebruk fördjupas när undervisningen utgår från öppna frågor, komplexa källor och aktuella samhällsdebatter. Eleverna utvecklar mer nyanserade sätt att identifiera aktörer, syften och perspektiv, men deras resonemang påverkas också av egna värderingar och föreställningar.Studien pekar på behovet av en undervisning som balanserar elevernas självständighet och kritiska tänkande med ett medvetet stöd för deras olika förutsättningar. När elever arbetar med omstridda och aktuella historiebruk öppnas möjligheter för djupare reflektion – men också för friktion och viktiga samtal om hur historia används i vår tid.

The purpose of this dissertation is to examine teaching about, and students’ understanding of, the use of history. Through a teaching intervention in which a vocational high school class worked with the Black Lives Matter protests and the demolition of Columbus statues in the summer of 2020, the study examines how inquiry-based learning about the use of history can be implemented in practice. The empirical data consists of classroom observations, student group discussions, interviews with students and teachers, as well as classroom materials and exam assignments collected during the fall of 2021. 

The theoretical framework draws on the concepts of historical consciousness, historical culture, and the use of history, alongside Brousseau’s theory of didactic situations, didactic contract, and adidactic situations. The results show that teaching the use of history through inquiry-based learning holds considerable potential for challenging and developing students’ historical consciousness. At the same time, both teachers and students must be provided with the necessary conditions—and a didactic contract—that enable and sustain such approach. 

The intervention introduced changes to the pace of instruction and to the way, history was approached, which in turned helped strengthen students’ narrative competence and their ability to reason about the use of history. The study also demonstrates that teaching about contemporary issues related to the use of history must account the relationship among content, students’ backgrounds, values and conceptions of the past and present. Overall, the thesis highlights the central role of historical culture for teaching and learning about the use of history. 

El propósito de esta tesis es examinar la enseñanza y la comprensión estudiantil del uso de la historia. A través de una intervención didáctica en la que una clase de formación profesional trabajó con las protestas de Black Lives Matter y la demolición de estatuas de Colón durante el verano de 2020, el estudio analiza cómo puede implementarse en la práctica una enseñanza por indagación sobre el uso de la historia. Los datos empíricos consisten en observaciones de aula, discusiones en grupos de estudiantes, entrevistas con estudiantes y docentes, así como materiales de clase y tareas de evaluación recopilados durante el otoño de 2021. 

El marco teórico se basa en los conceptos de conciencia histórica, cultura histórica y uso de la historia, junto con la teoría de las situaciones didácticas de Brousseau, el contrato didáctico y las situaciones adidácticas. Los resultados muestran que la enseñanza del uso de la historia mediante el aprendizaje basado en la indagación posee un potencial considerable para desafiar y desarrollar la conciencia histórica de los estudiantes. Al mismo tiempo, tanto docentes como estudiantes deben contar con las condiciones necesarias —y con un contrato didáctico— que posibiliten y sostengan dicho enfoque. 

La intervención introdujo cambios en el ritmo de la enseñanza y en la manera de abordar la historia, lo que a su vez contribuyó a fortalecer la competencia narrativa de los estudiantes y su capacidad para razonar sobre el uso de la historia. El estudio también demuestra que la enseñanza relativa a cuestiones contemporáneas de uso público de la historia debe considerar la interacción entre el contenido, las diversas condiciones, valores y concepciones que el alumnado posee sobre el pasado y el presente. En conjunto, la tesis subraya el papel central de la cultura histórica en la enseñanza y el aprendizaje sobre el uso de la historia. 

Namn på abstract: Teaching the uses of history in contemporary controversies. Didactic opportunities and challenges in the classroom.

Since 2011, it has been mandatory in Sweden for history teachers to teach and assess their students on the uses of history.

However, there is little research on how teachers work or can work with the uses of history in the classroom. In addition, there is an ongoing conversation among scholars about the importance of making history teaching meaningful and relevant to students' orientation in contemporary society. The paper addresses some findings, from my doctoral dissertation, in particular on teaching the uses of history. With focus on Columbus statues and Black Lives Matter, 2020.

