History education frequently aims at developing active citizenship by using the past to orientate to the present and the future. A pedagogy for pursuing this aim is making connections between the past and the present by means of comparing cases of an enduring human issue. To examine the feasibility and desirability of this case-comparison teaching approach, students (N = 444) and teachers (N = 15) who participated in an implementation study conducted in the Netherlands were questioned about their experiences and views. Results show that both students and teachers felt that case-comparison in the context of an enduring human issue is feasible and not more complex than the usual history teaching in which topics are studied separately without explicitly making comparisons between past and present, even if some students thought that taking account of episodes from different historical periods concurrently required an extra learning effort. Both students and teachers believed that connecting past and present in history teaching enhances engagement and meaning making. They suggested a curriculum combining the case-comparison approach with the type of history teaching they were accustomed to. Mixed methods were used for data collection. Implications for further research on case-comparison learning in history are being discussed.
Using the past to orientate on the present and the future can be seen as one of history’s main contributions to educating future citizens of democratic societies. This thesis defines and explores aims and methods that may support teachers and students in making meaningful connections between the past, the present and the future in history class. Measurements with the Relevance of History Measurement Scale (RHMS), which was specifically developed for the purpose of this thesis, revealed that this type of history teaching positively affects students’ views on the relevance of history. This is an important outcome, because young students in particular have difficulty seeing the benefits of studying the past. Enabling them to see the relevance of history may be an important means to stimulate their motivation and engagement, because students’ appreciation of the value of school subjects is key to their commitment in school work.
MULTIFILE