The research design involves an instrumental case study and some aspects of an intervention study. Data were collected through interviews with teachers and groups of students, classroom observations, group discussions during lessons, teaching materials, and student materials. Data analysis was aided by the theories of historiebruk, historical culture, the narrative competence, and didactic contract. [1] The results suggest the need for teacher-guided instruction towards the teacher when students work with historical sources that pose an unexpected and new perspective that does not match students' prior knowledge. The paper also discusses a possible relationship between the didactic contract and narrative competence.

Brousseau, G. (2007). Iniciación al estudio de la teoría de las situaciones didácticas/Introduction to study the theory of didactic situations: Didactico/Didactic to Algebra Study (Vol. 7). Libros del Zorzal.

Rüsen, J. (2005). Narrative Competence

The Ontogeny of Historical and Moral Consciousness. In History (1 ed., pp. 21-40). Berghahn Books. https://doi.org/10.2307/j.ctt1x76fc2.7

[1] Brousseau, G. (2007). Iniciación al estudio de la teoría de las situaciones didácticas/Introduction to study the theory of didactic situations: Didactico/Didactic to Algebra Study (Vol. 7). Libros del Zorzal. , Rüsen, J. (2005). Narrative Competence

The Ontogeny of Historical and Moral Consciousness. In History (1 ed., pp. 21-40). Berghahn Books. https://doi.org/10.2307/j.ctt1x76fc2.7

Since 2011, in Sweden it’s compulsory for history teachers to teach and assess their students on the uses of history. However, there is little research on how teachers work or may work with uses of history in the classroom. Moreover, there is an ongoing conversation among scholars on the making history teaching meaningful and relevant to the students to orientate in present society. The presentation discusses the results, of my doctoral thesis, particularly about teaching uses of history.   

The research design entails an instrumental case study and some aspects of an intervention study. The data was collected through teacher and group interviews with students, classroom’s observations, group discussions during the lessons, teaching and students’ material. The data analysis was aided by the theories of didactical contract, the narrative competence and historical culture.[1] The results suggest a need of teacher-guided instruction when students work with historical sources posing an unexpected and new perspective that is not in line with student’s previous knowledge or worldview.  

Since 2011, in Sweden it’s compulsory for history teachers to teach and assess their students on the uses of history. However, there is little research on how teachers work or may work with uses of history in the classroom. Moreover, there is an ongoing conversation among scholars on the making history teaching meaningful and relevant to the students to orientate in present society. The presentation discusses the results, of my doctoral thesis, particularly about teaching uses of history.   

The research design entails an instrumental case study and some aspects of an intervention study. The data was collected through teacher and group interviews with students, classroom’s observations, group discussions during the lessons, teaching and students’ material. The data analysis was aided by the theories of didactical contract, the narrative competence and historical culture.[1] The results suggest a need of teacher-guided instruction when students work with historical sources posing an unexpected and new perspective that is not in line with student’s previous knowledge or worldview.  

There is a broad consensus among history educators that the use of history (Swedish historiebruk) is linked to historical consciousness and historical culture. (Nordgren, 2016; Olofsson, 2011, 2019) However, there is a lack of classroom studies on what such a relationship might look like in history teaching.  (Eliasson et al., 2012; Thorp, 2018) This paper presents parts of my dissertation that aims to investigate how high school students learn and understand the phenomenon of uses of the history. Rüsen’s (1989)  narrative competence and historical culture are part of the theoretical framework for the thesis. The thesis is methodologically framed as an instrumental case study and, it is inspired by Educational Design Research.

One history class enrolled in a theory-oriented and one history class enrolled in practice-oriented program in Upper secondary school participated in the study. The intervention study consisted of six lessons revolving around the concept of uses of history and Black Lives Matter. The empirical data was collected in Autumn 2021 to Spring 2022, in form of students’ group interviews, individual teachers’ interviews and classroom observations. The overall data consists of five interviews, fifty assignments, audio recordings of the group discussions and teacher’s lectures, and five to six weeks fieldwork with each class. Moreover, the analysis is conducted abductively. Preliminary results from observations and interviews suggest that when studying uses of history through inquiry-learning, some conditions emerge helping students understand that history is both a social phenomenon and a discipline. The empirical analysis from the practice-oriented program suggests that students' understanding of uses of history has a spectrum of variation for example, boys and girls diverge in understanding both aspects of history. In addition, most of the boys were more inclined to understand perspectives that were closer to their European identity, but struggled to grasp the Afro-American’s perspectives. 

Keywords: uses of history, classroom study, narrative competence

References

Eliasson, P., Alvén, F., Rudnert, J., Zander, U., & Rosenlund, D. (2012). Det är smart att använda historia i nya händelser...: Historiebruk i skola och samhälle. In Historiedidaktik i Norden 9: Del 1: Historiemedvetande-Historiebruk. Malmö högskola. 

Nordgren, K. (2016). How to Do Things With History: Use of History as a Link Between Historical Consciousness and Historical Culture [Article]. Theory and Research in Social Education, 44(4), 479-504. https://doi.org/10.1080/00933104.2016.1211046 

Olofsson, H. (2011). Fatta historia. [Elektronisk resurs]: En explorativ fallstudie om historieundervisning och historiebruk i en högstadieklass [Theses

Non-fiction, Lic., Karlstad University]. cat01070a. https://login.bibproxy.kau.se:8443/login?url=https://search.ebscohost.com/login.aspx?direct=true&db=cat01070a&AN=karl.b1303864&lang=sv&site=eds-live

http://urn.kb.se/resolve?urn=urn:nbn:se:kau:diva-7359

Olofsson, H. (2019). Historia på högstadiet: historiekulturella yttringar i och utanför ett klassrum i Sverige hösten 2009 [Theses

Non-fiction, Diss., Karlstad University]. Karlstad University Library Catalog. https://login.bibproxy.kau.se:8443/login?url=https://search.ebscohost.com/login.aspx?direct=true&db=cat01070a&AN=karl.b1718127&lang=sv&site=eds-live

http://urn.kb.se/resolve?urn=urn:nbn:se:kau:diva-74739

Rüsen, J. (1989). The Development of Narrative Competence in Historical Learning — An Ontogenetic Hypothesis concerning Moral Consciousness. History and Memory(2), 35-59. http://www.jstor.org/stable/25618580 

Thorp, R. (2018). Perspektiv på historiebruk - undervisa om hur historia används [article]. SO-didaktik(5), 56-60. http://urn.kb.se/resolve?urn=urn:nbn:se:su:diva-156899 

Classroom research that informs teachers in their didactical decision-making so that they can respond both to external and internal demands, and research striving to catch such complexity in the classroom poses ontological and epistemological challenges.   

In this direction, my doctoral project relies partially, on a workplace approach (in Swedish praktiknära forskning).  It is worth noticing that the workplace research approach highlights teachers' agency since researchers and practitioners collaborate to produce relevant knowledge for developing teaching practices. Such approach involves doing research with and for teachers and not on teachers. [1]  

I would also say workplace research implies doing research for and with students, not only on students. The presentation aims to discuss and elaborate on ideas on how to balance between researching on, now using Serder and Malmström’s words "what happens," and "what works"[2]  in the classroom where many stories often start.  

 [1] Ingrid Carlgren, 'The learning study as an approach for “clinical” subject matter didactic research', International Journal for Lesson and Learning Studies,  (2012) at? [2] Margareta Serder and Martin Malmström, 'Vad talar vi om när vi talar om praktiknära forskning?', Pedagogisk forskning i Sverige, 25/1 (2020), 106-109.

There is a broad consensus among history educators that uses of history (Swedish historiebruk) are linked to historical consciousness and historical culture. (Nordgren, 2016; Olofsson, 2011, 2019) However, there is a lack of classroom studies on what such a relationship might look like in history teaching. (Eliasson et al., 2012; Thorp, 2018)  

This paper presents parts of my dissertation that aims to investigate how high school students learn and understand the phenomenon of uses of the history. The thesis is methodologically framed as an instrumental case study and, it is inspired by Educational Design Research. One class from theory-oriented and one class from practice-oriented program in Upper secondary school participated in the study. The intervention study consisted of six lessons revolving around the concept of uses of history and Black Lives Matter. The empirical data was collected in Autumn 2021 to Spring 2022, in form of students’ group interviews, individual teachers’ interviews and classroom observations. The overall data consists of five interviews, fifty assignments, audio recordings of the group discussions and teacher’s lectures, and five to six weeks fieldwork with each class. Moreover, the analysis is conducted abductively.  

Preliminary results from observations and interviews suggest that when studying uses of history through inquiry-learning, some conditions emerge helping students understand that history is both a social phenomenon and a discipline. The empirical analysis from the practice-oriented program suggests that students' understanding of uses of history has a spectrum of variation for example, boys and girls diverge in understanding both aspects of history. In addition, most of the boys were more inclined to understand perspectives that were closer to their European identity, but struggled to grasp the Afro-American’s perspectives.

Det råder en bred enighet bland historiedidaktiker om att historiebruk är kopplad till historiemedvetande och historiekultur. Däremot är det brist på klassrumsstudier om hur en sådan relation kan se ut i historieundervisningen. I detta paper presenterar jag delar av mitt avhandlingsarbete som syftar till att undersöka hur gymnasieelever lär sig och förstår fenomenet historiebruk. Utifrån empiriska studier identifieras egenskaper som är specifika för historiebruk som undervisningsobjekt. Avhandlingen är metodologiskt inramad som fallstudie med inspiration av Design Research och har därmed en explorativ och intervenerande ansats. 

I studien deltog tre gymnasieklasser från samhälls, ekonomi och barn- och fritidsprogram. Själva interventionen bestod av fem lektioner som kretsade kring begreppet historiebruk och som genomfördes i form av frågedriven undervisning (FDU). Empirin samlades in vår och höst 2021 i form av gruppintervjuer för elever och individuella intervjuer för lärare, klassrumsobservationer, ljudinspelningar av elevernas grupparbete samt skriftliga elevuppgifter. Sammanlagt består datan av 10 intervjuer, 70 elevuppgifter samt ljudupptagningar och fältanteckningar från fem veckors klassrumsobservationer per klass. Analysen genomförs abduktivt med hjälp av narrativ kompetens, i synnerhet erfara, tolka och orienteringskompetens. Då analysarbetet nyligen har påbörjats kommer jag på konferensen att diskutera preliminära iakttagelser med utgångspunkt från intervjumaterialet med fokus på hur eleverna definierar och förstår begreppet historiebruk samt eventuella analytiska kategorier som härleds ur materialet. Hittills tyder empirianalysen på att elevernas förståelse av historiebruk har en hög grad av variation men det förekommer även några gemensamma drag i deras förståelse.

What is the use of history? Is it a semantical phenomenon? How can it be a powerful knowledge for students? This study aims to give some answers to these questions by doing interventions studies in the classroom, called Study Designs. The study is going to be carry out in Middle and High School in Sweden. The use of history is a meta-concept which is interested in how current societies use the past. And it exists in the national curriculum of social studies and history. In this direction, the aim of the study is to design exercises to be implemented in the classrooms, a quasi-experiment. Moreover, I intend to make a semantical analysis of central concepts in History instruction and examine how teaching on their different nuances can enhance students´ historical understanding and self-reflectivity. At this moment, I do not have results, as I am in the planning phase of the project, but hopefully at the conference, I will present some preliminary results.